Buddhism and War
Buddhists are typically depicted as peaceful and good willed, friendly and non-violent. That may be true to those who follow the exact teachings of it, but within a group there are followers whose opinions and morals differ and thus practice what is different to the theory. In Buddhist teaching, there is no justification of war and because one shall not harm any living being. Such actions will induce bad karma, even if unavoidable.
In times of war
Give rise in yourself to the mind of compassion,
Helping living beings
Abandon the will to fight.
The act of loving one’s enemy is another part of the Buddhist teachings – not being biased by another’s actions. In fact, many of the Buddhist concepts must be evaluated by each follower and they must judge what actions are acceptable, bearing in mind the karma.
The reality of Buddhism is that because of the reliance on one’s judgement, there is a natural variation in the values and morals of followers. This is for why some Buddhists decide to fight in wars and for different reasons. For instance, not all Buddhists would agree with its better to be killed than to kill. Also, Buddhist monks are known as great martial artists. Most train in preparation for self-defence and to use their ability with caution (not neglecting karma). However, (as in other
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This idea extends or even defeats the purpose of the stereotype because the reality is that it is far more complex than imagined. An example of Buddhist stereotyping could be ‘All Buddhists are peaceful and strong minded’. Despite this may be somewhat true and could possibly account for the majority, it is overlooking (the minority of) different opinions. One cannot simply write Buddhists believe so and so about a controversial topic because it may only apply to some Buddhists, not all of