
Universal Militarism Versus Demilitarized Society – Ep. 53
According to Professor Thurman, the only effective institutional opposition to militarism in the history of humanity has been monasticism. He argues that monastic institutions enable the inversion of warriors. The militancy of the warrior is introverted, so that the monk or nun battles with his or her own inner demons of selfishness, anger, greed, and so on. In this podcast Professor Thurman suggests that dharma practitioners can win the inner battle, and when they constitute a large community, create something like a “peace army” for the society.
This episode is an excerpt from the lecture “Tibetan Buddhism: Historical and Philosophical Developments,” given at Nalanda Institute in New York City, on October 1, 2015.

Universal Militarism Versus Demilitarized Society – Ep. 53 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Photo by Frank Holleman on Unsplash.
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The songs āTrance Tibetā & āDancing Lingā by Tenzin Choegyal from the album āHeart Sutraā (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artistās permission, all rights reserved.
The Bob Thurman podcast is produced under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives License through the generous support of its listening audience and the Tibet House US Menla membership community. To learn about the benefits of membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us.
The songs āTrance Tibetā & āDancing Lingā by Tenzin Choegyal from the album āHeart Sutraā (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge are used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artistās permission, all rights reserved.