[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist pacifism

[Joy Vriens]

James A. Stroble wrote:

> So Joy, ya got my back?  (We really have to stop using these combative
> terms to refer to our debate here!)

You have been of a perfect clarity and don't need any help. Dan can 
relax. :-)

When I read passages from Zen at war or similar texts, and reports about 
Lama Zhang from the Tibetan tradition, I am very much reminded of the 
desinterested action (also in a war context...) of the Bhagavad gita or 
even of the notion of spontaneous Buddha activity. Is there any link?

"This is Zen bushido in action: Killing as high art. The soldiers are 
being taught the perfect etiquette in beheading - the exact way to 
cleanse the sword, the proper way to swing the weapon, the strong virile 
shout. With this image in mind, consider the following passage that D. 
T. Suzuki wrote at the same time as the Nanking massacre: "... the art 
of swordsmanship distinguishes between the sword that kills and the 
sword that gives life. The one that is used by a technician cannot go 
any further than killing.... The case is altogether different with the 
one who is compelled to lift the sword. For it is really not he but the 
sword itself that does the killing. He had no desire to harm anybody, 
but the enemy appears and makes himself a victim. It is though the sword 
automatically performs its function of justice, which is the function of 
mercy…. the swordsman turns into an artist of the first grade, engaged 
in producing a work of genuine originality."

No thinking = No-mind = No-self = No karma or acting which is free of 
the three circles (subject, object and action) and which is therefore 
non-action.

So either one totally effaces one's self, dissolves it, so that one 
becomes a selfless actor or rather actorless activity, a totally 
obedient (because not opposing any resistance) link in a chain, becoming 
one with whatever programme needs to be carried out, or one retains a 
bit of Tom's "personal ontological purity", a bit of personal judgement 
about what it is right or wrong and the possibility to resist that 
programme or the "general interest". Making choices creates anxiety and 
responsibility. One can be much more in peace when no choices need to 
made. One's own purity doesn't need to be a selfish concern and is 
therefore not necessarily a comfortable thing.

Joy