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Can Buddhists

be Terrorists?

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the German views against other religions. So we cannot be sure
philosopher, once said that we are not transparent to that the “peace-loving Buddhists” will not end up as
ourselves and can never exhaustively know why we terrorists.
do what we do. We can never be certain whether
or to what extent we have acted for the reasons we However, for Buddhists to remain truly peaceful,
think we did (whether because, for example, “it was compassionate and non-violent, they must
the right thing to do”), or whether we are under constantly remind themselves through thoughts,
the sway of psychological, neurophysiological or words, and deeds the Buddha’s teaching on ahiṃsā
socioeconomic causes that are altogether opaque or non-injury to all sentient beings. We can do
to us. This means that we cannot infer from, say, a this by first remembering the Buddha’s advice as
society’s widely held belief about Buddhists been mentioned in the scriptures:
generally tolerant, peaceful, and compassionate that
the actions of Buddhists in a particular society will “If, bhikkhus, others speak in dispraise of me, or
be strictly guided by those beliefs. in dispraise of the Dhamma, or in dispraise of the
Sangha, you should not give way to resentment,
In fact, there is a big difference between merely displeasure, or animosity against them in your heart.
believing that all sentient beings deserve kindness For if you were to become angry or upset in such a
and compassion, as Buddhists are taught in Sunday situation, you would only be creating an obstacle for
Schools and in dharma books, and actually living in yourselves.” (DN 1)
ways informed by that belief. To be really changed
by a belief regarding one’s relationship to all other All tremble at violence; all fear death.
beings, one must cultivate that belief — one must Putting oneself in the place of another,
practice it and experience it as vividly real — one should not kill nor cause another to kill.
through the discipline of following the Noble Eight-
fold path. All tremble at violence; life is dear to all.
Putting oneself in the place of another,
In the midst of the April 2019 bombing in Sri Lanka one should not kill nor cause another to kill.
where over 300 innocent lives were lost, and the
earlier Christchurch massacre not so long ago, the ~ Dhammapada 129, 130
question we should ask is whether Buddhists can
also end up as perpetrators of such heinous acts? My all sentient beings be well and happy always!

Already we have seen ugly semblance in Burma
and Sri Lanka among certain Buddhist monks who
appear to promote radicalized and even violent