Brian Daizen Victoria, in Buddhist Door, 29 September 2025, where the title runs thus: “The Prospect of Buddhist Complicity in Genocide, Part Two”
In December 2024, I wrote an article titled, “On the Prospect of Buddhist Complicity in Genocide.” Despite its title, the article was primarily devoted to issues related to the emergence of a Buddhist military chaplaincy within the US military. It was only in the last line of the article that I expressed the possibility “at least some Buddhists” might end up complicit in genocide. At the time, I found it difficult to imagine there would come a time when Buddhism or Buddhists would in fact become complicit in anything resembling genocide.
IDF soldiers. From google.com
Nevertheless, a recent video addressed to Israeli soldiers by Israeli Sōtō Zen priest Issim Amon raises the possibility that what I once found difficult to imagine may now have become reality.
I do not identify Ven. Issim Amon by name in order to shame him or charge him with supporting genocide, but only to demonstrate this is no longer an abstract question.
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In fact, if only in a limited sense, I am grateful to Amon for serving as what the Japanese call a “teacher by negative example” (hanmen kyōshi). Additionally, I find his words to be a good example of what the renowned student of religion William James described in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902):
We learn more about a thing when we view it under a microscope, as it were, or in its most exaggerated form. This is as true of religious phenomena as of any other kind of fact. The only cases likely to be profitable enough to repay our attention will therefore be where the religious spirit is unmistakable and extreme. (40)
Needless to say, when it comes to the connection between Buddhism and violence, nothing could be more “exaggerated” let alone “extreme” than a possible connection between Buddhism and genocide. What, then, is the basis for believing that Amon’s words may form the basis for making such a connection?
Note, however, there can be no question that Amon is a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect, having received Dharma transmission from the Ven. Nishijima Wafu Gudō (1919–2014). Nishijima was initially a student of the Ven. Sawaki Kōdō, one of Sōtō Zen’s most respected Zen masters of the 20th century. Additionally, Nishijima received Dharma transmission from the Ven. Niwa Renpō, the 77th chief abbot of Eiheiji, one of Sōtō Zen’s two head monasteries.
That said, in today’s Sōtō Zen the receipt of Dharma transmission means no more than the recipient is qualified to perform funerals and ancestral memorial rites as the abbot of a local Sōtō Zen temple. It does not denote that the recipient is a “Zen master,” a largely honorific term.
Keeping this in mind, over the past year the Internet, especially YouTube, has become the focus of debate regarding a video made by Amon that appears to be addressed to Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza. This video is still freely available on YouTube and can most easily be viewed embedded in a program produced by one of Amon’s Dharma brothers, Brad Warner, who also received Dharma transmission from Nishijima.
Inasmuch as it’s a short video, the English subtitles accompanying the original Hebrew are transcribed here in full:
To be a super fighter. The difference between being a super fighter and being just a fighter, is in the mind. Listen, what you need is to keep your composure and precision, practically this means when you shoot you take half a second to a second, to aim, then shoot, then let go. And that is all the difference between the super fighter, and the people that panic and shoot.
And two more things, the worst thing is to shoot in bundles. You don’t hit, and waste a lot of ammunition. After all, in the gun barrel there is a little pipe that returns the gas. Part of the gas that comes out to bring the bolt backwards spits out the bullet to bring in a new bullet into the chamber. And this pipe pushes upwards, and that is why shooting in bundles is completely wasteful. So, the first thing is to aim, take a breath, and shoot in single or dou [dual/two?] shots. Bundles are not a good thing and all the greatness is to breathe, to stop your breathing, to aim, and without fear, to be precise and shoot.
Regarding the third part, of the “after the battle” you need to go back, rest and say “everything is okay.” Don’t think of guilt, don’t think of anxieties, don’t agonize yourselves. Simply just try to rest. There will be time afterwards, when you get back home, we’ll get work done. The work will be to unload, let out, share and cry, a lot of crying. But not during battle. In the battle, and while you are there, be cool, without compassion or mercy.
Princes and princesses, you are ours, our national pride, our super fighters. Take the time, precision, patience, long breaths and that is what will turn you into the most successful fighters. Get the job done, and we are waiting for you to come back home safely. Good luck, everything will be okay. (YouTube)
Before commenting on the content of Amon’s talk, note that Brad Warner, who does not speak Hebrew, states that he had the content of the English translation checked for accuracy. While he was able to determine that the majority of the English translation was correct, he discovered one significant error in the translation, namely that Amon had not said to be “without compassion or mercy” during battle. Instead, Warner stated the correct translation was “to be without self-pity.”
Issim Amon. From wikipedia.org
Amon himself confirmed that Warner’s observation was correct as he acknowledged in the comments section at the end of the video. Amon wrote:
@nissimamon3971 Ven. Brad, This is me here, Nissim. A friend sent me a link to your video. You could just ask me, as Jundo (Cohen) did, if it is true that I said these things. Well, I didn’t. Some pro Hamas deliberately translated me wrong. I never said to be without compassion or mercy in the battlefield. I said to the soldiers to be without feeling sorry for themselves and without self-pity.
Keeping this revision to the translation in mind, the question to be asked is to what extent, if at all, Amon’s comments represent Zen teachings? To answer this question, I turn to no less a Zen-related authority than D. T. Suzuki who, for many, remains regarded as a “man of Zen.” In his 1938 book, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture, Suzuki wrote:
Morally and philosophically there is in Zen a great deal of attraction for the military classes whose mind being comparatively simple and not at all addicted to philosophizing – and this is one of the essential qualities of the fighter – naturally finds a congenial spirit in Zen. (Suzuki 1938, pp. 34–35)
Whether the minds of Israeli soldiers (IDF) are “comparatively simple” or not is certainly debatable. However, there can be no debate that in addressing IDF soldiers, Amon’s remarks were definitely not “addicted to philosophizing.” His remarks were as simple, direct and practical as they could be. But are simplicity and directness Zen values? Again, we turn to Suzuki for an answer:
Zen discipline is simple, direct, self-reliant, self-denying, and this ascetic tendency goes well with the fighting spirit. The fighter is to be always single-minded with just one object in view which is to fight and not to look either backward or sidewise. To go straightforward in order to crush the enemy is all that is necessary for him. He is therefore not to be encumbered in any possible way, be it physical, emotional, or intellectual. (Suzuki 1938, p. 62)
It is in these words, I suggest, that we find the closest parallel to Amon’s instructions to IDF soldiers: “Don’t think of guilt, don’t think of anxieties, don’t agonize yourselves. Simply just try to rest. There will be time afterwards, when you get back home, we’ll get work done. The work will be to unload, let out, share and cry, a lot of crying. But not during battle.” (YouTube)
In short, according to Amon, IDF soldiers should “keep your composure and precision” while on the battlefield. Further, soldiers should remain “cool” and “without feeling sorry for themselves and without self-pity.” Additionally, it is clear that Amon is concerned about the mental well-being of IDF soldiers once off the battlefield, for he encouraged them “to unload, let out, share and cry, a lot of crying.” This concern is well founded as revealed in a recent article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “Around 20,000 veterans injured in the Gaza war are being treated by the Defence Ministry Rehabilitation Division, with 55 per cent—roughly 10,700—struggling with mental health issues.” (Haaretz)
At this point, readers may wonder, where in Amon’s advice, or for that matter in Zen as a whole, is there an awareness of Buddhism’s very first precept, to not kill, a precept that exists in every tradition and school of Buddhism? This question takes on added urgency in light of the fact that an independent commission of experts appointed by the United Nations recently concluded that: “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.” (UN News)
Given this, how could a Buddhist priest, no matter his sectarian affiliation, encourage Israeli soldiers in Gaza to become “super fighters” who, as they kill, maintain their “composure and precision?”
At least in the case of Amon and his Dharma lineage this is not as insurmountable problem as it might seem. This is because of the wartime writings of Ven. Sawaki Kōdō who, as Nishijima’s first Zen master, remains a much revered figure in the Nishijima lineage. In 1942 Sawaki explained why Buddhists should support Japan’s war efforts:
“It is just to punish those who disturb the public order. Whether one kills or does not kill, the precept forbidding killing [is preserved]. It is the precept forbidding killing that wields the sword. It is this precept that throws the bomb. It is for this reason that you must seek to study and practice this precept.” (Sawaki Kōdō 1942, p. 107)
Given this, it can be said that Amon’s remarks, albeit unstated, extend the belief that the precept forbidding killing is rightly invoked when it is deemed necessary “to punish those who disturb the public order.” This doesn’t mean, nor do I charge, that Amon supports what experts appointed by the UN view as Israel’s current genocidal actions in Gaza. However, it is clear that he does support, and is concerned about, the mental wellbeing and effectiveness of IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza.
Interestingly, Amon’s written response to the video introduced above prompted the following reply from Warner:
@HardcoreZen You [Nissim] obviously did not watch the video. I pointed out that mistranslation and went on to say that it didn’t matter. The video is still terrible. You and I have nothing in common.
The fact that Brad Warner and Amon are Dharma brothers, having received Dharma transmission from the same master, represents a stern rebuke indeed.
Before ending, it is important to recall that Amon is far from the only Buddhist cleric to offer his comfort and support to soldiers on the battlefield. To give but a few recent examples, in 1976 the Thai monk Phra Kittivuddho Bhikkhu said in a speech to soldiers fighting a communist insurgency that killing communists was not a sin. In fact, for him, it was akin to generating merit or offering alms to the Buddha. He justified this by casting communists as enemies of the nation, the Dharma, and the king.
Monks bless Sri Lankan army commander Sarath Fonseka, 1 October 2005. From Buddhist Warfare (2010), edited by Michael Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer
During the civil war in Sri Lanka between 1983 and 2009, Buddhist clerics tied protective threads around the wrists of Sinhalese soldiers preparing to fight non-Buddhist Tamils. In 2005, Ven. Pilassi Vimaladhajja justified the actions of his fellow Buddhist monks as a means of raising the morale of the men and increasing their spiritual comfort. Reciting protective verses, recounting the glories of past kings, and sharing the Buddha’s sermons was not an offense or a disgrace, and by extension not a disgrace for a monk to go to the battlefield. In his words, “It gives comfort to our boys.”
Compare the preceding words to those of the historical Buddha. According to the Yodhājīva Sutta, when approached by a professional warrior seeking to learn his karmic fate, the Buddha replied:
When a warrior strives and exerts himself in battle, his mind is already seized, debased, and misdirected by the thought: “May these beings be struck down, slaughtered, annihilated, destroyed. May they not exist.” If he dies in battle while thus striving and exerting himself, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the hell called the realm of those slain in battle. But if he holds such a view and does not die in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the plane of misery, the bad destination, the lower world, in hell. (Yodhājīva Sutta)
Needless to say, the Buddha’s words are far removed, if not polar opposites, from those spoken by Amon and the other clerics cited here. Thus, the reader is left to ponder the appropriateness of not only Amon’s words, but of all Buddhist clerics, past and present, who have offered words of comfort and support to soldiers engaged in killing their fellow sentient beings.
In short, should Zen Buddhists, or adherents of any school of Buddhism, be engaged in producing “super fighters” or even “ordinary fighters” whether engaged in genocide or not?
References
Kōdō, Sawaki. 1942. “Zenkai Hongi wo Kataru” (On the True Meaning of Zen Precepts) Part 9. In Daihōrin magazine. Tokyo.
Jerryson, Michael and Mark Juergensmeyer (eds.). 2010. Buddhist Warfare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Suzuki, D. T.. 1938. Zen Buddhism And Its Influence on Japanese Culture. Kyoto: The Eastern Buddhist society.
See more
Zen Master sez: Kill Without Compassion or Mercy? (YouTube)
55% of Disabled Gaza War Veterans Treated by Army Rehab Have Mental Health Issues (Haaretz)
Gaza: Top independent rights probe alleges Israel committed genocide (UN News)
Related news reports from BDG
American Buddhists Urge Trump to Intervene in Gaza Crisis in Petition Led by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Naropa University President Condemns Antisemitic Attack in Boulder, Affirms Commitment to Healing and Interfaith Solidarity
Related features from BDG
Buddhistdoor View: Facing the Fire Without Feeding It – New Violence in the Middle East
On the Prospect of Buddhist Complicity in Genocide
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