Christina A. Kilby – Författare

This book analyzes Buddhist perspectives on the human experience of displacement and on the ethics of resettlement, humanitarian aid, and protection for displaced communities. Bringing to light both ancient and modern insights from Buddhist traditions across cultures, Buddhism and Displacement provides a robust account of Buddhism's contributions to an urgent, global humanitarian challenge.As a religion that begins with an act of taking refuge, Buddhism has much to offer our contemporary displacement crisis: not only insights into the psychological and existential dimensions of displacement, but also compelling visions of human security and political ethics. This book offers a well-researched and critical perspective on a wide range of sources in order to illuminate humanitarian ideals that are distinctively Buddhist, yet relevant for non-Buddhist social and political actors. Buddhism and Displacement integrates Buddhist scriptural interpretation, ethnographic interviews, ethical argumentation, and legal analysis to build a conceptual as well as practical guide to understanding displacement—and rethinking Buddhism in the process.Buddhism and Displacement is well suited for undergraduate and graduate students in Buddhist studies, humanitarian studies, anthropology, ethics, and political science. Audiences who will benefit from this book’s practical recommendations include international aid workers, policy makers, refugee community leaders, and government leaders in whose hands the wellbeing of today’s displaced people rests.

What guidance can Buddhism provide to those involved in armed conflict and to belligerents who must perhaps kill or be killed or defend their families, communities or countries from attack? How, moreover, does Buddhism compare with international humanitarian law (IHL) – otherwise known as the law of armed conflict – which protects non-combatants and restricts the means and methods of warfare to limit the suffering it causes?Despite the prevalence of armed conflict in parts of the Buddhist world, few contemporary studies have addressed these questions. While there is a wealth of material on Buddhist conflict prevention and resolution, remarkably little attention has been paid to what Buddhism says about the actual conduct of war. IHL is also still relatively little known in the Buddhist world and might not therefore influence the behaviour of belligerents who self-identify as Buddhists and are perhaps more likely to be guided by Buddhist principles. This ground-breaking volume is part of an International Committee of the Red Cross project which seeks to fill this gap by exploring correspondences between Buddhist and IHL principles, and by identifying Buddhist resources to improve compliance with IHL and equivalent Buddhist or humanitarian norms.This book will be of much interest to students and researchers of International Law, Buddhism, Ethics as well as War and Conflict studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Buddhism.The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003439820/buddhism-international-humanitarian-law-andrew-bartles-smith-kate-crosby-peter-harvey-asanga-tilakaratne-daniel-ratheiser-noel-maurer-trew-stefania-travagnin-elizabeth-harris-mahinda-deegalle-christina-kilby, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. A version of the open access title is also available on the OAPEN platform, https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/75921