Article #380
Subject: prayers and declarations for the end of slavery globally
Author: Andrew W. Harrell
Posted: 12/10/2014 08:34:48 AM

We are posting this statement by sister Khong at the Vatican which we
discovered on twitter while praying there for our friend Thich Nhat Hanh to
recover from his recent stroke.

We pray with all our friends in the interfaith community for the complete
eradication of this scourge on the human condition which here in the southern
united states contributed to the cause of our country’s most awful and deadly
war 150 years ago and years of costly reconstruction of our society. We pray
that we shall all realize together, through common energy of compassion and
spiritual understanding, and shared wisdoms and knowledge of what is really
our common good that we need to work towards, as we realize our individual
freedom from dependence of the need to use each other for various material
reasons and achieve peace of mind, for the reason of economic, personal, even
desires for domination of each other and the illusory benefits we expect from
these misplaced human aspirations.

SUMMIT OF WORLD FAITH LEADERS
TO END MODERN SLAVERY & HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Vatican City, December 2, 2014
SPEECH BY
ZEN MASTER THICH NHAT HANH


Read by Venerable Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong, his eldest monastic student
*Video Footage on Utube

**Sister Chan Khong makes a statement to #endslavery at the Vatican today.
#video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2VPAFFD1Ak&t=42m35s …
Your Holinesses, Your Excellencies, Your Emminencies, dear Most Venerables,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. Please allow me to read the words
that our Beloved Teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, wished to deliver here
today:
“We are grateful to gather today to announce to the world our commitment to
work together to end Modern Slavery; and to plea to those who traffic in human
beings to stop their exploitation; and to ask world leaders and organisations
to protect the dignity of these young women, men and children. They are our
daughters and sons, our sisters and brothers.
“It is clear that in this age of globalisation, what happens to one of us,
happens to us all. We are all interconnected, and we are all co-responsible.
But even with the greatest good will, if we are swept away by our daily
concerns for material needs or emotional comforts, we will be too busy to
realise our common aspiration.
“Contemplation must go together with action. Without a spiritual practice we
will abandon our dream very soon.
“Each of us, according to the teaching of our own tradition, should practice
to touch deeply the wonders of Nature, the wonders of life in each of us, the
Kingdom of God in each of us, the Pure Land, Nirvana in each of us, so we can
get the healing and nourishment, the joy and happiness born from the insight
that the Kingdom of God is already available in the here and now. The feeling
of love and admiration for nature, that we all share, has the power to nourish
us, unite us, and remove all separation and discrimination.
“By being in touch with everything that is refreshing and healing, we can free
ourselves from our daily concerns for material comforts, and will have a lot
more time and energy to realise our ideal of bringing freedom and compassion
to all living beings. As it says in the Gospel, “Do not worry about what you
will eat or drink or wear. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things
will be given to you. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of
itself.”
“In our work to end modern slavery, we must find the time to take care of
ourselves, and to take care of the present moment. By doing so, we can find
some relative peace in our body and mind to continue our work. We need to
recognise and embrace our own suffering, our anger, fear, and despair so that
the energy of compassion can be maintained in our hearts. When we have more
clarity in our mind, we will have compassion not only for the victims, but for
the traffickers themselves. When we see that the traffickers have suffered, we
can help them wake up and stop what they are doing. Our compassion can help
transform them into friends and allies of our cause.
“In order to sustain our work of compassion, we all need a spiritual community
to support us and protect us – a real community, where there is true
brotherhood and sisterhood, compassion and understanding. We should not do
this work as cavaliers seuls, as lone warriors. The roots of modern slavery
run deep, and the causes and conditions, the networks and structures
supporting it are complex. That is why we need to build a community that can
continue this work to protect human life not just until 2020, but long into
the future.
“The world in which we live is globalized, and so too is this new form of
slavery, that is connected to the economic, political and social systems.
Therefore our ethics and morality also need to be globalized. A new global
order calls for a new global ethic. We have to sit down together, as people of
many traditions, as we are doing now, to find the causes of this suffering. If
we look deeply together, with clarity, calm and peace, we will understand the
causes of modern slavery, and we can find a way out.”