[Buddha-l] Compassionate Violence?

[Dan Lusthaus]

> Of course, this is based on a belief in
> the efficacy of force in producing peace, which is what I have not
> found any Buddhist argument for.

You will find it laid out in detail in the Bodhisattvabhumi section of the 
Yogacarabhumi -- and picked up by many Chinese and Tibetan commentators 
(e.g., Kuiji and Tsongkhapa), on the justification for killing a tyrant. The 
assassination early on of a Tibetan king who was persecuting and, Tibetans 
believe, preventing Buddhism from taking root in Tibet by a monk, is 
considered one of the heroic founding moments of Tibetan Buddhist history, 
and the monk who did it is a national hero; the Bodhisattvabhumi passage is 
cited as his doctrinal justification. Paul Williams' book on Mahayana 
Buddhism discusses that. When the US entered Afghanistan in response to 
9/11, chasing out the Taliban that been persecuting non-Muslims and 
oppressing Muslims not adhering to the standards they insisted upon, 
Tibetans supported the US actions by alluding to the Bodhisattvabhumi's 
doctrine, equating the Taliban with tyrants. Check the buddha-l archives --  
I have spelled it out here a number of times in the past. Mark Tatz deals 
with it in his book on Asanga's ethics, I have a piece coming out in a book 
on Levinas and Asian Thought that cites the key passages, etc.

Dan