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by rramadass·18d ago·view on hn ↗
Your question itself is wrong.

The Buddha taught Non-Violence not Pacifism - https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/the-buddha-taught-no...

In Hindu (eg. Mahabharata) and Buddhist (eg. Jataka tales/Counsel to Kings) traditions, you are allowed to use Adharma temporarily as a last resort to re-establish Dharma itself. You cannot escape the Karma thus generated but it is condoned and accepted as a necessity.

My other comments in this thread has already elaborated on this.

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Since you linked to a Goenka tradition follower: in Goenkas evening talks he mentions the anecdote of a student who was suffering physically and mentally and could not find the cause of his suffering in western medicine, when questioned by Goenka it turns out the man worked for a defense contractor calculating trajectories of balistic missiles. Goenka responds that the man can meditate as much as he wants but he will not find peace while engaged in work that enables mass destruction. And even worse, meditation without right livelihood can even deepen the delusion by providing psychological comfort for unethical actions.

If meditation/concentration becomes a tool to make unethical work feel OK it's just self-deception, quite the opposite of "brushing the dust from the mirror".

If someone has a high degree of concentration, a strong mind, but uses it, for instance, to build a new type of hypersonic missile, that is wrong action and wrong livelihood and that carries its karmic consequences. From my understanding that person will not attain liberation, even though they may reach states of focus that come near to those of an attained monk...

Again i do not know enough about Hinduism and the concept of Adharma but I would dare to guess that the choice to use unconventional means to restore Dharma should also be rooted in profound wisdom, and not some abstract idea of "protecting my country" via mutually assured destruction

First read my other comment here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49111160

The Goenka anecdote (assuming it is true) is just a story. If the man wants to be a Buddhist Monk then of course his job is a great hindrance. But as i have pointed out repeatedly, if he wants to be part of the Military than the practices can be adapted to his duties with the end goal being different.

> If meditation/concentration becomes a tool to make unethical work feel OK it's just self-deception, quite the opposite of "brushing the dust from the mirror"

Again no, it is not self-deception but a clear-eyed view of reality and doing what must be done according to one's station in life aka "One's Dharma". This is elaborated famously in the great Hinduism text "The Bhagavad Gita" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita

> If someone has a high degree of concentration, a strong mind, but uses it, for instance, to build a new type of hypersonic missile, that is wrong action and wrong livelihood and that carries its karmic consequences. From my understanding that person will not attain liberation, even though they may reach states of focus that come near to those of an attained monk...

That person is not trying to be a monk but simply using their techniques to do his duties. There is always going to be karmic consequences but whether they affect his mentality or not depends on his levels of practice.

> Again i do not know enough about Hinduism and the concept of Adharma but I would dare to guess that the choice to use unconventional means to restore Dharma should also be rooted in profound wisdom, and not some abstract idea of "protecting my country" via mutually assured destruction

I have already pointed out the definition of Wisdom and how that is to be used to establish Dharma over Adharma. They are both very practical concepts since the "Right Action" happens in the "Real World".

See also my two recent submissions;

Subsurface Confinement: Evidence from Submariners of the Benefits of Mindfulness - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106589

Yoga in the Military: A Comprehensive Overview - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106576