“The city of happiness, well, we all live there and people go about their business with full knowledge of the child in the closet.” — Ursala K. Le Guin
Introduction
- Is the peace of a nation compatible with the peace of its people?
Collective Peace
A collection of individuals (e.g., a nation of people) is peaceful only if it is not at war.
Deterrence Theory states that a collection of individuals will not be at war only if it has strong armed forces.
Of course, a collection of individuals has strong armed forces only if some individuals are in its armed forces.
Therefore, a collection of individuals is peaceful only if some individuals are in its armed forces.
Individual Peace
An individual is peaceful only if he or she is free from worries.
The Fourth Noble Truth states that an individual will not be free from worries if he or she follows wrong livelihood.
In turn, an individual follows wrong livelihood if he or she is in an armed force. In the Vanijja Sutta, the Buddha states:
“A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.”
- Therefore, an individual is peaceful only if he or she is not in an armed force.
Collective Peace without Individual Peace
If both Deterrence Theory and the Fourth Noble Truth hold, then the peace of a collection of individuals is incompatible with the peace of its individuals.
The Fourth Noble Truth must hold. Human nature is such that participation in an armed force causes suffering to the participant him- or herself.
Therefore, if the peace of a collection of individuals is to be consistent with the peace of its individuals, then Deterrence Theory must not hold: the peace of a collection of individuals must be possible without the need for an armed force.
Collective Peace with Individual Peace
For Confucius, the most efficient means to defend a nation against aggression is not to strengthen its arms but to strengthen the trust of its people.
In The Analects, it is for this reason that Confucius preferred Emperor Shun, who secured peace through virtue, to King Wu, who secured peace through war:
“The Master said of the Shao that it was perfectly beautiful and also perfectly good. He said of the Wu that it was perfectly beautiful but not perfectly good.”1
Conclusion
The peace of a nation is compatible with the peace of its people only if the peace of the nation is possible without the need for an armed force.
This can be achieved through virtuous leadership.
Copyright © 2024 Lam Fu Yuan, Kevin. All rights reserved.
Footnotes
Emperor Shun originated the music called Shao.↩︎