Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Can a buddhist be in the military?
I am a young male who's in the middle of his basic Royal Navy training, joining as a engineer, does this conflict with buddhist ideals? Because this isn't a way of life I want to give up. Thanks in advance
0
Comments
We have this conversation every few months. And there are widely different viewpoints about it. The question is -- can you meld the military lifestyle with your Buddhist principles?
I also quite like this essay here which is written by Major General Ananda Weerasekera (whoever he is):
http://www.beyondthenet.net/thedway/soldier.htm
In Zen Buddhism there is a verse by Hakuin that begins,
Sentient beings are primarily all Buddhas:
It is like ice and water,
Apart from water, no ice can exist.
Outside sentient beings, where do we find the Buddhas...?
This may sound like some smarmy spiritual come-on, but I think that in practice, people find out it is a simple statement of fact. Nothing sexy, nothing 'Buddhist,' just a fact.
The short answer to your question, then, is -- your life, your choice.
Best wishes.
If it works for you, it works. It doesn't matter if it does not work for someone else.
The difficulty with military service is that once one joins the military they will have to follow orders even if it does not mesh with their own ethical sense. I think it's something that people really need to think through carefully before they enlist. Yet, I can't see the issue as entirely black and white, as it is difficult to avoid all violent conflict when we live in a violent world. This is a more complex question than your veal analogy supposes.
bad idea.
ask yourself why the millitary targets
young idealistic men?
go across to shoot people.
I think it should be noted that the Buddha never forbade soldiers, even those actively engaged in warfare, from being lay-followers; although he certainly didn't approve of their actions, either. The Buddha, much like the Jains, stressed the principle of ahimsa or harmlessness. And one of the main purposes of warfare (something a soldier is expected to engage in when duty calls), on the other hand, is to kill others, and the Buddha was clearly of the opinion that killing rarely benefits anyone, if ever. That said, my personal opinion it all comes down to intention; and if your intention isn't to harm but to protect others, I see less of a problem in your occupation as a soldier.
I suggest checking out Thanissaro Bhikkhu's essay "Getting the Message" (pro-pacifism) and Major General Ananda Weerasekera's essay "Buddhism & The Soldier" (pro-military) for two different perspectives on the matter.
But every morning, I have oatmeal for breakfast ... little white flakes that once grew in fields I know nothing about ... and might have nourished or perhaps saved the lives of others I likewise know nothing about. Further, my country has seen fit to precipitate or participate in wars I do not agree with and yet am party to by the nature of the election process of the country I belong to. Mostly, I am not wracked by such knowledge in the same way that those who have been subjected to combat were ... but there's no avoiding the responsibility.
PS. By a strange bit of serendipity, I have a small column that will be published in tomorrow's local newspaper about my somewhat confused state as my son undergoes army basic training. I'll stick it here once it's published so that others can consider how much more level-headed they might be in similar circumstances.
As for the topic at hand...perhaps it's because I'm one of those Theravadins that feels the best way to reach enlightenment is to adhere as strictly as you can to what the Buddha originally taught, but I feel like being a Buddhist and being a soldier are very, very contradictory. To answer your question, yes, it conflicts with Buddhist ideals.
That being said, you can still try to live a somewhat-Buddhist lifestyle in the military. You can still meditate, refrain from drinking, etc. You just won't be maximizing your potential.
As something of a side note, I recall reading a story a while back ago about this Buddhist monk who lived his life according to the Dharma his entire life; he was a great person, a very devout lay follower, and was on the way to full enlightenment. However (I can't remember the situation exactly), he killed a man in order to protect somebody else. Because of that, even though he had lived his life exactly as he should have, he was still going to be reborn again and could never reach nirvana in that lifetime.
Sorry for the long post. Metta, and remember - the choice is ultimately yours.
Would you feel comfortable giving up this sort of military ideal for your Buddhist reasons?
BTW, UK combat troops only spend 3 months in combat in Afghanistan, according to the article. They are not included amongst the soldiers who are having their time extended.
Unlike US troops who spend up to 11 months (?) at a time there, and can be rotated back over and over again.
With that in mind, maybe they MIGHT make concessions for soldiers of certain religious backgrounds to avoid actual combat duty? Again, I'm just asking.....
We are a tiny army in comparison with the US, yet we punch far above our weight.
There is killing for animalistic survival and killing for ego.
There would be no army left to be used for personal gain
In my statement I said 'if'
Surely I know how messed up reality is.
However, if one stops to strive....
What's the whole point in being a buddhist?
How did you decide YOUR vision of the world is the right one, and mine is WRONG?
I'm not saying all wars are just, many aren't, but some are. Seirra Leone was a prime example; that's one of the wars that I'm proud our troops went to. Remember all those news scenes of children with missing limbs; hacked off by machetes? I also served in Bosnia and Kosovo and we did a lot of good there; people would've starved, for example, had we not guarded aid convoys. And we acted as police till the infrastructure of the country got back on it's feet. A couple of lads in my section intervened and prevented a gang rape by armed thugs. Yeh, I'm glad we punch above our weight.
Soldiers generally don't eat babies these days you know.
Soldiers defend freedom-by-war.
Non-soldiers do not.
So much for your abstract thinking.
Or is this some Zen thing I don't get?
You know, we don't live in Utopia and until we do, we will have a need for a military. Hopefully that military is controlled by a democratically elected government though.
Bilion dollar porn industry. Billion dollar gun industry. Billion dollar prescription drug industry. Ufc-cage-fighting as the new national sport.
Everybody living on credit. Working some crappy job being treated like a part of a statistical output programme. Crappy job gone, credit-company kicks in, house/car/life gone. Crazy people shooting up little kids. No money, no health(care).
Burn-outs, depression, obese people dying of MacDonalds food.
Represantatives of that world building an army to protect???
Protect what?
Against some 'other' world that is somehow worse?
Please explain cause i do not understand.
Serieusly.
By making a difference between you and me.
You create right/wrong good/evil war/peace.
You dont say directly im wrong and you are right.
However the distance you keep on creating is.
I don't know.
Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
I'm not for a military that is used offensively in other lands controlling other governments/people.
There is nothing wrong with protecting one's own country and fellow citizens with military personnel trained to do exactly that (yes, even if it means killing). I see nothing wrong with a Buddhist being in the military, *IF* they can keep themselves out of actual combat/warfare in other countries.
Call me Pollyanna, but I really believe, deep down, that slowly but surely we (Americans) are coming to understand that new way of thinking about our "military might" and within my lifetime (or what's left of this one), will adopt a completely defensive military, instead of an offensive one.
Am I being naive? Shit, I hope not. For all our sakes...
Do our good intentions justify the murder of hundereds of thousands of innocent civilians.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=x4PgpbQfxgo
What if we are the monster?