Some human behavior is difficult to explain, whether it be positive or negative. Thus, it is difficult for us to understand the behavior of either the people of the village of Le Chambon during World War II as the French people there protected and saved thousands of Jewish children and adults from the nearby Nazis, just as it is difficult in a different way to understand the behavior of otherwise normal citizens who joined the force known as the Reserve Police Battalion 101, a unit of the German Order Police, which carried out numerous killings and other atrocities against the Jews of Poland. We might like to think we wold behave as did the people of Le Chambon, but still we wonder how they found the courage. We would like to think we would never behave as did the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, but we fear that we might. A rationale for analyzing both behaviors is offered by philosopher T.P. Kasulis in his book Zen Action Zen Person. The Buddhist ethicist would use the thought processes described by Kasulis to analyze both cases and to determine which would he or she would be better able to explain in terms of their religious philosophy.
Kasulis offers an analysis of Zen thought and concentrates on the meaning of the person and his or her relationship to culture. He states at the outset that there is always an interplay of the religious and the secular in human life (Kasulis 3). In both cases from World War II, there are religious and secular components to be considered not just in the actions of those involved but in the thinking of anyone analyzing the issues involved. We might thus see the people of Le Chambon as acting in concert with their religious principles while the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were able to sublimate or distort their religious side to commit immoral acts.
Kasulis consider the moral dimension of Buddhist thinking and notes how Dogen tried to resolve a conflict within the Zen tradit...