Reddit reviews The Range of the Bodhisattva: The Teachings of the Nirgrantha Satyaka

Good article.

Sri Lanka and Thailand are both Theravada Buddhist countries with de facto modern states, standing militaries and devout Buddhist armed service members. In Sri Lanka this is a genuine issue that military members in an official capacity wrestle with when entering combat zones where Muslim terrorists are killing Buddhists. Most monks there seem to acknowledge that lethal force will be inevitable and therefore sermons given to soldiers emphasize putting soldiers in the right state of mind so that when lethal force is applied they take less of a "karma hit". But it's expected they'll take one nonetheless. The soldiers do this reluctantly rather than sacrificially. And the monks never encourage violence, only right states of mind or survival. There are a few monks that directly advocate using lethal force, but they are the minority. So in a way I would say Sir Lanka is an example of the second option, but most soldiers are following this path reluctantly.

In Thailand the situation is a bit different. Southern Thailand has had monasteries militarized for about thirty years. In some cases temples are actually bases for military. There are also de facto ordained military monks who gone through service and then entered monkhood who walk around with concealed pistols and have assault rifles under their bed. Thailand seems to of embraced the first option.

Both the above situations are covered in the book Buddhist Warfare by Michael Jerryson.

On an another note there are archaic sources, which most Buddhists will probably discount that do support limited warfare. One example is the Ārya-Satyakaparivarta Mahayana sutra. Lethal force isn't endorsed lightly but they do say when all other non-violent options are exhausted, then go ahead and fight violence with violence, but in the least violent way possible. e.g. don't pursue your enemy beyond your borders or relish violence.