<<Назад Почему мир во всём мире так и не наступает?

Оглавление

Далее>> Может ли буддист служить в армии?

Перевод

Таблица

Оригинал

Can We Justify War?

The difference between a dogfight and a war between two groups of people is only in its preparation.

THE history of mankind is a continuous manifestation of people’s greed, hatred, pride, jealousy, selfishness and delusion. During the last 3,000 years, we have fought 15,000 major wars. Is it a characteristic of humans? What is our destiny? How can we end this senseless destruction of one another?

Although human beings have discovered and invented many important things, they have also made great advances towards the destruction of their own kind. This is how many human civilisations have been completely erased from this earth. Modern human beings have become so sophisticated in the art and techniques of warfare that it is now possible for them to reduce entire cities to ashes within a few seconds. The world has become a storehouse of military hardware as a result of a game called ‘Military Superiority.’

We are told that the prototype of a nuclear weapon more powerful than the atomic bomb which was dropped at Hiroshima Japan in August, 1945 is being planned. Scientists believe that a few hundred thermonuclear weapons will chart the course towards universal destruction. Just see what we are doing to our world! Think what sort of scientific development it is! See how foolish and selfish we are! People should not pander to their aggressive instincts. They should uphold the ethical teachings of the religious teachers and display justice with morality to enable peace to prevail.

Treaties, pacts and peace formulae have been adopted and millions of words have been spoken by countless world leaders throughout the world who proclaim that they have found the way to maintain and promote peace on earth. But for all their efforts, they have not succeeded in removing the threat to mankind. The reason is that we have all failed to educate our young to truly understand and respect the need for selfless service and the danger of selfishness. To guarantee true peace, we must use every method available to us to educate youths to practise love, goodwill and tolerance towards others.

The Buddhist Attitude

Buddhists should not be the aggressors even in protecting their religion or anything else. They must try their best to avoid any kind of violent act. Sometimes they may be forced to go to war by others who do not respect the concept of the brotherhood of humans as taught by the Buddha. They may be called upon to defend their country from external aggression, and as long as they have not renounced the worldly life, they are duty-bound to join in the struggle for peace and freedom. Under these circumstances, they cannot be blamed for becoming soldiers or being involved in defence. However, if everyone were to follow the advice of the Buddha, there would be no reason for war to take place in this world. It is the duty of every cultured person to find all possible ways and means to settle disputes in a peaceful manner, without declaring war to kill his or her fellow human beings. The Buddha did not teach His followers to surrender to any form of evil power be it a human or supernatural being.

Indeed, with reason and science, humanity has been able to conquer nature, and yet they have to secure their own lives. Why is it that life is in danger? While devoted to reason and being ruled by science, people have forgotten that they have hearts which have been neglected and left to wither and be polluted by passions.

If we cannot secure our own lives, then how can world peace be possible? To obtain peace, we must train our minds to face facts. We must be objective and humble. We must realise that no one person, nor one nation is always wrong. To obtain peace, we must also share the richness of the earth, if not with equality then at least with equity. There can never be absolute equality but surely there can be a greater degree of equity.

It is simply inconceivable that five percent of the world’s population should enjoy fifty percent of its wealth, or that twentyfive percent of the world should be fairly well-fed and some overfed, while seventy-five percent of the world is always hungry. Peace will only come when nations are willing to share and share equitably, the rich to help the poor and the strong to help the weak, thus creating international goodwill. Only if and when these conditions are met, can we envision a world with no excuse for wars.

The madness of the armaments race must stop! We must try to build schools instead of air force jets, hospitals instead of nuclear weapons. The amount of money and human lives that various governments waste in the battlefield should be diverted to build up the economies to elevate the standard of living.

The world cannot have peace until people and nations renounce selfish desires, give up racial arrogance, and eradicate egoistic lust for possession and power. Wealth cannot secure happiness. Religion alone can effect the necessary change of heart and bring about the only real disarmament—that of the mind.

All religions teach people not to kill; but unfortunately this important precept is conveniently ignored. Today, with modern armaments, we can kill millions within one second, that is, more than so called “primitive” tribes did in a century.

Very unfortunately some people in certain countries bring religious labels, slogans and banners into their battlefields. They do not know that they are disgracing the good name of religion.

‘Verily, O monk,’ said the Buddha, ‘due to sensual craving, kings fight with kings, princes with princes, priests with priests, citizens with citizens, the mother quarrels with the son, the son quarrels with the father, brother with brother, brother with sister, sister with brother, friend with friend.’ (MAJJIHIMA NIKAYA)

We can happily say that for the last 2,500 years there has never been any serious discord or conflict created by Buddhists that led to war in the name of this religion. This is a result of the dynamic character of the concept of tolerance contained in the Buddha’s teaching.

<<Назад Почему мир во всём мире так и не наступает?

Оглавление

Далее>> Может ли буддист служить в армии?

Редакция перевода от 01.07.2015 20:16