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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 , 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 , 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 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 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. 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 of the White Lotus touch upon the

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subject directly. Five hundred years later the Indian master Buddhist masters. Sometimes the monks would add, "However, 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 , i.e., the monk or nun; and the way of the Again in 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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

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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. the layperson should act in situations of this nature by drawing ner that would increase He relied mostly upon the on a Buddha Jataka, or Previous Life of the Buddha. According Krishna's good quali- to this tale, long ago in a previous lifetime as a layperson the ties. third and fourth trinleys, Buddha was on a boat with five hundred merchants, when he In stark contrast to learned that one of the five hundred was a thief who planned the story of Prince those of power and wrath, to rob and scuttle the boat, thus killing all onboard. Buddha Lhakyey, the life of in order' to accomplish his took the responsibility upon himself and attacked the would-be King Songtsen Gampo thief and murderer, liberating him on the spot. is characterized by vio- goals and fulfill his destiny. These and a thousand similar stories demonstrate how over lence and war. In other the centuries Buddhist laypeople have taken up the mantle of words, he relied mostly upon the third and fourth trinleys, difficult tasks that are inappropriate to the ordained sangha, those of power and wrath, in order to accomplish his goals and and have safeguarded the world so that monks, nuns, old peo- fulfill his destiny. ple and children can live in safety and security. The Tibetans paint a picture of King Songtsen Gampo as I can sense that some readers might be shocked to think of being a man strongly devoted to Buddhist practice. He inherited Buddhism as referring to "killing" as "liberating," and that quite the throne at the age of thirteen, and almost immediately took rightly there will be apprehensions that the principle could easily to the task of empire building. Within a decade he had become be misused. the terror of Asia, and by the time of his death his territory The potential for misuse is always there with every human extended east into modern-day , south into India, north activity. Just as monks and nuns can abuse their own privileged into the Mongolian grasslands, and west almost to the Persian positions in society, such as by accepting the support of the lay frontier. At the peak of these activities he was undoubtedly the community and then not delivering by maintaining their most powerful man in Asia, and Tibet was one of the largest precepts, in the same way the laypeople will occasionally make empires in the world. He can rightly be called the father of Tibet, mistakes and fall short of what is expected by the buddhas and for although his empire fragmented several generations later, the . The important thing is that we all try and do our culture that he propagated became a unifying force that gave the best, without being too critical of one another. peoples of Central Asia a collective identity that has endured For that reason in Tibet the monk lamas rarely interfered until today. directly in the ways of the kings and chieftains. Instead they The Tibetans explain that Songtsen Gampo's interests in would promote the basic Buddhist values of individual respon- Buddhism were inspired by two women. As the story goes, sibility, patience, compassion, meditation and wisdom, and after he had solidified his empire he decided that it would be hope that the lay leaders would do thus be empowered to expedient to establish positive relations with his two principal always do the right thing in a given situation. neighbors, to the south and China to the east. Therefore The essential message is that Buddhism has something to he requested and was granted the hand of Princess Dritsun, the say, both in times of peace and in times of war. daughter of the Nepali king Amushuvarman, and a few years later the hand of Princess Kongjo, the daughter of the Chinese A Policy Approach emperor T'ai Dzung. What about governments and governmental policies? A In addition to the two great temples constructed for his leader must be sufficiently wise to gauge the means that will be Nepalese and Chinese queens, he commissioned the Red most effective. Mountain Palace, upon which a thousand years later the Fifth The fourfold methods in Buddhism are known as the four was to construct the . trinley, or enlightenment activities: peace, increase, power and There is no doubt that King Songtsen Gampo remained wrath. Each of these can equally be expressions of love and firmly committed to his fierce approach to royal administration compassion, for they depend not on the act that is done but throughout his life. For example, we read that when the rather upon the inner motivation and vision of the actor. In Nepalese master Shilamanju arrived in he was shocked one of Atisha's tales, Prince Lhakyey relied upon the first two to hear that his patron the king was in the habit of having types of trinley — peace and increase — in his approach; he dozens of men beheaded on a daily basis. He went to him and revealed the trinley of peace by maintaining an absence of any proclaimed, "I am sorry, sir, but I cannot teach the to

MANDALA • MARCH - MAY 2002 PAGE 11 BUDDHISM AND ARMED CONFLICT you when you behave in this manner. It would be pointless." was in fact run on a day-to-day basis by a cabinet, with most The king smiled and said, "0 venerable one, please let me important government positions being filled by two people, one explain what is happening here. When I decided to incarnate in lay and the other monastic. The Dalai Lama's temporal leader- this land of barbarians in order to tame the people and place ship emanated from his spiritual authority, rather than any par- them on the path to enlightenment I knew that it would not be ticular political instruments. The Thirteenth was something of an easy task. I could not bring myself to harm other living an exception, and from 1913 until his death in 1933 he took beings, and therefore simultaneous to my incarnation here I also more of a direct interest in secular matters; and of course the emanated ten thousand forms of myself, each of whom had the present Dalai Lama has been thrown into the midst of political purpose of breaking my laws and consequently being punished events by the Chinese takeover of Tibet. by me as an example to the people. The ten thousand men I There is no doubt that in general all these Dalai Lamas have beheaded during my rule are mere emanations of promoted peace and no-violence whenever and wherev- myself. With the death of each one it is solely er possible. However, when peaceful methods myself who experiences the pain." He then lift- failed there is no doubt that they accepted the ed up his turban and showed the Nepalese use of violence by a military formed of monk the image of Amitabha Buddha in his laypeople. For example, when General halo, and as well pointed to the ten thou- McKinnley led a British military force into sand scars on his neck, each of which had Southern Tibet in 1888 in order to try and mystically appeared when one of his emana- force the Tibetans to accept the 1876 Sino- tions had been beheaded. British treaty at Cheffoo (that in effect gave Tibetans have no problems whatsoever in Tibet to China and gave Burma and Thailand thinking of both King Songtsen Gampo and Prince to Britain), the young Thirteenth Dalai Lama sent Lhakyey as having equally been emanations of the Aval- a Khampa army of 10,000 soldiers to the region to halt the okiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. In Tibetan eyes, both British advance. Fifteen years later, while in the middle of a were equally motivated by great compassion, and directed by three-year retreat, he sent a similar army to halt the the wisdom characteristic of the great bodhisattvas. Younghusband invasion. Moreover, after the Manchu invasion of 1909, when the Great Thirteenth fled to India and led The Dalai Lamas: War and Peace a government-in-exile from there, he oversaw the activities of Tibet's underground resistance, successfully forcing the Chinese in More Modern Times in Tibet to surrender in 1913. The Seventh Dalai Lama (1708-1757) was born into one The present Dalai Lama, for better or worse, has followed a of the most chaotic and violent periods of Tibetan history, an very different line, and strictly adheres to a policy of non-violent era in which internal and external wars had raged for the better resistance to the Chinese occupation in Tibet. If we were to look at the Dalai Lamas' dual role of spiritual and temporal leader, ninety percent of their time and energies and time went to spiritual pursuits, and less than ten percent to temporal leadership. part of a hundred years. However, by the time he passed away Thus the Thirteenth he had managed to bring it all to a state of peace, and see the more closely followed the beginning of Tibet's classical golden age and a period of near- path demonstrated by King peace that endured for almost two hundred years. Songtsen Gampo in the story From that time onward the Dalai Lama incarnations told earlier, whereas the pre- remained on the golden throne in Lhasa. The success of their sent Dalai Lama is following rule, and their popularity with the people, is evidenced by the the path exemplified by fact that the tradition remained until the Chinese Communist Prince Lhakyey. * invasion of the 1950s forced the present Dalai Lama to escape into India in 1959. Glenn H. Mullin is the foremost If we were to look at the Dalai Lamas' dual role of spiritu- Western expert on the lives and al and temporal leader, we can safely say that ninety percent of teachings of the Dalai Lamas. His most recent book, The Fourteen Dalai their time and energies and time went to spiritual pursuits, and Lamas, is published by Clear Light less than ten percent to temporal leadership. The government Publishers 2001. Photo: Trinley

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