ABSTRACT
Traditional Asian martial arts have their roots in a number of classical Asian philosophies, perhaps none of these is as widely recognised as Buddhism. Yet the fact that many traditional Asian martial arts are rooted in Buddhism seems perplexing. The martial arts appear to be violent and their violence appears incompatible with the Buddhist emphasis on ahimsa. There have been numerous attempts to reconcile violence in the martial arts with Buddhist ethics. Some of these deny that the martial arts are violent. Others deny that Buddhism prohibits violence, or at least, that Buddhism prohibits the kind of violence that takes place in the course of proper practice of the martial arts. Attempts of the former variety generally seek to resolve the problem while remaining largely neutral as to the appropriate interpretation of Buddhist ethics, while attempts of the latter variety generally appeal to some purportedly correct interpretation of such ethics.
