[Buddha-l] Subject: the poignancy of Donald Lopez

[Richard Hayes]

On Jan 18, 2010, at 7:21 PM, Curt Steinmetz wrote:

> Historians have long understood that the violent intolerance of 
> Christianity and Islam is, fortunately, an aberration, when compared to 
> other religions. In particular, the seamless wedding of conversion and 
> coercion that is at the core of those two religions is unlike anything 
> found in the vast majority of other religions, including Buddhism, 
> Hinduism, Taoism and Confucianism.

I wonder which religion these texts come from.

They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may Yahweh your God be with you, as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn’t listen to your words in all that you command him, he shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:16-18)

Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God.” Joshua said, “Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. It shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap.” (Joshua 3:9-13)

It happened on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times. It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city! The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They shall come into Yahweh’s treasury.” So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. It happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword. (Joshua 6:15-21)

Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
he will be happy who rewards you,
as you have served us.
Happy shall he be,
who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock. (Psalm 137:8-9)

After you have figured out which religion contributed those gems, it might be fun to read up the part of the Pali canon in the Lankan campaign against the Damilas (Tamils) conducted by the king of Lanka in which thousands of men, women and children were killed by armies at the head of which Buddhist monks marched. When the king showed remorse for the massacre, the Buddhist monks assured him that no worthy people had died, since none of them had gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Or, if that is too far in the past for you, you might look into the role played by modern Sri Lankan bhikkhus in fomenting violence against the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

If you have a bit of time, take a peak at the Ramayana or the Mahabharata and read up on the peaceful people who would eventually be called Hindus. Or read some books on the history of India and discover how Buddhists, Hindus and Jains persecuted each other in just about every period of history. Also worth reading is a history of the Sikhs.

I'd be the last to say that the fact that human beings have always been violent toward each other is an excuse for anyone being violent now. (I'm a pacifist, remember?) So I am not citing these tragic episodes of human history to say that there is nothing for Christians to be ashamed about in their history. I am saying there is plenty for all of us to be ashamed about if we are not working toward peace and if we are fomenting scorn, contempt, disdain and condemnation of anyone whatsoever. As the Buddha supposedly said "Hatred does not stop through hatred. Hatred stops only through non-hatred." (Some namby-pamby translators, no doubt secretly proselytizing for Christianity, have replaced "non-hatred" with "love." That's how the first translation of the Dhammapada that I ever read rendered the passage in question. The preface, written by a Christian, made the outrageous claim that all major religions promote a culture of love.)

The blind humorist James Thurber was once caught in a hotel fire. After being rescued, he was asked how he had managed to remain so calm in the face of danger. He said "If I did not panic when I learned I was a human being, I'm not likely to be afraid of much of anything else."

So, Curt, take a deep breath and take stock of who you are. If you discover you're a human being, then be afraid. Be very afraid. Alternatively, see if you can find out how not to be as humans in the past have been.

Richard