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BUDDHISM AND ARMED CONFLICT m C ontrary to popular without the individuals who opinion, the world's oldest live in the world first becom- profession most probably is ing peaceful. Therefore the not prostitution. It is war. best way to help establish Since time immemorial, world peace is to cultivate a humans have relied upon peaceful mind within oneself. violence and the straight-on This will then extend out- attack as the quickest solution ward, and will positively to a prickly problem. impact family and friends. All world religions speak This in turn increases the of world peace as an ideal, peace of the community, and and sometimes even as an that contributes to the peace achievable quality in certain of human society in general." periods of human history. Does this mean that However, like most spiritual Buddhism has nothing to say traditions emanating from about social institutions and India, Buddhism does not their impact upon the emer- think that the present era gence of a peaceful society? qualifies for that luxury. We Not at all. There is also live in the Kali Yuga, or dark plenty of Buddhist literature age, when violence and con- with advice on how the powers flict are norms of human society rather than exceptions to the that be can establish those kinds of infrastructures that would general rule. encourage peaceful living. However, these remain secondary, and For that reason Buddhism has always placed its emphasis can only work effectively when the individual takes responsibil- upon an attainable individual peace, or nirvana, rather than an ity for his or her own peaceful nature. unattainable pie-in-the-sky world peace. As the eighth century The problem is that, when an Indian master Shantideva put it, "One can never remove all individual lacks the foundations thorns from the world, nor cover the entire world with leather of inner peace, the presence of to make it seem less thorny. However, by covering one's own outer peace merely leads to foot with a leather sandal it is as though all the world has been boredom; then in turn the covered with soft leather, and all thorns removed." He goes on bored and idle mind natu- to say that this "leather sandal of the mind" is nothing other rally becomes frustrated and than the inner peace established through cultivating a mindset irritable, and ends up creat- deeply founded upon gentleness and non-violence. ing conflict with others as a It may seem that Shantideva's approach is somewhat ego- form of distraction. centric, and that it ignores the seemingly bigger problem of Buddha nonetheless himself by Glenn H. Mullin social responsibility. However, the present Dalai Lama suggests spoke of the important role that that concentrating on one's own inner peace is also an effective political and social institutions play in method of contributing to world peace. maintaining world peace. Sutras such as The Avatamsaka, or As he put it in Kindness, Clarity and Insight, "World peace Discourse on the Vastness of Being; and also in The Saciclharma- depends upon individual peace. We cannot have world peace pundarika, or Sutra of the White Lotus touch upon the MANDALA • MARCH - MAY 2002 PAGE 9 BUDDHISM AND ARMED CONFLICT subject directly. Five hundred years later the Indian master Buddhist masters. Sometimes the monks would add, "However, Nagarjuna summarized many of Buddha's essential ideas in his it isn't appropriate to kill the animal oneself, or to accept hav- Suhrlleka, or Letter in Friendship to a King. Shantideva refers ing an animal slaughtered specifically for oneself." to many of these in his Shikshasamuccha, or Compendium of Essentially there are two ways to practice Buddhism: the way Trainings. of the ordained sangha, i.e., the monk or nun; and the way of the Again in Tibet the Buddhist ideas on social respon- layperson. A monk or nun should not kill an animal sibility are well expressed in the Mani Kabum, or Pre- in order to eat it, nor should he or she allow cious Vase of Jewel Instructions, a work attributed anyone else to do so on his or her behalf. to King Songtsen Gampo but in fact written This guideline was given to the sangha by down several centuries later as a compendium the Buddha, and was to be observed dur- of the ideals Songtsen Gampo embodied. ing their early morning round of begging Sakya Pandita also touches upon the subject in food for the day. Were the patron to say, his Lekshey Rinchen Trengwa, or Jewel Garland "Wait a moment while I run out back and of Good Advice. Songtsen Gampo was the sev- kill a goat for you," the monk or nun enth century Tibetan king who made Buddhism should decline the offer. The situation obvi- the official religion of the country; and Sakya Pan- ously does not apply to the layperson, who dita was a contemporary of Genghis Khan. (Coinci- produces rather than begs for food. dentally, Genghis had once written to Sakya Pandita stating Similarly, monks and nuns have taken the pre- that he had an interest in becoming Buddhist himself, but felt cepts of an exceptional lifestyle, one that observes the ways of that he should first tame the world, which was a wild and vio- celibacy and non-violence. Their lifestyle is a social luxury that lent place deeply in need of his taming influence.) depends upon the rest of us supporting them in it. If we all were Of note here, Buddhism also has a prophecy from the to follow celibacy and non-violence, humans would soon Kalachakra Tantra that speaks of a future emergence of a gold- become extinct as a species. en era, a period of a thousand years of world peace, when even Lamas sometimes put forth the idea that the closer a the name "war" will be extinct. Because of this prophecy the layperson becomes in lifestyle to that of a monk or nun, the better is their practice. Genghis had once [expressed] an interest in In fact the reality is quite the reverse. The more monks and nuns follow their own guidelines, the more progress they will becoming Buddhist himself, but felt that he should make; but as for laypeople, the more they integrate wisdom, compassion and meditation into their daily routine, the more first tame the world, which was a wild and violent they will progress. Just as Buddhist laypeople have to kill animals if Buddhist place deeply in need of his taming influence. communities are to eat meat, and have to celebrate in romance and sexuality if the human race is to produce candi- Kalachakra initiation is often given openly to large gatherings dates for future monks and nuns, in the same way Buddhist of people. The theory is that the more people gain this initia- laypeople will sometimes have to defend the kingdom by fighting tion, the more stable and certain this golden era will be. in armies, will occasionally have to stand up for individual Kalachakra is the basis of the Indo-Tibetan science of astronomy, rights by defending the weak and powerless against tyranny, and the calculation of the fulfillment of this and other prophecies and will have to hold the line of culture and civilization when from the Kalachakra relies upon this science. Most Tibetan barbarians raise their ugly heads. astronomers feel that we are still some two centuries away from As the Buddha and the early Buddhist masters point out, the emergence of this prophesied "golden age." however, they should not do so out of anger or hatred, but Perhaps of note in view of recent events, the Kalachakra rather out of great love and compassion. And not out of a com- Tantra also states that the emergence of the golden age of world passion felt solely for the direct victims of the injustice, but also peace will coincide with the disappearance of Islam from with- out of compassion for the perpetrators of the injustice. For in the world. example, the spiritual layperson should defend a woman being raped, perhaps even killing the rapist in order to save the day; Ordained Sangha and the Community of he or she should do so not only out of concern for the victim, Laypeople but also out of compassion for the rapist. This compassion People were often surprised to see that monks [visiting understands those doing evil are harming themselves as much America] readily ate meat. The monks would patiently explain as they are harming the ostensible victim. Lama Tsong Khapa that it is the motivation that establishes the merit or demerit of gives the example of how a parent might have to forcibly restrain any act; Buddha himself ate meat on this basis, as did the early a child who had gone mad with a violent mental disease, and PAGE 10 MANDALA • MARCH - MAY 2002 BUDDHISM AND ARMED CONFLICT perhaps even kill that child in order to save the situation; the hint of violence and The life of King parent would do so with love and compassion for the object of war in his deeds, and their violence, and not out of anger or hatred. For that reason bringing peace to King Son gtsen Gampo [the Buddhist literature does not refer to someone killed in this way Krishna; he revealed as "a killing" or "a murder," but instead uses the term drolwa, or the trinley of increase father of Tibet] is character- "liberate." by relating to King Traditional Buddhist literature gives an example of how Krishna only in a man- ized by violence and war.

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