Guest guest Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Dear List One of the students who attended my PGCE course in Hinduism has asked for suggestions for a book as under. Any recommendations?.........jay Saturday, July 01, 2006 10:50 AM Books - Hindu Pacifism Hello Jay I am a student on the Advanced Workshop course which you came and taught on earlier this year. I am writing an essay comparing Christian and Hindu attitudes towards Pacifism. Do you think you might be able to recommend material which might help me with the Hindu perspective? Thank You & Regards Andy Jackson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Though quite voluminous and containing a lot of details off-the-topic under consideration, “Essays on the Gita” by Shri Aurobindo provides a good idea of what the true Hindu perspective on pacifism and war was. We have to also know if the student is ready for some plain talk on Christianity and western beliefs, commenting on which Shri Aurobindo is oftentimes unsparing. Also if he is trying to find “Turn your other cheek” myths from Hindu traditions… its better he looks for westernized new-age Swamis. Vasanth. Ramakrishna [Ramakrishna ] On Behalf Of Vivekananda Centre Saturday, July 01, 2006 18:11 ramlist; vivlist [sri Ramakrishna] Book on Pacifism Dear List Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Many people do not understand what Jesus was saying when he advocated turning the other cheek. What he was doing was suberting the role of the Romans in Palestine.Here is the picture. Most people are right handed and they were then too. So, we have you, a Roman soldier, about to strike a Jewish peasant. You use your right hand, but you strike his left cheek, obviously. The left side of the face or the body was the ignoble side. So, you hit his ignoble side with your "good" side. But Jesus said if that happens, to turn the other cheek and offer it to be hit too. So, you now turn your "good" side to be hit and all he can do is use the back of his right hand, in other words, the ignoble side of his hand, to strike you. He loses prestige in doing so. Why? By using his "bad" side to hit your "good" side. You may end up with a black eye, but you have caused this belligerant conqueror to look small in the eyes of all who witness the incident.For Jesus, turning the other cheek had nothing to do with being a pacifist, and everything to do with subverting Roman arrogance. Some of His other suggestions did the same thing.Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 I confess my ignorance regarding your note. I was using the phrase in the way it is commonly understood, at least where I come from. But I still think showing the other cheek, whatever be the reason Jesus may have had in mind, is pacifism. When you say, “you may end up with a black eye, but…” that is pacifism, assuming that the injury caused is unprovoked and harms the Dharmic person. I perceive pacifism as not reacting with action but trying to win issues with moral superiority. Your explanation fits that pattern exactly. Moreover, the comment was specifically mentioned w.r.t the book by Shri Aurobindo that was suggested. Below is a small piece which may help clarify why such a comment was made. The Indic tradition is generally perceived to be pacifist, which is not a trait originally held by the tradition, but what has become of it- rather unfortunately, I might add. “But it is also the divine compassion that smites down the strong tyrant and the confident oppressor, not in wrath and with hatred,—for these are not the high divine qualities, the wrath of God against the sinner, God's hatred of the wicked are the fables of half-enlightened creeds, as much a fable as the eternal torture of the Hells they have invented,—but, as the old Indian spirituality clearly saw, with as much love and compassion for the strong Titan erring by his strength and slain for his sins as for the sufferer and the oppressed who have to be saved from his violence and injustice.” - Sri Aurobindo. Vasanth. Ramakrishna [Ramakrishna ] On Behalf Of Bill Smith Monday, July 03, 2006 23:09 Ramakrishna RE: [sri Ramakrishna] Book on Pacifism Many people do not understand what Jesus was saying when he advocated turning the other cheek. What he was doing was suberting the role of the Romans in Palestine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 You are non-violent. Non-violence is not the same as pacifism. Jesus was non-violent but his teaching re turning the other cheek is not pacific, it is subversive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 It also, of course, depends on your definition of pacifism, which I take to mean an extreme of doing nothing whatever to resist violence. Nothing. In this definition, Jesus and Ghandi were non violent but were not pacifists, as both men advocated disrupting the unjust rule of the foreign occupiers. They just advocated that the disruption take a non-violent tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 As Gandhi had demonstrated through his experiments with truth, passive resistance comes not from weakness but from an inner strength that is on an ultimate analysis, invincible. To my mind this is what Jesus meant when he talked about turning your left cheek also. It is essentially an Eastern ethos. After all Christianity had its birth in the East and to that extent and to my mind it is steeped in Eastern values and value system. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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