Peaceful and Wrathful Buddhist Practices

The beauty and dangers of Non-Dualism

The above word button also relates to this article for better understanding of what I'm writing about if you haven't studied Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism. However, if you are familiar with non-dualism and comfortable with it then you might not need to read the above word button before reading what comes next.

Peaceful practices everyone is familiar with in Christianity for example a child's prayer in the 1920s in the U.S. was: (this was my mother's prayer at night)

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I Pray the Lord my soul to take
Amen

The above prayer was given because so many children died before age 12 at that time in the U.S. and English speaking nations. It also gives one the sense of just how uncertain and traumatic life was for children then.

However, when I began to study Tibetan Buddhism I began to realize that Buddhism is not based upon Killing beings who are not good like Christianity is. Instead Buddhism is based upon turning the mind of the wrongdoing being and/or subjugating them until they join you in doing good.

And as I thought about the logic of this in regard to any being living or dead on the other side it makes complete sense. Because if beings are to be killed physically or as souls they will fight you with their last dying breath with everything they have.

But, if you say to them, "Okay, we are going to take you prisoner and if you convert to a good person you might eventually become one of us and go free if you prove yourself to us."

Logically, any being either living or dead on the other side is going to respond to this better than saying to them, "You are bad and we are just going to kill you right now!"

So, this is a completely different strategy and could be incredibly effective under certain circumstances.

So, Tibetan Buddhism is based upon this idea of taking a wrong doer prisoner and converting them to your side to fight alongside of you. This is a very ancient strategy used not only in Asia but throughout the world. However, because of all the very large populations in Asia it was and is a more effective strategy than just promising death to anyone you don't agree with physically or spiritually.

So, the concept isn't just to kill everyone. The concept is to recognize that all beings have souls and the right to live like you do. So, rather than just to kill everyone, you spiritually and mentally and physically dominate them into following you because they choose to because they want to stay alive at first. And then later they follow you because your philosophy is superior to anything they knew before.

So, even though this is an ancient Asian battle strategy it also has found it's way into the religions of Asia too. And I personally find this interesting to study as well.

Because it is easier to turn someone from an enemy to a friend than it is to kill them. If you kill them you have to live with the guilt and your personal Post traumatic Stress Disorder from killing them the rest of your lives.

But if you take them prisoner and convert them to be your friend and eventual protector you have not only saved their lives but you have also helped them and yourself move forwards towards a more humane and enlightened existence.

So, in studying all this in regard to both human nature and souls it made a lot more sense than just promising anyone who doesn't agree with you that you are going to find them and execute them on the spot.

Because in the end it is easier to save someone than it is to live the rest of your life with having killed them.

Everything previous was to give people a historical understanding within some forms of Buddhism and of how they relate to ancient Asian Battle Strategies used during warfare for thousands of years.

So, if you take the battle strategies and apply them to Buddhism you get the Peaceful and Wrathful
Practices.

However, to be fair, usually only men and women over 40 years of age in Tibet who were well grounded in balance and fairness as monks or above were ever taught (before the 1960s) Wrathful practices.

This only changed when the Most Advanced Tibetan Buddhist Masters realized that if they didn't share the Peaceful and Wrathful practices with people all over the world that Tibetan Buddhism likely would die out after Tibet was overrun by China completely in 1959 and during times after this Monasteries were ransacked and destroyed mostly by the Chinese Soldiers of the Cultural Revolution then in China as it spread into Tibet from China.

So, the High Lamas got together and decided that if they didn't teach educated westerners and other foreigners their Wrathful and Peaceful Practices that Tibetan Buddhism would die out because of what had happened in Tibet from China. However, it is important to note that the previous Dalai Lama predicted that all this would happen and that when Tibet was overrun that Tibetan Buddhism would spread all around the world like it has.

Since many many Christian ministers and Priests around the world are now both Buddhists as well as Christians because to western cultures Buddhism is not a religion but more of a philosophy like Hatha Yoga or Acupuncture, you will naturally see more and more concepts like Non-dualism and other Buddhist concepts directly from ministers and priests around the world and from all educated people who have studied about Buddhism in the U.S. or around the world. And I think this will contribute greatly towards a kinder more humane world than we have seen so far here on earth.

Later: Also, since 75% of Buddhists around the world do not believe in God that means that Atheists could also be Buddhists without giving up Atheism.

However, I am one of the 25% of Buddhists who believe in God. So, I have no problem calling myself either a Christian Mystic who believes also in Tibetan Buddhism or as a Tibetan Buddhist who is also a Mystical Christian. That is the beauty of Buddhism, it is primarily a philosophy of compassion and of being humane to oneself and all other beings in the universe. If you are a Christian or most other religions there is no conflict whatsoever with Buddhism if you are a compassionate person and have feelings of compassion for life in the universe already.