War and Peace

Religion, war and peace

Most Buddhists would consider fighting in wars to be unskilful because:

It breaks the First Precept in which Buddhists undertake to abstain from taking life.
It contradicts the principle of ahimsa which encourages Buddhists to practise non-violence and to cultivate an attitude of peace and good will towards all living beings.
Wars are often caused by greed and hatred which are two of the three poisons. These negative states of mind are unlikely to help a person to achieve enlightenment.
Buddhists try to develop an attitude of metta (loving kindness) towards all living beings. This would seem to rule out fighting and killing in wars.

The teachings of the Buddha also suggest that war is unskilful:

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, hatred ceases only by love. This is the eternal law. All living things fear being put to death. Putting oneself in the place of the other, let no one kill nor cause another to kill.” (Dhammapada)

The rules laid down by the Buddha for monks and nuns allowed fighting in self-defence, but forbade killing. However, in practice, some Buddhist countries have gone to war and individual Buddhists have made the decision to fight in wars. They might have come to this decision because:

They feel that the consequences of not fighting might be far worse. For example, if an enemy army invaded and was threatening the lives of thousands of people, a Buddhist may come to the conclusion that the negative consequences of fighting and killing enemy soldiers might be less damaging than allowing many more innocent people to be slaughtered.
They may feel that they have a duty to protect their families and fellow countrymen from attack.
They might use the principle of double effect to argue that the intention is not to kill enemy troops but to protect the innocent.