Protected and sustained by all the Buddhas
Twelve boys and their coach—the Wild Boars soccer team in northern Thailand—finish practice and decide to explore a network of caves burrowing deep into the local mountainside. They do not hear the start of a monsoon downpour that quickly cuts off their exit. The rising waters force them further inside, through twisting, dipping, craggy passage-ways.
Outside, anxious parents are led to the cave entrance where the boys’ bicycles and soccer gear are neatly lined up. The call goes out and people gather by dozens, and then hundreds. The Thai military sets up a command post as concerned volunteers pour in by the thousands. Word of the plight quickly spreads all over Thailand and around the world. Expert cave divers from many countries pack their gear and rush to the remote location to help. Sometimes, though not often enough, barriers come down when children are involved.
People everywhere were riveted to this story. Yes, difficulties and tragedies are happening in countless places at all times. What made this event particularly compelling is anyone’s guess. Was it the urgency and slim likelihood of finding the boys alive, if at all? Did it seem hopeless to try to pump millions of gallons of water from the caves as more poured in through the soaked mountainsides? After so many days, what would keep the boys alive? Perhaps people just wanted to see a ray of light in the darkness that too often seems to enshroud the world. On the ninth day, two British divers discovered the group sitting on a small rise. A video shows them to be tranquil, even shyly smiling. Another video shows them still sitting there, clearly undernourished, putting their palms together one by one in a gesture of thanks toward the camera.
Imagine being trapped in a pitch-dark cave for that long, with bad air, no food, and no apparent means of escape from the rising water. Probably most people would panic, give up, or become hysterical. The boys were surely frightened, but by all accounts, they absolutely trusted their coach, a former Buddhist monk. He calmed them and had them meditate in the long hours before the rescue. The youngest of the team admitted later that when he cried, the coach held him and comforted him. When the boy emerged from the cave, his first words concerned the wellbeing of his coach. Rather than being angry with the coach, the parents praised him for looking after the boys and keeping them alive. People were concerned for him and did not want him to feel guilty. International accounts marveled at the attitude of optimism, and then of gratitude and humility of the Thai people. At the boys’ first press conference upon release from the hospital, it was noted that there was no sign of self-congratulation. They expressed only cheerfulness and deep apologies and regret for the loss of a diver.
A story can be an effective way to share something that might otherwise be difficult to grasp. Shakyamuni Buddha used stories, which eventually became sutras, to convey the dharma. What happened this month in Thailand is a true story but our teaching resonates within it. People came from all over the world and worked together to save the boys. Boundaries, nationalities, politics and beliefs did not exist. It was the world as seen from space, the way it really is, without lines drawn on a map saying, “This is mine, that is yours.” Indeed, the coach and some of the boys were stateless, being from neighboring Myanmar but without citizenship there, either. Without documents, everyone in the world would be stateless. Lack of papers does not make anyone any less human, or any less precious to other humans, as was witnessed by the thousands of people who momentarily forgot about petty distinctions in their aspiration to save the thirteen lives.
Sadly, one former Thai Navy diver lost his life in the ordeal, before his SEAL teammates could join him knowing that “a mission cannot be achieved by one person alone,” as a friend later observed. So many people did all that they could to save the lives of those who had no apparent relationship to them. This is a deep driving force, an innermost wish of life, to connect with life and in so doing, allow the infinite flow of life. It is the wisdom that knows the true reality of oneness, and the compassion that is unconditional. For a couple of weeks, it seems that people’s hearts were awakened to this reality and they were brought to act as one for the benefit of others. As momentarily enlightening beings, they had the immeasurable wisdom and compassion of a Buddha.
Several cartoons arising from the story appeared online. One shows the deceased SEAL patting a tearful baby boar on the head and saying, “It’s alright. Just grow up to be a good man, okay?” Several show the international nature of the rescue, and one shows the coach, sitting in lotus position, holding twelve little wild boars in his arms. In Thai tradition, it is likely that some of the boys will become Buddhist monks for a few years after they finish school. How much easier it will be for them to understand the dharma, having so vividly experienced it in an unforgettable story.
Namo Amida Butsu.
Gassho,
Rev. Patricia Usuki