[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist pacifism

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2005-10-17 at 13:36 -0400, curt wrote:

> Now you know how I feel about preachy pacifists.

Yes, they have the same effect on me.

> Obviously you have to decide where to draw the line, and no one has a 
> monopoly on where the right place is to draw the line.

Discussions about various places to draw the line are helpful, I think.
One of the many signs of the death of American democracy is that there
are few discussions these days that do not turn into one or more
opposing camps of people who speak much and listen little.

> Hmmm, are pacifists against the "violence" of anti-biotics?

The pacifists I know are opposed to unnecessary killing. Of course there
are plenty of disagreements about what killing is unnecessary. My own
position is that no taking of human life is ever necessary, and so I
oppose all wars and the death penalty. But when I have the misfortune to
live in a society that goes to war and executes criminals, my opposition
takes the feeble form of speaking out against the practices and trying
to persuade others.  I also find the killing of animals unnecessary in
the sense that it is perfectly possible to survive, and even to thrive,
without it. As for antibiotics, I personally have resisted using them
most of the time, but I have taken courses of them to combat especially
strong infections that I have acquired in Asia. Of course I realize that
taking antibiotics is killing organisms and is therefore an action to
which I am opposed, and I see this as a sign that I still have
attachments and take it for granted that those attachments will cause me
my share of dukkha. I look forward to the day when I have eliminated
those attachments and can die with equanimity of whatever micro-organism
comes my way.

>  How about the "violence" of that mass murderer: the immune 
> system? What is the "justification" for defending oneself against diseases?

To defend oneself is a form of attachment. There is no justification for
it, nor is there a need for one. People have attachments, and because of
them they experience suffering. There is nothing more to be said about
it, is there?

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico