Re: [pf] Venom, then Smashing Windows, then War

At 09:16 3/5/2001 -0400, Gary Barrett wrote to Pos Fut, with Subject: [pf]
Venom, then Smashing Windows, then War {at:
http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2001II/msg00771.html } :-
>
>IMO, the following passage seems to apply to three recent threads of PF
discussion.
>
>It comes from the Meditations of Deng Ming-Dao, a Daoist monk and kung-fu
master.  Master Deng knew his subject well.  His family, of the Chinese
warrior class, was destroyed by Mao's armies.  Mao believed that his own
"enlightened" ends justified his violent means.  Deng saw his fellow monks
hacked to death and his centuries-old monastery destroyed.  He managed to
survive by fleeing his country.  
>

<Start of passage>

Weapons are tools of ill omen
   Wielded by the ignorant.
If their use is unavoidable,
   The wise act with restraint.
The greatest sorrow is to be a veteran, 
   Witness to the atrocities of humanity.

If you hold a real weapon in your hand, you will feel its character
strongly.  It begs to be used.  It is fearsome.  Its only purpose is death,
and its power is not just in the material from which it is made but also
from the intention of its makers.

It is regrettable that weapons must sometimes be used, but occasionally
survival demands it.  The wise go forth with weapons only as a last resort.
 They never rejoice in the skill of weapons, nor do they glorify war. 

When death, pain, and destruction are visited upon what you hold to be most
sacred, the spiritual price is devastating.  What hurts more than one's own
suffering is bearing witness to the suffering of others.  The regret of
seeing human beings at their worst and the sheer pain of not being able to
help the victims can never be redeemed.  If you go personally to war, you
cross the line yourself.  You sacrifice ideals for survival and the fury of
killing.  That alters you forever.  That is why no one rushes to be a
veteran.  Think before you want to change so unalterably.  The stakes are
not merely one's life, but one's very humanity. 

<End passage>

Regards,

Gary Barrett 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

· I agree with Gary's theme, which I take to be: train yourself in
politeness and tolerance, though speaking truth to power, and you should
not have to take the huge risk of wielding a weapon - sowing death, and not
just to others.

· I collected some posts from a thread Gary referred-to, titled:
Re: [pf] Smashing Windows for a Better World?

· and posted them to our GreenViews-NZ list, under the title:
Fw. Violence: people? things? useful? (was: Fw.Reclaim May Day!)

· Since then I made that post into a webpage with title:

 -= "Violence: against People? Property?  Is it Useful?" =-   It's at:

http://www.geocities.com/davdd.geo/ViolenceQuMk.html

· It may be useful in the future, for those who don't keep PF posts.


David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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