Introduction
Buddhist literature approaches the concept of world peace not merely as a geopolitical ceasefire or the absence of war, but as a structural reality emerging from internal psychological transformation. From the foundational Pali Canon to later Mahayana treatises, these texts construct an ethical and behavioural blueprint designed to resolve conflict across individual, societal, and international spheres.
Core Philosophical Framework: Inner Peace to Global Harmony
Buddhist texts establish a direct causal chain between individual consciousness and global conflict: neutralizing Trivisha (greed, hatred, and delusion) through the Astangika Marga (Eightfold Path) produces internal tranquility, which serves as the indispensable foundation for global harmony.
Diagnosing the Root Causes of Conflict
- Overcoming Hatred: The Dhammapada identifies psychological afflictions as the primal source of systemic warfare, famously declaring that hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world, but by non-hatred alone. By treating hostility as a disease of the mind, it removes the justification for retaliatory aggression.
Universal Compassion and Literary Frameworks for Disarmament
- Boundless Benevolence: The Karaniya Metta Sutta prescribes universal loving-kindness (Metta) toward all sentient beings without distinction, dismantling the sectarian, ethnic, and chauvinistic divisions that provoke warfare.
- Critique of Militarism: In the Attadanda Sutta ('The Rod of Force'), the Buddha describes his distress upon seeing people struggling like fish in shallow water with weapons drawn. It stands as one of humanity's earliest textual treatises directly exposing the perils of militarization and urging voluntary disarmament.
Social Harmony and Structural Coexistence
- Civic and Social Reciprocity: The Sigalovada Sutta, often termed the layman's code of discipline, outlines mutual socioeconomic obligations between employers and workers, parents and children, and teachers and students. By eliminating domestic and class friction, it builds peace at the grassroots level of society.
The Bodhisattva Ideal and Active Peacebuilding
- Radical Altruism: In Mahayana literature, particularly Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara (The Way of the Bodhisattva), peace is transformed into an active ethical duty. It mandates postponing individual liberation (Nirvana) to work selflessly for the cessation of suffering across the world, offering an enduring moral paradigm for multilateral humanitarianism.
Conclusion
Buddhist literature effectively bridges spiritual cultivation with pragmatic statecraft, transforming non-violence from an abstract virtue into actionable ethics. In a contemporary landscape strained by geopolitical rivalry and rearmament, this ancient literary corpus provides an enduring diplomatic blueprint for collective coexistence and sustainable world peace.