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Whenever I read about the history of Native Americans and their interactions with our Government and Cavalry, I am brought to tears. Especially the account of the massacre at Wounded Knee in December 1890 where in less than an hour, 300 Lakota men, women and children were killed and wounded.
"I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream ... the nation's hope is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead." ~Black Elk, Oglala Lakota medicine man (1863-1950)
organized by my friends at the Zen Peacemakers - Bernie Glassman, Eve Marko and Genro Gauntt - and three Lakota elders - Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Birgil Kills Straight, and Tuffy Sierra. The retreat takes place in the Black Hills of South Dakota August 10 - 14.
For the Lakota, the Black Hills define the heart of the Earth. It is one of the oldest geographic formations of the North American continent. Native Americans have always been here they say.
These same Black Hills have been stolen and exploited by white Americans over the past 200 years for their silver, gold and uranium. There are estimates of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of open-air uranium pits leeching uranium into water cisterns serving the Pine Ridge Reservation.
The purpose of the retreat is to bear witness to the genocide of the American Indians that began in the early 1500's and the injustice and abuse that continues today through institutional violence. We will visit the Pine Ridge Reservation and also Wounded Knee.
I go also to bear witness to the earth. We are camping on land belonging to the Flandreau Santee Sioux in the Black Hills. I don't camp often, but I feel that this will be a good way to reconnect to the earth.
The retreat will be multi-faith and multinational in character. Our interaction in our five days together will be governed by the Seven Laws of the Lakota:
- Wacante Oganake: Be generous
- Wowaunsila: Have Compassion
- Wowauonihan: Give Respect and Honor
- Wowacintanka: Have Patience and Tolerance
- Woohitike: Be Guided By Your Principles, Disciplined, Brave and Courageous
- Woksape: Cultivate Understanding and Wisdom.
The retreat is also based on the Zen Peacemaker Order's Three Tenets:
- Not-Knowing, giving up fixed ideas about ourselves and the universe
- Bearing Witness to the joy and suffering of the world
- Taking Action that arises from the first two Tenets.
I don't know what the outcomes will be on this retreat. I just feel a deep calling to go and bear witness to what happened there. Practicing Not-Knowing and Bearing Witness are the first two tenets of a Zen Peacemaker. And if one is faithful to that practice, the third tenet, Action, naturally arises.
Twenty years ago I went on the first Auschwitz Bearing Witness Retreat organized by the Zen Peacemakers. This death camp was a place I was very, very fearful of, but I went anyway, and it was life changing for me. It galvanized how I feel about living my life and serving through our Zen center and my hula school.
I am doing a begging practice to raise $1,750 to attend this retreat. The sum includes tuition, airfare and a night's lodging. Camping will be free during the retreat itself. Half of my tuition ($600) will pay for a Native American's full scholarship to the retreat. I am putting together a mala (prayer beads) that will symbolize your generosity and my gratitude.
- A gift of $100 or more will dedicate a large bead for you on my mala.
- Whatever you can give will be for each small bead
This completed mala will be worn as a lei close to my heart when I go to the retreat.
I will write about the experience, take photos and give a talk at our Sunday Morning Zen. If you're not able to attend the talk, I will send you an audio and visual to you.
I hope that you will be a part of my next adventure.
Malama pono (take care of your body, mind and heart),
June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue
Kumu Hula and Zen Priest
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