[Buddha-l] Buddhist pacifism

[Joy Vriens]

curt wrote:

> I would love to hear a pacifist 
> Buddhist explain what it would mean, in practice, for Buddhists "in 
> power" to promote pacifism.

Yesterday I watched an interview with Michel Serres, a French 
philosopher. He is from the region where Catharism (with its Manichaean 
leaning) was once born and says it is still very present in his 
psychological make-up. In this vision the world is the creation of an 
evil genius and the nearer one gets to power, the nearer one gets to 
evil. He explained that being a brilliant student when he came home with 
good notes, his father (even stronger influenced by the Manichaean 
outlook) would slap him, because it would bring him higher up in the 
hierarchy, nearer to power and therefore nearer to evil. And he himself 
is still very much convinced of this.  So from that point of view a 
Buddhist "in power" would very much be a contradiction in terms.

Joy