‘last letter’ to Bush and Cheney

[tiltbillings]

https://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_l ... _20130318/

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ira ... 41674.html

[danieLion]

Very compelling. I try not to hate Dick and Bush but I still do and stuff like this does't help.

[tiltbillings]

Very compelling. I try not to hate Dick and Bush but I still do and stuff like this does't help.

I wonder how one should feel about war criminals.

[David N. Snyder]

Excellent. I hope Mr. Young's passing is peaceful and I hope he attains favorable rebirth.

And I hope his letter gets passed along far and wide.

[manas]

Is there anything in the U.S. laws or constitution, that would allow for Bush and Cheney to be put on trial, I mean has anyone initiated anything? If not, why not?

Surely the evidence against them is pretty damning. They would be found guilty for sure. So why are they still walking free?

[danieLion]

Very compelling. I try not to hate Dick and Bush but I still do and stuff like this does't help.

I wonder how one should feel about war criminals.

Me too. And they're definitely war criminals.

If another Hitler were to arise (that is an undeniably evil person intent on world domination), and I had a chance to kill him, could I/would I/should I do so as Busshist?

[Ron-The-Elder]

Whenever I read calls for retribution of any kind I think of the following:

Protection Through Satipatthana
by
Nyanaponika Thera
© 1994–2013
Once the Buddha told his monks the following story (Satipatthana Samyutta, No. 19):
There was once a pair of jugglers who performed their acrobatic feats on a bamboo pole. One day the master said to his apprentice: "Now get on my shoulders and climb up the bamboo pole." When the apprentice had done so, the master said: "Now protect me well and I shall protect you! By protecting and watching each other in that way, we shall be able to show our skill, make a good profit and safely get down from the bamboo pole." But the apprentice said: "Not so, master! You, O master, should protect yourself, and I too shall protect myself. Thus self-protected and self-guarded we shall safely do our feats."

This is the right way," said the Blessed One and spoke further as follows:

"It is just as the apprentice said: 'I shall protect myself' — in that way the foundations of mindfulness (satipatthana) should be practiced. 'I shall protect others' — in that way the foundations of mindfulness should be practiced. Protecting oneself, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.

"And how does one, in protecting oneself, protect others? By the repeated and frequent practice of meditation (asevanaya bhavanaya bahulikammena).

"And how does one, in protecting others, protect oneself? By patience and forbearance, by a non-violent and harmless life, by loving kindness and compassion."

This sutta belongs to the considerable number of important and eminently practical teachings of the Buddha which are still hidden like buried treasure, unknown and unused. Yet this text has an important message for us, and the fact that it is stamped with the royal seal of satipatthana gives it an additional claim to our attention.

Individual and Society
The sutta deals with the relations between ourselves and our fellow beings, between individual and society. It sums up in a succinct way the Buddhist attitude to the problems of individual and social ethics, of egoism and altruism. The gist of it is contained in those two concise sentences:

"Protecting oneself, one protects others." (Attanam rakkhanto param rakkhati.)

"Protecting others, one protects oneself." (Param rakkhanto attanam rakkhati.)

These two sentences are supplementary and should not be taken or quoted separately.

source: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... bl034.html

[manas]

Obviously 'retribution' in the sense of harming them is an unwholesome thought and ought not to be contemplated. However, a fair and orderly trial, and imprisonment if found guilty beyond reasonable doubt, would be the right thing to do.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Before joining the army, one should read the Yodhajiva Sutta

Then Yodhajiva[1] the headman went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: "Lord, I have heard that it has been passed down by the ancient teaching lineage of warriors that 'When a warrior strives & exerts himself in battle, if others then strike him down & slay him while he is striving & exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of devas slain in battle.' What does the Blessed One have to say about that?"

Politics is a deceitful business. Young men and women may be easily deceived by propaganda, and when they discover how they were deceived, it is no surprise that they will be bitter. However, unless they were conscripted, it was their own decision based on the wrong view that it is good to kill "the enemy" in battle. They swallowed the line sold to them, not only by Mr GB and his cronies, but also by the media, popular culture (Rambo Movies etc.) and their own friends and family. Even conscripts have the option to become conscientious objectors if they wish to avoid making bad kamma.

It is better to fight the War on Error to remove all delusion — then no one will ever be able to mislead you again. It is a far more difficult battle to win than any fought with guns, grenades, and missiles.