Malala ~ She Who Hears the Cries of the World

In the Zen tradition there's a figure called Avalokiteshvara, described as the embodiment of compassion. This being is known by other names: Kwan Yin, Mother Mary, and is said to transcend the idea of gender, race or creed. A translations of her name is, "she who hears the cries of the world." One beloved image is her sitting in water/moon pose ~  a very relaxed posture with one foot pulled up comfortably, yet ready to propel her upward for action, and the other touching the earth, grounded in solidity. The first time I heard Malala Yousafzai speak, the image on the right ~ water/moon was what I envisioned. 

Malala was 14 years old at the time of her unfortunate introduction to the world, having been shot by the Taliban in Pakistan for going to school. The world seemed to wake up overnight as we watched her struggle for life. Malala was highlighted in my Freedom Series tab in the first blog post in 2012 commending her amazing spirit: "There is this quality in me--I'm ready in all situations." 

Since then, brave and fearless Malala Yousafzai has stepped out of her relaxed childhood identity with both feet touching the earth, responding to the cries of the world, specifically to the voices of women and girls in the Middle East. 

She reported a few weeks ago, "On August 9 in Boston, I woke up at 5:00 am to go to the hospital for my latest (6th) surgery and saw the news that the Taliban had taken Kunduz, the first major city to fall in Afghanistan," she writes. "Over the next few days, with ice packs and a bandage wrapped around my head, I watched as province after province fell to men with guns, loaded with bullets like the one that shot me."

In my first blog post, Malala spoke of a quality that is ready in any circumstance. What is this quality? It is a heart of great compassion. For many years, I've studied the quality of compassion and never has it been needed like right now. All around is epic suffering: pandemic, record drug overdoses, suicides, forest fires raging 15 miles away as I type this. What is this quality that is ready? A compassionate heart turned towards suffering, meeting it head on, rather than turning away. 

A heart of great compassion resides in those who hold a posture of open-hearted awareness, refusing to be hardened--knowing that to turn towards our pain is the most direct path to freedom and liberation. It does not work, obviously, to anesthetize, isolate, and separate.

Malala's response to what she sees going on around her, grows my own capacity to respond, "Nine years later, I am still recovering from just one bullet. The people of Afghanistan have taken millions of bullets over the last four decades," Yousafzai writes. "My heart breaks for those whose names we will forget or never even know, whose cries for help will go unanswered."

Malala, you enter the stream of spiritual and blood ancestors who embrace this walk of deep listening and responding with a heart of compassion. I am renaming you, "She Who Hears The Cries Of The World." 

Will we wake up alongside you? Will we allow our hearts to soften, open, grow and be moved? 

Artist: Seol Min, Korean nun