SRI LANKA HOLIDAYS; Non violence in Buddhism

Non Violence in Buddhism : Part 1

by B. U. N. Peiris, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka © B. U. N. Peiris

Recently a friend of mine wrote to me “When the US was massacring in cold blood Buddhist Vietnamese, the Buddhists in Sri Lanka never raised a word against them - nor did any Buddhist volunteer to go to Vietnam and fight on behalf of his brothers” Such absurd statements are products of the ‘Frog in the wall” mentality. To make a short story short, it must be said to make such statements is to labour under the delusion that one religion could be viewed through a lens of another religion. Everyman for himself & God against all.

In order to encapsulate, firstly, it must be stated that there is no conception of a Buddhist Brotherhood or Buddhist brothers: according to Buddhism all humans are brother irrespective of the race or religion. Secondly, Buddhism has no militant streak as in some religions;it denounces all forms of violence to the ultimate border making no provision for so called defensive militancy even where life or the religion is being threatened or being destroyed. Thirdly Budhist have never preached or practicsed aggressive conceptions such as anti-capitalism or anti communism:while mainly Buddhist China has been Communist, mainly Buddhist Japan has been Capitalist. Thirdly Buddhist have never displayed a paranoid hatred of United States of America in spite of atriccities commited against Japan, Korea, Vietnam & Cambodia. Most of all practice of Buddhism never given birth to conceptions similar to hysterical anti-Semitism & anti-Americanism manifestations of which were shell-shocked into the psyche of the rest of the world on 11^th September 2001.

Buddhism, a highly profound religion is laid down in three books called Thripitaka, preaches toconquer hatred by love; conquer evil by good; conquer the stingy by generosity; conquer the liar by truth. It would be absurd to claim that such preaching are adhered by many given the human condition. Situation is similar to the Christianity in which non-violence is the cornerstone set by the theology & the example of the Christ & his disciples.

Although Crusader wars launched by the popes violated the conception of non-violence in Christianity, in contrast mainly Buddhist China & other mainly Buddhist Japan, Korea, Vietnam,Cambodia, Burma, Nepal or India in the ere of Emperor Asoka, have not collectively or individually have launched violent expeditions to defend Buddhism. In fact Afghanistan, Malaysia & Indonesia & some parts of India were converted from Buddhism to Islam by sword & fire.

In spite of being twice nuclear bombed, it has not held the United States of America in hatred but has embraced the American technology since the end of the second world war to rise with the electronic age & miraculously emerge as one of the most vibrant &strongest economies of the modern world within three decades

As the United States is the most advanced industrial nation in world it was able to make full use of the latest developments in technology in its war against North Vietnam. B-52 bombers, that could fly at heights that prevented them being seen or heard, dropped 8 million tons of bombs on Vietnambetween 1965 and 1973. This was over three times the amount of bombs dropped throughout the whole of the Second World War and worked out at approximately 300 tons for every man, woman and child living in Vietnam.

As well as explosive bombs the US air force dropped a considerable number of incendiary devices. The most infamous of these was napalm, a mixture of petrol and a chemical thickner which produces a tough sticky gel that attaches itself to the skin. The igniting agent, white phosphorus, continues burning for a considerable amount of time. A reported three quarters of all napalm victims in Vietnam were burned through to the muscle and bone (fifth degree burns). The pain caused by the burning is so traumatic that it often causes death.

The US also made considerable use of anti-personnel bombs. The pineapple bomb was made up of 250 metal pellets inside a small canister. Gloria Emerson, a reporter in Vietnam, witnessed their use: "An American plane could drop a thousand pineapples over an area the size of four football fields. In a single air strike two hundred and fifty thousand pellets were spewed in a horizontal pattern over the land below, hitting everything on the ground."

The United States also experimented with the use of plastic rather than metal needles and pellets in their antipersonnel bombs. The advantage of plastic was they could not be identified by X-Ray machines. Dropped on highly populated areas, antipersonnel bombs could severely disrupt the functioning of North Vietnam. It has been claimed that the major objective of the US bombing raids on North Vietnam was not to kill its 17 million population but to maim them. As was pointed out at the time, serious injury is more disruptive than death as people have to be employed to look after the injured where they only have to bury the dead.

One of the major problems of the US forces was the detection of the NLF hiding in the forests ofVietnam. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy approved Operation Ranch Hand. This involved the spraying of chemicals from the air in an attempt to destroy the NLF hiding places. In 1969 alone, Operation Ranch Hand destroyed 1,034,300 hectares of forest. 'Agent Orange', the chemical used in this defoliation programme not only destroyed trees but caused chromosomal damage in people.

Chemicals were also sprayed on crops. Between 1962 and 1969, 688,000 agricultural acres were sprayed with a chemical called 'Agent Blue'. The aim of this exercise was to deny food to the NLF. However, research suggests that it was the civilian population who suffered most from the poor rice harvests that followed the spraying.

In economic terms, the bombing hurt the economy of the United States more than North Vietnam. By the beginning of 1968, it was estimated that $300 million of damage had been done to North Vietnam. However, in the process, 700 US aircraft, valued at $900 million had been shot down. When all factors were taken into consideration it was argued that it cost the United States "ten dollars for every dollar's worth of damage inflicted."

Three million US soldiers served in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973. Only about a quarter of these were involved in direct combat with the NLF. The majority were employed in supplying the needs of the combat troops. However, because of Guerrilla Warfare, there were no 'front-lines' and most Americans in Vietnam came under attack from the NLF at some time during their stay in the country.

The United States Army drafted (called-up) soldiers at the age of eighteen. To protect them from the stress of war, draftees served in Vietnam for just over a year. As victory did not appear to be in sight, surviving this period became the soldiers' main objective. As one marine explained: "You developed a survival mentality. You stop thinking about what you're doing, and you count days. I knew I was in Vietnam for three hundred and ninety-five days, and if I was still alive at the end of those three hundred and ninety-five days, I'd go home and forget the whole thing. That was the way you operated."

Not all young men in America were drafted. There were several ways that men could avoid being sent to Vietnam. The most popular way was to go to college. For example, eight of 10 Vietnam-era presidential candidates managed to avoid going to Vietnam. George Bush, the current president of the United States avoided the war by enlisting in the Texas Air National Guard. B-52 bombers, that could fly at altitudes that prevented them being seen or heard, dropped 8 million tons of bombs onVietnam between 1965 & 1973. This was over three times the amount of bombs dropped throughtout the whole of the Second World War & it worked out at approximately 300 tons for every man, women & child living in Vietnam.

As the war continued, more and more Americans turned against it. People were particularly upset by the use of chemical weapons such as napalm and agent orange. In 1967, a group of distinguished academics under the leadership of Bertrand Russell, set up the International War Crimes Tribunal. After interviewing many witnesses, they came to the conclusion that the United States was guilty of using weapons against the Vietnamese that were prohibited by international law. The United States armed forces were also found guilty of torturing captured prisoners and innocent civilians. The Tribunal, and other critics of the war, claimed that the US behaviour inVietnam was comparable to the atrocities committed by the Nazis in Europe during the Second World War.

In November, 1965, Norman Morrison, a Quaker from Baltimore, followed the example of the Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Due, and publically burnt himself to death. In the weeks that were to follow, two other pacifists, Roger La Porte and Alice Herz, also immolated themselves in protest against the war.

Henry Kissinger was put in charge of peace talks and In October, 1972, he came close to agreeing to a formula to end the war. The plan was that US troops would withdraw from Vietnam in exchange for a cease-fire and the return of 566 American prisoners held in Hanoi. It was also agreed that the governments in North and South Vietnam would remain in power until new elections could be arranged to unite the whole country.

The main problem with this formula was that whereas the US troops would leave the country, the North Vietnamese troops could remain in their positions in the south. In an effort to put pressure onNorth Vietnam to withdraw its troops. President Richard Nixon ordered a new series of air-raids onHanoi and Haiphong. It was the most intense bombing attack in world history. In eleven days, 100,000 bombs were dropped on the two cities. The destructive power was equivalent to five times that of the atom bomb used on Hiroshima. This bombing campaign was condemned throughout the world. Newspaper headlines included: "Genocide", "Stone-Age Barbarism" and "Savage and Senseless".

The North Vietnamese refused to change the terms of the agreement and so in January, 1973, Nixon agreed to sign the peace plan that had been proposed in October. However, the bombing had proved to be popular with many of the American public as they had the impression that North Vietnam had been "bombed into submission."

The last US combat troops left in March, 1973. It was an uneasy peace and by 1974, serious fighting had broken out between the NLF and the AVRN. Although the US continued to supply the South Vietnamese government with military equipment, their army had great difficulty using it effectively.

On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Due, a sixty-six year old monk, sat down in the middle of a busy Saigon road. The monk poured petrol over his own head and lit a match to set himself on fire. One eyewitness later commented: "As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him." While Thich Quang Due was burning to death, the monks and nuns gave out leaflets calling for Diem's government to show "charity and compassion " to all religions. Quang Due became a hero to the Buddhists in Vietnam, and he dramatized their cause for the rest of the world..

The government's response to this suicide was to arrest thousands of Buddhist monks. Many disappeared and were never seen again. By August another five monks had committed suicide by setting fire to themselves. One member of the South Vietnamese government responded to these self-immolations by telling a newspaper reporter: "Let them burn, and we shall clap our hands." Another offered to supply Buddhists who wanted to commit suicide with the necessary petrol.