Violence and (Non-)Resistance: Buddhist Ahimsa and Its Existential Aporias (Critical Essay‪)‬

I In his book Instinct for Freedom the contemporary dharma activist Alan Clements, a former Buddhist monk in the Burmese tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw, presents a dramatic incident from 1990 when he was with prodemocracy resistance fighters in the Burmese jungle following the military's re-assumption of power. (1) This real event has three protagonists: Clements himself, a (non-violent Buddhist) non-combatant observer in solidarity with the fugitive resistance-fighters living rough in the jungle; a Burmese former monk turned combatant resistance fighter called Maung Win (an "old friend" of Clements's from his years in the monastery); and a Burmese military soldier captured in a firefight, whom Clements calls the "enemy soldier" (and will be so designated here), and whom Clements (and the reader) discover to be a former Buddhist monk as well. (2)