Can We Justify War?

正义的战争

The difference between a dog fight and a war or between two groups of people is only in its organization.

狗与狗之间的争执和人类的战争相比，差别就在组织性。

The history of mankind is a continuous manifestation of man's greed, hatred, pride, jealousy, selfishness and delusion. During the last 3,000 years, men have fought 15,000 major wars. Is it a characteristic of man? What is his destiny? How can men bring destruction to one another?

人类在贪、嗔、痴、嫉妒、自私等邪恶的念头作祟下，在过去的三千年来，总共发生过超过一万五千起大型战争。这是人类的本性吗？是人类的命运吗？人类有权力摧毁他人吗？

Although men have discovered and invented many important things, they have also made great advances towards the destruction of their own kind. This is how many human civilizations have been completely erased from this earth. Modern man has become so sophisticated in his art and techniques of warfare that it is now possible for him to turn the whole of mankind into ashes within a few seconds. The world has become a storehouse of military hardware as a result of a little game called 'Military Superiority.'

虽然人类创造和发明了很多新的事物，可是人类却在毁灭自己的同类，多少人类的生命从地球消失。现代人掌握了最新的战斗科技，在数秒钟内便能摧毁全人类。世界成为武器的库房，人类在进行一场叫做「军事优越性」的游戏。

We are told that the prototype of a nuclear weapon is more powerful than the atomic bomb which was dropped at Hiroshima Japan in August, 1945 is being planned. Scientist believe that a few hundred thermonuclear weapons will chart the course towards universal destruction. Just see what we are doing to our human race! Think what sort of scientific development it is! See how foolish and selfish man is!

我们知道核子武器的威力，比起一九四五年八月在日本长崎和广岛爆炸的原子弹威力还要大。科学家相信，只要数百枚的核子弹，就能消灭整个地球。我们到底在竞争什么！科技到底在发展些什么！人类到底有多自私和愚蠢啊！

Man should not pander to his aggressive instincts. Man should uphold the ethical teachings of the religious teachers and display justice with morality to enable peace to prevail.

人类不应该迎合那充满侵略性的野心家。人类应该追随崇高的宗教导师，发展正义和道德，化战争为和平。

Treaties, pacts and, peace formulae have been adopted and millions of words have been spoken by countless world leaders throughout the world who proclaim that they have found the way to maintain and promote peace on earth. But for all their efforts, they have not succeeded in removing the threat to man-kind. The reason is that we have all failed to educate our young to truly understand and respect the need for selfless service and the danger of selfishness. To guarantee true peace, we must use every method available to us to educate our young to practise love, goodwill and tolerance towards others.

无数的国家和无法统计的领导人，大批的论文、契约、和平方案，都宣称已经为这世界寻找到维持和平的方法，可是一点作用也没有，仍然无法解除人类的威胁。失败的原因就出在没有好好的教育下一代，没有让他们清楚的理解无私奉献的重要和自私的危险。要确保和平，就要用尽种种方法，让我们年青的一代学习如何实现爱心、善心、容忍等等。

The Buddhist Attitude

佛教的态度：

A Buddhist should not be the aggressor even in protecting his religion or anything else. He must try his best to avoid any kind of violent act. Sometimes he may be forced to go to war by others who do not respect the concept of the brotherhood of man as taught by the Buddha. He may be called upon to defend his fellow men from aggression, and as long as he has not renounced the worldly life, he is duty-bound to join in the struggle for peace and freedom. Under these circumstances, he cannot be blamed for his action in becoming a soldier or being involved in defence. However, if everyone were to follow the advice of the Buddha, there would be no reason for war to take place in this world. It is the duty of every cultured man to find all possible ways and means to settle disputes in a peaceful manner, without declaring war to kill his fellow men. The Buddha did not teach His followers to surrender to any form of evil power, be it man or supernatural being. Indeed, with reason and science, man could conquer nature, and yet man has not yet even secured his own life.

无论在保护宗教或保护其它的一切，佛教徒都不会做侵略者。佛教徒尽最大的可能避免任何暴力。虽然有时佛教徒也被迫与那些不尊重佛教，或企图消灭佛教的恶势力开战，他们是为了保护被侵略的父老弟兄，并不是蓄意杀害生命，而是为了和平与自由，在这种情形，我们不应该谴责他们。只要每个人追随佛陀的教诲，这世界就不会有因为战争而带来的和平。每一个文明人，都有责任寻求一切方法，以和平的态度来解决纷争，不需要造成杀戮。佛陀也从来没有教导过信徒必须向恶势力投降──无论是人类或超越自然界的生物。在知识和科学的协助下，人类能降伏大自然。但是人类自己的生命却得不到保障。

Why is it that life is in danger? While devoted to reason and being ruled by science, man has forgotten that he has a heart which has been neglected and has been left to wither and be polluted by passion.

为何生命充满危机呢？在追求学识和科学时，人类忽略了自己有一颗心，被遗忘了、枯萎了、和被污染了。

If we cannot secure our own lives, then how can world peace be possible? To obtain peace, we must train our minds to face facts. We must be objective and humble. We must realize that no one person, nor one nation is always wrong. To obtain peace, we must also share the richness of the earth, not necessarily with equality but at least with equity. There can never be absolute equality but surely there can be a greater degree of equity.

如果生命不能获得保障，那又怎么会有世界和平呢？要维持和平，就必须训练我们的「心」，客观和谦虚的面对事实。要维护和平，就必须让这世界分享我们的财富，不必要平均分配，但是要平等。我们永远也无法做到财富平均分配，但是可以把它当作比平等更高的理想。

It is simply inconceivable that five percent of the world's population should enjoy fifty percent of the its wealth, or that twenty-five percent of the world should be fairly well-fed and some overfed, while seventy-five percent of the world is always hungry. Peace will only come when nations are willing to share and share equitably, the rich to help the poor and the strong to help the weak, thus creating international goodwill. Only if and when these conditions are met, can we envision a world with no excuse for wars.

The madness of the armaments race must stop! We must try to build schools instead of cruisers, hospitals instead of nuclear weapons. The amount of money and human lives that various governments waste in the battlefield should be diverted to build up the economics to elevate the standard of living.

目前这世界百分之五的人，享有世界百分之五十的财富，真是不可思议。目前这世界仅有百分之二十五的人口丰衣足食，百分之七十五的人口处于飢饿边缘。和平唯有透过那些肯分享和平均分配财富的国家，富者协助贫穷、强者扶持弱者而达到。也只有在这个目标实现后，世界才会太平。武器装备的竞争必须停止，我们应该建造更多的医院和学校来取代它。用在武器和战备的金钱，用来发展经济，提升人类的生活那不是更好吗？

The world cannot have peace until men and nations renounce selfish desires, give up racial arrogance, and eradicate egoistic lust for possession and power. Wealth cannot secure happiness. Religion alone can effect the necessary change of heart and bring about the only real disarmament? that of the mind.

All religions teach people not to kill; but unfortunately this important precept is conveniently ignored. Today, with modern armaments, man can kill millions within one second, that is, more than primitive tribes did in a century.

人类无法放弃自私和欲望，种族和傲慢、个人主义和权力的执着存在的一天，就无法实现世界和平。财富无法带来幸福，而宗教却能有效的影响你的意识形态，和让你放下武器。

不杀害生命是宗教的原则。不幸的是，那些愚痴的人都不明白这一点。今天，在现代武器肆虐下，一秒钟内就可以杀害数百万条生命。这是一个比任何时刻都更需要宗教的时代。

Very unfortunately some people in certain countries bring religious labels, slogans and banners into their battlefields. They do not know that they are disgracing the good name of religion.

'Verily, O monk,' said the Buddha, 'due to sensuous craving, kings fight with kings, princes with princes, priests with priests, citizens with citizens, the mother quarrels with the son, the son quarrels with the father, brother with brother, brother with sister, sister with brother, friend with friend.' (Majjhima Nikaya)

更不幸的是，某些人却把宗教旗帜带进战场，他们从来就没有想过，这么做沾污了宗教的神圣性和声誉。「僧众啊！为了满足于自己的贪欲，到处都是斗争，国王与国王，太子与太子，宗教师与宗教师，人民与人民，母亲与儿子，父亲与儿子，兄弟姐妹与兄弟姐妹，朋友与朋友，到处都是斗争。」《中部》

We can happily say that for the last 2,500 years there has never been any serious discord or conflict created by Buddhists that led to war in the name of this religion. This is a result of the dynamic character of the concept of tolerance contained in the Buddha's teaching.

我们很欣慰的说，在过去二千五百年来，佛教从未造成任何严重性的不协调和冲突而导致的战争。这要归功于佛教强而有力的特性──容忍。