Q70 Documentation

Setting the record straight. Jairus Banaji:

 How Modi stands Buddha on his head. In his televised broadcast on 11 May, he told viewers: “𝐵ℎ𝑎𝑔𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝐵𝑢𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑎 𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖 𝑘𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑘ℎ𝑎𝑦𝑎. 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖 𝑘𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑔 𝑏ℎ𝑖 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑡𝑖 𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑟 𝑗𝑎𝑡𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑖” (Lord Buddha showed us the path of peace. The road to peace lies through power.)  
Did Buddha ever say or suggest that the road to peace lies through power (which is code for more defence spending and more militarism)? Here is how one Buddhist scholar expounds Buddha’s views:

In relating with other states, hostility and aggression is forbidden and the cultivation of friendliness and neighborliness and mutually beneficial commerce is endorsed, both to conform with the dharma and on grounds of expediency and efficacy, that is, aggression does not serve one’s self-interest in the long run. Buddha counseled, “Hatred never ceases by hatred in this world. Hatred ceases by love—this is the ancient law” (𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑑𝑎, tr. Easwaran, 2007, p. 105).  A state could retain its army for defensive purposes but nonviolence is thought to be the higher ideal and Buddha counseled against the resort to war as a means of settling international disputes (Sallie King, ‘War and Peace in Buddhist Philosophy’, in 𝐴 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝐵𝑢𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑦, 2013, pp. 631-50). The first ethical principle in Buddhism is to refrain from killing or injuring any sentient being. There is little or no support for “just war” in Buddhism (Michael Jerryson, ‘Buddhist Traditions and Violence’, in 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑥𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 2013, pp. 41-66; Lakshmi Jayasuriya, ‘Just War Tradition and Buddhism’, 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠, 46/4 (2009), pp. 423-38). Buddha said that wars only perpetuate future conflict. As noted, he also spoke out against the trading in weapons as “wrong livelihood.” (William Long, 𝐴 𝐵𝑢𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 (2021)