[Buddha-l] Buddhism & War

[James A. Stroble]

On Saturday 16 September 2006 06:35, Ngawang Dorje wrote:
> Hi,
>
>   It is said that Buddhism have never got involve in war.
>
>   However, I found this passage quoted in a book:
>
>   "The Sri Lankan Buddhist text, the Mahavamsa, presents itself as a
> historical chronicle describing the various wars and conquests by the
> Buddhist Sri Lankan dynasty of kings."
> http://atheism.about.com/library/world/KZ/bl_SriLankaBuddhismEarly.htm
>
<snip>
>
>   The same book I was reading says:
>
>   "Apparently it is legitimate to use someone's mother as a hostage in
> Buddhism."
>
>   Opinions will be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>   Thanks,
>   Rahula
>


At the risk of repeating myself, I would like to point out that we have 
discussed this several times before, and Franz Metcalf was gracious enough to 
provide a summary of the past discussions, which I wll paste below for those 
who have not seen it.  

Further, I am somewhat bothered by the attempts to come up with a 
Buddhist "just war" doctrine in Sri Lanka.  As I like to point out to my 
theistic friends, an absolute being that needs us to defend him (or her) is 
far from being an absolute being. I would assume the same would apply to 
Buddhism:  the truth just is, it does not need defending with violence. Thus 
the various cases of Buddhist nations justifying violence usually had more to 
do with national identity than with Buddhism per se. 

I also found a short paper by Prof. Premasiri  here:

http://www.buddhistinformation.com/place_for_a_righteous_war_in_bud.htm

There is also a link to a response by Damien  Keown.   

Here is the earlier posting by Franz:   
> 10/13/05 02:00 pm

> Gang,
> (in my town, we have plenty of women gang members)
>
> On buddha-l we've had several discussions much like this. Looking
> through posts I've saved from those threads, I find several references
> given by various members of buddha-l. I've been thinking of collecting
> them and I do so now, ad majorem buddhi gloriam. (Diversionary note:
> Here I've assigned the masculine gender to "Buddha," despite its "a"
> ending indicating the feminine gender in Latin. Perhaps I should I have
> written "buddhae." How *is* "Buddha" written in Latin, anyway?)
>
> First, though James was too genteel to mention it, if you'd like to
> read more of his convincing analysis of this issue, see James Stroble,
> "Buddhism and War: A Study of the Status of Violence in Early Buddhism"
> at http://www2.hawaii.edu/%7Estroble/BUDDWAR.HTM
>
> For an opposing view, see _The Budhha Taught Nonviolence, Not Pacifism_
> by Paul Fleischman, M.D. published by Pariyatti Press;
> http://www.pariyatti.com. I've not read the book, but the excerpt is
> available online at
> http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/2002a/nonviolence.htm is plenty
> maddening enough for me.
>
> A classic article by Paul Demieville was first published as “Le
> bouddhisme et la guerre," postscript to _l'Histoire des moines
> guerriers du Japon_ by Gaston Renondeau, _Mélanges publiés par
> l’Institut des Hautes Etudes chinoises_, v1, Paris, 1957, p347-385. It
> might be easier to find in Paul Demiéville, _Choix d'Etudes bouddhiques
> (1929-1970)_, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1973, p261-299.
>
> When we discussed this issue on buddha-l in 2003, Nobu Iyanaga promised
> he would try to except and comment on Demiéville's article. He more
> than fulfilled his promise, also including lengthy and articulate posts
> from buddha-l (back when there was a high proportion of Buddhist
> scholars on it). You can read his good work at:
> http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~n-iyanag/buddhism/buddhism_war.html
>
> For those who care about contemporary Sri Lankan positions: "In Defense
> of Dharma: Just-War Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka" By Tessa
> Bartholomeusz, http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/6/bartho991.htm
>
> Schmithausen, Lambert. 1999.  "Aspects of the Buddhist Attitude to War"
> in _Violence Denied: Violence, Non-Violence and the Rationalization of
> Violence in South Asian Cultural History_, edited by J. E. M. Houben
> and K. R. van Kooij (Leiden: Brill), pp. 45–67.
>
> "Can a Buddhist Join the Army?"
> http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/whatbudbeliev/290.htm
>
> Buddhism & The Soldier, by Major General Ananda Weerasekera,
> http://www.beyondthenet.net/thedway/soldier.htm
>
> Can We Justify War?
> http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/whatbudbeliev/287.htm
>
> And, from the Pali Canon, SN III.15: Sangama Sutta, SN XLII.3:
> Yodhajiva Sutta, and SN III.14:Sangama Sutta. (For canonical Mahayana
> sources, see Iyanaga-sensei's article, cited above.)
>
> Peacefully,
>
> Franz

-- 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ; ~ ) 
     J a m e s   ( A n d y )   S t r o b l e 
          H o n o l u l u ,   H I 
      h t t p : / / w w w 2 . h a w a i i . e d u / ~ s t r o b l e / 

:The right way to seize a philosopher. Crates, is by the ears: persuade me  
then and drag me off by them; but if you use violence, my body will be with 
you, but my mind with Stilpo."  Zeno of Citium, Diogenes Laertius, VII:24