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Buddhism and War
Posted on September 22, 2003 in Morals & Ethics Peace
Thursday’s news that revealed that the Dalai Lama told an interviewer that he thought force might be necessary in the War on Terror didn’t get much press, probably because the reputed incarnation of Buddha on Earth qualified himself.
“Terrorism is the worst kind of violence, so we have to check it, we have to take countermeasures,” he remarked in a New York hotel room. He said that he thought it was “too soon to tell” if the Iraq war was for good or for evil.
But he emphasized that “the real antidote” to terrorism in the long run is “compassion, dialogue – peaceful means” – even with terrorists.
“We have to deal with their motivation,” he said.” Terrorism comes out of hatred, and also short-sightedness.”
He likened Osama bin Laden to a butcher who has grown inured to slaughtering animals. With terrorists, he said, applying a Buddhist analysis, “their whole mind is dominated by negative emotions.”*
Despite popular belief, Buddhists have gone to war. During the heyday of Buddhism on the Indian subcontinent, emperors such as Harsha of Kanauj and Dharmapala of Binhar and Bengal waged wars of expansion quite avidly, despite their faith. The Buddha himself spoke against war, but just as Constantine the Great negated the nonviolent Gospel of Jesus, so, too, did these rulers ignore the hindering passages in the Buddha’s teachings.
In Japan, Zen Buddhism became the religion of choice for samurai. The Dalai Lamas maintained a small, but modern army. Buddhists in Vietnam took active part, mostly on the Communist side (because the other side, which was Catholic, actively oppressed Buddhists for a time). Today in Ceylon, a Buddhist majority fights off Tamil separtists.
The point is that there is nothing magical about saying that you are of a particular faith when it comes to the way you live your life. Many people take on the title of Believer, but fail to show it through practice. They live pretty much as they please. The one thing that can be said for Buddhists is that, on the whole, they do a better job of living out their founder’s message of peace and nonaggression than Christians do. It’s the message that makes the religion, not the name.
For a faith that has ardently practiced nonviolence, we must turn to the Jains. On another day.
