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Touching Social Suffering, Nurturing Compassion
Awareness of the origins of merchandise and the reality of child labor reveals a global tragedy where children work in factories or scavenge in garbage heaps. Getting in touch with this suffering is the practice of the First Noble Truth. By recognizing the real suffering in the world, one can stop suffering over the small things created for oneself and find liberation from personal traps. Social injustice is present everywhere, and the Sangha remains in touch with this reality through humanitarian programs for refugees, the elderly, and orphans.
During the war in Vietnam, the effort to sponsor ten thousand orphans demonstrated how looking deeply at a child in need dissolves discrimination between the helper and the helped. When one becomes the child through mindful breathing, compassion is born, watering the whole being and providing the nourishment necessary for true happiness. This work for social justice is guided by intelligence and the desire to relieve suffering. Institutional violence occurs when society is organized to maintain a status quo that denies others a chance to escape chronic poverty.
To break this cycle, the door of awareness must be opened within the family and school. Practicing being in touch with reality—such as ensuring an undernourished child has a glass of milk—transforms meaningless suffering into a life of meaning. Even those with wealth, fame, and power suffer deeply; they are encouraged to practice like Anāthapiṇḍika to transform their resources into instruments of compassion. This practice of non-violence is a core element of the Second Mindfulness Training.