z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 07.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 507
CRITICS OF HIS DOCTRINES
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This is a complete misrepresentation of what the Blessed Lord taught by his doctrine of Ahimsa.
The Blessed Lord has made his position clear on various occasions so as to leave no room for ambiguity or misunderstanding.
The first such occasion to which reference should be made is the occasion when he made a rule regarding the entry of a soldier in the Sangh.
At one time the border provinces of the kingdom of Magadha were agitated. Then the Magadha king Seniya Bimbisara gave order to the Commander of the army: ‘ Well now, go and ask your officers to search through the border provinces for the offenders, punish them and restore peace.” The Commander acted accordingly.
On hearing the orders of the Commander the officers found themselves placed in a dilemma. They knew that the Tathagatha taught that those who go to war and find delight in fighting, do evil and produce great demerit. On the other hand, here was the king’s order to capture the offenders and to kill them. Now what shall we do, asked the officers to themselves.
Then these officers thought: “If we could enter the order of the Buddha we would be able to escape from the dilemma.”
Thus these officers went to the bhikkhus and asked them for ordination; the bhikkhus conferred on them the pabbajja and upasampada ordinations and the officers disappeared from the army.
The Commander of the army finding that the officers were not to be seen, asked the soldiers: “Why, how is it that the officers are nowhere to be seen ?” “The officers, lord, have embraced religious life of the bhikkhus,” replied the soldiers.
Then the Commander of the army was annoyed, and became very angry: “How can the bhikkhus ordain persons in the royal army ?”
The Commander of the army informed the king of what had happened. And the king asked the
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