Page 271 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV
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            belong to the duties of your profession, the penalty of evil  of the tyrant’s sword, not by putting up against it a
            karma will not attach to you” (Ferguson 1978, 29). In  sharper-edged weapon, but by disappointing his expec-
            fact, the entire  Mahabharata tells the tale of a great  tation that I would be offering physical resistance” (Fer-
            multigenerational war between members of the Bharata  guson 1978, 38).
            clan. In its most beloved segment, the Bhagavad Gita, the  Hence, while Hinduism traditionally preserves a priv-
            warrior Arjuna debates whether to fulfill his dharma to  ileged place for the warrior, in recent decades a revision-
            fight or his dharma to protect life, since the two seem to  ist interpretation of Hinduism, founded on the rejection
            be incompatible; he is told by Krishna, an avatar of the  of war and violence suggested by Gandhi and others, has
            great god Vishnu, quite directly: “Fight, O Bharata!”  become highly influential.
              Not surprisingly, then, war is common in the history of
            Hinduism. The Gupta empire (320–484  CE), often     Buddhism: From No Harm to
            viewed as the golden age of Hinduism, was established  the Bushido Warrior Ethic
            by Candragupta and his son Samudragupta, two soldier-  Buddhism may well be the major religious tradition that
            monarchs and unapologetic conquerors. In the early  has most consistently rejected warfare, but the history of
            eleventh century, when the Muslim Mahmud of Ghazna  even this religion is far from uniform.
            (971–1030 CE) invaded India, Hindus fought fiercely to  The first of the Five Precepts of Buddhism, incumbent
            defend the temple with, according to some accounts, fifty  on monks and laity alike, is to not take life nor be a party
            thousand men dying in a single battle. The Rajputs—  to its taking.This prohibition applies equally to war, mur-
            calling themselves the “sword arm of Hindustan” and the  der, and the killing of animals for food or ritual sacrifice.
            protectors of the Brahmans —emerged in the ninth cen-  According to the Dhammapada, “Everyone is afraid of
            tury and have fought foreign challengers to Hinduism  violence; everyone likes life. If one compares oneself with
            ever since.                                         others one would never take life or be involved in the tak-
              There is a counterstrain in Hinduism, though, found in  ing of life” (Ferguson 1978, 47).The Buddha, Siddhartha
            the Upanishads and other sacred texts. In the Chandogya  Gautama (c. 566–c. 486 BCE), preached and lived by a
            Upanishad, ahimsa (nonharmfulness or nonviolence) is  code that mandated the causing of no harm, and he
            seen as a foundational Hindu value, equal in importance  attracted many adherents to pacifism, both in his lifetime
            to austerity, almsgiving, uprightness, and trustfulness.  and beyond. The Maurya emperor Asoka (c. 270–232
            Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948), the great spiritual and  BCE) was a military imperialist who, upon converting to
            political leader of twentieth-century India, was the most  Buddhism, established a welfare state, prohibiting all
            influential advocate of ahimsa. In his teachings, Gandhi  killing.The pervasive effect of the Buddha’s teachings with
            attempted to explain classical Hindu works that had for  respect to pacifism can be seen in the harsh words of
            centuries been seen to support the warrior life as in fact  Yuan Tchen (779–831 CE), who chastises Buddhists for
            embodiments of the principle of nonviolence. The    using their religion as an excuse for shirking military duty.
            Mahabharata, Gandhi argues, ends by depicting not the  Yet the historical Buddha, born into the Hindu Ksha-
            glory but the futility of war; Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita  triya caste, is also regularly depicted as employing mar-
            tells Arjuna to fight, but only as a means of illustrating to  tial analogies, even after his awakening to Buddha status.
            Arjuna the essential incompatibility of violent acts and  The Sutra of 42 Sections records: “A man practicing the
            the spiritual obligation to remain unattached to the  Way is like a lone man in combat against ten thousand
            “fruits of action.” Gandhi emerges with an approach to  . . . .[S]ome retreat; some reach battle and die; some are
            combating evil, which is both grounded in Hinduism and  victorious and return to their kingdoms triumphantly”
            entirely nonviolent.As he writes,“I seek to blunt the edge  (Sharf 1996, 45). The Suttanipata draws a distinction
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