Buddhism, Human Rights, and the Pursuit of World Peace

Introduction: World Peace and Human Rights

One of the most discussed subjects since the beginning of recorded history is world peace. Ideas that could eventually lead to it have been suggested by almost everyone. Humankind has been dedicated to fighting for its rights since the early ages. However, as people began to witness the damage provoked by conflicts, they also started to view peace as a necessity rather than a luxury. Religion has always claimed to promote peace and has fought to maintain that ideal in the world, although it has also caused many wars throughout human history.

Buddhism is particularly dedicated to discouraging conflict and to helping people find the right path toward peaceful living. Human rights are frequently disregarded in many parts of the world today, and, because of this, innocent people suffer. Human rights were established to ensure that all people are treated equally and that individuals are not deprived of their basic entitlements. Early documents referring to laws that would defend human rights date from before the common era. One of the first major documents to involve equal rights for all citizens is the Magna Carta, issued in 1215.

Almost everyone promotes world peace today, and it would practically be enough for a person to claim that he or she stands for "world peace" in order to appear virtuous in the eyes of others. Even if the claim comes from someone seeking attention in a public forum, most would agree that peace is genuinely good for the world. Humans are therefore most likely committed — at least in principle — to attaining peace, regardless of whether it seems like an unreachable dream.

With globalization and social evolution, the world has undergone an almost irreversible change and has left behind much of the violence that once defined it. As people and civilizations evolved, wars became more frequent and the struggle for territory became the principal motive for conflict between nations. However, with the conclusion of two world wars and the Cold War, people grew more sensitive to the atrocities that fellow humans could commit in the name of any cause, no matter how just the declared intentions. Those experiences, along with anti-war movements, helped bring most large-scale conflicts between nations to an end.

Despite the low probability of another major world war, conflicts continue, and the world has a long way to go before reaching a state of complete peace. Wars still take place throughout the world, even if on a smaller scale. A war does not necessarily have to be a conventional one fought between two countries. It can begin with the slightest act of violence between individuals. As long as people cling to their beliefs at all costs and refuse to understand opposing points of view, world peace will remain elusive.

There have been several attempts by people and governments to change the world for the better, but most have fallen short, as the masses generally tend to pay more attention to their financial problems than to the wars being fought across the globe.

As peace has its supporters, so too does war. Many who support war do so primarily because they consider it beneficial for economic growth. According to various sources, if all wars were ended permanently, some vital parts of the world's economic system would be disrupted. A straightforward explanation for the economic appeal of war is that many people working in the military sector depend directly on the conflicts they are involved in. In periods of economic recession, for example, reports have indicated that U.S. Army enrollment plans exceeded their targets for the year 2008. Economic reasons appear to be the strongest incentives of all, prevailing over other considerations. Nobody wishes for people to die in wars, and most people abstain from encouraging others to go to war; yet many are not prepared to forfeit the financial gains that come from involvement in military activity.

In its essence, war can be understood as a necessary evil in the pursuit of exceptional goals — or so its proponents argue. On the other hand, if all the resources consumed by the military were redirected toward peaceful and beneficial projects, people would most certainly gain more. Great philosophers have argued that war holds no real advantage since antiquity. With the founding of the United Nations in 1945, nations were theoretically forbidden from using war as an economic instrument. The Cold War is generally understood to have been fought as a means of creating a balance of power and preventing another global conflict.

Globalization is one of the main factors contributing to world peace because it enables people to communicate peacefully across ethnic, religious, and racial boundaries. Through globalization, people have become more acquainted with the concept of peace, and a sense of global unity has gradually emerged.

Even with humankind's great leap forward and the improvement of international relationships, there is still evidence that humanity cannot escape the impulse to make war. Most armed conflicts have shifted to developing countries, whose residents are often deeply dissatisfied with their social and economic circumstances. The UN has devoted considerable effort to providing assistance to developing countries and to those that have experienced warfare. The United Nations Development Programme was created specifically to assist countries in unstable economic or political situations, and several nations have experienced visible progress as a result.

Religion holds great importance when discussing human rights, as it has historically both protected people and condemned those who abused their authority. Apart from the so-called holy wars, religion has mainly been dedicated to opposing warfare, regarding it as fundamentally avoidable. Most religious people believe that any war could have been prevented if all options had been considered beforehand. Religion has its flaws, of course — it can be misinterpreted by some of its followers and used for purposes directly opposite to peacemaking. Nevertheless, one of the world's oldest and most influential religions, Buddhism, has consistently emphasized the pursuit of peace through inner transformation.