Once upon a time in northern India, there lived a violent and fearsome outcaste called Angulimala ('necklace of fingers'). He terrorised towns and villages in order to try to gain control of the state, murdering people and adding their fingers to his gruesome necklace.
The Buddha set out to meet Angulimala, and with the power of love and compassion he persuaded him to renounce violence and take responsibility for his past actions. Thus Angulimala was transformed.
The Buddha & The Terrorist brings a message for our time about the importance of looking for the root causes of violence, and of finding peaceful means to end terror.

Librería 1. Estante 2.

The basic gist of this story: a murderer is on the loose, and Buddha courageously meets up with him to talk to him. He says a few tired things like "violence begets violence" and the murderer is an instant convert. Even the Buddha is shocked at how easily this man went from being a mass murderer to a devout pacifist. The rest of the story basically involves the Buddha convincing others that the ex-murderer is now a good man and that killing him would accomplish no good. In the end, most of the people forgive him.

The positive: The book recognizes that people who have done evil aren't necessarily destined to do evil forever. They can in some cases be rehabilitated. And it also teaches to forgive people who have reformed. This is all good by me.

The negative: The idea that "violence begets violence" is true in some cases, but not in others. If the first person Angulimala killed had fought back and killed him instead, would this violence have beget new violence? Quite simply, no. It would have ended the violence and saved many lives. And the person who killed him would have lived out the rest of his or her life in peace. There are many reasons for someone to do violence to another. Not all of these reasons have to do with craving power or having a thirst for revenge or a cruel heart. Sometimes violence is done in self-defense, sometimes it is done to euthanize the suffering, sometimes it is in recognition that human beings need to eat.

We should do our best to annihilate the LOVE of violence, and I appreciate the Buddha's devotion to this cause, but a dogmatic rejection against all forms of violence can be a form of cruelty in and of itself: as an example, letting your dog die a slow painful death of leukemia rather than having her put down. And again, in what possible way could this act of violence beget new violence? These mantras are well-intentioned and sound good, but they don't always make a lot of sense. ( )

A beautiful and short story for our time. In the face of daily news heralding the latest death toll from the wars and the rhetoric pouring from the White House on how best to address the risk of everything from terrorism to immigration to other governments - this book is a breathe of fresh air.

Read it slowly and thoughtfully and question yourself why we don't hear more guidance toward peace and love such as this. ( )