From: fstawit@icomp01.lerc.nasa.gov (Tawit Chitsomboon)
Subject: Re: The Greedy Thais
Organization: Institute for Computational Mechanics in Propulsion-NASA LeRC
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 01:00:06 GMT

In article <1gfhfiINN8g5@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
kxc@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU (Khuanchai Chooboonraj) writes:

>How could a good Buddhist monk be a politician? 

A good buddhist monk should make a best politician. Why not?
The key word is 'good'.

>A Buddhist monk should be in politic at all. 

I think you mean 'should not'. Here you are conditioned by Thai culture
or some other culture that support the idea of separation of church
and state. You need to transcend such conditions before we go on.
In fact any good buddhist is also a good buddhist monk. Whether or
not s/he wear a yellow robe is just a matter of formality.

>Once a monk enter politic, he is a politician and should be
>treated as a normal politician.

Why is that so? (Please don't pull an answer from a cultural bag.)

I think it all boils down to good versus evil. If a good monk decided
to be a politician (within the culture where this practice is allowed
like Tibet and The Vatican) and if s/he still remain a good monk then
I see no reason why we shouldn't give them respect as monks. In fact
this world will be so peaceful if all the countries are led by GOOD
monks/priest. One thing for sure is that we will have no war and no
soldiers, no defense budget.


>
>
>>He's a buddhist monk, not a defeatist. The Buddha himself would probably
>>struggled in this manner if he faced the same situation. 
>
>You are wrong here. Buddha wouldn't do the same thing.

I said 'probably'. Why are you so 'sure' that my 'probably' is wrong?

>
>>Would you not fight if Thailand were taken over?
>
>No, I wouldn't. I have decided many years ago that I will not kill any lifes or
>ask somone to kill for me. I will always try to avoid killing any lifes to my
>best. 
>

This is very admirable. However to fight doesn't always mean to kill.
Just look at the Dalai Lama as an example!

What you said was just the other extreme of behavior?
A middle-way approach is IMO to fight, but in a peaceful manner.

>Everything has its beginning and its end so as Thailand. 

Very deep! Everything indeed, except those that have no beginnings
and no ends such as God, Nirvana, Moksha, and Prostituion :-)

>It is no point to figt or kill over something that is not real.

You mean you'll kill if they are real? :-)

>
>>Had it not been for his peaceful buddhist struggle there would have been
>>a lot of violences: guerrilla warfare, plane hijacking, public bombing,
>.........................
>His ppl are stupid. If they really believe that they could fight the red army,
>they are mad.
>
This is not very nice of you in labelling the Tibetan people as such. 

You and I probably would not be here posting if there had been no
such Mad And Stupid persons who, against all odds, fought for justice 
over the entire course of human history. The Buddha was but one such
MAS people ,albeit in a different battle field.

>>A Tibetan friend of mine complained bitterly to me that no buddhist country
>>sympathize with Tibet. They all fear China. IMO, they don't deserve to be
>>buddhist countries. 
>
>So your friend is expecting all buddhist countries to grab their weapons and
>help in their fighting. So he believes in killing to achieve a goal.

I said all along that the Tibetan struggle led by HH the Dalai Lama has
been a peaceful one consistent with the buddha's teaching. Why are you
so enthusiastic about putting the word 'killing' into their mouths?

>Anyway, he should realise that every countries have their own problem and
>the last thing they want is to be in a war. 

To speak against injustice and to give a moral support to those who
struggle for justice, and to allow monk to enter the country for a
conference on peace, is a far cry from waging a war. Thailand definitely
has a lot of its own PROBLEMS.

>Anyone who believes in killing does not deserve to a buddhist.
>

What about killing the hysterical accusation?

-tawit

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Those who enjoy seeing nature must be sick. There are myriad of suffering 
lives being eaten by others all the time within the serene nature.

 -Lama Jampa Rabyum (A Tibetan-tradition buddhist monk, Toronto, Canada)
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