[injin]

finally!.....lay Buddhists are realizing they cannot meditate , or merely make merit their way out of this situation in the South.

[2banana]

The crazy muslims have even forced the monks to fight them...

[ExcursionGuy84]

Reminds me of an Old American Proverb...

"A Patriot ain't nutin' but a Pacifist that done got itself shot at."

[ClearCase_guy]

In the Thai movie "Ong Bak" there is a young man trained in the fearsome art of Muay Thai. His master makes him promise that he will never use these deadly skills for any reason. The young man agrees. But then, bandits from the city steal the sculpted head of Buddha which brings blessings to the village.

Clearly, someone must go to the city, kick some ass, and bring back the head. The young man trained in the Buddhist temple steps forward ...

It's a shockingly violent movie. Buddhists can open up a can of whoop-ass when they need to.

[magslinger]

What I needed to learn from the military was how to shoot and become good at handling shotguns so that I won't miss my target as a village defence volunteer

What a wise man. With all the modern weapons available, (I'm assuming a shotgun is a choice, and not a legal neccessity. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.) he learns the shotgun. IMHO a man with a shotgun he knows well is a serious hazard to those who would do him harm.

A shotgun is relatively easy to use effectively, and it looks and sounds impressive. I say that last because (again IMHO) the acme of self defense is to never have to draw a weapon. Even an Islamofascist bomb delivery system would be dissuaded if he knew it was likely he would die before killing any Infidels.

[dagogo redux]

Buddha Shakyamuni himself killed a man in one of his last incarnations before reaching Buddhahood.

On a voyage he saw with his clairvoyance that a man aboard the ship planned to sink the ship and kill all the crew and passengers. He could find no other way to stop the man, and so, out of compassion for the future suffering this man would incur through his actions, so he killed him to prevent the man's karmic suffering.

So, it can be done in a karmically clean way, but the intention must be completely pure. This degree of purity is hard to attain, but maybe some Buddhists can do so in this situation.

[Cicero]

The original martial arts specialists were the Shaolin Buddhist Monks. Buddhism is not necessarily a pacifist religion. It practically invented the arts of self defense against political tyrants.

[festus]

Sounds like this buddhist finally became enlightened.

[killjoy]

This is actually a non-story. Monks and Buddhism in Thailand can't really be compared to western religion. In western Christian religions, when you become a Priest, it is done for life... or at least a large portion of your life. In Thailand, this also happens where someone will devote their lives to Buddhism and become a Monk until old age.

More commonly, a Thai will become a Monk more for tradition than because they actually want to be a Monk. This is done for a variety of cultural reasons. One of the biggest is to make 'merit' for their parents. It is also done for auspicious reasons such as a death in the family, before getting married, etc... This temporary Monkhood can last anywhere from a day to a few weeks, months, or years.

Keep in mind that every Buddhist Thai male has at one point in time been a 'Monk'. This includes Thais serving in the police and military.

If this story was about someone who had been a Monk for years and then went and did this, yes it is newsworthy. Since the article doesn't make mention of this, I highly doubt it is the case. This article is no different than a paper in the US printing the headline, "High School Graduate Decides To Join The Army".

[correctthought]

If I'm not mistaken, weren't the first Hundred disciples of Buddha, warriors? And wasn't Buddha himself trained as a warrior?