Comment From Dharmavidya

Comment from the Dharma teacher of the Amida Order:

http://www.dharmavidya.net/religion.html

"2003 December 15
..Do not kill ...karma

Maybe this item should be on the politics page. Buddhism teaches us not to kill. Currently this issue is in the news as people are discussing what should be done with a captured tyrant. The Buddha not only taught non-killing, he also taught that a victor should make a generous settlement with the vanquished. Such is the way to settle the future and not simply store up further trouble. There is an interesting book on the politics of all this called “Does Peace lead to War?” by Matthew Hughes and Matthew Seligmann. They show that it has often been the aftermath of one war that set up the next one. There is in all this an important religious principle. I notice that in Buddhist texts, if there is a story with a villain, and the villain eventually comes to a bad end at the hands of a third party, the moral drawn is that (a) the villain died as a result of his bad karma and (b) the person who killed him will probably go to hell. In Western stories there is roughly equivalence on point (a), but not on point (b). The peace of the world, however, depends upon feuds coming to an end. If the executioner is lauded and justified, feuds do not come to an end, because there is always another perspective. The victor who becomes executioner makes many enemies and, in the end, far more people go to hell. This does not depend upon whether you prefer karma or God's vengeance as the mythic explanation of what is going on. If we really believe in karma or God, then it is not our place to do karma's or God's work for him. It is simply our job to try to create conditions for a better future with less feuds than the past. Uganda turned out much better for the fact that Idi Amin was sent into retirement in Saudi Arabia than it would have if he had been hauled in front of a war crimes tribunal and then hanged. The fundamental principle of real Buddhism and real Christianity alike is compassion and a constructive approach. There are, however, many varieties of hubris at work in the world and, in the end, they just lead to us all finishing up cowering in holes in the ground frightened of our neighbours."

Comments

[Simon Brunning]

There are generally two reasons why capital punishment is a bad thing. Firstly, there is the possibility that the executed person might be innocent, and second is that, well, killing people is wrong. While the first of these objections doesn’t apply in the case of Saddam (who can doubt his guilt?) the second still holds firm.

But, I have to say that he’s pretty far down my list of those whom we should be worried about. Ten people were killed in Iraq yesterday. ‘Ordinary’ criminals are routinely executed in the US, and throughout the world. Dissidents are tortured and summarily executed every day in too many countries to count.

So, no, Saddam shouldn’t face the death penalty. But if he does, I won’t lose sleep.

[Mark Matthews]

I think there are 2 problems with the Western governments trying to get S.H. killed- and one good reason. Te good reason isthat they set him up to kill all those people, so want him out of the picture. The first problem is that we sold him all the arms and skills and training so he could do it. So it's our fault, coz we encouraged him at the time, coz here was hassling people who ere out of favour with us. The second is that you might Martyr him, which would be a bad thing- about as much as not realsing thta Bush is the greatest mass murderer in american history.