History of Nonviolence
August 16, 1886
Sri Ramakrishna enters into Mahasamadhi, union with the divine. Before he passed, Ramakrishna gave his mission to Narendranath Datta, later known as Swami Vivekananda.
"Naren will teach." Ramakrishna saw Narendranath as the one who would carry his message to the world: "Service to mankind is service to God."
December 23-25, 1892
Narendranath Datta, after four years of wandering throughout India, arrives at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, Kanya Kumari. He meditates for three days. When he rises, he makes plans to travel to America on behalf of the Indian people.
May 24, 1893
Mohandas K. Gandhi, a twenty-four year old London-trained lawyer, arrived in Durban South Africa.
June 7, 1893
Gandhi experiences discrimination first hand, after being thrown off a train despite having a first-class ticket. He spent the night in the cold and "by dawn he had made a curious resolve that came right from the depths of his heart: he would stay and he would fight, but against racial prejudice and on behalf of all, and in that fight he would not resort to any tactic that would diminish the humanity he was fighting for. He would cling to the truth and suffer the consequences in trying to "root out this disease" that was infecting all parties involved."
September 11, 1893
Narendranath, now known as Swami Vivekananda, speaks at the World's Parliament of Religion in Chicago. He was the sixth speaker. He stood before several thousand people and spoke the words: "Sisters and brothers of America." He received a standing ovation, and shared his message of unity and tolerance among the world's religions. He was the first representative of Hinduism to speak in America.
July 4, 1902
At the age of 39, Swami Vivekananda leaves his body. During his life, he spent nearly four years traveling in the United States and England, helping to introduce Indian thought and history to the west.
His impact on India and the world is vast.
"If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative." - Rabindranath Tagore
"I have gone through [Vivekananda's] works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold." - Mahatma Gandhi
September 11, 1906
In Johannesburg, South Africa, the modern non-violence movement is born. In an act of defiance against a new law requiring identification cards to be carried by all Indians. Gandhi's movement was coined satyagraha, "Truth-force," or "the force that is generated through adherence to Truth." In all, Gandhi worked in South Africa for twenty years.
February 21, 1935
Howard Thurman, a well-known African-American author, philosopher and theologian, travels with his wife and two colleagues to meet with Mahatma Gandhi. It is the first time Gandhi meets with African-Americans. At the end of their conversation, Gandhi says: "Well if it comes true it may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of non-violence will be delivered to the world." Thurman laters mentors Martin Luther King, Jr. as the dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University.
August 15, 1947
India gains independence from the British.
The resulting partition of India into East Pakistan and West Pakistan (later Bangladesh) and India led to the displacement of over 14 million people and inter-communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
January 30, 1948
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated at Birla House in New Delhi, India a few minutes after arriving to a prayer meeting.
February 10-March 10, 1959
Martin Luther King, Jr., his wife Coretta Scott and historian Lawrence D. Reddick spend one month traveling throughout India. They meet with disciples of Gandhi, including Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The trip profoundly impacts King. He said "to India I come as a pilgrim," and on leaving says he is "more “more convinced than ever before that non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.”
On his departure, Dr. King calls on India for universal disarmament:
“India or any other nation that has a faith and moral courage could disarm itself tomorrow, even unilaterally. It may be that just as India had to take the lead and show the world that national independence could be achieved nonviolently, so India may have to take the lead and call for universal disarmament. And if no other nation will join her immediately, India may declare itself for disarmament unilaterally. Such as act of courage would be a great demonstration of the spirit of the Mahatma and would be the greatest stimulus to the rest of the world to do likewise. Moreover, any nation that would take such a brave step would automatically draw to itself the support of the multitudes of the earth, so that any would-be aggressor would be discouraged from risking the wrath of mankind.”
March 10, 1959
The same day King departs India, the Chinese government attempts to kidnap the Dalai Lama. The plan fails and the Tibetan People's (or Lhasa) Uprising begins.
March 17-31, 1959
Photo credit: Time Magazine
The Dalai Lama escapes Tibet under the cover of night. He travels for seventeen days through the Himalayas before reaching India, eventually setting up the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India.
A year later, His Holiness made a statement:
“On this first occasion, I stressed the need for my people to take a long-term view of the situation in Tibet. For those of us in exile, I said that our priority must be resettlement and the continuity of our cultural traditions. As to the future, I stated my belief that, with truth, justice and courage as our weapons, we Tibetans would eventually prevail in regaining freedom for Tibet”.
June 1, 1965
Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation led Thich Nhat Hanh to write Dr. King
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and scholar, writes Dr. King a letter, entitled "In Search of the Enemies of Man."
"I also believe with all of my being that the struggle for equality and freedom you [King] lead in Birmingham, Alabama, is not really aimed at the whites but only at intolerance, hatred, and discrimination. These are the real enemies of man – not man himself [...] You are among those who understand fully, and who share with all their heart, the indescribable suffering of the Vietnamese people. The world's greatest humanists would not remain silent. You yourself cannot remain silent. America is said to have a strong religious foundation and spiritual leaders would not allow American political and economic doctrines to be deprived of the spiritual element. You cannot be silent since you have already been in action and you are in action.”
January 25, 1967
Dr. King nominates Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize. “I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam,” calling him “an apostle of peace and non-violence.” He posits that “Thich Nhat Hanh offers a way out of this [the Vietnam War] nightmare, a solution acceptable to the rational leaders […] His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
April 4, 1967
Dr. King delivers speech at Riverside Church in New York, entitled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence."
“A time comes when silence is betrayal.” That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.” He goes on: “Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path.”