Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 THE ETHICS OF WAR IN ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS This book explores how issues of ethics in war and warfare have been treated by major ethical traditions of Asia. It looks at six different Asian religious, philo- sophical and political traditions: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, China and Japan; and it is organized in three parts according to geography: West Asia, South Asia and East Asia. While chapters are written by specialists in Asian cultures, some of the conceptual apparatus is drawn from the scholarly discourse on just war developed in the study of the ethical tradition of Christianity. These concepts provide the necessary focus and make comparison across cultural boundaries possible. As a study of the comparative ethics of war, this book opens a discussion about whether there are universal standards in the ideologies of warfare between the major reli- gious traditions of the world. The concept of just war is at the core of the argument. This new approach opens a new field of research on war and ideology. Torkel Brekke completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1999 and is currently Associate Professor at the Institute of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo. His primary research interest is the relationship between religion and politics. Previous publications include Religious Motivation and the Origins of Buddhism also published by Routledge and Makers of Modern Indian Religions (Oxford University Press, 2002). Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 THE ETHICS OF WAR IN ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS A comparative perspective Edited by Torkel Brekke Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2006 Torkel Brekke for selection and editorial matter; the contributors their individual chapters All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data The ethics of war in Asian civilisations : a comparative perspective / edited by Torkel Brekke. p. cm. 1. Just war doctrine. 2. War–Moral and ethical aspects–Asia. 3. War–Religious aspects. I. Brekke, Torkel. B105.W3E85 2005 205′.6242′095–dc22 2005001219 ISBN 0–415–34292–9 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 CONTENTS List of contributors vii Editor’s preface ix Acknowledgements xvii Introduction: comparative ethics and the crucible of war 1 G. SCOTT DAVIS PART I West Asia 37 1 The ethics of war in Judaism 39 NORMAN SOLOMON 2 Islamic tradition and the justice of war 81 JOHN KELSAY PART II South Asia 111 3 Between prudence and heroism: ethics of war in the Hindu tradition 113 TORKEL BREKKE Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 4 In defense of Dharma: just war ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka 145 TESSA BARTHOLOMEUSZ v CONTENTS PART III East Asia 157 5 Might makes right: just war and just warfare in early medieval Japan 159 KARL FRIDAY 6 The just war in early China 185 MARK E. LEWIS Afterword: ethics across borders 201 HENRIK SYSE Index 206 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 vi CONTRIBUTORS Tessa Bartholomeusz (1958–2001) was Professor of Religion at the Florida State University, Tallahassee. She established a reputation as a leading interpreter of Buddhism through such works as Women under the Bo Tree (Cambridge University Press, 1994), Buddhist Fundamentalisms and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka (SUNY, 1998), and numerous articles in scholarly journals. Her book, In Defense of Dharma, was published by Routledge in 2002. Professor Bartholomeusz also received a number of awards for teaching at Florida State University, served as treasurer for the American Institute of Sri Lanka Studies, and as the book review editor for the Journal of Asian Studies. Torkel Brekke completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1999 and is currently Associate Professor at the Institute of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo. His primary research interest is the rela- tionship between religion and politics. Previous publications include Religious Motivation and the Origins of Buddhism (RoutledgeCurzon, 2002) and Makers of Modern Indian Religions (Oxford University Press, 2002). G. Scott Davis is Lewis T. Booker Professor of Religion and Ethics at the University of Richmond, Virginia. He obtained an AB summa cum laude from Bowdoin College and a PhD from Princeton. He is author of Warcraft and the Fragility of Virtue: An Essay in Aristotelian Ethics (University of Idaho Press, 1992), and editor of Religion and Justice in the War over Bosnia (Routledge, 1996). He serves as book discussion editor of the Journal of Religious Ethics. Karl Friday (PhD Stanford, 1989) is Professor of History at the University of Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 Georgia. He has published extensively on Japanese military institutions and traditions. Friday is author of Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan (Stanford University Press, 1992) and Legacies of the Sword: The Kashima Shinru and Samurai Martial Culture, with Professor Seki Humitake (University of Hawaii Press, 1997). Professor Friday’s current book project is called Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan (Routledge, 2004, the “Warfare and History” series). vii CONTRIBUTORS John Kelsay (PhD University of Virginia, 1985) is Richard L. Rubenstein Professor of Religion at Florida State University, Tallahassee. Professor Kelsay’s work focuses on religious ethics, particularly in relation to the Islamic tradition. His publications include Islam and War (Westminster/John Knox, 1993), Human Rights and the Conflict of Cultures (co-authored; University of South Carolina, 1988), and Just War and Jihad (co-edited; Greenwood Press, 1991). He is currently working on a book entitled “Religion and the Imperatives of Justice: The Islamic Law of War and Peace”, as well as on other projects dealing with intersections between religion and violence in the contemporary world. Mark E. Lewis (PhD University of Chicago) is Kwoh-ting Li Professor of Chinese Culture at Stanford University. He is author of Sanctioned Violence in Early China (SUNY, 1990), Writing and Authority in Early China (SUNY, 1999), and The Construction of Space in Early China (SUNY, forthcoming). He is currently completing a volume The Flood Myths of Early China, as well as the first two volumes of a five-volume history of imperial China to be published by Harvard University Press. Norman Solomon was born in Cardiff, South Wales, and educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge. He was rabbi to Orthodox congregations in Britain until he became founder-Director of the Centre for the Study of Judaism and Jewish/ Christian Relations at Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. He was Fellow in Modern Jewish Thought at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies 1995–2001 and is a member of Wolfson College, Oxford and the Oxford University Teaching and Research Unit in Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He has published several books on Judaism. Henrik Syse is a postdoctoral fellow at the Ethics Program of the University of Oslo, and a senior research fellow at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). He has written several articles on the ethics of war and peace, and is also the co-editor (with Gregory Reichberg and Endre Begby) of The Ethics of War – An Historical Anthology (Blackwell, 2005). His other publications include Natural Law, Religion, and Rights (St. Augustine’s Press, 2004). Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 20:40 09 May 2016 viii EDITOR’S PREFACE This book explores how issues of ethics in war and warfare have been treated by major ethical traditions of Asia. It takes a comparative view of ideologies of war in history. While the chapters are written by people who specialize in Asian cultures, much of the conceptual apparatus is drawn from scholarship on the just war tradition in Christianity. These concepts provide the necessary focus and makes comparison across cultural boundaries possible. This is not the first book that applies the conceptual framework of Christian just war thinking to non-Christian cultures. Several scholars have maintained that there is a tradition for just war – jihad in its diverse meanings and manifestations – in Islamic jurisprudence that is parallel to that found in the Christian just war tradition.1 This position has been challenged by other scholars.2 Judaism has also been included in the academic debate about the ethics of war. In my view, scholarship on the ethics of war needs to include other non-Western civilizations in order to reach the broadest possible fundament for cross-cultural comparison. With its emphasis on the just war tradition, the academic study of the ethics of war has harboured an element of Eurocentricism comparable to that found in the field of military history, where this bias is now addressed by leading scholars like Jeremy Black.3 This book looks at six different Asian religious, philosophical and political traditions: Islam and Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism, and China and Japan.