The Practice Of Honour Killing In An Early Buddhist Society
Darshanie Ratnawalli
If you told me that Buddhism causes dilemmas to rulers who are required by tradition to uphold social norms that enshrine killing such as war, hunting, judicial homicide and honour killing, I will snigger. As I snigger, I’ll be thinking of the earliest Buddhist societies such as the Vajjis[i] and the earliest Buddhist royal disciples such as Pasenadi Kosala. The theory of a social dilemma causing Buddhism is outlined in “Betraying Buddhism and Undermining Sri Lanka”, an article by Tisaranee Gunasekara in Colombo Telegraph. She says; “According to the Buddha’s teaching the killing of any living being is a sin and those who commit such deeds have to suffer the consequences in this and subsequent births. The dilemma caused by this belief system to the Lankan kings is easy to imagine. They needed armies to protect their thrones and/or to extend their politico-geographical holdings. But if true Buddhism took root in the island, finding soldiers to fight their wars may have become next-to-impossible.”
The last sentence contains a clear surmise that wherever true Buddhism takes root, society will become dysfunctional. The people will tie themselves into knots over the first precept and stop behaving normally. Apparently, when true Buddhism takes root, the first precept grows like a weed crushing out all other norms until society breaks down. Read More
