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How Does Buddhism Compare with International Humanitarian Law, and Can It Contribute to Humanising War? |
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| Author |
Bartles-Smith, Andrew (著)
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| Source |
Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal
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| Volume | v.22 n.1-2 |
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| Date | 2021 |
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| Pages | 8 - 51 |
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| Publisher | Routledge |
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| Publisher Url |
https://www.routledge.com/
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| Location | Abingdon, UK [阿賓登, 英國] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Note | Andrew Bartles-Smith manages the ICRC’s Global Affairs Unit in Asia. He has many years of experience engaging with religious circles and non-state armed groups in the region, and has pioneered ICRC efforts to promote research and debate on IHL and religious teachings. He currently leads ICRC projects on Buddhism and IHL, and Hinduism and IHL, and recently established the ICRC’s Religion and Humanitarian Principles website with Daniel Ratheiser and other colleagues. |
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| Keyword | International humanitarian law; IHL; Buddhism; war; karma; armed conflict; just war; jus in bello; jus ad bellum; intention; compliance; military ethics; psychology |
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| Abstract | This article examines Buddhist teachings relevant to the regulation of war and compares them with international humanitarian law (IHL) and the just war tradition by which it has been informed. It argues that Buddhist ethics broadly align with IHL rules to minimise harm inflicted during war, and that Buddhism’s psychological resources can help support IHL to improve compliance with common humanitarian norms. Indeed, Buddhist mindfulness techniques can support even non-Buddhist combatants by enhancing their psychological resilience and capacity to fight with skill and restraint. While IHL is a legal regime that legitimises violence under certain conditions, and lays down clear universally ratified rules, Buddhism is primarily an ethical and psychological system that addresses the motivations and inner roots of behaviour and can be understood and interpreted in different ways. In this respect, Buddhism overlaps with the field of military ethics, and can contribute much to enhance military training. However, while the centrality of non-harming (ahiṃsā) to Buddhism dictates that extraordinary efforts should be made to prevent war or otherwise minimise the harm inflicted – thereby checking interpretations of IHL that are overly permissive – Buddhism’s consequent reluctance to legitimise and thereby institutionalise war, and the ambiguity of its teachings in this regard, have generally precluded it from developing clear just war guidelines for belligerents to follow, and Buddhist resources to improve the conduct of hostilities have remained largely untapped. Mainstream traditions of Buddhist ethics must also be distinguished from more esoteric and localised beliefs and practices, and from the lived Buddhisms with which most lay Buddhists are more familiar, which do not necessarily embody the same degree of restraint. Belligerents might therefore have different conceptions or expectations of Buddhism depending on their culture and particular circumstances, or be unclear about what it says on the conduct of war. |
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| Table of contents | Abstract 8
Introduction 9
Content and structure 12
Part 1: IHL, religion and just war
IHL and its limits 13
Religion and just war 14
Righteous war in ancient India 16
Part 2: Buddhist ethics in relation to war
The emergence of Buddhism in part as a response to war 17
The psychological core of Buddhist ethics 18
Buddhist non-violence and the reality of war 20
Monastic versus lay ethics 21
Part 3: Preventing violence before and after war breaks out
Buddhist statecraft and the prevention of war 22
The example of Ashoka 24
Greater accommodation for war in some Buddhist schools 25
Lineaments of just war in Buddhism 26
Part 4: Minimising violence during war according to Buddhism and IHL
Karma and intention during war 27
Applying Buddhism and IHL to the conduct of war 29
Buddhist and IHL principles 31
Buddhism and military ethics 33
Mindfulness and military training 34
Clerical support to belligerents 36
Part 5: Failures to apply Buddhist and IHL norms in practice
Historical misrepresentation of Buddhism to enable unrestrained violence 37
Contemporary failures to apply IHL and Buddhist ethics 39
Conclusion 41
Note 42
Abbreviations 42
Acknowledgements 43
References 43 |
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| ISSN | 14639947 (P); 14767953 (E) |
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| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2021.2149052 |
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| Hits | 90 |
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| Created date | 2023.04.19 |
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| Modified date | 2023.04.19 |
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