"War begins when we harden our hearts, and we harden them easily — in minor ways and then in quite serious, major ways, such as hatred and prejudice — whenever we feel uncomfortable. It's so sad, really, because our motivation in hardening our hearts is to find some kind of ease, some kind of freedom from the distress that we're feeling."

"Someone once gave me a poem with a line in it that offers a good definition of peace: 'Softening what is rigid in our hearts.' W can talk about ending war and we can march for ending war, we can do everything in our power, but war is never going to end as long as our hearts are hardened against each other."

These wise words come from Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa, the renowned Tibetan meditation master. She is resident teacher at Gampo Abbey, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This brief work offers profoundly helpful spiritual practices to enable us to work for peace in this violent and troubled world.

One way we harden our hearts is through fundamentalism. Chodron turns the tables on those of us who don't think we are fundamentalists in our beliefs by pointing out that we can fall into this pose when we shut down toward others or strike a rigid attack on someone with a differing political viewpoint. Thanks to the media exposure of their stances, many of us find ourselves shouting nasty comments to the television about Christian or Islamic fundamentalists. Rarely do we apply the same epithet to ourselves. A closed mind and a clenched fist make for a polarized world awash with hatred and aggression. Self-righteousness feels good but it is a dangerous attitude in these troubled times. See the excerpt for a vignette about the kind of anger that can be incarnated as fundamentalism.

The journey toward peace in our own lives and in the world begins with the practice of patience. So much of the aggression around us is brought on by our feelings of uneasiness in a shaky and groundless world where there is nothing to hang on to. Chodron sees the real work of the peacemaker here:

"So when you're like a keg of dynamite just about to go off, patience means just slowing down at that point — just pausing — instead of immediately acting on your usual, habitual response. You refrain from acting, you stop talking to yourself, and then you connect with the soft spot. But at the same time you are completely and totally honest with yourself about what you are feeling. You are not suppressing anything; patience has nothing to do with suppression. In fact, it has everything to do with a gentle, honest relationship with yourself."

Within patience are fearlessness and playfulness. It takes a lot of courage to not give in to our feelings of anger, revenge, and aggressiveness. Playfulness comes in when we stop trying to resolve things or make things go our way. Chodron suggests the slogan: "Lower your standards and relax as it is." Patience means easy does it.

Another way of de-escalating violence in our private and public lives is to not get caught by it when a powerful emotion propels us in that direction:

"In Tibetan there is a word that points to the root cause of aggression, the root cause also of craving. It points to a familiar experience that is at the root of all conflict, all cruelty, oppression, and greed. This word is shenpa. The usual translation is 'attachment,' but this doesn't adequately express the full meaning. I think of shenpa as 'getting hooked.' "

The trick is to nip shenpa in the bud and turn away from our feelings of pain, uneasiness, and fear, whether they overtakes us while we are standing in a line somewhere or hide out in our anger at another driver who has cut ahead of us. Peace is impossible when we are hooked on aggression as the way to handle things. Chodron shares a cartoon she once saw of three fish swimming around a hook. One fish says to the others, "The secret is nonattachment." Shenpa in the Tibetan tradition means don't bite the hook.

The author suggests that we change our attitude toward pain and begin to see it as having a great deal to teach us. She points out that compassionate abiding is another ally in creating a more peaceful world. Chodron ends with a very powerful chapter on using our insecurity as a tool for spiritual growth. Here is a glimpse of this radical approach:

"We've been trying the same ways of getting comfortable for as long as we can remember, and yet our aggression, our anxiety, our resentfulness don’t seem to be getting any less. I'm saying that we need to develop an appetite for groundlessness; we need to get curious about it and be willing to pause and hang out for a while in that space of insecurity."

Practicing Peace in Times of Trouble brings together the rich reservoir of Tibetan Buddhist insights into human nature and the spiritual practices that will be most helpful for those who want both peace of mind and peace on earth. Working with patience, an open heart, fearlessness, and the soft spot of our uneasiness; having the willingness to walk through our insecurity without holding on to anything: these are steps that can bring us to a better place than war in the family, on the streets, or in various countries around the world.