L I T ERAT URE IN RE VIE W
Continued from page 23
Sikh. Like maps with Antarctica at the top, this
dislocation helps us see a familiar issue in a
novel light. In a further perspective shift, the
volume, published by the State University of
New York Press, contains only two American
researchers and three U.S.-educated authors.
Others hold degrees from, or work, in China,
Japan, Israel, and—a majority—Canada.
The chapters differ both in their presenta-
tion and in the degree to which they claim
restorative justice roots in their tradition. The
Hinduism chapter, for example, is densely
packed with citations from the Vedas, heavily
annotated, and directly concedes that “the
classical system of justice in Hinduism can be
classified as a system of retributory justice.”
The Buddhism chapter, on the other hand,
is more approachable, and places at its cen-
ter Buddhism’s focus on human nature. Ac-
cording to the author, “the only reason Bud-
dhism accepts for punishing an offender [is]
to help him reform his or her character.” To
Buddhism, the unenlightened person is “af-
flicted by greed, ill will, and delusion; that is,
all of us are somewhat mad.” Most applicably
to Restorative Justice, traditional Buddhism
“Most applicably to
Restorative Justice,
traditional Buddhism
begins by allowing the
parties to settle their
conflict themselves...”
Page 24 Winter 2019
begins by allowing the parties to settle their
conflict themselves, then through concilia-
tors, then informal judicial opinion, and only
as “a last resort” turning to the courts.
Chinese thought, on the other hand, is di-
vided into many streams, from Confucian-
ism to the Tao, united in their “virtue ethic”
approach, in which “punishment was not pri-
marily the purpose of retribution; it was only
meted out with the expressed goal of rid-
ding the person of moral evil.” The Confucian,
Buddhist, and Chinese moral and judicial
systems each see humans naturally good,
but unenlightened, and that “because they
are shaped by culture, human beings rarely
grasp who they are in their essence or pure
state.” Therefore “everything about an of-
fender’s situation is taken into consideration,”
and “the main concern... is not with ruling on
guilt, but with determining the intention.” As
Kant was to put it a couple of millennia later,
“the only thing in this world that is good
without qualification is the good will.”
If these chapters are helpful to the Western
or the Abrahamic reader, the section on Sikh-
ism is a revelation for most of us. The third-
largest of the religions originating in India,
and the youngest of the world’s twelve larg-
est faiths, Sikhism has over a million North
American adherents, and a half million in
Europe. Blending several elements of the
monotheistic religions, It transforms dharma
from a retributive to a restorative concept
by focusing on the efficacy of forgiveness.
Although Sikhism had to adopt a militant
posture as a response to persecution, at its
heart it remains committed to conciliation
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