Item — HN Reader

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".