Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Page 122

Christopher Chapple, "Religious Dissonance and Reconciliation"
coerced out of their human heartedness to become torturers.20 Thich Nhat Hanh, in his poem “Call Me By My True Names" reminds his readers and listeners that one can be a victim, such as the defenseless boat girl raped by a pirate that he describes. But one can also become a perpetrator. Thich Nhat Hanh writes "I am [also) the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving."21
Haribhadra of lore and Haribhadra the author left two legacies. Though clearly without historical basis, the Haribhadra stories have indicated that he staged espionage, sent his innocent nephews into the camp of the "other,” and in his rage when they were discovered and punished, put to death hundreds of Buddhists. Haribhadra the philosopher and theologian promulgated a style of thinking that fosters a quest for self understanding and respect for the views of others. His gentle message, as we have seen, urges one not to be aggressive in one's views but to teach by example, always striving for greater purity and truth. The first Haribhadra seeks and obtains revenge. The second Haribhadra attempts to work for reconciliation, or at least peaceful co-existence. Martha Minow, in a comprehensive survey of contemporary attempts at conflict resolution, outlines the approaches to overcome the pain of wrongs committed:
Responses to collective violence lurch among rhetorics of history (truth), theology (forgiveness), justice (punishment, compensation, and deterrence), therapy (healing), art (commemoration and disturbance), and education (learning lessons). None is adequate. Yet, invoking these rhetorics, through collective steps such as prosecutions, truth commissions, memorials, and education, people wager that social responses can alter the emotional experiences of individuals and societies living after mass violence. Perhaps
20 John Conroy, Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture (New York: Alfred Knopf, 2000).
4 Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King (eds.), Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996), p. 339.