ZPI SHORT - "To Live Is To Kill": A Starting Point For Our Training As Peacemakers
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Rev. Cristina Moon speaks on the importance of cultivating a fighting spirit to make peace, and on Zen Master Omori Sogen’s teaching that “to live is to kill.” These have important implications for how to begin our training as peacemakers, and the intensity and depth of training that this role can require. Reflecting on three and a half years living at Chōzen-Ji and a lifetime as a peace activist, sometimes on the front lines, Cristina will share some of the principles and practicalities of the Chōzen-Ji training method and lessons within it for the important task of peacemaking. Specifically, Cristina will explore how the planet and humanity need people who have trained themselves in the deepest possible way, to the level of monastic training, in order to lead in the face of the unprecedented, existential challenges we now face. Related to peace, this means that much needed are the peacemakers who have trained themselves to be calm and fearless in the midst of calm. She will share examples, including how Budō (武道 “Way of Samurai”) can allow the trainees to “stress test” their peace skills in conflict, again and again, asking questions such as: “Can you still hold your kamae (構え”form”) even when you are about to fall over and faint? Can you find the source of strength to keep fighting when it feels like you have nothing left?” Rev. Cristina Moon spent 15 years working in various social and political movements, advocating for a Free Burma and the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide, and then helping to build the world’s fastest-growing platform for online activism, Change.org. After graduating from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2016, she worked at the Mindfulness Training Institute started at Google. Since 2018, she has lived at Daihōnzan Chōzen-Ji, a Rinzai Zen temple and martial arts Dōjō in Hawaii, where she is now an ordained priest.

ZPI SHORT - "To Live Is To Kill": A Starting Point For Our Training As Peacemakers