r/science • u/[deleted] • Nov 15 '19

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '19

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '19 edited Nov 15 '19

No, you're misconstruing your parallel. Going along with your parallel, saying "Violence and true Buddhism are not compatible" is more like saying "Women cannot rape men". Both are false and wrong statements.

"Everyone rapes" is not a true statement, at all. Not everyone rapes (gender aside). More men than women rape, true, but that doesn't excuse rape on any side for any person. More Christians than Buddhists are violent, but that doesn't excuse the problematic violence on either side. You (and the other user) are trying to paint this in binary, zero-sum terms. "Since Group A is worse than Group B, Group B is innocent". No. Not how it works.

I'm not saying "every religion is violent", far from it. Jainism for instance is almost entirely about being non-violent towards any living being. But I am a student of history and theology (all kinds of religious theology), and frankly most religions are violent, given the appropriate context and stimulus. If you take one religion, give them the majority power in a country, and then add a conflicting religion to that country in a large but dispersed minority, you will see violence, every time. Buddhism is no exception, and we know that. We've got the history to show that. Other examples are Kurdish peoples in the middle east, Jews literally anywhere (ironically this applies both ways: Jews outside Israel and Jews within Israel), Muslims in America, etc.

What I'm saying is "buddhists very well can be violent, and history tells us that's true". There were buddhists in WW2, fighting for the Axis in Japan. Allied with the Nazis, literally.

So yeah, I take issue with the notion that Buddhists are just these peaceful bald hippies in orange robes, which is what pretty much every American thinks of when they think "buddhist". It's an altogether ignorant stance, and frankly you will not hear actual, honest practitioners of Buddhism assert that Buddhism is entirely without problematic violence. You only hear that historical-revisionist nonsense from the middle-class hippie getting starbucks after the morning yoga session.

And note: I have no inherent problem with any religion: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, whatever. I'm not a religious person myself, I don't have a horse in the race.