"And the Blessed One said: "The Tathagata is like unto a powerful king who rules his kingdom with righteousness, but being attacked by envious enemies goes out to wage war against his foes. When the king sees his soldiers fight he is delighted with their gallantry and will bestow upon them donations of all kinds. Ye are the soldiers of the Tathagata, while Mara, the Evil One, is the enemy who must be conquered.”
Gospel of Buddha: Chapter-47: Verse- 26
http://files.libertyfund.org/files/2268 … 506_Bk.pdf
My point is that Buddha believed that a righteous and peaceful king has sometimes to fight for the cause of humanity when the very existence of his people is at stake; I mean if a cruel and unjust enemy (representing Mara or the evil) attacks his kingdom aggressively and becomes genocidal then it will be a right view, right intention, right action, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration to the duty of such righteous king to defend.
The example given by Buddha would be applicable in the real if such a situation arises; if not then it will be a metaphor.
Krishna fought a just war and convinced Arjuna to fight a just war. If Buddha had faced such a situation, he would have also done the same thing and it would have been well within the eightfold path of Buddha and since it would have saved his people from the suffering it would have been well within the boundaries of the middle path.
The example given by Buddha is therefore both real and a metaphor.
I see Buddha and Krishna shaking hands with one another smilingly as they both had the same approach for life.
