Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2022.2038029
Michael W. Charney
ABSTRACT Rules on the treatment of civilians and other non-combatants in conflict are often attributed to Western origins, particularly the increasingly widening circles of empathy that grew out of the European Enlightenment and found international implementation in the twentieth century. Nevertheless, such limits were pursued or encouraged by many non-Western societies as well, particularly amongst indigenous Americans. The present article examines the case of Myanmar and the ways in which the Myanmar court set limits on violence in administration and limits on warfare. These limits were not an imposition of the West but emerged entirely within the Myanmar-Buddhist historical experience. It is argued that these provide an existing, discernible and indigenous model for limiting violence in warfare in Myanmar society. The article also explains why this model was forgotten. The removal of the king and disintegration of the standing army that came with the end of indigenous rule in 1885 did away with crucial moderating influences, while the violence of the brutal Pacification Campaign from 1885 erased from Burmese social memory the idea that there could be limits in warfare.
{"title":"BUDDHISM, THE ROYAL IMAGINARY AND LIMITS IN WARFARE: THE MODERATING INFLUENCE OF PRECOLONIAL MYANMAR ROYAL CAMPAIGNS ON EVERYDAY WARRIORS","authors":"Michael W. Charney","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2022.2038029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2022.2038029","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Rules on the treatment of civilians and other non-combatants in conflict are often attributed to Western origins, particularly the increasingly widening circles of empathy that grew out of the European Enlightenment and found international implementation in the twentieth century. Nevertheless, such limits were pursued or encouraged by many non-Western societies as well, particularly amongst indigenous Americans. The present article examines the case of Myanmar and the ways in which the Myanmar court set limits on violence in administration and limits on warfare. These limits were not an imposition of the West but emerged entirely within the Myanmar-Buddhist historical experience. It is argued that these provide an existing, discernible and indigenous model for limiting violence in warfare in Myanmar society. The article also explains why this model was forgotten. The removal of the king and disintegration of the standing army that came with the end of indigenous rule in 1885 did away with crucial moderating influences, while the violence of the brutal Pacification Campaign from 1885 erased from Burmese social memory the idea that there could be limits in warfare.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"367 - 379"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45810098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.2088959
V. Wijenayake
ABSTRACT This article places international humanitarian law (IHL) side by side with Buddhist narratives as seen through the Jātakas, to investigate how they view the expectation placed on soldiers to risk their lives in battle. To this end, I delve into the notion of reciprocity of risk in battle from an IHL perspective, which I argue is crucial to infusing warfare with restraint. Similarly, Buddhism acknowledges the importance of reciprocity as an ethical principle that leads to non-violence. I demonstrate how IHL tries to ensure that the risk combatants undertake in combat is limited through its rule of surrender. I compare this argument with the Seyyaṃsa or Seyya Jātaka (no. 282), which illustrates the need to cease violence in cases of surrender. The way militaries treat their own combatants is crucial to the meaningful practice of surrender and thereby the limits and restraints of warfare. Buddhism too encourages rulers to value the lives of their soldiers and not to put their lives at unnecessary risk. I conclude that to maximise the combatant’s choice to limit the risk he takes in battle, IHL should pay more attention to the orders that militaries and armed groups issue to their combatants. Buddhism, for its part, can facilitate the constructive use of military orders because it projects positive images of rulers who are reluctant to order their soldiers to take unnecessary risks in war.
{"title":"LIMITING THE RISK TO COMBATANT LIVES: CONFLUENCES BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND BUDDHISM","authors":"V. Wijenayake","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2021.2088959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2088959","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article places international humanitarian law (IHL) side by side with Buddhist narratives as seen through the Jātakas, to investigate how they view the expectation placed on soldiers to risk their lives in battle. To this end, I delve into the notion of reciprocity of risk in battle from an IHL perspective, which I argue is crucial to infusing warfare with restraint. Similarly, Buddhism acknowledges the importance of reciprocity as an ethical principle that leads to non-violence. I demonstrate how IHL tries to ensure that the risk combatants undertake in combat is limited through its rule of surrender. I compare this argument with the Seyyaṃsa or Seyya Jātaka (no. 282), which illustrates the need to cease violence in cases of surrender. The way militaries treat their own combatants is crucial to the meaningful practice of surrender and thereby the limits and restraints of warfare. Buddhism too encourages rulers to value the lives of their soldiers and not to put their lives at unnecessary risk. I conclude that to maximise the combatant’s choice to limit the risk he takes in battle, IHL should pay more attention to the orders that militaries and armed groups issue to their combatants. Buddhism, for its part, can facilitate the constructive use of military orders because it projects positive images of rulers who are reluctant to order their soldiers to take unnecessary risks in war.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"208 - 222"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44432070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.2149052
Andrew Bartles-Smith
ABSTRACT This article examines Buddhist teachings relevant to the regulation of war and compares them with international humanitarian law (IHL) and the just war tradition by which it has been informed. It argues that Buddhist ethics broadly align with IHL rules to minimise harm inflicted during war, and that Buddhism’s psychological resources can help support IHL to improve compliance with common humanitarian norms. Indeed, Buddhist mindfulness techniques can support even non-Buddhist combatants by enhancing their psychological resilience and capacity to fight with skill and restraint. While IHL is a legal regime that legitimises violence under certain conditions, and lays down clear universally ratified rules, Buddhism is primarily an ethical and psychological system that addresses the motivations and inner roots of behaviour and can be understood and interpreted in different ways. In this respect, Buddhism overlaps with the field of military ethics, and can contribute much to enhance military training. However, while the centrality of non-harming (ahiṃsā) to Buddhism dictates that extraordinary efforts should be made to prevent war or otherwise minimise the harm inflicted – thereby checking interpretations of IHL that are overly permissive – Buddhism’s consequent reluctance to legitimise and thereby institutionalise war, and the ambiguity of its teachings in this regard, have generally precluded it from developing clear just war guidelines for belligerents to follow, and Buddhist resources to improve the conduct of hostilities have remained largely untapped. Mainstream traditions of Buddhist ethics must also be distinguished from more esoteric and localised beliefs and practices, and from the lived Buddhisms with which most lay Buddhists are more familiar, which do not necessarily embody the same degree of restraint. Belligerents might therefore have different conceptions or expectations of Buddhism depending on their culture and particular circumstances, or be unclear about what it says on the conduct of war.
{"title":"HOW DOES BUDDHISM COMPARE WITH INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, AND CAN IT CONTRIBUTE TO HUMANISING WAR?","authors":"Andrew Bartles-Smith","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2021.2149052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2149052","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines Buddhist teachings relevant to the regulation of war and compares them with international humanitarian law (IHL) and the just war tradition by which it has been informed. It argues that Buddhist ethics broadly align with IHL rules to minimise harm inflicted during war, and that Buddhism’s psychological resources can help support IHL to improve compliance with common humanitarian norms. Indeed, Buddhist mindfulness techniques can support even non-Buddhist combatants by enhancing their psychological resilience and capacity to fight with skill and restraint. While IHL is a legal regime that legitimises violence under certain conditions, and lays down clear universally ratified rules, Buddhism is primarily an ethical and psychological system that addresses the motivations and inner roots of behaviour and can be understood and interpreted in different ways. In this respect, Buddhism overlaps with the field of military ethics, and can contribute much to enhance military training. However, while the centrality of non-harming (ahiṃsā) to Buddhism dictates that extraordinary efforts should be made to prevent war or otherwise minimise the harm inflicted – thereby checking interpretations of IHL that are overly permissive – Buddhism’s consequent reluctance to legitimise and thereby institutionalise war, and the ambiguity of its teachings in this regard, have generally precluded it from developing clear just war guidelines for belligerents to follow, and Buddhist resources to improve the conduct of hostilities have remained largely untapped. Mainstream traditions of Buddhist ethics must also be distinguished from more esoteric and localised beliefs and practices, and from the lived Buddhisms with which most lay Buddhists are more familiar, which do not necessarily embody the same degree of restraint. Belligerents might therefore have different conceptions or expectations of Buddhism depending on their culture and particular circumstances, or be unclear about what it says on the conduct of war.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"8 - 51"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41753941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.2037893
P. D. Premasiri
ABSTRACT This article, drawing on Pali materials, highlights the Buddhist emphasis on minimising suffering, even in the conduct of war, in line with principles of international humanitarian law (IHL). It reflects on the inner roots of conflict and explores ideals of governance and the conduct of war, especially as explored in the Jātaka stories and stories about the god Sakka, and then as reflected in the Edicts of emperor Asoka and the Mahāvaṃsa chronicle.
{"title":"IMPLICATIONS OF BUDDHIST POLITICAL ETHICS FOR THE MINIMISATION OF SUFFERING IN SITUATIONS OF ARMED CONFLICT","authors":"P. D. Premasiri","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2021.2037893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2037893","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article, drawing on Pali materials, highlights the Buddhist emphasis on minimising suffering, even in the conduct of war, in line with principles of international humanitarian law (IHL). It reflects on the inner roots of conflict and explores ideals of governance and the conduct of war, especially as explored in the Jātaka stories and stories about the god Sakka, and then as reflected in the Edicts of emperor Asoka and the Mahāvaṃsa chronicle.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"73 - 87"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43537375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2022.2080362
Nishara Mendis
ABSTRACT Sieges and threatening the besieged population with starvation are methods of warfare as old as civilisation. While sieges are not explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL), the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare has been prohibited since the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977. This article discusses whether Buddhist ethics can contribute towards and enhance the existing IHL guidance on the subject. Buddhist texts and philosophy clearly declare that one must avoid actions that cause suffering to oneself or others, and that this principle of ‘no-harm’ (ahimsā) is applicable even during a war. The Jātaka stories of the past births of the Buddha and other figures illustrate wrong action and its karmic consequences. The article analyses two Jātaka stories: the Ummagga Jātaka (no. 546) which describes a potential siege and the tactics used by the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) Mahosadha to avoid it, and the Asātarūpa Jātaka (no. 100) which provides a moral judgement on the actual use of siege warfare in the former births of Suppavāsā and her son, the arhat (enlightened saint) Sīvali. The narratives are useful for discussion and teaching of IHL, particularly in Buddhist societies, as they not only emphasise responsibility for ones’ own actions but also provide psychological hope for spiritual progress based on the concept of intention.
{"title":"SIEGE WARFARE AND THE PROHIBITION OF INTENTIONAL STARVATION OF CIVILIANS: THE CONVERGENCE OF IHL AND BUDDHIST ETHICS","authors":"Nishara Mendis","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2022.2080362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2022.2080362","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Sieges and threatening the besieged population with starvation are methods of warfare as old as civilisation. While sieges are not explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL), the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare has been prohibited since the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977. This article discusses whether Buddhist ethics can contribute towards and enhance the existing IHL guidance on the subject. Buddhist texts and philosophy clearly declare that one must avoid actions that cause suffering to oneself or others, and that this principle of ‘no-harm’ (ahimsā) is applicable even during a war. The Jātaka stories of the past births of the Buddha and other figures illustrate wrong action and its karmic consequences. The article analyses two Jātaka stories: the Ummagga Jātaka (no. 546) which describes a potential siege and the tactics used by the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) Mahosadha to avoid it, and the Asātarūpa Jātaka (no. 100) which provides a moral judgement on the actual use of siege warfare in the former births of Suppavāsā and her son, the arhat (enlightened saint) Sīvali. The narratives are useful for discussion and teaching of IHL, particularly in Buddhist societies, as they not only emphasise responsibility for ones’ own actions but also provide psychological hope for spiritual progress based on the concept of intention.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"252 - 280"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49606012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.2083397
Bhagya Samarakoon
ABSTRACT In international humanitarian law (IHL), collateral damage to civilians caught in warfare is restrained through the rule of proportionality. The first part of this chapter explains how this increasingly controversial area is dependent on the perceptions, values and good faith of the military commander in the specific instance. In determining which Buddhist teachings can guide the mind in this grey area, the quality of appamāda, ‘heedfulness’, is significant. The Buddha refers to it several times in his sermons (suttas) and, most importantly, included it in his final words before his demise. The second part explores what the Buddha meant by appamāda and argues that the concept has a moral dimension useful in decision-making for Buddhists engaged in warfare. The third part discusses Emperor Ashoka to whom the monk Nigrodha preached the Appamāda Vagga. The change in Emperor Ashoka’s manner of ruling and conquering as manifested in his many edict inscriptions proves that Buddhist values can be practically applied by the laity, not just monastics. The fourth analyses how appamāda could guide the minds of Buddhists engaged in warfare, and proposes that this could be done through sermons (to transform intention) and meditation (to aid such transformation).
{"title":"RESTRAINT IN WARFARE AND APPAMĀDA: THE CONCEPT OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN LIGHT OF THE BUDDHA’S LAST WORDS","authors":"Bhagya Samarakoon","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2021.2083397","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2083397","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In international humanitarian law (IHL), collateral damage to civilians caught in warfare is restrained through the rule of proportionality. The first part of this chapter explains how this increasingly controversial area is dependent on the perceptions, values and good faith of the military commander in the specific instance. In determining which Buddhist teachings can guide the mind in this grey area, the quality of appamāda, ‘heedfulness’, is significant. The Buddha refers to it several times in his sermons (suttas) and, most importantly, included it in his final words before his demise. The second part explores what the Buddha meant by appamāda and argues that the concept has a moral dimension useful in decision-making for Buddhists engaged in warfare. The third part discusses Emperor Ashoka to whom the monk Nigrodha preached the Appamāda Vagga. The change in Emperor Ashoka’s manner of ruling and conquering as manifested in his many edict inscriptions proves that Buddhist values can be practically applied by the laity, not just monastics. The fourth analyses how appamāda could guide the minds of Buddhists engaged in warfare, and proposes that this could be done through sermons (to transform intention) and meditation (to aid such transformation).","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"299 - 321"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46015854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.2037892
P. Harvey
ABSTRACT This article focuses on how Buddhist ethics contains ideas and principles that would urge those in a combat situation to minimise the harm they do to others, within the requirements of their military goal. This international humanitarian law principle is in line with both compassion for others and a concern to limit the bad karmic results to the combatant of their intentional killing and maiming. The motive for an act of killing can worsen or lessen its karmic results, and non-combat actions such as helping the wounded can generate good karmic results which can dilute, though not cancel, the bad karma of killing. Harm to both humans and non-humans is to be avoided wherever possible, but killing a human is worse than killing an animal. The Mahāvaṃsa passage on combatants killed by King Duṭṭhagāmaṇi’s army as mostly being less than human, such that killing them produced little or no bad karma, is a totally implausible statement to put in the mouths of monks whom the text says were Arahats, spiritually enlightened ones.
{"title":"BUDDHIST MOTIVATION TO SUPPORT IHL, FROM CONCERN TO MINIMISE HARMS INFLICTED BY MILITARY ACTION TO BOTH THOSE WHO SUFFER THEM AND THOSE WHO INFLICT THEM","authors":"P. Harvey","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2021.2037892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2037892","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article focuses on how Buddhist ethics contains ideas and principles that would urge those in a combat situation to minimise the harm they do to others, within the requirements of their military goal. This international humanitarian law principle is in line with both compassion for others and a concern to limit the bad karmic results to the combatant of their intentional killing and maiming. The motive for an act of killing can worsen or lessen its karmic results, and non-combat actions such as helping the wounded can generate good karmic results which can dilute, though not cancel, the bad karma of killing. Harm to both humans and non-humans is to be avoided wherever possible, but killing a human is worse than killing an animal. The Mahāvaṃsa passage on combatants killed by King Duṭṭhagāmaṇi’s army as mostly being less than human, such that killing them produced little or no bad karma, is a totally implausible statement to put in the mouths of monks whom the text says were Arahats, spiritually enlightened ones.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"52 - 72"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48799643","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2022.2038027
C. Kilby
ABSTRACT In this article, I present abhayadāna (‘the gift of fearlessness’) as a Buddhist framework for the protection of populations who are vulnerable to violence, terror or displacement during times of conflict. Abhayadāna is an ancient Indian ethic that inspired the political activism of Hindu leader Mohandas Gandhi. Although seldom invoked by Buddhists today (one notable exception is Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal to abhayadāna in her 1990 essay ‘Freedom from Fear’), abhayadāna is also deeply rooted in the Buddhist tradition and holds vital potential for transforming the way that Buddhist-majority societies conceive of their Buddhist identity and their responsibility to protect the vulnerable during times of conflict. In this article, I argue that abhayadāna offers a Buddhist principle of protection that in substantial ways complements and strengthens the principle of protection enshrined in international humanitarian law (IHL).
{"title":"THE GIFT OF FEARLESSNESS: A BUDDHIST FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE POPULATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW","authors":"C. Kilby","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2022.2038027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2022.2038027","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this article, I present abhayadāna (‘the gift of fearlessness’) as a Buddhist framework for the protection of populations who are vulnerable to violence, terror or displacement during times of conflict. Abhayadāna is an ancient Indian ethic that inspired the political activism of Hindu leader Mohandas Gandhi. Although seldom invoked by Buddhists today (one notable exception is Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal to abhayadāna in her 1990 essay ‘Freedom from Fear’), abhayadāna is also deeply rooted in the Buddhist tradition and holds vital potential for transforming the way that Buddhist-majority societies conceive of their Buddhist identity and their responsibility to protect the vulnerable during times of conflict. In this article, I argue that abhayadāna offers a Buddhist principle of protection that in substantial ways complements and strengthens the principle of protection enshrined in international humanitarian law (IHL).","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"322 - 334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43762691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2022.2133911
Ven Kosgama Muditha, Ven Koralegama Gnanawasa, Ven Kirindiwela Pagngnawansa
ABSTRACT The arising of war is almost inevitable within human societies, and IHL seeks to regulate its conduct as far as possible. According to Buddhism, mental defilements are the roots of conflict, so from the viewpoint of Dhamma, awareness of them is imperative if suffering is to be effectively reduced. The aim of this study is to examine the utility of Buddhist teachings in ensuring the humane treatment, without adverse distinctions, of those caught up in war, by the development of self-control, self-discipline and responsibility. The Vepacitti Sutta describes the ideal mental qualities that are required to do this, and we point out the practical implications of those qualities, as explained in the Mahācattārīsaka Sutta. Our argument is that cultivating the mind according to the practical path that we introduce is conducive to self-control, discipline and responsibility during a war with respect to international humanitarian law (IHL), and particularly with respect to non-combatants.
{"title":"HOW BUDDHIST PRINCIPLES CAN HELP THE PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF IHL VALUES DURING WAR WITH RESPECT TO NON-COMBATANTS","authors":"Ven Kosgama Muditha, Ven Koralegama Gnanawasa, Ven Kirindiwela Pagngnawansa","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2022.2133911","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2022.2133911","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The arising of war is almost inevitable within human societies, and IHL seeks to regulate its conduct as far as possible. According to Buddhism, mental defilements are the roots of conflict, so from the viewpoint of Dhamma, awareness of them is imperative if suffering is to be effectively reduced. The aim of this study is to examine the utility of Buddhist teachings in ensuring the humane treatment, without adverse distinctions, of those caught up in war, by the development of self-control, self-discipline and responsibility. The Vepacitti Sutta describes the ideal mental qualities that are required to do this, and we point out the practical implications of those qualities, as explained in the Mahācattārīsaka Sutta. Our argument is that cultivating the mind according to the practical path that we introduce is conducive to self-control, discipline and responsibility during a war with respect to international humanitarian law (IHL), and particularly with respect to non-combatants.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"355 - 366"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45827899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.2089426
Hyein Lee
ABSTRACT The Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism (K. Chogye chong or Jogyejong 曹溪宗) compiled a booklet called Kukkun pŏbyo chip (Essential Buddhist Teachings for the Armed Forces, 國軍法要集, EBTAF hereafter), which is distributed in the military Buddhist temples (K. kun sachal; Ch. jun sisha 軍寺刹) of South Korea. This manual for Buddhist military personnel draws on Buddhist classical texts and teachings to provide them both with doctrinal and practical information, and guidance as well as litanies for chaplains to perform crucial rites such as funerals. At the same time the EBTAF contains some distinctively Korean Buddhist references and ideas, and combines them with elements of Korean nationalism. In this context, this article analyses (1) the ideal traits of Buddhist combatants suggested in the EBTAF and their compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL); (2) the conflicting values illustrated in the booklet between Buddhist soldiers’ religious aspirations to uphold common humanity and the partiality inherent in their governmental affiliation; and (3) a passage to resolve the disparity. While the EBTAF aligns with IHL principles, some parts of it reflect a tension between Buddhist aspirations for peace and the military necessities of the state. Though IHL is not explicitly mentioned in the EBTAF, there is potential for embedding education on mutually complementary Buddhist and IHL values into Korean military chaplaincy.
{"title":"BETWEEN COMMON HUMANITY AND PARTIALITY: THE CHOGYE BUDDHIST CHAPLAINCY MANUAL OF THE SOUTH KOREAN MILITARY AND ITS RELEVANCE TO INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW","authors":"Hyein Lee","doi":"10.1080/14639947.2021.2089426","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2089426","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism (K. Chogye chong or Jogyejong 曹溪宗) compiled a booklet called Kukkun pŏbyo chip (Essential Buddhist Teachings for the Armed Forces, 國軍法要集, EBTAF hereafter), which is distributed in the military Buddhist temples (K. kun sachal; Ch. jun sisha 軍寺刹) of South Korea. This manual for Buddhist military personnel draws on Buddhist classical texts and teachings to provide them both with doctrinal and practical information, and guidance as well as litanies for chaplains to perform crucial rites such as funerals. At the same time the EBTAF contains some distinctively Korean Buddhist references and ideas, and combines them with elements of Korean nationalism. In this context, this article analyses (1) the ideal traits of Buddhist combatants suggested in the EBTAF and their compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL); (2) the conflicting values illustrated in the booklet between Buddhist soldiers’ religious aspirations to uphold common humanity and the partiality inherent in their governmental affiliation; and (3) a passage to resolve the disparity. While the EBTAF aligns with IHL principles, some parts of it reflect a tension between Buddhist aspirations for peace and the military necessities of the state. Though IHL is not explicitly mentioned in the EBTAF, there is potential for embedding education on mutually complementary Buddhist and IHL values into Korean military chaplaincy.","PeriodicalId":45708,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Buddhism","volume":"22 1","pages":"380 - 397"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45678505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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