Help all living beings by ending U.S. involvement in Syria/Iraq

[Blueupali]

As we know, the Buddha taught us never to go to war.  The U.S. Congress this week is supposed to vote on further U.S. military Syrian and Iraq involvement, including arming Syrian rebels.  Even though we know that war is just not a good idea, our governments may need some help with this.  So, if you are a U.S. citizen, calling your Congresspeople this week would be a good idea; other people may wish to contact their respective governments in the event that anyone decides to back the U.S. involvement, or to pressure them to ask the U.S. to stay out of it for a change.
  Basically, just remind them that the Middle East has been at war a long time, and people continuously fighting back and forth causes more back and forth fighting, because of the eye for eye beliefs in that part of the world.  It will never end.  Furthermore, arming rebels is a bad idea, because those weapons get turned against the U.S. and other forces later.
  Okay, so bottom line, we know war is a never helpful, but this is the U.S government we are talking about, who hasn't worked that out yet, because most of them are not Buddhists.
  So consider making an argument that makes sense for someone who doesn't know about karma.

Here below is a helpful petition.  Om mani padme hung.  Please no war or rumours of war.  May all beings benefit.

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/dont_bomb_syria_2014
 

[dondrup]

The beheadings of journalists James Foley, Steven Scotloff and many others by ISIS are amongst most sadistic acts of violence and killing ever performed on humans.  What had become of humanity?

One may argue that they had experienced the results similar to the causes i.e. they deserved these karmic retributions because of their past heavy negative actions of killing.   Without the understanding of the working of the law of cause and effect, humans continue to kill and be killed.   This vicious cycle will not end!
 
The current brutal conflict between Iraq and Syria has been going on for centuries just like the conflict between Isrealis and the Palestinians. There had not been any end to these hostilities. The minds of those involved in the conflict are so deeply rooted in rage, vengeance, ignorance, bitterness and so forth that peace are not forthcoming.  There will be no peace unless humanity realises that outer peace comes from inner peace.
 
Going to war to resolve conflict is not the solution.  Americans had been to the wars for so long.  What have the Americans learned and realised from these past wars like in Iraq and Vietnam?  To bomb Syria and to provide arms to rebel factions in the civil war will only results in more deaths! World leaders like President Obama should have the right view and conscience to not cause more harm to others.  President obama can make a difference between saving lives and contributing to more deaths. The world needs more peace not any more wars. 

Thank You Blueupali for your compassion. 

[Blueupali]

The beheadings of journalists James Foley, Steven Scotloff and many others by ISIS are amongst most sadistic acts of violence and killing ever performed on humans.  What had become of humanity?

One may argue that they had experienced the results similar to the causes i.e. they deserved these karmic retributions because of their past heavy negative actions of killing.   Without the understanding of the working of the law of cause and effect, humans continue to kill and be killed.   This vicious cycle will not end!
 
The current brutal conflict between Iraq and Syria has been going on for centuries just like the conflict between Isrealis and the Palestinians. There had not been any end to these hostilities. The minds of those involved in the conflict are so deeply rooted in rage, vengeance, ignorance, bitterness and so forth that peace are not forthcoming.  There will be no peace unless humanity realises that outer peace comes from inner peace.
 
Going to war to resolve conflict is not the solution.  Americans had been to the wars for so long.  What have the Americans learned and realised from these past wars like in Iraq and Vietnam?  To bomb Syria and to provide arms to rebel factions in the civil war will only results in more deaths! World leaders like President Obama should have the right view and conscience to not cause more harm to others.  President obama can make a difference between saving lives and contributing to more deaths. The world needs more peace not any more wars. 

Thank You Blueupali for your compassion.

Dondrup,
  I agree that the acts of beheading the journalists were terrible and yes there is always the result similar to the cause, like ISIS doing this to journalists means the terrorist would end up in the lower realms.   I want to just address though, what I think is a common misunderstanding of karma, that is "deserve."  I don't think anyone deserves the ripening of bad karma; neither does Buddha, that's why he made so much purifcation techniques possible.  So, I think karma ripening is a law that happens to be the law of the universe, but just happens, if Buddha could make it so no bad karmas ripened and only beneficial ones ever ripened he would, but it is sort of like Newton sitting under the apple tree and noticing that there is a law of gravity; if the apple is too heavy for its stem, it falls, because of gravity.  Newton is forcing this to happen by mentioning it, he is just observing.
  I don't think that the journalists should be beheaded, and I don't want the fighting to continue, because of the law of karma; we think we are fixing it but we are not.
  I do like your point that we need inner peace to get the outer peace.

[yontenjamyang]

It is a matter of avoiding killing in the contexts of Buddhism and the manifestation of compassion that we should call our congressman to pressure the US government to end US involvement in the ISIS conflict. President Obama has commitment not to send ground troops for this conflict but the joint chief is likely to recommend sending US troops as the conflict is unlikely to end without US troops. So far, the President has not change his mind and I am hopeful that he won't.
The way to end the conflict is via compassion, via negotiation and recognizing the problems that arises from years of conflict in the middle east; that the Palestinians has the rights to they land as much as the Israelis to theirs. It would not be simple; actually rather complex; but we need to start somewhere and now is as good as any.

[Klein]

The beheadings of journalists James Foley, Steven Scotloff and many others by ISIS are amongst most sadistic acts of violence and killing ever performed on humans.  What had become of humanity?

One may argue that they had experienced the results similar to the causes i.e. they deserved these karmic retributions because of their past heavy negative actions of killing.   Without the understanding of the working of the law of cause and effect, humans continue to kill and be killed.   This vicious cycle will not end!
 
The current brutal conflict between Iraq and Syria has been going on for centuries just like the conflict between Isrealis and the Palestinians. There had not been any end to these hostilities. The minds of those involved in the conflict are so deeply rooted in rage, vengeance, ignorance, bitterness and so forth that peace are not forthcoming.  There will be no peace unless humanity realises that outer peace comes from inner peace.
 
Going to war to resolve conflict is not the solution.  Americans had been to the wars for so long.  What have the Americans learned and realised from these past wars like in Iraq and Vietnam?  To bomb Syria and to provide arms to rebel factions in the civil war will only results in more deaths! World leaders like President Obama should have the right view and conscience to not cause more harm to others.  President obama can make a difference between saving lives and contributing to more deaths. The world needs more peace not any more wars. 

Thank You Blueupali for your compassion.

I agree with what you wrote. We can't use violence to resolve violence. It doesn't make sense after all the years of war starting from recorded human civilization. History has more than proven to us that we can't use violence to resolve a war.

I believe that there are hidden agendas for encouraging war that stems from greed and selfish pursuits. If they only had dharma, these selfish pursuits at the expense of others would not exist. They would adopt peaceful methods instead to win others over.

During the time of degeneration, it is crucial that we propitiate the protector practice such as Dorje Shugden who's results are swift.

[kris]

the hatred would have rooted into so many of the people involved in the war. once the hatred got into our mind stream, it is never easy to rid them out. I pity those whose family members or friends who got killed in the war because the thought of revenge will be on their mind. Though I don't have a solution to resolve the issue, I don't agree that war will resolve the issue.

In any case, religions should promote peace, kindness and tolerance, not bombing others or beheading

[bambi]

No matter what, wars are just too cruel. The amount of karma that goes around makes it scarier.
The sad part is when half of the people want the war to end and they are asking USA to help, the other half wants USA to stay out of the war, no matter what the outcome there will always be death.
What I pray and hope for is that the war everywhere will end and no more death caused by cruelty.

[pinecone]

Everyone fears punishment, everyone fears death. Therefore, do not kill or create the cause to kill. Everyone fears suffering, everyone loves life.  In Buddhism, an act that sows the seeds of harmful karma is regrettable even if it is unavoidable.  The reason for a war to break  is due to self-interest,  to defend  nations, home and family etc. This is not "wrong." Yet even in these circumstances, to harbour hatred for one's enemies is still a poison. And any act of war will sows the seeds of future harmful karma . World peace is the ideal of freedom and happiness to all beings.