[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[Richard Hayes]

On Jul 20, 2010, at 4:38 AM, Artur Karp wrote:

> The Polish Institute of National Rememberance has numerous files
> confirming and documenting in detail active cooperation of some highly
> placed Roman Catholic priests  with different outbranchings of the
> State Security Services.
> 
> But, perhaps, naively:
> 
> the Buddhists?

I can't speak for what Polish Buddhists may have been doing, but I do recall reading many years ago in Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra that Buddhist monks make ideal spies, because they can move about freely in crowds and people tend to trust them. My guess is that over the centuries there must surely have been Buddhist monks who pursued careers in espionage. But that is only a guess.

Richard