Joseph Stalin announcing to the world at the immediate conclusion of World War 2:
"The Soviet Union announces the annexation of East Germany as an official part of the Russian state. Only Russians and, by approval of the party, other citizens of the USSR will be allowed to live in this newly-annexed part of Russia. All Germans currently living there will be dealt with as follows, unless they allowed by another country to emigrate. And they won't be allowed to leave before all of their wealth is confiscated.
"Any Germans remaining in East Germany after a year has passed will either be executed or force marched to their new homes and assignments in Siberia."
This scenario of course didn't happen - here. But it did happen in at least one of the alternate universes which are out there. In such a place, nobody in Europe or the United States could have protested Stalin's policy. Didn't the Germans embrace genocide? Surely they of all people would understand why Stalin decided to exterminate so many millions of their race.
Karmic Retribution
Hans Frank said, "A thousand years will pass and still this guilt of Germany will not have been erased." A thousand years? Loyal Nazis at the highest and lowest levels of the extermination campaigns against their fellow man will pay the karmic price during their many reincarnations over billions of years. Those loyalists who have passed away - and I include among their number those who cheered enthusiastically at all those rallies and parades - are currently roasting in hell. And, no, those who had turned to God or Jesus for forgiveness have found out: That didn't work!
Hans Frank also said this [my comments are highlighted in blue, and are in response to those words I highlighted in yellow]:
QUOTE [source: See Footnote One]:
There is still one statement of mine which I must rectify. On the witness stand [at the Nuremburg war crimes trials] I said that a thousand years would not suffice to erase the guilt brought upon our people because of Hitler's conduct in this war. [NOTE: Your people are guilty because of what they did. They were not the innocent victims of "Hitler's conduct in this war." Hitler had, shall we say, a little help in carrying out his policies.] Every possible guilt incurred by our nation has already been completely wiped out today, not only by the conduct of our war-time enemies towards our nation and its soldiers, which has been carefully kept out of this Trial, but also by the tremendous mass crimes of the most frightful sort which - - as I have now learned - - have been and still are being committed against Germans by Russians, Poles, and Czechs, especially in East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Sudetenland. Who shall ever judge these crimes against the German people?
:UNQUOTE.
[NOTE:
I want to address the section above which follows Every possible guilt. What Germany's enemies did will only somewhat reduce Germany's negative karma. The nation has yet to endure the full force of the karmic retribution for what it did - and, yes, nations as well as individuals are subject to the laws of karmic retribution (and reward, I must add). Those German supporters of Hitler who lived during the war and have since passed away and are right now screaming in hell. And, no, their pleas for forgiveness directed toward God or Jesus failed to save them.
And you too will roast in hell if you fail to take measures to save the dearly departed. Even if you were born after the war. You are part of a nation that sinned and will have to pay the price. But Buddhist practice can help reduce the severity of your punishment.
You can save your dead ancestors and can save yourself. If you engage in Buddhist practice and pray for them, that will help reduce the time they'll have to suffer. From billions of years to perhaps only a few hundred million. Right now, Germany is prospering, so it's all too easy for their citizens to be lulled into a false sense of security. I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to practice Buddhism like your hair is on fire. Abandon the Catholicism and the Lutheranism - I can't believe there's a faith bearing the name of a man (of course, Martin Luther, its founder).
Hans Frank was correct in citing the atrocities committed against Germans by its war time enemies. Those war criminals will have their own negative karma to overcome and they will also suffer in hell. And so will the American and British airmen who bombed Dresden, as well as those ordinary citizens back home who had cheered what they did. As will the descendants of the British redcoats who had wreaked so much pain and suffering in the Third World. As will Americans currently trying to force their way of life and their dominance on the rest of the world. Which is why I renounced my American citizenship over three years ago.
:NOTE]
This is my understanding of Nazism: Some people are better than others and they have a right to enslave or exterminate inferior humans. However, this is a somewhat more accurate statement: Some people appear to be better than others. There might have been profoundly accomplished Bodhisattvas who were killed in the concentration camps. They might have been members of an "inferior" race - perhaps they had been born into the Jewish tribe. Killing such a person can have a ripple effect that harms or even destroys an entire nation.
If you think you're better than someone else, it is your responsibility to embrace that man, show him loving kindness, give him alms, and - above all - encourage him to join you in Buddhist practice.
Now, you might ask, "What is Buddhist practice?" There are many opinions on this, and many teachers who run schools based on their interpretations of correct Buddhist practice. Most importantly: Overcome the Germanic tendency to ask, "Who's in charge?" Answer: The Buddha, who walks among us, is in charge and he will find ways to teach and encourage you though he rarely reveals himself. After 27 years of practice, I haven't seen Shakyamuni Buddha or any of the other trillions of Buddhas currently teaching throughout the universe.
My own recommendation:
I was an agnostic before I joined a Buddhist lay organization known as the Soka Gakkai International (SGI). I had joined at the encouragement of my friends who had recently joined in the summer of 1974. I was eventually kicked out of the SGI in 2013 as a heretic, though they didn't use that word.
My form of Buddhist practice for the last ten years has been to "read, recite, ponder, and teach to the best of my ability" the Lotus Sutra, which the Buddha identified as his highest teaching. Within the pages of the Lotus, the Buddha repeatedly states that after his (apparent!) passing in ancient India, future generations are to "read, recite, ponder, and teach to the best of my ability" the Lotus Sutra.
I read from a text often referred to as the three-fold Lotus Sutra, which is entitled:
The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras
These sutras cover almost 400-pages as translated into English by Burton Watson, and copyrighted by the Soka Gakkai in 2009, though there was an earlier version which I'd also used. I have read other English-language translations from which I've profited, but I really enjoy the Watson version's simple elegance. This text appears on-line and can be accessed at no cost. I have orally recited the three-fold Lotus over 175 times. That would make a stack fifteen feet high, since this text is about one-inch thick.
I don't have a teacher or even any fellow Buddhists to practice with. I would really enjoy the company and input of the latter, but I practice alone since no one's come into my life with whom I can practice and discuss the meanings contained within this text. Undaunted, I simply remember the Buddha's words as expressed in the Lotus, concerning "Buddha wisdom, teacherless wisdom, wisdom that comes of itself."
I don't endorse brick-and-mortar "churches," which is why I established the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus at this site, which contains 80 of my essays on various Buddhist doctrinal issues:
lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com
Though this site has had over 2,000 hits over the last few years, I've received only two comments. Maybe the virtual samgha blog site that you establish for the benefit of your circle of internet contacts will prove to be more successful than mine. I sincerely hope so and wish you the best in that endeavor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Steven Searle, just another member of the
Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and
Former Candidate for US President (2008 & 2012)
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
Footnote 1:
http://www.cwporter.com/thousand.htm
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