Nonviolence is the personal practice of being
harmless to self and others under every condition.
It comes from the belief that hurting people,
animals or the environment is unnecessary
to achieve an outcome and refers to a general
philosophy of abstention from violence. This
may be based on moral, religious or spiritual
principles, or it may be for purely strategic
or pragmatic reasons.Nonviolence also has
"active" or "activist" elements, in that believers
generally accept the need for nonviolence
as a means to achieve political and social
change. Thus, for example, the Tolstoy and
Gandhian non violence is a philosophy and
strategy for social change that rejects the
use of violence, but at the same time sees
nonviolent action (also called civil resistance)
as an alternative to passive acceptance of
oppression or armed struggle against it. In
general, advocates of an activist philosophy
of nonviolence use diverse methods in their
campaigns for social change, including critical
forms of education and persuasion, mass noncooperation,
civil disobedience, nonviolent direct action,
and social, political, cultural and economic
forms of intervention.
In modern times, nonviolent methods of action
have been a powerful tool for social protest
and revolutionary social and political change.
There are many examples of their use. Fuller
surveys may be found in the entries on civil
resistance, nonviolent resistance and nonviolent
revolution. Here certain movements particularly
influenced by a philosophy of nonviolence
should be mentioned, including Mahatma Gandhi
leading a successful decades-long nonviolent
struggle against British rule in India, Martin
Luther King's and James Bevel's adoption of
Gandhi's nonviolent methods in their campaigns
to win civil rights for African Americans,
and César Chávez's campaigns of nonviolence
in the 1960s to protest the treatment of farm
workers in California. The 1989 "Velvet Revolution"
in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of
the Communist government is considered one
of the most important of the largely nonviolent
Revolutions of 1989. Most recently the nonviolent
campaigns of Leymah Gbowee and the women of
Liberia were able to achieve peace after a
14-year civil war. This story is captured
in a 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil
Back to Hell.
The term "nonviolence" is often linked with
or used as a synonym for peace, and despite
being frequently equated with passivity and
pacifism, this is rejected by nonviolent advocates
and activists. Nonviolence refers specifically
to the absence of violence and is always the
choice to do no harm or the least harm, and
passivity is the choice to do nothing. Sometimes
nonviolence is passive, and other times it
isn't. For example, if a house is burning
down with mice or insects in it, the most
harmless appropriate action is to put the
fire out, not to sit by and passively let
the fire burn. There is at times confusion
and contradiction written about nonviolence,
harmlessness and passivity. A confused person
may advocate nonviolence in a specific context
while advocating violence in other contexts.
For example, someone who passionately opposes
abortion or meat eating may concurrently advocate
violence to kill an abortionist or attack
a slaughterhouse, which makes that person
a violent person.
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon.
Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history,
which cuts without wounding and ennobles the
man who wields it."
== 
Origins ==
Nonviolence or Ahimsa is one of the cardinal
virtues and an important tenet of Jainism,
Hinduism, and Buddhism. It is a multidimensional
concept, inspired by the premise that all
living beings have the spark of the divine
spiritual energy; therefore, to hurt another
being is to hurt oneself. It has also been
related to the notion that any violence has
karmic consequences. While ancient scholars
of Hinduism pioneered and over time perfected
the principles of Ahimsa, the concept reached
an extraordinary status in the ethical philosophy
of Jainism.Parsvanatha, the twenty-third tirthankara
of Jainism, revived, advocated for and preached
the concept of nonviolence in around eighth-century
BC. Mahavira, the twenty-fourth and the last
tirthankara further strengthened the idea
in sixth-century BC; which was believed to
be founded by the first tirthankara Rushabhdev
over a million years ago.
== Forms ==
Advocates of nonviolent action believe cooperation
and consent are the roots of civil or political
power: all regimes, including bureaucratic
institutions, financial institutions, and
the armed segments of society (such as the
military and police); depend on compliance
from citizens. On a national level, the strategy
of nonviolent action seeks to undermine the
power of rulers by encouraging people to withdraw
their consent and cooperation. The forms of
nonviolence draw inspiration from both religious
or ethical beliefs and political analysis.
Religious or ethically based nonviolence is
sometimes referred to as principled, philosophical,
or ethical nonviolence, while nonviolence
based on political analysis is often referred
to as tactical, strategic, or pragmatic nonviolent
action. Commonly, both of these dimensions
may be present within the thinking of particular
movements or individuals.
=== Pragmatic ===
The fundamental concept of pragmatic (tactical
or strategic) nonviolent action is to create
a social dynamic or political movement that
can create a national or international dialogue
which effects social change without necessarily
winning over those who wish to maintain the
status quo.Nicolas Walter noted the idea that
nonviolence might work "runs under the surface
of Western political thought without ever
quite disappearing". Walter noted Étienne
de La Boétie's Discourse on Voluntary Servitude
(sixteenth century) and P.B. Shelley's The
Masque of Anarchy (1819) contain arguments
for resisting tyranny without using violence.
In 1838, William Lloyd Garrison helped
found the New England Non-Resistance Society,
a society devoted to achieving racial and
gender equality through the rejection of all
violent actions.
In modern industrial democracies, nonviolent
action has been used extensively by political
sectors without mainstream political power
such as labor, peace, environment and women's
movements. Lesser known is the role that nonviolent
action has played and continues to play in
undermining the power of repressive political
regimes in the developing world and the former
eastern bloc. Susan Ives emphasizes this point
by quoting Walter Wink: "In 1989, thirteen
nations comprising 1,695,000,000 people experienced
nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond
anyone's wildest expectations ... If we add
all the countries touched by major nonviolent
actions in our century (the Philippines, South
Africa ... the independence movement in India
...), the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a
staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the
teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated,
that nonviolence doesn't work in the 'real'
world."
As a technique for social struggle, nonviolent
action has been described as "the politics
of ordinary people", reflecting its historically
mass-based use by populations throughout the
world and history.
Movements most often associated with nonviolence
are the non-cooperation campaign for Indian
independence led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
the Civil Rights Movement in the United States,
and the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
Also of primary significance is the notion
that just means are the most likely to lead
to just ends. When Gandhi said that "the means
may be likened to the seed, the end to a tree,"
he expressed the philosophical kernel of what
some refer to as prefigurative politics. Martin
Luther King, a student of Gandhian nonviolent
resistance, concurred with this tenet, concluding
that "nonviolence demands that the means we
use must be as pure as the ends we seek."
Proponents of nonviolence reason that the
actions taken in the present inevitably re-shape
the social order in like form. They would
argue, for instance, that it is fundamentally
irrational to use violence to achieve a peaceful
society.
Respect or love for opponents also has a pragmatic
justification, in that the technique of separating
the deeds from the doers allows for the possibility
of the doers changing their behaviour, and
perhaps their beliefs. Martin Luther King
wrote, "Nonviolent resistance... avoids not
only external physical violence but also internal
violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister
not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but
he also refuses to hate him."Finally, the
notion of Satya, or Truth, is central to the
Gandhian conception of nonviolence. Gandhi
saw Truth as something that is multifaceted
and unable to be grasped in its entirety by
any one individual. All carry pieces of the
Truth, he believed, but all need the pieces
of others’ truths in order to pursue the
greater Truth. This led him to believe in
the inherent worth of dialogue with opponents,
in order to understand motivations. On a practical
level, the willingness to listen to another's
point of view is largely dependent on reciprocity.
In order to be heard by one's opponents, one
must also be prepared to listen.Nonviolence
has obtained a level of institutional recognition
and endorsement at the global level. On November
10, 1998, the United Nations General Assembly
proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century
and the third millennium, the years 2001 to
2010, as the International Decade for the
Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence
for the Children of the World.
=== Ethical ===
For many, practicing nonviolence goes deeper
than abstaining from violent behavior or words.
It means overriding the impulse to be hateful
and holding love for everyone, even those
with whom one strongly disagrees. In this
view, because violence is learned, it is necessary
to unlearn violence by practicing love and
compassion at every possible opportunity.
For some, the commitment to non-violence entails
a belief in restorative or transformative
justice, an abolition of the death penalty
and other harsh punishments. This may involve
the necessity of caring for those who are
violent.
Nonviolence, for many, involves a respect
and reverence for all sentient, and perhaps
even non-sentient, beings. This might include
abolitionism against animals as property,
the practice of not eating animal products
or by-products (vegetarianism or veganism),
spiritual practices of non-harm to all beings,
and caring for the rights of all beings. Mohandas
Gandhi, James Bevel, and other nonviolent
proponents advocated vegetarianism as part
of their nonviolent philosophy. Buddhists
extend this respect for life to animals, plants,
and even minerals, while Jainism extend this
respect for life to animals, plants and even
small organisms such as insects.The classical
Indian text of Tirukkuṛaḷ deals with the
ethics of non-violence or non-harming through
verses 311-320 in Chapter 32 of Book 1, further
discussing compassion in Chapter 25 (verses
241-250), vegetarianism or veganism in Chapter
26 (verses 251-260), and non-killing in Chapter
33 (verses 321-330).
=== Religious ===
==== 
Hinduism ====
===== 
Ancient Vedic texts =====
Ahimsa as an ethical concept evolved in Vedic
texts. The oldest scripts, along with discussing
ritual animal sacrifices, indirectly mention
Ahimsa, but do not emphasise it. Over time,
the Hindu scripts revise ritual practices
and the concept of Ahimsa is increasingly
refined and emphasised, ultimately Ahimsa
becomes the highest virtue by the late Vedic
era (about 500 BC). For example, hymn 10.22.25
in the Rig Veda uses the words Satya (truthfulness)
and Ahimsa in a prayer to deity Indra; later,
the Yajur Veda dated to be between 1000 BC
and 600 BC, states, "may all beings look at
me with a friendly eye, may I do likewise,
and may we look at each other with the eyes
of a friend".The term Ahimsa appears in the
text Taittiriya Shakha of the Yajurveda (TS
5.2.8.7), where it refers to non-injury to
the sacrificer himself. It occurs several
times in the Shatapatha Brahmana in the sense
of "non-injury". The Ahimsa doctrine is a
late Vedic era development in Brahmanical
culture. The earliest reference to the idea
of non-violence to animals ("pashu-Ahimsa"),
apparently in a moral sense, is in the Kapisthala
Katha Samhita of the Yajurveda (KapS 31.11),
which may have been written in about the 8th
century BCE.Bowker states the word appears
but is uncommon in the principal Upanishads.
Kaneda gives examples of the word Ahimsa in
these Upanishads. Other scholars suggest Ahimsa
as an ethical concept that started evolving
in the Vedas, becoming an increasingly central
concept in Upanishads.
The Chāndogya Upaniṣad, dated to the 8th
or 7th century BCE, one of the oldest Upanishads,
has the earliest evidence for the Vedic era
use of the word Ahimsa in the sense familiar
in Hinduism (a code of conduct). It bars violence
against "all creatures" (sarvabhuta) and the
practitioner of Ahimsa is said to escape from
the cycle of rebirths (CU 8.15.1). Some scholars
state that this 8th or 7th-century BCE mention
may have been an influence of Jainism on Vedic
Hinduism. Others scholar state that this relationship
is speculative, and though Jainism is an ancient
tradition the oldest traceable texts of Jainism
tradition are from many centuries after the
Vedic era ended.Chāndogya Upaniṣad also
names Ahimsa, along with Satyavacanam (truthfulness),
Arjavam (sincerity), Danam (charity), Tapo
(penance/meditation), as one of five essential
virtues (CU 3.17.4).The Sandilya Upanishad
lists ten forbearances: Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya,
Brahmacharya, Daya, Arjava, Kshama, Dhriti,
Mitahara and Saucha. According to Kaneda,
the term Ahimsa is an important spiritual
doctrine shared by Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism. It literally means 'non-injury' and
'non-killing'. It implies the total avoidance
of harming of any kind of living creatures
not only by deeds, but also by words and in
thoughts.
===== The Epics =====
The Mahabharata, one of the epics of Hinduism,
has multiple mentions of the phrase Ahimsa
Paramo Dharma (अहिंसा परमॊ
धर्मः), which literally means: non-violence
is the highest moral virtue. For example,
Mahaprasthanika Parva has the verse:
The above passage from Mahabharata emphasises
the cardinal importance of Ahimsa in Hinduism,
and literally means: Ahimsa is the highest
virtue, Ahimsa is the highest self-control,
Ahimsa is the greatest gift, Ahimsa is the
best suffering, Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice,
Ahimsa is the finest strength, Ahimsa is the
greatest friend, Ahimsa is the greatest happiness,
Ahimsa is the highest truth, and Ahimsa is
the greatest teaching. Some other examples
where the phrase Ahimsa Paramo Dharma are
discussed include Adi Parva, Vana Parva and
Anushasana Parva. The Bhagavad Gita, among
other things, discusses the doubts and questions
about appropriate response when one faces
systematic violence or war. These verses develop
the concepts of lawful violence in self-defence
and the theories of just war. However, there
is no consensus on this interpretation. Gandhi,
for example, considers this debate about non-violence
and lawful violence as a mere metaphor for
the internal war within each human being,
when he or she faces moral questions.
===== Self-defence, criminal law, and war
=====
The classical texts of Hinduism devote numerous
chapters discussing what people who practice
the virtue of Ahimsa, can and must do when
they are faced with war, violent threat or
need to sentence someone convicted of a crime.
These discussions have led to theories of
just war, theories of reasonable self-defence
and theories of proportionate punishment.
Arthashastra discusses, among other things,
why and what constitutes proportionate response
and punishment.
WarThe precepts of Ahimsa under Hinduism require
that war must be avoided, with sincere and
truthful dialogue. Force must be the last
resort. If war becomes necessary, its cause
must be just, its purpose virtuous, its objective
to restrain the wicked, its aim peace, its
method lawful. War can only be started and
stopped by a legitimate authority. Weapons
used must be proportionate to the opponent
and the aim of war, not indiscriminate tools
of destruction. All strategies and weapons
used in the war must be to defeat the opponent,
not designed to cause misery to the opponent;
for example, use of arrows is allowed, but
use of arrows smeared with painful poison
is not allowed. Warriors must use judgment
in the battlefield. Cruelty to the opponent
during war is forbidden. Wounded, unarmed
opponent warriors must not be attacked or
killed, they must be brought to your realm
and given medical treatment. Children, women
and civilians must not be injured. While the
war is in progress, sincere dialogue for peace
must continue.
Self-defenceIn matters of self-defence, different
interpretations of ancient Hindu texts have
been offered. For example, Tähtinen suggests
self-defence is appropriate, criminals are
not protected by the rule of Ahimsa, and Hindu
scriptures support the use of violence against
an armed attacker. Ahimsa is not meant to
imply pacifism.Alternate theories of self-defence,
inspired by Ahimsa, build principles similar
to theories of just war. Aikido, pioneered
in Japan, illustrates one such principles
of self-defence. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder
of Aikido, described his inspiration as Ahimsa.
According to this interpretation of Ahimsa
in self-defence, one must not assume that
the world is free of aggression. One must
presume that some people will, out of ignorance,
error or fear, attack other persons or intrude
into their space, physically or verbally.
The aim of self-defence, suggested Ueshiba,
must be to neutralise the aggression of the
attacker, and avoid the conflict. The best
defence is one where the victim is protected,
as well as the attacker is respected and not
injured if possible. Under Ahimsa and Aikido,
there are no enemies, and appropriate self-defence
focuses on neutralising the immaturity, assumptions
and aggressive strivings of the attacker.
Criminal lawTähtinen concludes that Hindus
have no misgivings about death penalty; their
position is that evil-doers who deserve death
should be killed, and that a king in particular
is obliged to punish criminals and should
not hesitate to kill them, even if they happen
to be his own brothers and sons.Other scholars
conclude that the scriptures of Hinduism suggest
sentences for any crime must be fair, proportional
and not cruel.
===== Non-human life =====
The Hindu precept of 'cause no injury' applies
to animals and all life forms. This precept
isn't found in the oldest verses of Vedas,
but increasingly becomes one of the central
ideas between 500 BC and 400 AD. In the oldest
texts, numerous ritual sacrifices of animals,
including cows and horses, are highlighted
and hardly any mention is made of Ahimsa to
non-human life.Hindu scriptures, dated to
between 5th century and 1st century BC, while
discussing human diet, initially suggest kosher
meat may be eaten, evolving it with the suggestion
that only meat obtained through ritual sacrifice
can be eaten, then that one should eat no
meat because it hurts animals, with verses
describing the noble life as one that lives
on flowers, roots and fruits alone.Later texts
of Hinduism declare Ahimsa one of the primary
virtues, declare any killing or harming any
life as against dharma (moral life). Finally,
the discussion in Upanishads and Hindu Epics
shifts to whether a human being can ever live
his or her life without harming animal and
plant life in some way; which and when plants
or animal meat may be eaten, whether violence
against animals causes human beings to become
less compassionate, and if and how one may
exert least harm to non-human life consistent
with ahimsa precept, given the constraints
of life and human needs. The Mahabharata permits
hunting by warriors, but opposes it in the
case of hermits who must be strictly non-violent.
Sushruta Samhita, a Hindu text written in
the 3rd or 4th century, in Chapter XLVI suggests
proper diet as a means of treating certain
illnesses, and recommends various fishes and
meats for different ailments and for pregnant
women, and the Charaka Samhita describes meat
as superior to all other kinds of food for
convalescents.Across the texts of Hinduism,
there is a profusion of ideas about the virtue
of Ahimsa when applied to non-human life,
but without a universal consensus. Alsdorf
claims the debate and disagreements between
supporters of vegetarian lifestyle and meat
eaters was significant. Even suggested exceptions
– ritual slaughter and hunting – were
challenged by advocates of Ahimsa. In the
Mahabharata both sides present various arguments
to substantiate their viewpoints. Moreover,
a hunter defends his profession in a long
discourse.Many of the arguments proposed in
favor of non-violence to animals refer to
the bliss one feels, the rewards it entails
before or after death, the danger and harm
it prevents, as well as to the karmic consequences
of violence.The ancient Hindu texts discuss
Ahimsa and non-animal life. They discourage
wanton destruction of nature including of
wild and cultivated plants. Hermits (sannyasins)
were urged to live on a fruitarian diet so
as to avoid the destruction of plants. Scholars
claim the principles of ecological non-violence
is innate in the Hindu tradition, and its
conceptual fountain has been Ahimsa as their
cardinal virtue.
The classical literature of Hinduism exists
in many Indian languages. For example, Tirukkuṛaḷ,
written between 200 BC and 400 AD, and sometimes
called the Tamil Veda, is one of the most
cherished classics on Hinduism written in
a South Indian language. Tirukkuṛaḷ dedicates
Chapters 26, 32 and 33 of Book 1 to the virtue
of Ahimsa, namely, vegetarianism, non-harming,
and non-killing, respectively. Tirukkuṛaḷ
says that Ahimsa applies to all life forms.
==== Jainism ====
In Jainism, the understanding and implementation
of Ahimsā is more radical, scrupulous, and
comprehensive than in any other religion.
Killing any living being out of passions is
considered hiṃsā (to injure) and abstaining
from such an act is ahimsā (noninjury). The
vow of ahimsā is considered the foremost
among the 'five vows of Jainism'. Other vows
like truth (Satya) are meant for safeguarding
the vow of ahimsā. In the practice of Ahimsa,
the requirements are less strict for the lay
persons (sravakas) who have undertaken anuvrata
(Smaller Vows) than for the Jain monastics
who are bound by the Mahavrata "Great Vows".
The statement ahimsā paramo dharmaḥ is
often found inscribed on the walls of the
Jain temples. Like in Hinduism, the aim is
to prevent the accumulation of harmful karma.
When Mahavira revived and reorganized the
Jain faith in the 6th or 5th century BCE,
Ahimsa was already an established, strictly
observed rule. Rishabhanatha (Ādinātha),
the first Jain Tirthankara, whom modern Western
historians consider to be a historical figure,
followed by Parshvanatha (Pārśvanātha)
the twenty-third Tirthankara lived in about
the 8th century BCE. He founded the community
to which Mahavira's parents belonged. Ahimsa
was already part of the "Fourfold Restraint"
(Caujjama), the vows taken by Parshva's followers.
In the times of Mahavira and in the following
centuries, Jains were at odds with both Buddhists
and followers of the Vedic religion or Hindus,
whom they accused of negligence and inconsistency
in the implementation of Ahimsa. According
to the Jain tradition either lacto vegetarianism
or veganism is mandatory.The Jain concept
of Ahimsa is characterised by several aspects.
It does not make any exception for ritual
sacrificers and professional warrior-hunters.
Killing of animals for food is absolutely
ruled out. Jains also make considerable efforts
not to injure plants in everyday life as far
as possible. Though they admit that plants
must be destroyed for the sake of food, they
accept such violence only inasmuch as it is
indispensable for human survival, and there
are special instructions for preventing unnecessary
violence against plants. Jains go out of their
way so as not to hurt even small insects and
other minuscule animals. For example, Jains
often do not go out at night, when they are
more likely to step upon an insect. In their
view, injury caused by carelessness is like
injury caused by deliberate action. Eating
honey is strictly outlawed, as it would amount
to violence against the bees. Some Jains abstain
from farming because it inevitably entails
unintentional killing or injuring of many
small animals, such as worms and insects,
but agriculture is not forbidden in general
and there are Jain farmers.Theoretically,
all life forms are said to deserve full protection
from all kinds of injury, but Jains recognise
a hierarchy of life. Mobile beings are given
higher protection than immobile ones. For
the mobile beings, they distinguish between
one-sensed, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed
and five-sensed ones; a one-sensed animal
has touch as its only sensory modality. The
more senses a being has, the more they care
about non-injuring it. Among the five-sensed
beings, the precept of non-injury and non-violence
to the rational ones (humans) is strongest
in Jain Ahimsa.Jains agree with Hindus that
violence in self-defence can be justified,
and they agree that a soldier who kills enemies
in combat is performing a legitimate duty.
Jain communities accepted the use of military
power for their defence, there were Jain monarchs,
military commanders, and soldiers.
==== Buddhism ====
In Buddhist texts Ahimsa (or its Pāli cognate
avihiṃsā) is part of the Five Precepts
(Pañcasīla), the first of which has been
to abstain from killing. This precept of Ahimsa
is applicable to both the Buddhist layperson
and the monk community.The Ahimsa precept
is not a commandment and transgressions did
not invite religious sanctions for layperson,
but their power has been in the Buddhist belief
in karmic consequences and their impact in
afterlife during rebirth. Killing, in Buddhist
belief, could lead to rebirth in the hellish
realm, and for a longer time in more severe
conditions if the murder victim was a monk.
Saving animals from slaughter for meat, is
believed to be a way to acquire merit for
better rebirth. These moral precepts have
been voluntarily self-enforced in lay Buddhist
culture through the associated belief in karma
and rebirth. The Buddhist texts not only recommended
Ahimsa, but suggest avoiding trading goods
that contribute to or are a result of violence:
These five trades, O monks, should not be
taken up by a lay follower: trading with weapons,
trading in living beings, trading in meat,
trading in intoxicants, trading in poison.
Unlike lay Buddhists, transgressions by monks
do invite sanctions. Full expulsion of a monk
from sangha follows instances of killing,
just like any other serious offense against
the monastic nikaya code of conduct.
===== War =====
Violent ways of punishing criminals and prisoners
of war was not explicitly condemned in Buddhism,
but peaceful ways of conflict resolution and
punishment with the least amount of injury
were encouraged. The early texts condemn the
mental states that lead to violent behavior.Nonviolence
is an overriding theme within the Pali Canon.
While the early texts condemn killing in the
strongest terms, and portray the ideal king
as a pacifist, such a king is nonetheless
flanked by an army. It seems that the Buddha's
teaching on nonviolence was not interpreted
or put into practice in an uncompromisingly
pacifist or anti-military-service way by early
Buddhists. The early texts assume war to be
a fact of life, and well-skilled warriors
are viewed as necessary for defensive warfare.
In Pali texts, injunctions to abstain from
violence and involvement with military affairs
are directed at members of the sangha; later
Mahayana texts, which often generalise monastic
norms to laity, require this of lay people
as well.The early texts do not contain just-war
ideology as such. Some argue that a sutta
in the Gamani Samyuttam rules out all military
service. In this passage, a soldier asks the
Buddha if it is true that, as he has been
told, soldiers slain in battle are reborn
in a heavenly realm. The Buddha reluctantly
replies that if he is killed in battle while
his mind is seized with the intention to kill,
he will undergo an unpleasant rebirth. In
the early texts, a person's mental state at
the time of death is generally viewed as having
a great impact on the next birth.Some Buddhists
point to other early texts as justifying defensive
war. One example is the Kosala Samyutta, in
which King Pasenadi, a righteous king favored
by the Buddha, learns of an impending attack
on his kingdom. He arms himself in defence,
and leads his army into battle to protect
his kingdom from attack. He lost this battle
but won the war. King Pasenadi eventually
defeated King Ajatasattu and captured him
alive. He thought that, although this King
of Magadha has transgressed against his kingdom,
he had not transgressed against him personally,
and Ajatasattu was still his nephew. He released
Ajatasattu and did not harm him. Upon his
return, the Buddha said (among other things)
that Pasenadi "is a friend of virtue, acquainted
with virtue, intimate with virtue", while
the opposite is said of the aggressor, King
Ajatasattu.According to Theravada commentaries,
there are five requisite factors that must
all be fulfilled for an act to be both an
act of killing and to be karmically negative.
These are: (1) the presence of a living being,
human or animal; (2) the knowledge that the
being is a living being; (3) the intent to
kill; (4) the act of killing by some means;
and (5) the resulting death. Some Buddhists
have argued on this basis that the act of
killing is complicated, and its ethicization
is predicated upon intent. Some have argued
that in defensive postures, for example, the
primary intention of a soldier is not to kill,
but to defend against aggression, and the
act of killing in that situation would have
minimal negative karmic repercussions.According
to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, there is circumstantial
evidence encouraging Ahimsa, from the Buddha's
doctrine, "Love all, so that you may not wish
to kill any." Gautama Buddha distinguished
between a principle and a rule. He did not
make Ahimsa a matter of rule, but suggested
it as a matter of principle. This gives Buddhists
freedom to act.
===== Laws =====
The emperors of Sui dynasty, Tang dynasty
and early Song dynasty banned killing in Lunar
calendar 1st, 5th, and 9th month. Empress
Wu Tse-Tien banned killing for more than half
a year in 692. Some also banned fishing for
some time each year.There were bans after
death of emperors, Buddhist and Taoist prayers,
and natural disasters such as after a drought
in 1926 summer Shanghai and an 8 days ban
from August 12, 1959, after the August 7 flood
(八七水災), the last big flood before
the 88 Taiwan Flood.People avoid killing during
some festivals, like the Taoist Ghost Festival,
the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, the Vegetarian
Festival and many others.
== Methods ==
Nonviolent action generally comprises three
categories: Acts of Protest and Persuasion,
Noncooperation, and Nonviolent Intervention.
=== Acts of protest ===
Nonviolent acts of protest and persuasion
are symbolic actions performed by a group
of people to show their support or disapproval
of something. The goal of this kind of action
is to bring public awareness to an issue,
persuade or influence a particular group of
people, or to facilitate future nonviolent
action. The message can be directed toward
the public, opponents, or people affected
by the issue. Methods of protest and persuasion
include speeches, public communications, petitions,
symbolic acts, art, processions (marches),
and other public assemblies.
=== Noncooperation ===
Noncooperation involves the purposeful withholding
of cooperation or the unwillingness to initiate
in cooperation with an opponent. The goal
of noncooperation is to halt or hinder an
industry, political system, or economic process.
Methods of noncooperation include labour strikes,
economic boycotts, civil disobedience, sex
strike, tax refusal, and general disobedience.
=== Nonviolent intervention ===
Compared with protest and noncooperation,
nonviolent intervention is a more direct method
of nonviolent action. Nonviolent intervention
can be used defensively—for example to maintain
an institution or independent initiative—or
offensively- for example, to drastically forward
a nonviolent struggle into the opponent's
territory. Intervention is often more immediate
and effective than the other two methods,
but is also harder to maintain and more taxing
to the participants involved.
Gene Sharp, a political scientist who seeks
to advance the worldwide study and use of
strategic nonviolent action in conflict, has
written extensively about the methods of nonviolent
action. In his book Waging Nonviolent Struggle
he describes 198 methods of nonviolent action.
In early Greece, Aristophanes' Lysistrata
gives the fictional example of women withholding
sexual favors from their husbands until war
was abandoned. A modern work of fiction inspired
by Gene Sharp and by Aristophanes is A Door
into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski, depicting
an ocean world inhabited by women who use
nonviolent means to repel armed space invaders.
Other methods of nonviolent intervention include
occupations (sit-ins), blockades, fasting
(hunger strikes), truck cavalcades, and dual
sovereignty/parallel government.Tactics must
be carefully chosen, taking into account political
and cultural circumstances, and form part
of a larger plan or strategy.
Successful nonviolent cross-border intervention
projects include the Guatemala Accompaniment
Project, Peace Brigades International and
Christian Peacemaker Teams. Developed in the
early 1980s, and originally inspired by the
Gandhian Shanti Sena, the primary tools of
these organisations have been nonviolent protective
accompaniment, backed up by a global support
network which can respond to threats, local
and regional grassroots diplomatic and peacebuilding
efforts, human rights observation and witnessing,
and reporting. In extreme cases, most of these
groups are also prepared to do interpositioning:
placing themselves between parties who are
engaged or threatening to engage in outright
attacks in one or both directions. Individual
and large group cases of interpositioning,
when called for, have been remarkably effective
in dampening conflict and saving lives.
Another powerful tactic of nonviolent intervention
invokes public scrutiny of the oppressors
as a result of the resisters remaining nonviolent
in the face of violent repression. If the
military or police attempt to repress nonviolent
resisters violently, the power to act shifts
from the hands of the oppressors to those
of the resisters. If the resisters are persistent,
the military or police will be forced to accept
the fact that they no longer have any power
over the resisters. Often, the willingness
of the resisters to suffer has a profound
effect on the mind and emotions of the oppressor,
leaving them unable to commit such a violent
act again.
== Revolution ==
Certain individuals (Barbara Deming, Danilo
Dolci, Devere Allen etc.) and party groups
(e.g. Committees of Correspondence for Democracy
and Socialism, Pacifist Socialist Party or
War Resisters League) have advocated nonviolent
revolution as an alternative to violence as
well as elitist reformism. This perspective
is usually connected to militant anti-capitalism.Many
leftist and socialist movements have hoped
to mount a "peaceful revolution" by organising
enough strikers to completely paralyse the
state and corporate apparatus, allowing workers
to re-organise society along radically different
lines. Some have argued that a relatively
nonviolent revolution would require fraternisation
with military forces.
== Criticism ==
Ernesto Che Guevara, Leon Trotsky, Frantz
Fanon and Subhas Chandra Bose were fervent
critics of nonviolence, arguing variously
that nonviolence and pacifism are an attempt
to impose the morals of the bourgeoisie upon
the proletariat, that violence is a necessary
accompaniment to revolutionary change or that
the right to self-defense is fundamental.
Note, for example, the complaint of Malcolm
X that "I believe it's a crime for anyone
being brutalized to continue to accept that
brutality without doing something to defend
himself."George Orwell argued that the nonviolent
resistance strategy of Gandhi could be effective
in countries with "a free press and the right
of assembly", which could make it possible
"not merely to appeal to outside opinion,
but to bring a mass movement into being, or
even to make your intentions known to your
adversary"; but he was skeptical of Gandhi's
approach being effective in the opposite sort
of circumstances.Reinhold Niebuhr similarly
affirmed Gandhi's approach while criticising
aspects of it. He argued, "The advantage of
non-violence as a method of expressing moral
goodwill lies in the fact that it protects
the agent against the resentments which violent
conflict always creates in both parties to
a conflict, and it proves this freedom of
resentment and ill-will to the contending
party in the dispute by enduring more suffering
than it causes." However, Niebuhr also held,
"The differences between violent and non-violent
methods of coercion and resistance are not
so absolute that it would be possible to regard
violence as a morally impossible instrument
of social change."In the midst of repression
of radical African American groups in the
United States during the 1960s, Black Panther
member George Jackson said of the nonviolent
tactics of Martin Luther King Jr.:
"The concept of nonviolence is a false ideal.
It presupposes the existence of compassion
and a sense of justice on the part of one's
adversary. When this adversary has everything
to lose and nothing to gain by exercising
justice and compassion, his reaction can only
be negative."
Malcolm X also clashed with civil rights leaders
over the issue of nonviolence, arguing that
violence should not be ruled out if no option
remained.
In his book How Nonviolence Protects the State,
anarchist Peter Gelderloos criticises nonviolence
as being ineffective, racist, statist, patriarchal,
tactically and strategically inferior to militant
activism, and deluded. Gelderloos claims that
traditional histories whitewash the impact
of nonviolence, ignoring the involvement of
militants in such movements as the Indian
independence movement and the Civil Rights
Movement and falsely showing Gandhi and King
as being their respective movement's most
successful activists. He further argues that
nonviolence is generally advocated by privileged
white people who expect "oppressed people,
many of whom are people of color, to suffer
patiently under an inconceivably greater violence,
until such time as the Great White Father
is swayed by the movement's demands or the
pacifists achieve that legendary 'critical
mass.'" On the other hand, anarchism also
includes a section committed to nonviolence
called anarcho-pacifism. The main early influences
were the thought of Henry David Thoreau and
Leo Tolstoy while later the ideas of Mohandas
Gandhi gained importance. It developed "mostly
in Holland, Britain, and the United States,
before and during the Second World War".The
efficacy of nonviolence was also challenged
by some anti-capitalist protesters advocating
a "diversity of tactics" during street demonstrations
across Europe and the US following the anti-World
Trade Organization protests in Seattle, Washington
in 1999. American feminist writer D. A. Clarke,
in her essay "A Woman With A Sword," suggests
that for nonviolence to be effective, it must
be "practiced by those who could easily resort
to force if they chose."
Nonviolence advocates see some truth in this
argument: Gandhi himself said often that he
could teach nonviolence to a violent person
but not to a coward and that true nonviolence
came from renouncing violence, not by not
having any to renounce.Advocates responding
to criticisms of the efficacy of nonviolence
point to the limited success of non-violent
struggles even against the Nazi regimes in
Denmark and even in Berlin. A study by Erica
Chenoweth and Maria Stephan found that nonviolent
revolutions are twice as effective as violent
ones and lead to much greater degrees of democratic
freedom.
== Research ==
A 2016 study finds that "increasing levels
of globalization are positively associated
with the emergence of nonviolent campaigns,
while negatively influencing the probability
of violent campaigns. Integration into the
world increases the popularity of peaceful
alternatives to achieve political goals."
== See also
