What is a Spiritual Response to the Death of an Evil Man?

So Osama Bin Laden is dead. Killed by a US SEAL strike.

It’s interesting to read through the comment sections of various blogs and news sites and see how the three primary worldviews perceive the event. Traditional cheering USA! and finding a way to criticize President Obama, Moderns cheering USA! and wondering what this means for US Security, Post-Moderns criticizing the US and turning their comments toward the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So what is a spiritual response to Bin Laden’s death? A good question that few are asking. I don’t feel I can speak for others seeking a spiritual answer, but for myself, as a Buddhist, I cannot take joy in the suffering or death of another living being. And I can have compassion for someone so clearly in the grips of violent delusions. But I can also feel satisfied that a terrible man who caused the deaths of thousands of innocent lives will no longer be able to continue his violence or avoid justice. It would have been nice if he had surrendered to be tried for his crimes, but it would be nice if he had not chosen his path of violence in the first place. We do not live in that kind of world, unfortunately.

There are many on the spiritual path that believe that violence can never be the right response to violence. I am not one of those. I believe that it can be a moral imperative to use violence if it is in the defense of one’s self or others.

The hope is to act, not with a mind filled with hatred and anger, but a mind filled with lovingkindness.

More on that later. The time is late and I have a novel to keep editing.