[Buddha-l] Buddhism & War

[James A Stroble]

On Wednesday 20 September 2006 09:18, curt wrote:
> Richard Hayes wrote:
> > On Wednesday 20 September 2006 08:29, curt wrote:
> >> The single most important defining characteristic of pacifism is it's
> >> rejection of "defensive" violence - including especially defensive wars.
> >
> > I have spent most of my adult life hanging around people who define
> > themselves as pacifists, and I have never encountered a position such as
> > the one you state.
>
> This is one of Richard's trademark "I have never heard of such a thing"
> statements. In case anyone takes his little joke seriously, here is some
> relevant data:

<Data deleted.
<
>
> Some modern-day pacifists (and/or "nonviolence advocates") have gotten
> too smart for themselves and don't realize how annoying their
> prevarications have become. The above examples represent forthright and
> plainspoken pacifism. Short of such sweeping and principled rejections
> of violence qua violence the words "pacifism" and "non-violence" become
> meaningless, seeing as how pretty much everyone agrees that war in
> particular and violence in general are bad things. Unless one wants to
> proclaim "I'm a pacifist - just like everyone else."
>
> - Curt
 
As St. Paul said, if your Buddha-l offend thee, poke it in the eye.  I am 
sorry that you are annoyed, Curt,  But I still don't see anything like what 
Richard has never heard of.  Any one, even pacifists, can distinguish between 
better and worse motivations for the use of violence, but that does not 
entail that there is any completely justifiable use of force, only that there 
are some that are less blameable.  And this is perfectly compatible with the  
general position that all war is bad and that violence is always wrong.  

What we would want for a polemic buddhism would not be that much different 
that what St, Augustine would require, upaya, skillful means where violence 
could be used for good in such a way as to break the chains of causality and 
karma and result in a "better world". Proper action, without attachment to 
the fruits?  Sounds like the Bhavagada Gita to me!



-- 
James A. Stroble
www2.hawaii.edu/~stroble