[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[andy]

Alright, Denizens  of buddha-l,  I went back and read my original two 
questions relating to _Buddhist Warfare_,  and I now can see that you should 
never ask two questions where one will suffice.  Some observations and a 
little of where I am coming from: 

     Justification of Violence.  

Even in the European tradition, there are only two justified uses of war.  
There are many more unjustified uses, 
The first is what Augustine calls an "earthly peace", that is "the well-
ordered conconrd of civic obedience and rule, [which] is the combination of 
men's wills to attain the things which are helpful to this life." (City of God 
19:17)  I have argued, sometimes without success since Vajrapani seems to have 
been otherwise occupied at the time, that Christian Just War is a secular 
doctrine which only concerns social order, and that otherwise Augustine was a 
pacificist.  

I would suggest a similiar stance exists in Buddhism, with significant 
differences.  Where Augustine pre-dates the Xian monastic tradition (I may be 
wrong, St Dominic?), Buddhism starts with it, and the rather sharp distinction 
between the religious life and that of the householder. Again, Vedic religion 
is the context Buddhism arose from, and the division of labor between the 
Kshatriya and Brahmin leads to a dualism that parallels Augustine's "City of 
God" and "City of Man":  the Sangha and kings.  But where Augustine develops 
Just War doctrine as a way of allowing Christians to take the reins of power 
in the Late Roman empire without violating the "shall not kill" commandment, I 
think Buddhism originally at least acknowledges the role of secular power with 
out condoning it. 

Making the case for this would take quite a while, so I will leave it at that, 
other than to mention that the cakravartin ideal as expounded in the 
Cakkavatti Sutta seems to suggest that the necessity for violence in domestic 
order stems from monarchic incompetence. 

The second form of justified war is, of course, holy war.  For Augustine, the 
divine command in this case is justification, and it is wrong to question it 
(though I often point out that you have to be careful that it really is a 
divine command, and not something significantly lower [_Contra Faustus_ 
22.75]).  But more often a holy war is characterized as being the defense of 
trancendent value. Since Buddhism, if I understand it correctly (and according 
to Richard, I do!), denies trancendence, it should be impossible, logically, 
for holy war to exist in Buddhism.   

But as we have seen with the discussion of Mahavamsa by Artur and Lance,  
Duṭṭhagāmaṇi goes to war, at least ostensibly, to defend the dharma, and is 
granted some degree of absolution because of this.  John Yoder has lined out 
the differences between just and holy war in his book _When War Is Unjust_, 
and I have posted his list here <http://www.aloha.net/~stroble/yoder.html>  
With reference to the devaluing of the enemy, see #3.  And if anyone has read 
_Buddhist Warfare_,  I think we can see a pattern in Buddhism becoming 
entangled in nationalism, especially in the Sinhalese situation, but also in 
Thailand with Jerryson's article, Japan in WWII of course with Victoria's 
critique, and most interestingly, in Communist China as examined by Xue Yu. 
Not to mention Tibet, which I did not mention.  All these I take to be a 
corruption of the dharma, but I could be wrong.  

So, my two questions have now seven parts, like my head.  Buddhist 
justifications of violence can be listed (provisionally) like this? 

1. Violence of forced conversions  (our discussion of the Cūḷasaccaka sutta.)
 1.5  Metaphorical violence? 
2. Violence as necessary for secular order (violence of kings, law and order)
3.  Violence in the defense of Buddhist teachings.  (I am sceptical of this.)
4. Violence of the divine protectors of Buddhism (more on this soon)
5. Violence in defense of a Buddhist government. Buddhism as an ally?
6. Violence in the cosmic struggle against evil . . (Manicheanism)
7. Violence as farting (thanks, Eric!  But if depends how much Dhukka is 
produced!)
8,  Violence of the eight-fold path, just because I thought there should be 8. 

I have learned a lot from the exchanges so far. Thanks to all who have 
contributed. 
-- 
James Andy Stroble, PhD
Lecturer in Philosophy
Department of Arts & Humanities
Leeward Community College
University of Hawaii

Adjunct Faculty 
Diplomatic and Military Studies
Hawaii Pacific University 

_________________

"The amount of violence at the disposal of any given country may soon not be a 
reliable indication of the country's strength or a reliable guarantee against 
destruction by a substantially smaller and weaker power."  --Hannah Arendt