Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Dr. Marten
I certainly have never heard of any Buddhists killing another man because s/he believed differently than he. The Christians/Muslims and the Catholics certainly can not claim the same.

The origin of Christian warfare was as a response to military Islamic expansion. After that the concept of Christian warfare entered European culture. Students of medieval history know, however, that the Church was a strong restraining factor on warfare. The wars between Catholicism and Protestantism were when the wheels really came off the wagon, and it is clear that such wars were, even though fought on both sides in the name of Christianity, primarily political and clearly nonscriptural.

Because the conditions were different (in southeast asia) Buddhism was not primarily used as a cause for war, but many Buddhists were warriors.

Do we see Christians fighting wars today in the name of Christianity? No. On the other hand, read this: " Today, the future seems more ominous than ever for the 100,000 followers of Tibetan Buddhism who are caught in a half-century of war between local Muslims and Hindus, and between Pakistan and India, for control over the disputed territory. Since the battle of Kargil two years ago, native Buddhists and Tibetan refugees have emerged as India's most effective fighting force along the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani sectors of Kashmir.
The territorial dispute has since escalated into a full-fledged religious war, with Islamic militants focusing their gun sights on local Buddhists in retaliation for their decisive role in beating back an Islamic attack on Kargil in 1999.
"The Buddhists of Ladakh are the main target of the Kashmiri militants now that the Pandits (Kashmiri Hindus) have been ousted from the Kashmir Valley," said Tsering Samphel, head of the Ladakh Buddhist Association, in the district capital of Leh.
Over the past decade, Islamic separatists routed some 300,000 Pandits out of the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of a once independent kingdom.
Then, in brutal mountain warfare around Kargil, the Kashmiri militants clashed with the Indian Army's Ladakh Scouts, a 4,000-man paramilitary unit of local Buddhists and Tibetan commandos. Just as the fighting erupted at Kargil, the Dalai Lama happened to be visiting the Jivay Tsal, his palatial residence near Choklamsar, the sprawling Tibetan refugee camp outside Leh. According to Tibetan monks and schoolteachers interviewed at the camp, the Tibetan spiritual leader gave his personal blessing to the Buddhist soldiers of the Ladakh Scouts, Indian press accounts also mentioned the Dalai Lama's supportive role.
The Ladakhi and Tibetan troopers were immediately sent to the mountains over the Indus River headwaters. After scaling the icy cliffs, the Ladakh Scouts launched the first successful counterattacks by the Indian side, killing dozens of Muslim militants and pushing the rest back into Pakistan-controlled Baltistan.
"Kargil showed the Buddhists will not flee like the Pandits," said Tsering. "We Buddhists cannot remain as spectators, we will resist."

Hmmm....looks like the religion of peace (Islam) just makes friends whereever it goes.

50 posted on 07/29/2003 7:39:36 AM PDT by dark_lord (The Statue of Liberty now holds a baseball bat and she's yelling 'You want a piece of me?')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies ]


To: dark_lord
Intresting.

I am aware of the ancient Buddhist warriors during the dynastical periods but as a rule of thumb, Buddhism does not teach violence.

There is however a difference in taking a role of defense rather than offense. Buddhists are not a dominating sect of people.
62 posted on 07/29/2003 8:06:33 AM PDT by Dr. Marten (Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies ]

To: dark_lord
Do we see Christians fighting wars today in the name of Christianity? No. On the other hand, read this: ...

That was interesting information and I thank you for posting it. I would like to note that nowhere in it did it suggest that Buddhists were fighting in the name of Buddhism. From what is says it seems to me that they are fighting for the security of their homes. Never, to my knowledge, have Buddhists of any stripe fought to promote, expand or establish Buddhism on non-Buddhists inside or outside of their own territories. Self defense is another story.

68 posted on 07/29/2003 9:40:12 AM PDT by TigersEye (Joe McCarthy was right ... so was PT Barnum!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson