Investigation Into the 'Ethics of Murder'

[Alexisme1001]

Gandhi was wrong. If one could go back in time and be given the opportunity to kill Hitler and Stalin before they came to power, doing so would be completely justified.

[eltb82]

@Alexisme1001 Why do you think murder would be the only way to stop them? Surely changing their minds would be far more ethical?

[beaterfred]

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely go vegetarian after my final exams. The thing is I haven't had time to go shopping even and been eating takeaways and anythin I could get my hand on for the past week or so. Final year masters in engineering with 2 weeks before exams is not a good position to be in. lol... Especially as a starting vegetarian!

[cricket279]

I love Ajahm Brahm. I need to take this opportunity to speak on behalf of non-humans. All sentient beings deserve to not be exploited. Please consider going vegan. We kill 56 billion animals (not including fish) every year for no other reason than their bodies 'taste good'. Non-human animals value their life as much as you or I and fight to hold onto it, please don't needlessly take it from them.

[beaterfred]

@cricket279 I used to love chicken and sea food and while I loved animals and never swatted flies or killed spiders, I thought it would be very difficult for me to turn vegetarian. After listening to one of Ajahn Brahm's talks I stopped eating meat and I was a vegetarian (without being tempting even once) for 5 months. But I'm a final year Engineering student and I was getting weak and I didn't have time to prepare proper meals so I eat fish now, but only until the end of my exams! :)

[cricket279]

@beaterfred It's incredibly easy (and cheap!) to eat a healthy,balanced vegan diet. For omega's 3, 6 & 9 simply add a tablespoon of ground Flaxseed and shelled hemp (from health food stores) to your cereal using soya, almond or rice milks. Fantastic start to the day and has very high nutritional value. For further advice please visit thevegansociety.co.uk The real issue here is that of morality. If we are to reject violence then we must not participate in the senseless killing of sentient beings

[cricket279]

@beaterfred I have learned so much about ethical veganism from Professor Gary Francione. Please check out his website, abolitionistapproach . com

[doctormoo]

if i have tme, i will listen to it again. Do it from pure heart- i wil remember that.

[MexicanJudge]

i have a big question..... If u r in a situation in which u have to deal with someone to stop him/her from doing something bad... and to do so u have to kill him/her OR to hurt him VERY badly that could get him/her screwed up for the rest of his/her life.... which one is the best option??

[teamshintaichi]

if you kill them at the time when they are causing pain and suffering to gain more for themselves in this world, or most other reasons then they are most likely to be reborn as a greedy animal and suffer a lot worse than what you do to them. If they stay alive and crippled then they can bring themself to become a better person and have a good rebirth. they might not but at least you gave them the chance to. that's a lot nicer then letting them become an animal.

[reinux]

i'm not a buddhist monk, but my guess is that allowing someone to live with the personal history of such an act is just as inhumane if not moreso than physically crippling them.

if their act involves murder and you need to murder them in order to prevent that act, then you have an unsolvable dilemma, and you can't be blamed for deciding either to kill that person or not.

you can't quite "kill a criminal", according to this guy, because there are no criminals, only people who commit crimes.

[mendaman007]

This is the best speach I've ever heard about correct decision making.

[sgdemeo]

I always had this conflict in my mind concerning my support of the military and being a practitioner of Buddhism. I'm glad Ajahn Brahm clarified this thought-dilemma for me. Thanks! You're my hero!

[amtb66]

Amituofo, wonderful talk, wonderful.

[tigernov6]

you wouldn't marry a criminal who killed one man but you would marry a person in the army who killed hundreds of men.

[memaansex]

yes!

reason:- criminal killing the person with rage.

for a army person he kill a person not for the rage his intention is different.

It's wht you think is matters. that's where the harm come to u with bad karma. there is no majic in buddhism. there is no one keep count good n bad u do. it's only u n u only get affected. So if you kill hundreds n your intention is different n wht u believing is different u r not bad as criminal. but soldher with bad intention may have criminal mind.

[fishbonezken]

"An army person does not kill with rage, his intention is different. It's what you think that matters. Harm will come to you if you have bad karma. There is no magic in Buddhism. No one keeps count of the good and bad that you do, but yourself. It's only you alone that gets affected by your own actions. So if you kill hundreds but your intention and what you believe in is different, you are not considered a criminal. However, a soldier with bad intentions can lead to a criminal mind."

[earthenly]

There is not a lot of difference in intention. None of us are born with the intention to kill others. My Dad fought in WW2. My cousin, a canadian volunteer, in Vietnam, both killed with good intention to protect their country's people & their neighbor. There is injury to good intentions when one suffers too much mental & emotional trauma at home, in the streets, or/and war. The so-called enemies that we maim & kill are also to led to believe that war is honorable. It is not.

[earthenly]

Excellent point!!! Killing is killing no matter who does it.

[crazykayaks]

As I am an ex soldier and a new buddhist Ajahn Brahms talk was awesome

[crazykayaks]

Satori 1800:Hi you are right, but i am a man who commited murder, not a murderer...there is a subtle difference. I have found my buddha nature and now your anger surpasses mine. i wonder,in previous lives how many times you too were a soldier or a murderer?

Are you a vegan now like me, or do you sponsor the murder of animals?do you swat flies and stamp on ants.

The past cannot be changed, but boy we can learn from it.

thanks for you reply.

[A7xxxxxxx]

i think that crazykayaks is very wise in what he/she says and there is no need to attack them for what they have done by calling them a murderer. learning from the past is a great skill, perhaps you can learn not to make intentional hurtful accusations to people who you don't even know.

[lusciouslips007]

i agree that what you may have done before was wrong, but it's nice to see that you've mended you ways. it's never too late to start afresh... =]

[ImminentlyWise]

There is a zen story about a monk carrying a beautiful woman. He was with another monk when he did so, and the other monk was so distraught that he worried about it for days. A week later he confronted his friend and told him sternly that they were forbidden from touching women. to which the first monk replied, " I put her down that day, but you are still carrying her."

[ohwako]

a beautiful message :))

[ImminentlyWise]

Thank you so much Brahm, my husband is in the American Navy, this was wonderful.

[z10n1d3]

i listen at work (from all the way in Alabama) while doing digital illustrations.. the work environment is not always very positive and with disagreeing philosophies in the workplace it can be very aggravating.  these lectures are so uplifting, positive, and entertaining! thank you for doing these videos!!! Ajahn Brahm has really helped me through a lot of my negative thoughts or hurtful obsessive thought patterns.

[Schmooze84]

I also listen to these talks from my job in Alabama. I too work in a technical/office type setting and I find that I am more productive while listening to Ajahn Brahm. Not only are his lectures uplifting but his voice is also very calming and I feel significantly less stressed out while hearing him talk.

[judi1949]

Another highly enjoyable and enlightening talk always makes me feel better

[arkwind]

Another brilliant talk, I would like to thank you so much for all the talks you have given, they have tought me so much