Killing Ignorance?

I have seen the couple of people comment upon this article by Spirit Rock Meditation Center co-founder James Baraz. In it, he suggests the usual enemy is ignorance.

The real villain in this story is not Jared Loughner. It's not the media. And it's not the gun rights advocates. The real villain is ignorance. Because of ignorance, people plan their fear as well as spin those who are different in to enemies -- both in their minds as well as in actuality. This is the history of war, as Sam Keen brilliantly forked out in Faces of the Enemy. Once we demonize the "other" they turn less than human as well as we can inflict pain upon them without guilt or shame.

Seems pretty accurate, right?

Well, afterwards we celebration of the mass the chapter in Zen Teacher Reb Anderson's book Being Upright about the initial precept, as well as he says this:

If we try to kill ignorance, afterwards we will kill the tangible hold up of your body as well as mind.

I don't consider these two teachers are in conflict, though the concentration upon stupidity as the "villain" is perhaps the nice metaphorical change (i.e. relocating the anger as well as censure from the person or group as well as placing it upon ignorance), though it seems to be the good way to lead people astray.

Villains are customarily despised, even mostly by alternative villains. And assault tends to be about harming or eliminating perceived villains. So it's not hard to see the leap which could be done here. Instead of harming or perplexing to eliminate others, the long knife or gun or weapon of preference is turned inward. In the immeasurable infancy of cases, not literally, though more of the clarity of "self hatred" for all the stupidity which is found inside of (and is mirrored in the world).

I have mostly identified with the bodhisattva figure Manjushri, whose long knife is said to cut by delusion! . It's e asy to get drawn in to devising which he is all the time swinging which thing, similar to the samurai, though it's unequivocally more the representative of satisfied knowledge which cuts by delusions. So, tangible swinging as well as cutting or not isn't the point.

So, whilst we agree with Baraz which the collective change of people focusing upon the stupidity which leads to demonization as well as assault would be the good thing, it's important not to slip in to something similar to the fight upon ignorance, whether as people or as members of societies. That's just an additional dualistic trap in my opinion.