Do you believe in sacrifice?

Hi Andrew. That’s a deep question. My immediate answer is no, but this is an important and complex topic. Some scholars have said that the practice of sacrifice reflects some sort of primal blood lust or instinctive death drive, but I believe that evolutionary psychology reveals that the origin of sacrifice is in the feeling of safety with one’s fellows when such an act brought survival of the group.

I believe that blood sacrifice, of either animals or human beings, was originally an offering to placate predators, which were prone to attack human tribes. In fact, war became an expression of the ancient terror of predation that pervaded much of our history as hominids, when we were often defenseless prey to large birds, large lizards, snakes, and big cats. Interestingly, the mythological dragon is a conglomeration of these animals; in the west they were depicted as mainly predators, but in the east became symbolic of wisdom. This is also why early projections of gods were perceived as predators. Sacrifice was food for these gods, and the practice also functioned as supplication for favors. The practice of sacrificing the weak, elderly, or specially chosen victims to predators was a development of hominids in their emulation of what animals would instinctively do to create safety for the pack or herd. Human hunters in turn became like the predators they feared.

The rise of a warrior class in agricultural societies was probably brought about by the elimination of large predators who became prey (see the primitive Bear Cults). This then evolved into war not just as survival but as a theatrical tableau of sacrifice in imitation of predators: dreaded, admired, and eventually, emulated. It offered obvious benefits for the victorious and a glorified death in battle.

Over time, however, these warrior ways would experience a growing resentment from more settled societies. The emergence of contemplative mystics would eventually lead to a spiritual transformation wherein religions like Buddhism and later, Christianity (we could see the story of Abraham and Issac as a moving away from human sacrifice) would instead give greater meaning to the practices of mindfulness and compassionate action rather than in sacrifice through conquest of one’s enemies. The martial arts in their forms that developed out of Buddhism transformed the warrior into a spiritual ideal in whom overcoming oneself and stopping conflict before it arose was higher than ordinary combat and destruction.

Now, some will point to those who, having no other option, might risk or give their life in a compassionate act to rescue or protect another as sacrifice, but I don’t see it that way. The Buddha was against such sacrificial concepts and practices. Rather, he admonished the life of a Bodhisattva who devotes his or her life in the service of helping others to experience spiritual liberation and not as appeasement to a predatory deity, or for the reception of some virtuous social reward. The Bodhisattva acts out of selfless love.

I hope you found this helpful.