Donald S. Lopez Jr.: evaluation

Transcript context

…Is it a fundamental misconception to think of Buddhism as a peaceful religion? The peaceful religion part is something I think has been made much of, really, since the 19th century. But we have a lot of evidence of Buddhists going to war, of Buddhist monks serving as chaplains on the battlefield, even in the Second World War. Buddhism is a religion of peace in the sense that the Buddha really talked against violence, but we have, throughout Buddhist history, all sorts of Buddhist armies, Buddhist wars, and Buddhists killing each other and killing their enemies. The Western conception of Buddhism — that starts to be built up in the 19th century? Is that the right way to think about it?…

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