Peace Class with Mandy Kahn (11/4)

Friends, Peace Class meets tonight. Join in LIVE by simply clicking on this Zoom link at the start time 6:00 pm.

• Peace Class with Mandy Kahn
• Live from Los Angeles, California
• November 4, 2026, 6:00 pm (PST)

Weekly Peace Class on Zoom (prs.org)

Please note this this week, clocks here in California shifted back an hour, from Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) to Pacific Standard Time (PST). If joining from Arizona, Hawaii, or from abroad, please check to see what 6:00 pm PST translates to in any other area: Time Zone Converter.

It's free and ALL are welcome at Peace Class. What happened last week? There were guided meditations and other activities, plus this message:

NOW WE ARE AT WAR

Bibi dictates to Dept. of War Secretary Hegseth

Now we are at war. As we look around, we see, in various forms of violence, what is inside the collective consciousness we all share.

There must be much anger, much resentment, and much sadness in the collective consciousness for us to see this violence externally. Now let us gaze upon this moment in history. Seeing it, we stand at a point of opportunity. Why?

We can ask ourselves: Do I choose this violence? Do I choose to continue this Era of Belligerence?

If we do, then there's nothing to change: We, as a human collective, made this violence, and if we choose to continue living as we have been living, we will get more of it.

"Be the peace you wish to see in the world."

Perhaps next time, the violence will be in a different region; perhaps next time, it will directly affect different people and everyone else indirectly. If we do NOT change our habits, there will be more of the same, more violence. That is the result if we see this and choose to remain as we are.

But there is another option. And that is to see this outbreak of violence and to say, I do not choose this. I choose something else. If we say (if any individual says) that, we are at a powerful point of opportunity, because we have the inspiration required to change what needs to be changed to see something new in the world. "Be the change you want to see in the world," urged Indian peace activist Mahatma Gandhi.

• MLK Jr. Day: Why the USA needs war

What change did the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. want? He wanted peace, so he became that peace and said: "Be the PEACE you wish to see in the world."

• EDITORIAL NOTE: However Gandhi or MLK Jr. may have lived out their personal lives, one liberated India from harsh British imperial rule, the other from brutal American racism and institutional discrimination. First, they had to see and understand the mechanisms then subvert them. Gandhi was educated in England, so he did see how the empire worked. MLK Jr. learned in university and from activists (such as peace activist, friend, and Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh) how the USA and the American War Machine were operating. Second, they seized the opportunity to dismantle those empires' hold on and exploitation of others. Third, they did it peacefully, even if Malcolm X or others, remaining in anger, would have wished for violence to oppose violence. That could never work. Why? If violence beats violence, then violence wins. But if energizing peace beats depleting violence, then the power of peace wins. And it shows that peace, which is sustainable, is the way. War destroys, exhausts, ruins itself and sets enemies aflame against it, which is in no way sustainable, however many battles it may seem to win in the short run. Everyone told them peace and justice would be impossible.

What is war?

I feel sad and guilty. I will kill these feelings.

War is the resentment, anger, sadness, and guilt that festers in the collective consciousness, manifesting outwardly in the world of form.

Before we see the outbreak of war, we might find it possible to ignore the discomfort that indicates that there are massive amounts of resentment, anger, sadness, bitterness, and guilt in the collective.

Just so, before the body has a 105-degree fever, we might ignore the runny nose we experience the week before, which is indicating to us that this body needs rest, resilience, and care.

I feel sick with fever for more ego and money.

If we do address it, it never happens. If we fail to address the issue when we see early symptoms, sickness will manifest. So it has, now. The runny nose of how we have felt about each other, the runny nose of how we have felt after we judged each other with thought-violence, has turned into a life-threating fever; it has manifested into outward violence anyone can see.

And now that we can see it, some will ask, How can we change this? How do we END this war? How do we bring about peace?

I choose genocide! Deal with it, stupid Arabs!

The root of this violence is many people feeling something that could be translated into the phrase: “I have not been honored.”

How can we bring the opposite of that phrase into the world? How can we become the phrase, “I honor you, honor myself, and honor all beings”? How can we become this “I honor all beings” presence?

Israeli Jews say no to genocide, yes to peace!

How can we become the “I have compassion for all beings” presence? First, it is simple, by setting an intention (a determination, the root of what the Buddha explained determined action/karma).

Simply speaking, we can intend: Let me be the “I honor all beings” presence in the world. Let me fill with the spirit of the phrase “I honor all beings.”

It's too hot! No, it's too cold! Now it's just right.

When we slip into a bathtub and the water is too hot, we run the cool tap to balance the overall temperature. The same is true of our collective humanity: When we see war, we know that many are feeling the phrase, “I have not been honored.” We can balance that by simply adding the spirit of The Honoring of All Beings into our collective consciousness.

Just as adding cool water to scalding water balances the temperature into a mild and tolerable tepidness, our Honoring of All can restore balance to the collective. But here's the most important thing I've come here to say:

We can carry the Honoring of All Beings Presence and still have strong political opinions. Carrying The Honoring of All does not result or require neutrality of opinion. This is exceptionally important to understand. We can have any opinion and still carry the I Honor All Beings presence. Here's how.

How? Compassion can be added to our strong opinions. We can think or say, “I have a preference here; I have a preference for Group A or Group B, or perhaps a preference for neutrality. And even as I prefer that, I carry compassion for all beings. I also honor all beings. I honor them because I know that everyone deserves a safe world.

“I know that compassion-for-all is the thing that builds it. So even as I have my preferences, however strong, I surround that preference with my compassion-for-all.”

Vote with me for more war and capitalist profits.

The lie that we were told is that it is our responsibility to choose sides, and in choosing sides, we must oppose others, condemn them, carry vitriol for those who dare to stay on the “wrong,” namely, the side we did not choose. No. We CAN choose a side, and we can still feel compassion-for-all.

Understand, our opinions are a part of our experience of selfhood, and we are here to be who we are. We are loved as who we are. We will never be asked to step away from our point of view by those who understand what we are here to do, which is to be ourselves. We do not need to be less ourselves to be instruments of peace in this world. We can be exactly ourselves and we can be instruments of true peace.

A nation says no to kings and dictators.

Whatever our opinions are—whether we have a preference for neutrality or a preference for one group or another, or anything in between—we can be aware of it, and we can express it, and we can still build a bridge to the Age of Peace.

When we see violence and say, “I don't condone that violence” and add our vitriol, our vitriol actually builds more violence.

Republicans in power, give us peace!

I wish I didn't have to say that, because many won't like hearing it. But it is objectively true. And we have been shielded from the truth for too long. We deserve to exercise our true power. Our true power is to choose the kind of world we want to build first then to consciously engage the tools that will build what we want.

If we want a peaceful world, choose it by pairing compassion-for-all with any opinion. If we want more war, choose it by pairing it with vitriol, with cruelty of thought, and with harsh judgments of others with any opinion.

We need change. Change now or be voted out.

That is how we choose what will come. We choose not by what our opinions are, but by what feeling we pair them with. That is the greatest secret behind war:

It's not which side we choose that truly affects the violence around us. It's what feeling we pair whatever we have chosen. If we pair our opinion with compassion-for-all, we are choosing the Age of Peace.

If we pair our opinions with vitriol, with cruelty, with judgment, with violence of thought, we are choosing the Era of Belligerence.

Any of the following three phrases builds peace:

1. I have a preference for neutrality, and I carry the spirit of compassion-for-all.
2. I have a preference for Group A, and I carry the spirit of compassion-for-all.
3. I have a preference for Group B, and I carry the spirit of compassion-for-all.

Any one of these builds a bridge from where we are to the Age of Peace.

Why are we here?

We are here to be live out integrity: peace, peace

We are here to be ourselves. But we are also here to build the world that we want. If we were taught that we were obligated to carry vitriol for those we disagree with, we were told that by those who preferred we build more of the Era of Belligerence or by those who had been told how to be by those who prefer the Era of Belligerence.

I am choosing the Age of Peace, so I am telling everyone the truth about how to build it. The future is ours to build. We build the future with our thoughts (beginning with our intentions) and with the emotions that surround our thoughts.

We build it by how we think of others, judge them, and how we think of ourselves and judge ourselves. We were probably told that we build the future with our opinions.

Imagine all the people living life in peace.

But we really build it with the feelings we generate, by way of our thoughts, thought-habits, that surround our opinions. I honor others' opinions, even if they differ from mine. And I honor what others choose to do with their infinite ability to build our world together.

But I offer these words to make it clear what we are choosing between and how so we can be sure that we are building what we really want.

In peace, Mandy Kahn (mandykahn.com)

ZOOM: Peace Class with Mandy Kahn

• Mandy Kahn (prs.org) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Weds. Peace Class w/ Mandy Kahn (Zoom)

Mandy Kahn, Heartsong (Meetup); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Mandy Kahn | Los Angeles Meetup

Peace Class is a free, interactive online gathering to manifest inner peace and establish world peace. It is led by Mandy Kahn and takes place every Wednesday night at 6:00 pm (Pacific Time) via Zoom. ALL are welcome to attend.

The building of world peace is the establishing of inner peace. So our global contribution, as a participant in this peace circle, is profound.

Each class meeting includes a short talk that focuses on one aspect of the nature of peace, followed by journaling as a peace-building practice. This provides each participant the opportunity to develop a set of peace-building skills that may be used at any time.

Friends MLK Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh on peace

Each class is an hour and includes a brief peace meditation, teachings about pioneer peacebuilders like Peace Pilgrim, and the opportunity to share personal peace-building discoveries with the group.

The peace circle is grateful to be joined by peace advocates from around the world in this love-filled, supportive space.

What part of peace, love, and understanding are you not understanding? Hugs for everyone!

.

Gandhi was inspired by Jesus, MLK by Gandhi

Each meeting is a stand-alone lesson. Feel free to drop in for a single class or the entire series.

Participants also have the option of keeping Zoom cameras off and just observing, if that contributes to a feeling of greater comfort.

This class is an online how-to, exploring a range of topics that include:

• How to engage the healing perspective of a peace mind
• How self-love builds world peace
• How stepping out of the guilt cycle allows inner peace to occur naturally
• How to build a healing ceasefire
• How inner peace evolves our physical bodies
• How to use the mantra “I honor all beings” to build world peace.
• How peace enters the collective consciousness to heal ancient wounds

Details

Practicing inner peace leads to equanimity.

Peace Class is a FREE, weekly, Zoom-based gathering presented by the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) and led by teacher Mandy Kahn.

• Every Wednesday night at 6:00 pm Pacific
• Attendees welcome to participate or just watch
• Bring something to write on and something to write with
• Anyone is welcome to attend with or without signing up ahead of time

ABOUT: Who is Mandy Kahn?

Peace Piece (film by Courtney Sell)

Mandy Kahn is a peace advocate and poet, author of two collections of poems — Glenn Gould’s Chair and Math, Heaven, Time — both published by London-based press Eyewear.

Her work has been included in the Best American Poetry anthology series and in former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser’s syndicated column "American Life in Poetry."

Kahn is the writer-in-residence at the Philosophical Research Society, a center for spiritual discourse founded in 1934 by wisdom scholar Manly P. Hall.

The World Peace Diet (Tuttle)

She teaches for PRS with a weekly online class on the nature of peace and regularly presents peace-building concerts on the PRS grounds in Hollywood, which feature poetry, classical music, and immersive performances.

She is the subject of Courtney Sell’s feature-length documentary Peace Piece: The Immersive Poems of Mandy Kahn, released by Indie Pix and available on DVD and available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and elsewhere.

She has given readings at Cambridge University, the London Review Bookshop, and Shoreditch House in the UK, at Motto in Berlin, at Colette in Paris, at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, at the New School in New York, at the Barrick Museum in Las Vegas, and at many venues in Southern California.

In addition to writing books, Mandy Kahn regularly presents immersive poems: live works of literature that incorporate performance, audience participation, and musical technique.

Yoko Ono, John Lennon, the Beatles love peace

In 2019, she presented a program of immersive and interactive poems at the Getty Museum called “Gateways to Peace,” which was performed by a cast of seven actors and three opera singers.

Kahn has been interviewed by BBC Radio, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Flaunt magazine, among others. She is the recipient of the 2018 Shakespeare Prize in Poetry. (The Shakespeare Prize is awarded annually to a poet or playwright based in Los Angeles County; other recipients include Tom Stoppard, Ray Bradbury and Poet Laureate Dana Gioia).

• FREE TO RSVP: Peace Class | Meetup

• 

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Mandy, if peace and asking nicely don't work, we're ready to roll and give war a chance.

Black History Month begins 'Genius: MLK/X'

National Geographic, Jan. 11, 2024; Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What'cha lookin' at? - Man. you're going about this movement all wrong. - Is that right?

Genius: MLK/X | official trailer | National Geographic

(National Geographic) The newest installment of the Genius franchise, GENIUS: MLK/X, focuses on iconic civil rights era geniuses Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The series premieres Feb. 1, 2024, on National Geographic at 9:00/8:00 central and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Enjoy a free trial of National Geographic here: ngmdomsubs.nationalgeographic... #NationalGeographic #MLK #OfficialTrailer

Malcolm X on Palestine (MLK Jr. Day)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Snopes via MSN questioning Malcolm X's quote

Friends MLK and friend Buddhist monk Thai

It's wonderful to honor Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his birthday, but we often give short shrift to the amazing contributions of Malcolm X. There's no reason we cannot celebrate both. But since Malcolm is perceived as being more militant or willing to fight back in a non-Gandhiesque way, it's all MLK all the time and Malcolm who?

MLK had the bravery to speak out against the "greatest purveyor of violence in the world, this country the USA. Doing so made him persona non grata. Now everyone pretends they have always loved and supported him. But they did not. At the time he had a great friend in Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Together they spoke out against the American War Machine. They raged against the machine and got in big trouble for doing so, culminating in assassination of King. Malcolm X met the same fate, whereas Thai (Thich Nhat Hanh) survived, avoiding inflammatory language that would have gotten him assassinated. Inasmuch as we love and love to say we love all things MLK, Americans in fact do not know much about him. When asked to quote something he said -- other than "I have a dream" -- we are at a loss.

And help your brother get there, too.

We really don't learn his message, just his cult of personality. It is this way with so many important figures. Take the modern Edward Snowden. A movie gets made about him, and people come away with knowing next to nothing about what he exposed but everything about his quirks and habits. If a person is important, that person is important for the content of speeches as much as character, not less. People have defects, like MLK cheating on Mrs. Cora King. No one talks about that, but no one talks about what so moved him to speak out against the American narrative, to speak truth to power, to say American racism had to be brought down. One great quote about this struggle ran:

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

Claim: U.S. civil rights leader Malcolm X said the Palestinian struggle is “not just a cry for justice. It’s a blistering battle for the most fundamental human rights that every living soul on this planet should inherit by birthright. It’s an unyielding resistance against the oppressive suffocating grip of occupation and the callous denial of the most basic human dignity. Just as the civil rights movement in the United States fought against the chains of racial discrimination, so too do the Palestinian people.”

• TikTok video of Malcolm X saying this
• Instagram.com
• Fact Check: About that Malcolm X quote on Palestine's 'blistering battle' for 'fundamental human rights' (Snopes via msn.com)

Love, pleasure, sex -- in Buddhist perspective

Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda, A Happy Married Life: A Buddhist Perspective (accesstoinsight.org); edited by Bhante, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

The Nature of Love and Pleasure

"Love is what we are" (kickstarter.com)

There are different kinds of love. These are variously expressed as motherly love, fatherly love, sisterly love, brotherly love, sensual love, emotional love, sexual love, selfish love, selfless love, nationalist love, and universal (altruistic) love.

If people develop only their carnal and selfish love towards each other, such love cannot last long. In a "true love" relationship, one asks not how much one can get but how much one can give.

When beauty, complexion, and youth begin to fade, a husband who considers only the physical aspects of love may think of acquiring a younger one.

That type of love is animalistic love called lust. If a man really develops love as an expression of human concern for another being, he will do more than emphasize the external beauty and physical attractiveness of his partner.

The beauty and attractiveness of a partner is as much in the heart and mind than in the eyes. Likewise, a wife who follows Buddhist teachings will stay by a husband even as he becomes old, poor, or sick.

 

"I have a fear that the modern girl loves to be Juliet, to have a dozen Romeos. She loves adventure.... The modern girl dresses not to protect herself from wind, rain, and sun, but to attract attention. She improves upon nature by painting herself and looking extraordinary."  — Gandhi

Sex

 

Sex is not in and of itself "bad," although the temptation and obsessive craving for it invariably disturbs the peace of mind and so is not very conducive to spiritual development.

In the ideal situation, sex is the physical culmination of a satisfying emotional relationship, where both partners give and take more or less equally.

The portrayal of love in commercials and the mass media in Western culture is unreal love.

When a beast wants to have sex, it shows its "love." But after having sex, it just forgets about "love." For animals sex is an instinctive drive necessary for procreation.

But a human being has much more to offer to the concept of love. Duties and responsibilities are important ingredients to maintain unity, harmony, and understanding in relationships.

 

Sex is not always the most important ingredient for happiness in a married life. Those who become slaves to sex ruin the love and humanity in marriage. Apart from that, a woman must cease to consider herself as the object of a man's lust. The remedy is more in her hand than in a man's.

She must refuse to adorn herself simply to please a man, even her husband. If she wants to be an equal partner with a man, she dresses to enhance her dignity rather than to become a sex symbol. Marriage for the satisfaction of the sexual appetite is no marriage. It is concupiscence, says Gandhi.

Love may indeed be a product of sex, but the reverse is likewise true: Sex is an expression of love. In the ideally happy married life, both love and sex are inseparable.

 

The Buddha's Explanation

We can study the Buddha's teaching regarding the feelings men and women have for each other. The Buddha says that he had never seen any object in this world that attracts men's attention more than the figure of a woman.

Likewise, the main attraction for women is the figure of a man. It means that by usual nature, women and men give each other worldly pleasure.

They cannot gain happiness of this kind from any other object. When we observe very carefully, we notice that among all the things that provide pleasure, there is no other object that can please all the five senses at the same time beside the figure of a person.

The ancient Greeks knew this when they said that originally male and female were one. They were separated and the two parts that were divided are constantly seeking to be re-united as man and woman.

Pleasure

Young people by nature like to indulge in worldly pleasures that can include both good and bad (useful and harmful) stuff.

Good things -- like the enjoyment of music, poetry, dance, food, clothes, and such pursuits -- do no harm to the body.

But they distract us from noticing the fleeting nature and uncertainty of existence and thereby delay our being able to perceive the true nature of "self."

• [See the Five Aggregates and anatta or "egolessness"]

The faculties and senses of the young are very fresh and alert; they are keen to satisfy their five senses. Daily, they think about and plan ways to experience pleasure.

By the very nature of existence, one will never be completely satisfied with whatever pleasure we experience. The resultant craving in turn only creates more anxieties and worries.

 

When we think about it deeply, life is nothing but a dream. In the end, what do we gain from attachment to this life? Only more disappointments, worries, and frustrations.

We may have enjoyed moments of pleasure, but in the final analysis, we have to try to find out what the purpose of our lives is.

 

When we cease to crave for sensual pleasure and do not seek physical comfort in the company of others, the need for marriage does not arise.

Suffering and worldly enjoyment are the outcome of craving, attachment, and emotion. If we try to suppress and control our emotions by adopting unrealistic tactics, we create disturbances in our mind and our physical body.

Therefore, we must learn how to handle and restrain our human passion. Without abusing or misusing passion, we can tame our desires through proper understanding. More

Dr. Martin Luther King's LAST speech (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Divinity33372 (video); (preview)



I Have Been to the Mountaintop (full speech)

(Div) April 4th is the commemoration day of the assassination of the great Christian preacher and peace activist, civil rights leader, and Vietnam War denouncer Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was assassinated by U.S. officials in a covert operation a day after delivering this magnificent and inspiring speech/Baptist sermon. It seems to predict his demise given that he had already been threatened with being outed for some indiscretions. A personal friend and fellow Nobel Peace Prize candidate of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr. King was inspired by India's Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi, who kicked the British out of India after centuries of colonialism and abuse, through strictly NONVIOLENT means. It is the only way to long term change, because if we fight the fighters then only fighting would win. Peace must pacify the impulse to violence, war, abuse, and militarism. Audio: americanrhetoric.com.

King A Filmed Record: Montgomery to Memphis

Amy Goodman (democracynow.org, 2/25/18) via Chakura0807; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

EXCLUSIVE: Rarely seen film "King: A Filmed Record" traces MLK's struggle from Montgomery to Memphis

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh with MLK

In a Black History Month special, Democracy Now! airs excerpts of a rarely seen Oscar-nominated documentary about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the rise of the civil rights movement.

Produced by Ely Landau, King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis is made from original newsreel footage and other original video footage shot of marches, rallies, and church services. 

King was originally screened for one-night-only in 1970 in more than 600 theaters across the United States. It has rarely been seen since. Here is extensive footage from the film, featuring a historic look at the 8-year period that led up to the 1963 March on Washington, D.C.

• PHOTOS of civil rights marchers at Martin Luther King Jr.'s first national address finally go on show after being left undeveloped for 51 years
• Maya Angelou dead at 86, Oprah and Mike mourn

FULL MOVIE: King: A Filmed Record