Building a Culture of Nonviolence:
Sixty years after Hiroshima

I am very honored to give the lecture here in honor of the late Professor Kenko Futaba, a noted Shin Buddhist scholar, President of Ryukoku University from 1983 to 1995 and then became Chancellor of Kyoto Women's University.I myself was privileged to be a visiting professor at Ryukoku University in 1993 during my exile from Siam because of the political unrest in my own country.

A pioneer in what today is called "engaged" Buddhism, Kenko Futaba campaigned passionately for the rights of minorities in Japan and was actively involved in enactment of the law liberating Japan 's untouchables, the burakumin.

He was a prolific writer. Among his many publications are Investigations in the History of Ancient Buddhist Thought in Japan; Shinran's Humanity; Shinran's Social Practice; and Shinran's Transmission of No-self in Buddhist Thought � History .

In our modem philosophical and religious age, marked by constant, aimless spiritual wandering, we must again affirm Dr. Futaba's endeavor to seek after the essential nature of Buddhism, restoring the conviction and the commitment to support it.

This lecture series hopefully will be a continuing inspiration for the nurturing of American Buddhism.

Indeed it is a great privilege to be called upon to deliver this lecture which I dedicate to the 300,000 victims of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 60 years ago.

I should also like to remind you that soon after the Japanese capitulation, my country was able to make the peace declaration on 16 August, 1945 .

This was a genuine achievement of peace in Siam ,because from 25 January 1942 , a state of war existed de jure between the Siamese Kingdom and the United Kingdom as well as the United States . De facto, however, Siam was invaded by the forces of the Japanese Emperor, even though it was claimed that the intent of the said �invasion� was to use the Siamese territory to march into Western colonies in Burma , Malaya , Singapore and Indonesia . Siam might have not been declared as a Japanese colony proper, but in fact the sovereign powers of my country were lost or corroded following the Japanese invasion of 8 December 1941 .

Without the Free Thai Movement under the leadership of Pridi Banomyong, then Regent of King Rama VIII, peace would not have returned to Siam . On the day the peace proclamation was announced, the Allied powers including the United Kingdom and the United States recognised the independence of the Siamese state, even though it took another while for Anglo-Siamese relations to normalise.

One important word that should be noted here is that the leader of the Free Thai Movement chose the name �Ruth� as his nom de guerre, in the spirit of �Truth�.

This word �truth� carries greatest significance for mankind. Without truth or sincerity, man cannot flourish, let alone grow. In Buddhism, man is often compared to a tree. Such a tree should develop from good seeds (truth�sacca), which, when sown should adapt to the soil (adaptation� d ama ). Once sprouted, it should weather the sun, wind, rain or even storms (perseverance�khanti). Fully grown, the tree spreads its branches and provides good use for humans and animals to use its trunk to rest, its leaves for shades and fruits for nourishment (charity�c?ga). In the same light, humans have to be sincere to each other, be able to adapt to various situations with perseverance, so that they can be able to help each other and to serve all sentient beings .

It may be said that Pridi Banomyong upheld these four righteous principles throughout his lifetime. Amidst the horrors of war, his sincerity, his ability to adapt to the environment and his perseverance all led to his proclamation of peace, thus returning the normal livelihood to the people.

In real life, peace cannot thrive where there is no sincerity. There is a Buddhist adage which says: �A council that has no honest and truthful members is no council.� Hence, without truth, everything becomes futile, false, full of half-truth and thus lacks any essence.

In politics, truth has to come hand-in-hand with peace and independence, nurtured by the stream of freedom. By freedom I mean liberty in essence, not a competitive laissez-faire kind of freedom. This liberty would lead to fraternity and may eventually result in equality, legally, economically, socially and culturally. This is the quintessence of democracy.

The same way that a country enjoys its independence, so should its people. Each and everyone of us should be independent by respecting oneself as a free person and not a slave, be it from an economic, political or cultural perspective. One should also respect one�s heritage by understanding its essence. This should be done through the practice of inner peace, and sharing this peace with fellow humans, animals, and the natural environment. Once one has respect for oneself and is independent, one would respect other humans or animals , regardless of differences in birth, status, genders, power or any predetermined social norms. This is the way to fraternity that would lead to genuine equality.

The peace proclamation on 16 August 1945 can be considered as achieving peace in Siam , at least politically. Independence was restored to the Kingdom, both de facto and de jure. Democracy was also restored to an extent. Elements of dictatorship disappeared, and the once-powerful armed forces�a state within a state�lost political influence.

In achieving ideal peace, both politics and education have to be utilised so that each and everyone of us would be able to treasure the value of peace, and that the country would enjoy peace and independence concurrently.

Let us, however, not forget that at the time of the peace proclamation, the Siamese Kingdom was surrounded by Southeast Asian countries which had previously lost their independence to Britain , France , the Netherlands , and the United States . During the Second World War, these colonial dependencies were invaded by Japanese troops, who claimed they were liberated from the yoke of western imperialism . Yet, in reality, it was the Japanese Empire which seized control and recolonised these lands, be they the Philippines from the United States , Indochina from France , Singapore , Malaya and Burma from the United Kingdom , and Indonesia from the Netherlands .

Though peace was returned to Siam , all our neighbours were not in the position to enjoy peace and independence. Despite Japan having lost the war, all the territories invaded by Japan had liberation movements fighting against the return of western powers.

In this regard, it was Pridi Banomyong who was instrumental in assisting these movements in our neighbouring territories, particularly in Vietnam , Cambodia , Laos and Indonesia .

As much as we would want peace and independence, so do our neighbours. If they need our assistance and we are in the position to do so, we should help them as much as possible.

Not only that, Pridi Banomyong led discussions with the leaders of our neighbors with the goal of establishing a League of Southeast Asian Nations , which would serve all these countries with different governmental systems to unite in peace. A unified and peaceful regional community certainly has more bargaining power with the great powers or other regional groupings than a small, individual country. Pridi had the vision to realise that once India regained her independence, she would be as great as China , once China is free from warring factions plaguing the country at that time. Moreover, the United States would also exert influence over this region rather than the United Kingdom . This is said even without the mentioning of the sphere of influence extended by the Soviet Union .

It should be noted that every member of this League of Southeast Asian Nations would need independence and peace, both internally and intra-regionally, in addition to being democracies, which were more inclined towards socialism rather than capitalism.

Under a democracy, the voices of the majority must be heard without neglecting the voices of the minority. If a country consists of different ethnic groups, religions, languages, and culture s , the independence of a country implies that each and every region of that country can be free. Each independent country should be interdependent, similarly to the way the League of Southeast Asian Nations would have been.

Burma , which was a member of the League of Southeast Asian Nations , proclaimed that once it was independent, every ethnic group within the Union would be free and under autonomous rule in a sovereign country. This would mean that the central government would only be responsible for defence, foreign affairs and finance.

Therefore, the policy of the Government of Siam 60 years ago was that of decentralisation to create regional autonomy�in the Northeast, the North and South. Had this policy been fully implemented, democracy and independence would have been established concurrently with peace in every region.

If so, Laos might have joined with Siam under an autonomous and democratic rule. Of course, peace should be key here, for all the countries in the region.

Concerning Siam , the central government was considering the demands for autonomy of the four Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces within the Kingdom. In deed , the MPs play ed important roles in upholding sovereignty, democracy, as well as peace for every citizen in the Kingdom.

What I have just elaborated was the achievement of peace in Siam 60 years ago, beginning from 16 August 1945 . Peace not only among all the regions in the Kingdom , but also peace among member countries of the League of Southeast Asian Nations .

It was unfortunate that the development of peace, within Siam herself and among her neighbours, ended abruptly with the coup d�?tat of 8 November 1947 by a military clique . Democracy in form might have been in place until 1958, but its essence were gradually lost. What happened was the freedoms of the people eroded: the right of free speech were successively contained, the autonomous rule in the regions were undermined by the junta, resulting in many false charges against secessionist movements in the Northeast and the South, liberal-minded politicians and journalists were purged, prosecuted and executed . Even Buddhist monks were not exempted. Ultimately , peace was lost.

More unfortunate was that truth also gradually faded away. Anyone of integrity found himself more and more difficult in surviving politically. This was the time for characters with doubtful morals and opportunists subservient to the dictatorial powers-that-be.

The fact was that half-truths replaced the truth. Education was there to intoxicate the masses with these half-truths instead of to search for truth, beauty or virtue. As a matter of fact, every educational institution in many countries ha s become deferential to money, power, and western mainstream thinking characterised by fragmentary, rather than holistic perspectives, with the brain separated from the heart. The goal of education was to prepare for a career that would match the time and effort spent. Whether the career in question was a right livelihood or not, it did not seem to matter at all.

Th e powers that be painted the name of Pridi Banomyong black, accusing him of prematurely demanding democratic rule from Rama VII, who had already intended to grant Siam her first constitution. This is said without even mentioning the mud-slinging allegations of his involvement in the circumstances surrounding the death of Rama VIII. It was in fact Pridi who defended the monarchy along with the constitution. When he passed away in 1983, the Parliament he had founded and had served as its first secretary , did not show any sign of respect or reverence. In some text books h is name could not even be found in the history of Thai democracy or the history Thammasat University , which he established and became the first rector.

In 2000, the year of Pridi�s centenary, there were those who conspired to erase Pridi�s name from the Government�s list of nominations for UNESCO�s important personages of the year. Indeed, though the plot was not successful, the Government�s festivities to celebrate this occasion were done rather half-heartedly. This was not surprising, as the ruling powers-that-be are still fearful of truth and fearful of those with moral courage.

In any case, the word �peace� at that time was tainted by the Government�s poisoning of the mentioned Peace Movement which was an international movement against the Korean War . Some years later, the word �peace� was revered again following President Kennedy�s establishment of the Peace Corps in 1961--this, of course, without realising what cruelty this very President unleashed onto Vietnam, much more than any of his predecessors. The United States has become the new imperialist power, replacing the old guards of Britain , France and other European countries. Peace is being jeopardised by the United States � collaboration with just a handful of multinational corporations taking advantage of the global public and destroying the natural environment. This is being done in the name of �development� and �globalisation��two catchwords used to mesmerise the people.

In the sense that the word �peace� was regarded in a negative connotation, many of us today have realised that the word �development� is not untainted. The Siamese Government, however, has yet to realise this. It is also yet to realise that ever since it has pursued the path drawn by the United States since 1947, the Kingdom is being gradually destroyed�in terms of peace, independence, democracy, and also including religion and culture.

However, if we take Yohan Gultung seriously, as we should. He declared that the American empire will last for two more decades only. And John Ralston Saul�s latest book: The Collapse of Globalism and the reinvention of the world is very prophetic.

Glenn Paige�s book, Nonkilling Global Political Science, is one example of the beginnings of a sea-change in how we will build democracy and freedom in the near future. Paige insists that a nonkilling society and nonkilling political science is possible, not unthinkable. Paige paints a picture of a human society that refuses to disavow the possibility of cultivating peace and human security.

I also call your attention to the tremendous work of two nonviolent revolutionaries, S. Jagannatham and his wife Krishnammal who, despite being over 90 years old, are still actively working to bring justice, equality and environmental balance to the untouchable classes of India . A biography of their work entitled The Color of Freedom published by the Gandhi Foundation in the USA is most inspiring. Next year we will celebrate Bhikkhu Buddhadasa�s centenary. He too was a pioneer for peace and justice from a Thai Buddhist perspective.

In achieving ideal peace, both politics and education have to be utilised so that each and everyone of us would be able to treasure the value of peace, and that the country would enjoy peace and independence concurrently.

But even though we mostly acknowledge our failings in educating the public, we still aren�t spending enough on education. Instead, resources are still being channeled into more weapons, more war and more violence. For instance, every year most developed nations spend more on their military budgets than they do their education budgets. And we may be hard pressed to find a so-called Third World country that is �third world� militarily. Martin Luther King Jr. was straight to the point when he stated: our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. It does take a bit of a talent to imagine otherwise. If similar investments were made in educational infrastructures, especially in the areas of peace and nonviolence, the results would be beyond our imaginations. We may well learn to imagine peace rather than war as the natural state of human affairs. As Mahatma Gandhi said, We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.

Throughout his book Paige offers insights in nonkilling transformation through education and training, nonkilling knowledge in applied practice, transforming and creating institutions to facilitate nonkilling, and creating and adapting methods of inquiry, analysis and action most suitable for nonkilling transformational tasks. Paige puts it well when he writes, Violence-assuming political science tends to discourage non-violent creativity. By dismissing it in professional training as devianly �utopian�, �idealistic� and �unrealistic�, political science intellect is condemned to confinement in perpetual lethality. Nonkilling creativity offers promise of liberation.

From a Buddhist perspective, violence has its origins in the three poisons of the mind�greed, hatred and ignorance or delusion�in order to act nonviolently you must overcome these three poisons. You must develop the mental attitude that is the opposite of greed, ignorance and hatred. So to carry out a nonviolent action you need an intention, an object and an act.

Hence, merely refraining from acts of violence only succeeds on a basic level in overcoming violence. To cultivate the good qualities of the mind and actively carry out nonviolent actions represents a higher level of understanding. So in order to truly practice nonviolence we need to eliminate the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance and cultivate positive qualities transforming the three poisons with generosity, compassion and wisdom.

Buddhism also has the concept of Karma, which can be very helpful, when we try to understand the eruption of violence. Everything we experience is the result of previous causes and conditions. As the opening verses of the Dhammapada teach us, �If one acts with a corrupt mind suffering follows. If one acts with a serene mind peace follows.� We must be aware that how we act now will affect our life in the future. We reap what we sow and we cannot avoid the results of our karma. If we have this awareness then we will try our best to sow some seeds of peace.

For Buddhists the law of karma reminds us that when faced with violence we must not react against it violently.

Nevertheless as Sallie King has pointed out, there is still some ambivalence in the Buddhist community�s attitude towards warfare. King writes, It is quite obvious that offensive warfare is unjustifiable. The question before the Buddhist world is to what extent one can justify engaging in self-defensive warfare. The Buddhist tradition, in the end, offers no clear answer to this question. For instance, there will be deaths during and after a defensive war�war continues to kill after the cease-fire�and thus at the very least there will be negative karmic consequences.

Buddhists, like many others, may assert that having no war is the best goal. However they were�and still are�Buddhist armies, and many Buddhist communities were and have been warlike. Many Buddhists take war as a necessary evil, especially in the context of the modern world�s preoccupation with statism, nationalism, secularism, realpolitik, rationalism, etc.

Sallie King argues that One can make some headway in balancing Buddhist nonviolence ideals with the pragmatic need for protection by means of two devices: intention and degree. King goes on to write, Probably putting together an intention to defend, rather than destroy, with actions that seek always to minimize violence is the best one can do in adjusting Theravada Buddhism to a perceived need for self-defense. But then as King also observed, how do you square Buddhism�s objective to reduce people�s propensity for violent action but as well as justifying the concept of �just war�? This is among the pressing questions that must be thought over, especially in the light of the war against terrorism . For instance, what is minimal or proportionate violence? Is preventive war a form of self-defense? Since knowledge is always linked to power, we must conquer knowledge in order to resist power and violence.

Peacebuilding might begin with resolving the economic, social and political inequalities that form the roots of violence: Violence that is inflicted on those from a different class background, those believing in a different religious creed, and those practising different customs. These differences are linked to the unjust social structure, which, in turn, depends on the world economic order operating under the laissez-faire principle.

The stark differences existing in society results in one side enjoying privileges, making the other find various ways of opposition, even perhaps not through the normal means of justice, since the law serves the rich and powerful.

Once one side abuses the other, it is natural that the other would retaliate, hence exacerbating violence. This corresponds with a Buddhist saying that: �Bad deeds cannot be ended through retribution.� If such �bad deeds� as violence persist in our world, then our economies would continue to produce arms, making the superpowers and their defence-related industries profit, at least in the short run. Eventually, such investments would yield no value to society but would only create losses.

How do we then find a way out of the suffering that arises from violence? From a Buddhist perspective, all suffering in this world is directly or indirectly linked to the three root causes of suffering, that is, greed, anger and delusion.

In our present-day world, greed is expressed through the creeds of capitalism and consumerism. People are coerced to believe in money and worldly sciences, including modern technology which will not let us time to search our true being or the miracle of life. W e should realise that the basis of western philosophy lies in Ren? Descartes, whose dictum �cogito ergo sum� or �I think, therefore I am� has become immortal. We learned that Descartes is the Father of Modern Philosophy, but have we ever contemplated where the roots of individualism are? Individualism, expressed by oneself, is in fact a duality: If there exists a �one�, there also exists an �other�. This essence is contrary to the Buddhist principle of interdependence of all beings. In fact, we inter � are .

Today�s world has transformed Decartes� �I think, therefore I am� to �I buy, therefore I am�, the essence of consumerism. The reason why we study is to be able to get a job and make money. Money for buying goods which are made to intoxicate us through the powers of advertising. It follows that if we lose the power to buy, we lose the purpose of ourselves.

Have we ever realised that we have been misguided by something that is the cause of violence? To achieve peace, Buddhism proposes the dictum �I breathe therefore I am.�

Our humanity is not about our thoughts. Thoughts may make us more intelligent, but they certainly do not make us be good. Even without thinking, we might be good. But without breathing, we die.

We constantly breathe, without stopping. Yet we do not seem to give any importance to breathing. Our first breaths come when we are conceived, and our last when our bodies are d ead . With western education, however, we ignore the importance of breathing. We breathe in anger, hatred, stress, vengeance, greed, and delusion almost at all times.

Theravada Buddhists call the mindfulness of breathing ?n?p?nasati . We may want to try breathing in love instead of anger. We may be able to overcome the scourges of greed, anger and delusion through our conscious breathing.

When we are conscious, we are able to understand the essence of mindfulness , which is the key to life. To understand life means more than knowing the sum of its mechanical parts. At least we should come to realise that we should not be living our lives for our self-glorification, for climbing the social ladder�which is abound with injustices, but we should rather recognise that the downtrodden and exploited members of our society are no less important than us. We should also realise that we share a responsibility in protecting our natural environment, which is being incessantly destroyed. We should also learn how not to hate even those who are exploiting us, but we must rather work together to gain independence from the unjust social structures which are full of violence .

I hope what I have said would make you contemplate and perhaps would even make you act by challenging the status quo�the intellectual subservience to violent social and political ideologies which we have been naively following for too long : t he false ideologies that permit mistakes like Hiroshima , 9/11, and Iraq . I sincerely hope that the work of past personalities like Gandhi , Martin Luther King and Kenko Futaba will inspire you to work nonviolently for justice and equality in this new era. Perhaps like them, you could achieve peace in your community amongst your people by first achieving peace within yourselves. Then you could spread your individual peace through a culture of awakening and overwhelm the evil, tyranny and violence existing in today�s societies through nonviolent compassionate action.

We may be a small group of people. However, the British sociologist, Margaret Meade, put it beautifully: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it�s the only thing that ever has. To put it stronger, let me end my talk by quoting Gandhi who said a small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

printable version