[Buddha-l] Vivekananda

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Thu, 2006-01-12 at 12:06 -0500, curt wrote:

> I have read that Vivekananda was suspected of promoting armed opposition 
> to the British. In particular, his teachings on "karma yoga" were 
> considered to be open to the interpretation that fighting for Indian 
> independence was a legitimate form of spiritual practice (a position 
> that I would personally agree with). All during the World Parliament of 
> Religions I don't think he never once mentioned the word "Ahimsa", by 
> the way

No, but he did say this in his opening address on September 11, 1893: 
\begin{quote}
  Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have
  long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with
  violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed
  civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for
  these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than
  it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the
  bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be
  the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the
  sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between
  persons wending their way to the same goal. 
\end{quote}

And in his talk on Hinduism on September 19, 1893 he treated the
audience to the following burst of admiration for the United States
(whose history he apparently did not know very well):  

\begin{quote}
  Hail, Columbia, motherland of liberty! It has been given to thee,
  who never dipped her hand in her neighbour's blood, who never found
  out that the shortest way of becoming rich was by robbing one's
  neighbours, it has been given to thee to march at the vanguard of
  civilisation with the flag of harmony. 
\end{quote}

And in his closing remarks on September 27, 1893, Swami Vivekananda
said:  
\begin{quote}
  If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it
  is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and
  charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the
  world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most
  exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams
  of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of
  the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to
  him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in
  spite of resistance: ``Help and not Fight,'' ``Assimilation and not
  Destruction,'' ``Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.''   
\end{quote}

And on January 28, 1900 at a talk at the Universalist Church in
  Pasadena, CA, he said:
\begin{quote}
...nothing has brought man more blessings than religion, yet at
the same time there is nothing that has brought him more horror than
religion. Nothing has made more for peace and love than religion;
nothing has engendered fiercer hatred than religion. Nothing has made
the brotherhood of man more tangible than religion; nothing has bred
more bitter enmity between man and man than religion. Nothing has
built more charitable institutions, more hospitals for men and even
for animals, than religion; nothing has deluged the world with more
blood than religion. 
\end{quote}

So while Swami Vivekananda was not using the word "ahimsa," he does seem
to have viewed warfare and violence, and especially that done in the
name of defending religion, with a sense of disapproval.

-- 
Richard Hayes
***
"Books are useless to us until our inner book opens; then all other
books are good so far as they confirm our book."
        (Swami Vivekananda)