Buddhism and the War on Terror
A Japanese journalist interviewed French authorities on terrorist movement.
A female, senior bureaucrat of a French agency in Paris said, “They do not represent Muslims just like Aum Shinrikyo did not represent Buddhists.”
Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese cult that carried out sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subways in 1995, which injured about 5,000 commuters in addition to ten deaths.
(Now, the top leader of the cult is on trial, though his counselor is claiming that the trial should be suspended by reason of insanity of his client placed in the Tokyo Detention Center)
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According to a book by the Japanese journalist, when Ahmed Shah Massoud was assassinated on September 9, 2001 in Afghanistan, there were several European ladies in Jalalabad, southeast of Kabul, who married Muslims living in residences far better than neighboring ones. Al-Qaeda provided the accommodation for them.
Leader of anti-Taliban forces Ahmed Shah Massoud was killed, prior to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., by a suicide bomber and another assassin who came from Jalalabad in the disguise of Europe-based reporters, following an order of Al-Qaeda.
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As I once reported, when Taliban carried out demolition, in March, 2001, of a 165-foot statute of Buddha carved at a cliff in Bamian, Afghanistan, in the fourth century, we should have been more alerted.
It is not only President George W. Bush or Prime Minister Junichiro Kizumi who is to blame.
But, European leaders also should have realized that something strange was going on in Jalalabad in the summer of 2001.
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Before arrival of Islam at Bamian, Buddhism prevailed there.
Hsuan Tsang, a notable Chinese Buddhism priest of high virtue, departed China in 629 to India, passing Bamian. He not only studied the religion but also made a huge collection of Buddhist scriptures in India.
Those scriptures were translated into Chinese, and then imported into Japan.
Hsuan Tsang’s travel took 17 years over 30,000Km (18,000 miles) from China to India through Central Asia, including Afghanistan, in the seventh century.
A story on his travel and adventure, called “Xi You Ji (or Saiyuki in Japanese),” is still popular in China and Japan.
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I cannot believe that God has ever ordered the people of scriptures, that is, Israelites, Christians, and Muslims, to destroy Buddhism.
For example, Japan that might overwhelm any other countries on the earth except the multi-race, multi-culture, and multi-tradition United States of America consists mainly of people who think themselves to be a kind of Buddhist.
(According to Forbes, there are 320 Japanese companies among top 2000 businesses ranked in the world, while 693 companies are American, 122 English, 66 French, and 58 Germany. See also http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/18/Rank_1.html.)
Even in comparison with Israelites, Japanese might be allowed to claim that God has blessed Japanese more than Israelites in terms of glory of a tribe.
And, Japanese are mostly Buddhist, if we venture to categorize them.
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Things originated in Afghanistan, such as the 9/11 Attacks and the War on Terror, might be predicted or measured still by focusing on how parties concerned are dealing with Buddhism.
In that case, Japanese might be able to, or willing to, play a key role as Americans and Europeans can.
“SHOW LOVE TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED UNLOVED”