Category — Philosophy

Last night I watched an interesting program entitled “Buddha’s Warriors“, by the CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour. The report was about Buddhist monks taking action against oppression by the Chinese in Tibet and in protest against the military regime in Myanmar (Burma).

Tibetan Protester

I applaud their efforts to stand up against oppression. But a philosophical question occurred to me:

All things are interconnected, and helping others leads to happiness, claims the Dalai Lama. Likewise hurting others causes suffering in oneself.

What about helping those who cause suffering? This would seem to be a dilemma. For example, should Buddhist monks help the Chinese (who are causing suffering), as individual Chinese human beings, and as a group? There are a couple senses in which the monks might “help” their opponents. For example, the Dalai Lama and some others favors a conciliatory approach towards the Chinese (and autonomy rather than independence). You could argue that this is helping the Chinese, and may or may not be helping the Tibetans in the long run (it’s hard to know - I’m just posting the question). Or, let’s say a monk who is walking along in the street sees a Chinese soldier, who yesterday shot one of his brother monks during a protest. The soldier suddenly slips and injures his leg and starts wailing in pain. Should the monk stop and help him, or would that be helping “the enemy”? Where would the greater harm lie? Can the Buddhist ideals be reconciled with (Buddhist or political) pragmatism?

This topic reminds me that a few days ago I was researching the Dorje Shugden controversy. (I researched it after stumbling on this page at the Buddhist Magazine Tricycle). “The practice of Dorje Shugden is currently banned by the 14th Dalai Lama, and this has led to ongoing segregation in the Tibetan community in exile and disharmony amongst Western Buddhist centers.” (Western Shugden Society website) This controversy points up the fact that even in a religion that stresses the unity and interconnectedness of all things, politics and divisions occur.

(I used to be a Buddhist. I’m not anything now - just a plain old, flawed human being