Healing After Harm: A Buddhist Contribution to Contemporary Theological Discourses on Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Taking as its departure point the urgent calls for nonviolence and reconciliation articulated by Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV, this paper examines how Buddhist philosophy provides a systematized framework for understanding and enacting nonviolence, forgiveness, and healing after harm. While papal teachings offer a critical diagnostic of contemporary geopolitical division, militarism, and systemic inequality, a Buddhist lens deepens this discourse by illuminating the internal, psychological mechanisms required for genuine reconciliation. Drawing across Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Tibetan traditions, this paper investigates three key dimensions: first, how Buddhist ethics conceptualizes forgiveness as an active, transformative engagement rooted in the brahmavihāras; second, how mind-training methods such as those detailed in the Vitakkasaṇṭhāna Sutta and Lojong offer concrete tools to convert afflictive anger into compassionate understanding; and third, how these interior practices inform nonviolence education in contexts of structural injustice, demonstrating that authentic reconciliation must resist forced resolution and instead emerge through an embodied awareness of interbeing.