Bhante Sujato discusses how to correct yourself if you break the precepts.
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Valorizing war leads young impressionable people to join up, some of whom may end up killing and some who will be killed
Look at the homeless veterans, you find them in every city, in large numbers. Why is it that we are so grateful (as a society) for people actively serving, but fail to support and provide for those who have already served and have been utterly traumatized by their experiences?
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Gandhi believed in his non-violent approach to the extent being potent to stop Hitler. I believe so too ā¦ He stopped ravaging masses, ready to slay each other, by fasting (!). I think if the world still contains beings not utterly deprived, still having some residue of conscience (this includes many if not most of the individuals on this planet in our age, including Nazi or other soldiers) and they witness genuine patience and love in face of their inflicted atrocities, ways will be mended because their minds will not be able to stand their own ugliness. If you give them a reason to act violently however, i.e. hurt them (for whatever reason), then their mind will be able to tolerate more easily the mentioned ugliness, even to justify it. Though it is only easy in theory and things will surely look much different if somebody rapes your child ā¦ But it is possible.
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You mentioned the Sri Lankan conflict and that youre Sinhalese right? Well, the fact that youāre still here protesting the violence of your government has proved my point all along. Why didnāt you just sit still and let the Tamils exacts their rightful vengeance on you and your family, instead of cowardly hide behind your servicemen and women, relied on them to do all the dirty work, and then later on flatly rejected all their sacrifice? And to be absolutely clear, Iām not glorifying war. Iām glorifying the men and women in uniforms who are not hesitant to put their lives on the line to protect our fat asses so that we all can sit here in our warm cozy room, sipping hot chocolate, and criticizing their act of violence.
Are you a military serviceman/women or a veteran, Santa?
Lets just say Iāve paid my dues. Have you, Garrib?
No, my friend, I have not. Do you accept that the Buddha taught the first precept?
Absolutely. With that in mind, whatād you do if youāre a Vietnamese back in 1978, witnessing a Cambodian mad man systematically annihilated 1/4 of his own country population?
We are living in a closed loop system society and world , and every instances could be in opposition to each other , and it will change according to causes and conditions. Can you name any system in the world (whether you called it democracy or whatever) that is not based on ideal and running on trial and error ?
By labelling ourselves with anything (fortunately or unfortunately we all do) , we will end up in confrontation .
And how so we can escape from this miserable living hell ?
Glorifying anything or not wouldnāt be able to answer and having any solutions to our helpless and hopeless situation we are in, or do we?
But , as a buddhist we believe in paving the non violence path . However , sometimes it just really doesnāt work in this world .
If there is any other magic way everything should be OK by now . But , nothing seems working right to my understanding . Thatās how and why it was considered as a state of misery .
Iām lucky not to have experienced direct involvement in any warfare, or genocide, or mass atrocity - I can only imagine the kind of deep anguish people experience, and of course, I can understand the impulse to take up arms. Naturally, there is a wish to defend the vulnerable, and I donāt deny that this wish itself is rooted in real compassion.
My faith tells me that avoiding all killing is the correct choice in every situation, and will lead to the greatest benefit for myself and those around me. By the same token, I believe others would be better off (especially in the long run) to ālay down the rod and weapon.ā What is done is done, but as Ven. Angulimalaās story shows us, purification always remains a possibility.
I really do understand that this is a touchy subject. It is much easier to just think about the precepts in the abstract. In the midst of extreme and chaotic environments (war), applying our lofty ideals to real life becomes exponentially more difficult. My gut tells me it is still worth itā¦
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This āmagicā you mentioned is āmagicā because most of us donāt comprehend how non-violence works and lack faith in it. Most of us still believe that the only answer to violence is again violence, justify it or not, it is and stays violence.
Just try to imagine what the Buddha would do in a situation of imminent annihilation and war. He, and likewise his wise disciples, would not raise a finger ā very plainly. The works of Gandhi and Martin-Luther King show that non-violence works in the most hostile environments, but they had to constantly check their followers to contain their anger to avoid spoiling the process.
Non-violent MettÄ
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My guts tell me something similar ā¦
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Thatās the way supposed to be for a buddhist . No alternative .
Sounds like itād only benefit yourself but not those 3 millions poor souls in Cambodia. Matter of fact, had the Vietnamese not intervened and defeated the Khmer Rouge, thereād be very few Cambodians walking on earth nowadays. Itās undeniable about the truth of the Buddhaās teaching on the precepts. But in real life, sometimes one has to make extremely tough choices, sure, he can keep the precept, but would he keep the precept regardless of how staggering the cost is, the cost of millions of human lives? Would he in good conscience proclaim that itād be for āthe greatest benefit for himself and those around himā?
Luck has nothing to do with it. The only reason you donāt have direct involvment in any of those is because right now as weāre speaking, some brave soul is willing to do all the dirty work for you. Itās a damn shame that after 34 posts, other than myself, I have not heard a single word of appreciation for those servicemen and women who are paying with their own lives day and night to buy that kind of āluckā for all of us.
Iām not a military cheerleader, never have been, and I donāt plan to start anytime soon. Iām sorry if that offends you as that is not my intention. That being said, I do respect military service persons as human beings, and I wish them safety and happiness.
No one asked you to be a military cheerleader. And thank you for kind wish. I always have a feeling youāre never an ungrateful sob.
I have the sympathy for all those service men and women. Many of them join the army for economic reasons. A person with wealth will never join the army. Even if they join it just for the show off and hide behind the front line as a high ranking officer. I thinks service men and women are the victims of the war machine.
Why do we have endless war. We thought the world will be a perfect place after the Iraq war. Things got worse and now we have a new enemy North Korea. Do we have to continue this war till the whole human species extinct from this world?
War machine is a production line. It need nutriments. That is war!
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Thank you SarathW1 for your kind words to folks in uniforms. Though I have to say you will never understand those heroes mindset. Itās never just economic reasons or just to show off as you think.
My father was an ex service man from world war 2.
I have my close relative fought the furious Tamil freedom fighters. (they later became a terrorist organisation)
I have a nice story to tell.
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I know this very Buddhist Sri Lankan soldier. He said he caught a suspected Tamil terrorist and about to shoot him. Then the pregnant wife of the suspect came out of their house and hold the soldierās legs and plea for not to kill her husband. Then he thought about his pregnant wife and pardon the suspect.
Few months later his camp was attack by terrorist and kill 99% of the soldiers. (about one thousand) Surprisingly the soldier in this story saved with bad injuries. Due to injuries the soldier was retired from the army.
Iām sure your father would be very glad seeing you showing your respect and support for servicemen.