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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 6 page paper considers the way in which war has impacted Buddhism; it also looks at the actions of Buddhists during the Vietnam conflict. Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVWarBud.rtf
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is 70% Buddhist. This paper discusses the impact of war on Buddhism and some of the actions they took during the Vietnam conflict. Discussion In order to understand the Buddhist
attitude toward war we have to understand something of Buddhism itself. In Buddhism, "the main criteria for judging ones actions as morally good/pure or bad/impure is to consider whether the
relevant action one has committed or going to commit is harmful for oneself or for others or for both" (Maithrimurthi, 2003). The person who is about to act needs to
consider this statement first, because bad actions will be punished, both in this life by the law, and karmically by an "undesirable rebirth" (Maithrimurthi, 2003). Another reason for acting
morally is to be found in the Golden Rule: that just as oneself dislikes being treated badly, so do also the other living beings" (Maithrimurthi, 2003). For these reasons, then,
"war is to be necessarily regarded as evil because the actions involved in war are harmful for all the participants" (Maithrimurthi, 2003). This includes not only the victims of the
war but the instigator as well, who brings bad karma on himself "by inflicting suffering upon others" (Maithrimurthi, 2003). Therefore, war has no place in Buddhist doctrine. Another author asked
a Buddhist monk, Venerable Thich Nhah Hanh, "whether he would rather have peace under a communist regime that would mean the end of Buddhism or the victory of democratic Vietnam
with the possibility of Buddhist revival, and he said that it was better to have peace at any price" (Kapke, 2005). Hanh said that it was not acceptable to sacrifice
peoples lives even to "safeguard the Buddhist hierarchy, monasteries, or rituals" (Kapke, 2005). Even if Buddhism disappeared from Vietnam, "when human lives are preserved and when human dignity and freedom
...