03-10-2005, 04:53 AM
Guroos,
1. I would not refer much to Sun Tzu's concepts primarily because I cant read the originals and just the translations. Problem with translations is that its hard to understand what he was really trying to say and what were the inherent assumptions. For example would Dharma Yudha xlate well as holy war ? Would Dharma Yudha translate as a just war ? To me (intuitively speaking) it doesnt register very well. You guys know way more then I ever will when it comes to scriptures so this is just an intuitive ramble.
2. Small clarification - when i said augustine cooked up just war concept i didnt mean that everybody else was waging unjust wars. Can we not have "not unjust" wars ? Again intuitively speaking methinks augustine (& others) were probably forced to explain or derive the concepts of "just war" since they were placed in precarious position of pontificating first and then facing realities later.
3. Methinks Jainism and Buddhism would probably be better for us to look at since we can probably understand them better then xtianity or Sun Tzu as these are bhailog. What would be interesting is to look at how buddhism transformed from this hardcore pacifism into Samurai cultures ? Were there any Jaina kingdoms that had to deal with realities or its popularity remained with traders who never had to deal with realities of statecraft and day-to-day survival ? How is the concept of rakshak devas explained ? How did jainas feel about funding the wars that hindu kings waged ?
4. MKG would have been interesting if he had lived to see 25 more years. Is it possible that he employed his rhetorics as a practical ploy to expose the brit hypocrisy (white mans burden) ? He probably knew he had to open that particular front and play the white mans game against him as he was forced to live within their framework anyway ? After independence however things would have been different ?
Sorry for ramblings..
1. I would not refer much to Sun Tzu's concepts primarily because I cant read the originals and just the translations. Problem with translations is that its hard to understand what he was really trying to say and what were the inherent assumptions. For example would Dharma Yudha xlate well as holy war ? Would Dharma Yudha translate as a just war ? To me (intuitively speaking) it doesnt register very well. You guys know way more then I ever will when it comes to scriptures so this is just an intuitive ramble.
2. Small clarification - when i said augustine cooked up just war concept i didnt mean that everybody else was waging unjust wars. Can we not have "not unjust" wars ? Again intuitively speaking methinks augustine (& others) were probably forced to explain or derive the concepts of "just war" since they were placed in precarious position of pontificating first and then facing realities later.
3. Methinks Jainism and Buddhism would probably be better for us to look at since we can probably understand them better then xtianity or Sun Tzu as these are bhailog. What would be interesting is to look at how buddhism transformed from this hardcore pacifism into Samurai cultures ? Were there any Jaina kingdoms that had to deal with realities or its popularity remained with traders who never had to deal with realities of statecraft and day-to-day survival ? How is the concept of rakshak devas explained ? How did jainas feel about funding the wars that hindu kings waged ?
4. MKG would have been interesting if he had lived to see 25 more years. Is it possible that he employed his rhetorics as a practical ploy to expose the brit hypocrisy (white mans burden) ? He probably knew he had to open that particular front and play the white mans game against him as he was forced to live within their framework anyway ? After independence however things would have been different ?
Sorry for ramblings..