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Chapter 2
Serving the Emperor
Buddhism prohibits violence. Binding the clergy and laity alike, the
first of the Five Buddhist Precepts forbids killing a living being (bu sha sheng).
The prohibition applies to all sentient beings, humans as well as animals.
However, the moral burden of murder differs in accordance with the being
involved; killing a big animal is usually considered more serious than injur-
ing a small one. The murder of a human being is the greatest offense; it re-
ceives the heaviest retribution in the afterlife, and if committed by a monk, it
involves permanent expulsion from the monastic order.^1
The Buddhist prohibition of violence has had significant implications for
the religion’s attitude toward war. Buddhism has been less inclined than other
faiths to sanction warfare. Some exceptions notwithstanding, most Buddhist
authors have refused to condone the social or political obligation of soldiers to
fight. Unlike Hinduism, for example, which allows for warriors going to heaven,
many Buddhist scriptures have them punished in hell. The Buddhist philoso-
pher Vasubandhu (fl. fifth centur y) goes as far as to argue that even if they are
pressured to fight, soldiers should not do so, for it is better to die than to kill. In
warfare, Vasubandhu emphatically states, responsibility is collective, meaning
that it is shared—not divided—by all participants. The soldier who kills and
his comrade who happens not to kill are equally guilty, for they have enlisted
for the same purpose of slaughter.^2
The religion’s objection to war was translated into its monastic code. The
vinaya regulations of all the Indian Buddhist schools go into great length to
prevent monastic participation in warfare. Monks are forbidden to carry arms
or join an army. They are not allowed to fight themselves, nor to incite others
to fight. Even as passive spectators they are not permitted to enter a battlefield,
for they should neither hear the sound of war nor witness its horrors.^3 Chinese
biographies of eminent monks reveal specific instances in which they heeded
these laws: In 454, Guÿabhadra (Qiunabatuoluo) refused to take part in the