Originally posted by Balder
Buddhism emphasizes non-violence and one of its central "commandments" is not to kill (not just not to murder, but not to kill), so I don't say this lightly:
I have no doubt.
I won't say that I would never kill someone in a crisis situation like the ones you all have been discussing, but I would certainly look for ways to incapacitate the person rather than killing them. An injury that knocks them unconscious or stops them from moving long enough to get away is always a possibility.
The law here in my state says something similar. If you can get away you must or it will be seen as murder rather than self defense (outside the home). I think most people would seek a way to remove the threat with minimal loss of life. Except maybe Gerald. (
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Buddhism teaches that it is a sin to kill, but if you kill without hatred then the consequences are not as bad for the killer than if the killing is done with malice. But some Buddhist teachers have also turned conventional morality on its head with this line of thinking:
You understand there is distinction between murder and kill, so why not call them by them what they are instead of lumping two different things into one name?
If an act of killing leads inevitably to punishment or hell, it is sometimes better for the "spiritual" person to volunteer to take the punishment (even time in Hell) by killing a person who can't be stopped otherwise, especially if you know that by so doing you will prevent them from accumulating worse karma for themselves, and from causing terrible suffering and hardship to others.
I think my God has a better way. Don't murder, if you do know the government will take your life. (unfortunatly men refuse to follow God's ideas most of the time... )
If you accidentally or lawfully take a life you are not held accountable for their blood.
The best solution, in Buddhist thinking, would be to stop the person from committing murder or rape and to imprison them in an environment where they actually have a chance to be reformed.
Prison doesn't work. Has Charles Manson been "reformed"? He himself refuses all forms of available help.
But in some extreme circumstances, the moral and altruistic response would be to knowingly "accept" whatever negative karma or punishment may befall you for committing a single murder, if you can thereby stop someone from committing an even greater evil that will cause great longterm harm both to themselves and others.
Commiting a murder isn't the same as killing. Unless one repents of murder he will see hell after the government exacts justice. If they repent, the will be delivered from hell by their Savior after the government exacts justice.
Killing a murderer is not a sin. An example would be the executioners.
Attention to the welfare even of the murderer plays a part in this "extreme-case" thinking ... attention that is notably absent in most "Christian" discussions of this issue on TOL.
The welfare of the gulty murderer's soul can have one cure. Christ. He has until the end of his life to repent whether he knows the end will be in 3 days or he does not know the day of his death (usually of old age in prison).
Murder isn't something that is forgotten so easily. What is missed by the people who seek other "ways" than Christ is these people live, knowing daily, blood is on their hands. That is a hard burden to bear and an act that can not be undone. It is mercy to let someone like Andrea Yates* know her day and hour.
(*the last I heard she was starving herself to death and her husband has recently filed for divorce.)