[Buddha-l] Buddhist pacifism

[curt]

Thank you for these links (free reading material is always appreciated 
by me) - I would be very interested in any others. Does Gombrich get 
into this in his "social history" of Theravada? I have that around 
somewhere, but I haven't yet read it. I am more interested in how things 
work out in practice. In theory I of course abhor all violence, as I 
suspect any Buddhist would. But in practice I do not believe that 
"pacifism" offers a reliable guide to correct action - and I do not 
believe that Buddhist teaching can be shown to have ever been 
interpreted as promoting such a view.
- Curt

Richard Nance wrote:

>I'm not sure what you'd count as a countexample, but the following
>passages might be worth consideration (pardon the lack of diacritics):
>
>1. The Angulimala sutta (MN 86)  An excerpt is available here:
>
>http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn-086-tb0.html
>
>Does the sutta claim that violence is *everywhere* and *at all times*
>the wrong path to take? No. But the moral lesson to be learned is, it
>seems to me, pretty clear: violence is something in which a Buddhist
>should not engage.
>
>2. For monks, killing is addressed in the parajika and pacittiya
>sections of the patimokkha.
>
>http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/vinaya/bhikkhu-pati.html
>
>(In the Theravadin vinaya, the relevant vows are parajika 3 and pacittiya 61)
>
>For commentary, cf. the (admittedly recent) English language gloss by
>Thanissaro Bhikkhu. (I don't other vinaya commentaries ready to hand,
>but I doubt seriously that Thanissaro Bhikkhu's interpretations
>diverge considerably from those advocated by earlier commentators --
>e.g. Buddhaghosa.)
>
>http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/bmc1/ch04.html
>http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/bmc1/ch08-7.html#61
>
>Cf. also:
>http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/vinaya/bhikkhuni-pati.html
>
>The Uposatha-atthangika Sutta
>(http://accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel206/visakha.html)
>offers recommendations specifically targeted to laypersons.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>R. Nance
>
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