Nonviolence and Peace

A comparison of the Bible's love of enemies with Buddhism's principle of non-harm (ahiṃsā). We explore together how both traditions teach the response to violence and the path of peace.

Responding to Violence

Bible

Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν μὴ ἀντιστῆναι τῷ πονηρῷ· ἀλλ' ὅστις σε ῥαπίζει εἰς τὴν δεξιὰν σιαγόνα, στρέψον αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην.

“But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Sutra

以怨報怨，怨終不滅。以德報怨，怨乃滅盡

“Repaying enmity with enmity, enmity will never cease; repaying enmity with virtue, enmity will at last be extinguished.”

Comparison

Jesus's teaching to turn the other cheek and the Dhammapada's principle of repaying enmity with virtue both offer a path of nonviolence that breaks the cycle of violence. Jesus said do not resist evil with evil, and the Buddha taught that repaying enmity with enmity means enmity will never end. Both traditions declare that the power to overcome violence lies not in greater violence but in the courage to refuse violence.

The Path of Peace

Bible

μακάριοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ θεοῦ κληθήσονται.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Sutra

勝者生怨，負者自鄙。去勝負心，和靜安樂

“The victor breeds enmity; the defeated lies in distress. The one who sets aside winning and losing rests in peace, calm, and happiness.”

Comparison

Jesus's 'peacemaker' and the Dhammapada's 'one who abandons the competitive spirit' show two approaches toward peace. In Christianity, peace is an active practice that participates in God's own nature; in Buddhism, peace comes from the wisdom that transcends the dichotomy of winning and losing. Both traditions teach that true peace does not come through the victory of the strong but begins in the very act of transcending the logic of winning and losing.

The Dignity of All Life

Bible

וְאַךְ אֶת־דִּמְכֶם לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם אֶדְרֹשׁ מִיַּד כָּל־חַיָּה אֶדְרְשֶׁנּוּ וּמִיַּד הָאָדָם מִיַּד אִישׁ אָחִיו אֶדְרֹשׁ אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם׃ שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם׃

“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Sutra

一切衆生從本已來，展轉因緣，常爲六親，以親想故，不應食肉

“All sentient beings, from the beginningless past, have through the turning of causes and conditions always been one's six relatives; because of this thought of kinship, one should not eat meat.”

Comparison

The image of God in Genesis and the doctrine of kinship through rebirth in the Lankavatara Sutra both provide a profound basis for the dignity of life. In Christianity, life is sacred because every human is made in the image of God; in Buddhism, no life can be carelessly harmed because all beings are interconnected through the cycle of rebirth. The grounds differ, but the conclusion — a deep reverence for life — is remarkably the same.