Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Rohingya

General Matsui Iwane was a devout Buddhist.  He was the commanding officer of the Japanese forces that annexed Shanghai and Nanking in 1937, which infamously became known as "The Rape of Nanking" due to the atrocities committed there.  Where or not he directly gave the order for massacre, he certainly got the blame for it and was executed by the War Crimes Tribunal on 1948.  He maintained that he ordered a humane conquest, and that it was his inferiors that defied the order.  And it WAS the subordinates that did the pillaging and raping.  Whether or not he was guilty of the massacre, he certainly was a weak leader.



What does Wikipedia say about Buddhism?

Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. Practices of Buddhism include taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, study of scriptures, observance of moral precepts, renunciation of craving and attachment, the practice of meditation (including calm and insight), the cultivation of wisdom, loving-kindness and compassion, the Mahayana practice of bodhicitta and the Vajrayana practices of generation stage and completion stage.
In Theravada the ultimate goal is the cessation of the kleshas and the attainment of the sublime state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (also known as the Middle Way), thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth.

"Wisdom, loving-kindness and compassion" certainly are not prerequisites of oppression.  So whoever commits oppression is a traitor to Buddhism?  Well, in every religion there are those who follow the rules and those who don't.  Those who don't follow the rules are usually the inferior and the subordinates.  The other option is that the leader doesn't follow the rules.  Either way, this is a case of WEAK LEADERSHIP.



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