Loafs and Fishes or Couch

Image: video still, buddhist monk churning yak butter tea during a festival. Hamis, Ladakh, India

Providing nurishment for people in the form of food and drink is one way to bring people together and build community. For me such unconditional actions of compassion melt any armour I may carry imagined or real (tense muscles, fear, closed mind/heart). I have been fortunate to witness various 'soup' kitchens in action such as the ones at:

1. The Compassion Centre in Wellington, New Zealand operated by the Sisters of Compassion with the help of volunteers and donations from the community, this soup kitchen is more that 100 years old. They serve breakfast and dinner 6 days a week, for more than 100 people per day.
2. The Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India, where an impressive 10,000 pilgrims are fed daily with tea or dalh and chapati's, as far as I know all run by volunteers.
3. The festival in Hamis, Ladakh, India (see image above) where tea and rice are provided for hundreds if not throusands attendees of the festival.

I could barely drink the salty yak butter tea as it makes me gag, but just hanging out in the tea room and witnessing the whole event was as heart warming as the steaming hot tea in this ancient and cold himalayan monastery. The festival was attended by the locals as well as hunderds of tourists who were there trophey hunting with their fancy camera's, literally fighting over the best vantage points. Very few dared to wander away from the spectacular and colourful dance preformances by the monks in the courtyard of the gompa(monastary). Most tourists missed out on the free gift of compassion in the form of yak butter tea. It was not necessary for me to taste the tea in order to taste the gift. I was brave and had a sip, and put up with the reflexes of my body, a small sacrifice for the privaledge of taking communion.

We are not all cut out to feed random strangers/travelers/homeless people/pilgrims in small or large numbers, or are we... what is stopping us from exersizing this practice that is promoted by so many cultures and religions? Too scary...? Well here is an enjoyable way to make a difference in your life and in the world, not for the sake of rescueing people but for the sake of building community, promoting compassion and kindness through authentic practice. What comes around goes around, just like a merry-go-round, remember those when you were a kid?.

I have joined Couchsurfing.com an online community where travelers and hosts can find eachother so they can enjoy receiving and giving hospitality (a couch, bed, meal, coffee at home or in town) as a gift, as a guesture of acceptance, of peace. Why, because the most expensive, luxurious hotel cannot offer the authentic gift of hospitality and sense of connection.

Discrimination is founded in fear for the unknown and fear of the (perceived) differences as observed in others as expressed though their cultures. Maybe we fear that we will lose 'ourselves' when surrounded by those who we believe to be different.

Couchsurfing/hosting is one way to discover close up and in a very personal way that we are fundamentally all the same, that it is quite OK to be different, that difference is not a threat to one's existence, and that any fears we may have of difference is unfounded.

At this 'grass root' level we can begin to experience friendships and peace, bring balance to a world living in fear, begin talking positively about others and other cultures. Many leaders in the world make us believe that being different equals evil, only others are evil, we possibly can't be. This perceived evil is the excuse used by so many nations to justify destructive wars and acts of terrorism.

We all have the power and ability to contribute to world peace, one by one we can make a difference, one couch, bed, floor space, meal, coffee at a time. Once or maybe more than once a year or even once a month. One day we may be able to elect the leaders we deserve. Leaders are born out of communities. What kind of community and leadership do we want? Who, or whose permission for action do we wait for?