Saturday, May 23, 2009

Do WHAT to mine enemies?

If you're a "good Christian," I'm sure you know the chapter and verse to which I refer, don't you? Take your pick even: Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27 or 35. Funny! When I read any of these lines, I don't hear one iota of equivocation. And who was it that said these words, again?

In point of fact, no major religious tradition in the world does not hold this prescription as one of its tenets. The Buddha teaches: "Hatreds never cease through hatred . . . through love alone they cease. This is an eternal law" (Dhammapada 3-5). Confucius says: "He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon Goodness will dislike no one" (Analects 4.3-4). The Tao Te Ching puts it: "I treat those who are good with goodness, and I also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus, goodness is attained" (49). The Qur'an: "The good and the evil are not alike. Repel the evil deed with the good. And, lo! The one between whom and you there was enmity would become as if a warm friend" (41.34). The Tosefta give us: "Aid an enemy before you aid a friend and you subdue hatred" (Baba Metzia 2.26). And the Ramayana advises: "A superior being does not render evil for evil . . . the ornament of virtuous persons is their conduct. One should never harm the wicked or the good or even criminals meriting death. A noble soul will ever exercise compassion even to one who enjoys injuring others and at the moment that the cruel person commits the vicious acts. For who is without fault?" (Yuddha Kanda 115).
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