IMPLICATIONS OF BUDDHIST POLITICAL ETHICS FOR THE MINIMISATION OF SUFFERING IN SITUATIONS OF ARMED CONFLICT

ABSTRACT

This article, drawing on Pali materials, highlights the Buddhist emphasis on minimising suffering, even in the conduct of war, in line with principles of international humanitarian law (IHL). It reflects on the inner roots of conflict and explores ideals of governance and the conduct of war, especially as explored in the Jātaka stories and stories about the god Sakka, and then as reflected in the Edicts of emperor Asoka and the Mahāvaṃsa chronicle.

KEYWORDS:

• Jātakas (Bhojājānīya (no.23)
• Kulāvaka (no.31)
• Mahāsīlava (no.51)
• Asātarūpa (no.100)
• Dhonasākha (no.153)
• Asadisa (no.181)
• Nandiyamiga (no.385)
• Kusa (no.531), Ummagga (no.546))
• bodhisatta
• dhamma-rājā
• dasa-rāja-dhamma
• Asoka
• Duṭugämuṇu
• Mahāvaṃsa
• Pasenadi
• Sakka
• Sakka-saṃyutta
• minimizing suffering
• non-vengeance
• protecting non-combatants
• International Humanitarian Law

Abbreviations

D. Dīgha-nikāya, edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and J. Estlin Carpenter, in 3 vols. London,

Luzac and Co., 1890–1911. Reprinted, London: Pali Text Society.

Jat The Jātaka, Together with its Commentary, edited by V. Fausboll, 6 vols. London, Luzac and Co. (vol.1), & Tibner and Co. (vols. 2–6), 1877–1896. The Pali, and English translations of all of them, are available at: https://jatakastories.div.ed.ac.uk. The translations are those done by various hands under E. B. Cowell, The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, 6 vols., London: Pali Text Society, 1895–1907. Newer translations are the following: Naomi Appleton and Sarah Shaw, The Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha; The Mahānipāta of the Jātakavaṇṇanā, Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2 volumes, 2015; this translates the final 10, and longest Jātakas: nos. 538–547. Sarah Shaw, The Jātakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta, New Delhi: Penguin, 2006, translates 26 of the Jātakas: nos. 1, 9, 20, 37, 48, 55, 75, 94, 95, 99, 106, 108, 121, 128, 248, 273, 313, 316, 385, 402, 407, 476, 506, 538, 539, and 540. Nos. 385 and 546 are discussed above.

M. Majjhima-nikāya, edited by V. Trenkner and Robert Chalmers, 3 vols. London,

Luzac and Co., 1888–1899. Reprinted, London: Pali Text Society.

S. Saṃyutta-nikāya, edited by Leon Feer, 5 vols. London, Luzac and Co., 1884–1898. Reprinted, London: Pali Text Society.

Disclosure statement

This article has been supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Notes

1. Cf. Harris’ article in this volume.

2. Translation adjusted for modern readership.

3. Sri Lankan scholars in the 1990s were able to show that this is a retrospective interpretation. After all, there were Tamil Buddhists, and Tamil is often mentioned by the commentator Buddhaghosa as one of the languages that might be the mother tongue of a candidate for Buddhist ordination. Analysis also indicated that different ethnicities were fighting in Duṭugämuṇu’s army.

4. The ‘millions’ translates akkhohiṇī, which Cone (2001, 7–8) explains as ‘a complete army (or … millions)’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

P. D. Premasiri

P. D. Premasiri is Emeritus Professor of Pali and Buddhist studies, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He is still affiliated with its Postgraduate Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities and with the Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy (SIBA). He has published extensively in the areas of Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist ethics, Buddhist psychology and comparative philosophy. He obtained a BA in Pali from Peradeniya in 1963, and a BA (1967) and MA (1971) in philosophy from the University of Cambridge. In 1980 he obtained his PhD in comparative philosophy from the University of Hawaiʻi.