Buddhists Go to Battle: When Nationalism Overrides Pacifism
A call to arms for Sri Lankan monks. Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Myanmar. A Buddhist faith known for pacifism is taking its place in a new age of nationalism.
Thousands of Buddhists listening to Sitagu Sayadaw, one of Myanmar’s most revered Buddhist leaders, also known by his monastic name Ashin Nyanissara, in Paleik, Myanmar, in November 2017.Credit...Minzayar Oo for The New York Times
271
By Hannah Beech
July 8, 2019
Leer en español
GINTOTA, Sri Lanka — The Buddhist abbot was sitting cross-legged in his monastery, fulminating against the evils of Islam, when the petrol bomb exploded within earshot.
But the abbot, the Venerable Ambalangoda Sumedhananda Thero, barely registered the blast. Waving away the mosquitoes swarming the night air in the southern Sri Lankan town of Gintota, he continued his tirade: Muslims were violent, he said, Muslims were rapacious.
“The aim of Muslims is to take over all our land and everything we value,” he said. “Think of what used to be Buddhist lands: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Indonesia. They have all been destroyed by Islam.”
Minutes later, a monastic aide rushed in and confirmed that someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail at a nearby mosque. The abbot flicked his fingers in the air and shrugged.
ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading the main story
His responsibility was to his flock, the Buddhist majority of Sri Lanka. Muslims, who make up less than 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population, were not his concern.
Incited by a politically powerful network of charismatic monks like Sumedhananda Thero, Buddhists have entered the era of militant tribalism, casting themselves as spiritual warriors who must defend their faith against an outside force.
Their sense of grievance might seem unlikely: In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, two countries that are on the forefront of a radical religious-nationalist movement, Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities of the population. Yet some Buddhists, especially those who subscribe to the purist Theravada strain of the faith, are increasingly convinced that they are under existential threat, particularly from an Islam struggling with its own violent fringe.
As the tectonic plates of Buddhism and Islam collide, a portion of Buddhists are abandoning the peaceful tenets of their religion. Over the past few years, Buddhist mobs have waged deadly attacks against minority Muslim populations. Buddhist nationalist ideologues are using the spiritual authority of extremist monks to bolster their support.
“The Buddhists never used to hate us so much,” said Mohammed Naseer, the imam of the Hillur Mosque in Gintota, Sri Lanka, which was attacked by Buddhist mobs in 2017. “Now their monks spread a message that we don’t belong in this country and should leave. But where will we go? This is our home.”
ImageThe ruins of a shop in Gintota, Sri Lanka, in November 2017, after mobs of Buddhists from the country’s Sinhalese majority marauded through the village, burning dozens of Muslim homes, businesses and vehicles.
The ruins of a shop in Gintota, Sri Lanka, in November 2017, after mobs of Buddhists from the country’s Sinhalese majority marauded through the village, burning dozens of Muslim homes, businesses and vehicles.Credit...Minzayar Oo for The New York Times
Last month in Sri Lanka, a powerful Buddhist monk went on a hunger strike that resulted in the resignation of all nine Muslim ministers in the cabinet. The monk had suggested that Muslim politicians were complicit in the Easter Sunday attacks by Islamic State-linked militants on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, which killed more than 250 people.
In Myanmar, where a campaign of ethnic cleansing has forced an exodus of most of the country’s Muslims, Buddhist monks still warn of an Islamic invasion, even though less than 5 percent of the national population is Muslim. During Ramadan celebrations in May, Buddhist mobs besieged Islamic prayer halls, causing Muslim worshipers to flee.
Because of Buddhism’s pacifist image — swirls of calming incense and beatific smiles — the faith is not often associated with sectarian aggression. Yet no religion holds a monopoly on peace. Buddhists go to war, too.
“Buddhist monks will say that they would never condone violence,” said Mikael Gravers, an anthropologist at Aarhus University in Denmark who has studied the intersection of Buddhism and nationalism. “But at the same time, they will also say that Buddhism or Buddhist states have to be defended by any means.”
Given that Theravada Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities in the five countries where their faith is practiced — Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand — it might seem strange that they feel so besieged. But Buddhism, whose adherents make up only 7 percent of the global faithful, is the only major religion whose population is not expected to grow in absolute numbers over the next few decades, according to the Pew Research Center.
Meanwhile, the number of Muslims, who make up just under one-quarter of the world’s population, is growing quickly, buoyed by youthful demographics and high fertility rates. By 2050, Pew projects that there will be nearly as many Muslims in the world as there are Christians.
Buddhist monks have made much of that trend in their rhetoric, portraying their faith to be under existential threat.
Sitting in his walled temple compound in Gintota, Sumedhananda Thero gave a bleak prophecy. “If a man dies, it is acceptable,” he said. “But if a race or religion dies, you can never get it back.”
Image
- Buddhist monks and novices at the New Masoeyein monastery where Ashin Wirathu resides.
- Buddhist monks and novices at the New Masoeyein monastery where Ashin Wirathu resides.Credit...Minzayar Oo for The New York Times
- The military-monastic complex
- Thousands of people gathered in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, in May as Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk who was once jailed for his hate speech, praised the nation’s army.
Since August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh. Behind it all was a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the army and its allies, with Buddhist mobs and the country’s security forces subjecting Rohingya Muslims to slaughter, rape and the complete erasure of hundreds of their villages.
Ashin Wirathu has rejected the nonviolent teachings of his faith. Military-linked lawmakers deserved to be glorified like Buddha, he said at the rally. “Only the military,” he continued, “protects both our country and our religion.”
At another protest last October, Ashin Wirathu slammed the decision by the International Criminal Court, or I.C.C., to pursue a case against Myanmar’s military for its persecution of the Rohingya.
Image
- Ashin Wirathu, a Burmese Buddhist monk who was once jailed for his hate speech. Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times
Then the monk made a startling call to arms. “The day that the I.C.C. comes here is the day I hold a gun,” Ashin Wirathu said in an interview with The New York Times.
Experts at the United Nations say top Myanmar generals should be tried for genocide. Yet few members of Myanmar’s Buddhist clergy, who have long served as the nation’s moral conscience, have condemned the bloodshed. Instead, they refer to the Rohingya as subhuman invaders despoiling a golden Buddhist land.
In late May, the civilian government of Myanmar, which shares power with the military, issued an arrest warrant for Ashin Wirathu. The charges were not for hate speech against a minority religion. Instead, the monk is being accused of seditious comments against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who is the nation’s de facto civilian leader.
Even though Ashin Wirathu has not made much of an effort to hide, and continues to post videos on social media, the police say they cannot find him and will try him in absentia.
Image
- A Sri Lankan Buddhist bowing in front of Sitagu Sayadaw, in Delgoda, Sri Lanka.Credit...Minzayar Oo for The New York Times
- Monks like Ashin Wirathu inhabit the extremist fringe of Buddhist nationalism. But more respected clerics are involved as well.
At 82 years old, the Venerable Ashin Nyanissara, known more commonly as Sitagu Sayadaw, is Myanmar’s most influential monk. In 1988, Sitagu Sayadaw was one of a coterie of monks who blessed the nation’s democracy movement, which sent hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in peaceful protest. Myanmar’s military rulers responded by massacring hundreds.
That act of violence stained the junta. Another round of crushed pro-democracy protests led by the country’s monks, in 2007, hastened a political transition in which some power is now shared with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.
After the 1988 crackdown, Sitagu Sayadaw slipped into exile in Tennessee before returning home to open Buddhist academies and a monastic university. President Barack Obama and Pope Francis have met with him. Sitagu Sayadaw sits on interfaith councils, and his missionary society runs meditation centers in Texas, Florida and Minnesota.
Image
- A demonstration organized by a Buddhist monk in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s handling of the Rohingya crisis in Yangon, Myanmar, in 2017.Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times
- But just as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were fleeing their torched villages, Sitagu Sayadaw sat in front of an audience of army officers and said that “Muslims have almost bought the United Nations.”
The army and monkhood, he continued, “could not be separated.”
Sitagu Sayadaw was pictured in May on a Facebook page linked to the Myanmar military, grinning among soldiers. He has offered up his faith’s greatest sacrifice: an army of spiritual soldiers for the national cause.
“There are over 400,000 monks in Myanmar,” he told the commander of Myanmar’s armed forces. “If you need them, I will tell them to begin. It’s easy.”
“When someone as respected as Sitagu Sayadaw says something, even if it is strongly dismissive of a certain group, people listen,” said Daw Khin Mar Mar Kyi, a Myanmar-born social anthropologist at the University of Oxford. “His words justify hatred.”
Image
- Monks praying in Bengala Monastery in Yangon, Myanmar.Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times
- There are some monks, albeit a minority, who are countering the monastic hate speech.
In Yangon in recent weeks, peace advocates handed out white roses to Muslims in order to promote interfaith harmony.
“The extremists are only a small part of Buddhism in Myanmar, but they have loud voices,” said Ashin Sein Di Ta, the abbot of the Asia Light monastery. “We should say clearly that if any monk, even respected ones like Sitagu Sayadaw, advocate killing, they should be defrocked.”
But in a country where senior monks are so respected, it remains hard to question their authority.
Prevailing anti-Muslim sentiment worldwide has heightened prejudice, with social media playing a corrosive role. During the height of the junta’s power, unauthorized fax machines were illegal in Myanmar, and the media was censored. Today, much of the population is on Facebook, ill equipped to sift hyperbole from fact.
“I’ve been interviewing so many monks, and it is clear that Facebook is what has been driving their hate,” said Ms. Khin Mar Mar Kyi of the University of Oxford. “Monks learned that Islamophobia existed in the West, and they felt like it justified their feelings.”
Image
- Buddhist worshipers celebrating Vesak, the holiday commemorating the Buddha’s birth, at a temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka, last year.Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times
One nation, under Buddha
Spread on social media, this is how the tale goes: Once, great Buddhist empires dominated Asia. Then, beginning in the seventh century, Muslim invaders began tearing across the continent. Buddhist rulers in present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia succumbed to Islam.
The indignities continued into this century when, in 2001, the Taliban blew up the giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
It is not just monks who feel the need to guard their faith. This is a time of profound social change in Myanmar, and some women, in particular, are yearning for a moral force to counter what they see as a rising materialism among the nation’s youth. Monasteries, they fear, are no longer as alluring as malls.
One group that has harnessed this anxiety is the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, or Ma Ba Tha, which runs Sunday schools and other community events popular across Myanmar. Formed in 2014 with the aim of protecting Buddhism, Ma Ba Tha has pushed successfully for laws that make it hard for Buddhist women to marry outside their faith.
In Myanmar, as in Sri Lanka — where Muslims have been accused of manufacturing underwear that makes Buddhist women infertile or of sprinkling birth control pills into curry consumed by Buddhists — Buddhist figures have often expressed their hatred of Muslims in sexual terms.
In 2012, reports that a Buddhist woman had been raped by Muslim men set off fatal communal clashes in Myanmar. Buddhists in both countries claim that Muslims are waging a “reproductive jihad.”
“There is this idea of a hyperfertile Muslim man with his many wives,” said Iselin Frydenlund, an associate professor of religious studies at the Norwegian School of Theology. “Ma Ba Tha tapped into this trope, and pure Buddhist women were held up as the symbols of the nation who were in danger of rape by Muslim men.”
In fact, it is Myanmar’s armed forces that have used rape as a weapon of war in its battles against various ethnic insurgencies. The United Nations has blamed the Myanmar military for “sexual atrocities reportedly committed in cold blood out of a lethal hatred for the Rohingya.”
Ma Ba Tha monks reject such findings, and they have been able to continue their hate-mongering even though the group was technically outlawed in 2017. “I don’t think anyone would rape Bengali women because they are ugly and disgusting,” said one Ma Ba Tha monk, U Rarza, referring to the Rohingya by a pejorative term.
Image
- The Buddhist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero at a temple in Gintota, in 2017.Credit...Minzayar Oo for The New York Times
- The Buddhist right returns
- When suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State blew up churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, Buddhist nationalists felt vindicated.
“We have been warning for years that Muslim extremists are a danger to national security,” said Dilanthe Withanage, a senior administrator for Bodu Bala Sena, the largest of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist nationalist groups.
“Blood is on the government’s hands for ignoring the radicalization of Islam,” Mr. Withanage said.
After a few years of moderate coalition governance, a fusion of faith and tribalism is again on the ascendant in Sri Lanka. The movement’s champion is Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former defense chief who is the leading candidate for president in elections due this year.
Mr. Rajapaksa has pledged to protect religion in the country with the longest continuous Buddhist lineage. He is determined to reconstruct Sri Lanka’s security state, which was built during the country’s nearly three-decade-long civil war with an ethnic Tamil minority.
From 2005 to 2015, Sri Lanka was led by Mr. Rajapaksa’s brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, an unabashed nationalist who justified the brutal end to the civil war by portraying himself as the nation’s spiritual savior.
Temples decorated their walls with pictures of the Rajapaksa brothers. Money flowed for radical Buddhist groups that cheered on sectarian rioting in which Muslims died. One of the founders of Bodu Bala Sena, or the Buddhist Power Army, was given prime land in Colombo, the capital, for a high-rise Buddhist cultural center. The national telecom service added Bodu Bala Sena’s theme song to its collection of ringtones.
Last year, Bodu Bala Sena’s leader, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, was sentenced to six years in prison. But in late May, amid a changing political climate, he received a presidential pardon. On Sunday, he presided over a meeting of thousands of monks intent on making their political presence felt in the upcoming elections.
Before his imprisonment last year, Gnanasara Thero placed his campaign in a historical context. “We have been the guardians of Buddhism for 2,500 years,” he said in an interview with The Times. “Now, it is our duty, just as it is the duty of monks in Myanmar to fight to protect our peaceful island from Islam.”
Image
- A Buddhist monk leaving the New Masoeyein monastery to collect alms, in Mandalay, Myanmar.Credit...Minzayar Oo for The New York Times
- Dharisha Bastians contributed reporting from Colombo, Sri Lanka and Saw Nang from Yangon, Myanmar.
A version of this article appears in print on July 9, 2019, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Brutal Rise Of Militancy In Buddhism. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
------
READ 271 COMMENTS
Comments 271SKIP TO COMMENTS
The comments section is closed. To submit a letter to the editor for publication, write to letters@nytimes.com.
Reader PicksAll
Region Valdez commented July 8, 2019
Harlem
July 8, 2019
As the article justly states, these monks do not represent the mainstream of Buddhist religion, which is indeed infused with love and compassion. There is not one Buddhist text within the entire Pali canon that calls for violence. Not one. This cannot be said of any other religion. Indeed, part of why Buddhism is the fourth largest religion as opposed to say, 1st or 2nd, is because it is a religion of what the Buddha called, ‘non-contention.’
However, there is truth in what Sumedhananda says. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cashmere and Indonesia. Are used to be primarily Buddhist countries before the Islamic invasion, where Buddhists were either killed or converted at the point of a spear. Monasteries and great universities were sacked, completely destroyed.
Buddhists have suffered great violence while perpetrating none. From China’s treatment of the Tibetans to the Middle East’s decimation of Buddhism, Buddhists have suffered in silence. Americans are especially sensitive to Islamaphobia, and of course, no one should be persecuted due to their religion.
However, when the taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhists in Afghanistan, the world didn’t even sigh, it was such a nothing moment. To many who identify as Buddhists, it was terribly painful and sent Buddhists the world over a message: we will destroy you. That no one, no social justice group dared speak out against these Muslim militants told Buddhist everywhere a stark message: you are in your own.
11 Replies228 RecommendShareFlag
RightIsMight commented July 8, 2019
R
RightIsMight
US
July 8, 2019
This article is very biased & one-sided.
Islamic terrorists perpetrated one of the deadliest attacks on worshippers on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. Before that they attacked & defaces Buddhist statues in Sri Lanka.
Yet, NYT says - "Their sense of grievance might seem unlikely: In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, two countries that are on the forefront of a radical religious-nationalist movement, Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities of the population."
In the last decade, Islamic terrorism has been responsible for more murder & mayhem across the world than all other forms of religious (christian, buddhist or hindu) nationalism combined.
Maybe other religions & cultures feel rightfully & justifiably threatened.
NYT should report on the above to provide a balanced point-of-view.
And explore spread of violent Islamic terrorism fueled by oil-money supporting extreme interpretations of Islam.
7 Replies199 RecommendShareFlag
Bob Acker commented July 8, 2019
B
Bob Acker
Los Gatos
July 8, 2019
You make it sound as if Buddhism never encountered militarism before. Of course that's absurd. All Buddhist countries have armies, police forces, prisons and so forth, just as all countries do.
As to whether this is congruent with the Buddhist ethos, you may as well ask whether free-market capitalism is compatible with Christianity; yet few people seem troubled by any anomalies there.
155 RecommendShareFlag
Resident commented July 8, 2019
Resident
Resident
CT
July 8, 2019
"Meanwhile, the number of Muslims, who make up just under one-quarter of the world’s population, is growing quickly, buoyed by youthful demographics and high fertility rates. By 2050, Pew projects that there will be nearly as many Muslims in the world as there are Christians."
Many Muslims believe that birth control is un Islamic and many Islamic preachers emphasize the principle of Strength in Numbers. So when some non muslim countries try to eradicate poverty by controlling population, they see the rate of growth of other religions decreasing while Muslim population continues to grow at a faster rate. It is Ironic that even Bangladesh, a Muslim majority nation had to enforce strict birth control policy in Rohingya camps as the camp population continued to increase rapidly after they came to shelters in Bangladesh. Agreed that Muslims can face persecution in some non Muslim countries, but in many Muslim majority countries, the Non Muslim locals continue to feel threatened at the hands of the Muslim majorities as well. It is a historic fact that Islamic expansion in South and Central Asia which saw many Buddhist countries become majority Muslim happened with Muslim Arab rulers massacring the non Muslims, imposing religious taxes on them and terrorizing them into converting to Islam. I will wait to see an article that also honestly explores why so many in Europe, Asia and America (rightly or wrongly) feel alarmed by rising Muslim population in their respective countries.
4 Replies153 RecommendShareFlag
Vivian Blaxell commented July 8, 2019
V
Vivian Blaxell
Melbourne, Australia
July 8, 2019
Great reporting on contemporary politics in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, but the premise is all wrong. The Buddha did not teach peace and non-violence. He taught skillful thought and conduct, and advocated a sort of golden rule in regard to harming others. He knew, however, that sometimes it might be skillful to fight. Buddhist militance in Myanmar and Sri Lanka now are not exceptions to some pacifist historical pattern. Far from it. Shaolin monks in 16th century China went to war against Japanese pirates. Japanese Buddhist monks were sometimes so warlike and aggressive the medieval state took to slaughtering them to keep them down. Buddhist monks in Japan were deeply involved in the violence of 1930’s domestic politics in Japan and in Japanese colonialism in Asia and the Pacific. Elements of the sangha in Sri Lanka when it was Ceylon supplied some of the most violent voices against British imperial rule. After independence, these same elements mobilized against Tamils and Hinduism in Sri Lanka and were instrumental in, and often spearheaded, all sorts of Sinhalese nationalist violence. In times when writing history is more and more in the hands of journalists and other historiographical amateurs, and when a US president thinks there were airports in early 19th century America, it’s good to seek expertise prior to committing to an argument.
3 Replies115 RecommendShareFlag
HK commented July 8, 2019
H
HK
NYC
July 8, 2019
Can you tolerate the intolerant? Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam have a track record of going into countries and destroying the culture. Buddhists know history and have even suffered at the hands of Christianity and Islam. Every religion and people have a right to defend themselves, defend their religion, defend their culture.
2 Replies94 RecommendShareFlag
PaulSFO commented July 8, 2019
P
PaulSFO
San Francisco
July 8, 2019
"Imagine no religion"
5 Replies90 RecommendShareFlag
Leo commented July 8, 2019
L
Leo
Middletown CT
July 8, 2019
Quoting from the article: “a portion of Buddhists are abandoning the peaceful tenets of their religion.”
Congratulations on a statement that is simultaneously ahistorical and orientalist. One merely needs to recall expansionist imperial Japan of the early 20th century to refute this notion of buddhist pacifism. Never mind buddhist warriors dating back to at least the 13th century.
Also recall that Buddhist majority Sri Lanka has had open war with the minority Tamil people dating back to 1983 so there is hardly a new movement away from peace.
4 Replies82 RecommendShareFlag
Tell It Like It Is commented July 8, 2019
T
Tell It Like It Is
Your Conscience
July 8, 2019
Nothing new here. Siam and Burma were at constant war for centuries and both were deeply Buddhist. We romanticized Buddhism as the ultimate religion of peace during Dalai Lama craze and let this get in the way of facts. Tibetan theocracy allowed for the practice of slavery. Buddhism is a religion just like any other.
1 Reply72 RecommendShareFlag
BB commented July 8, 2019
B
BB
FL
July 8, 2019
"I don’t think anyone would rape Bengali women because they are ugly and disgusting." This is a disgusting way to dismiss the real violence being inflicted on Muslim women. Once again and as always, the suffering of women is twisted, dismissed and misunderstood by men claiming to desire to protect them. Their value is seen only through their wombs. In this battle of the religions, women's bodies are seen as prizes to be won or lost and rape is used to shame, silence and punish.
1 Reply70 RecommendShareFlag
Paul McGlasson commented July 8, 2019
P
Paul McGlasson
Athens, GA
July 8, 2019
Militant Hindus, militant Buddhists, militant Christians, militant Jews, militant Muslims....etc etc all with unscrupulous politicians ready and willing to support and profit from their militancy.
There is a theme in there somewhere....
2 Replies61 RecommendShareFlag
Dad commented July 8, 2019
D
Dad
Multiverse
July 8, 2019
I hope that people know that the Buddha would not approve of the religion that has been created from Buddhist philosophy. It seems that when philosophy is turned into a dogmatic system of beliefs (aka religion), something gets corrupted in the process.
Many Buddhist monks believe that women cannot be enlightened. I don't know who came up with that ridiculous rule, but it has nothing to do with Buddhism. I don't believe that an enlightened person would engage in sexist behavior. Sexism is not a sign of a spiritually evolved person.
I hope that people learn for themselves the beauty of Buddhism. You don't need to go to a temple or meditate. You don't need anybody else to be enlightened. You only need to live by certain higher principles espoused by the Buddha. The best way to appreciate Buddhism is to understand it for yourself.
Also, if a Buddhist is talking about war (outside of self-defense) then they are obviously not a true Buddhist. There are Buddhist monks that sweep the ground ahead of them in an effort to spare the lives of insects. You can't kill innocent people and still call yourself enlightened.
"It just doesn't work that way."
1 Reply56 RecommendShareFlag
JM commented July 8, 2019
J
JM
MA
July 8, 2019
These people can call themselves what they like—they are not practitioners of the buddhadharma.
6 Replies53 RecommendShareFlag
Mac commented July 8, 2019
M
Mac
Oregon
July 8, 2019
When they pick up their weapons, they lay down their faith. Ahmisa, or non-harm, is fundamental to Buddhism.
52 RecommendShareFlag
Nicholas commented July 8, 2019
N
Nicholas
Portland,OR
July 8, 2019
I am a student of history. I cannot but think in terms temporal and durative, a must if to discern history's arc and patterns.
I have not heard of Buddhist conquests, of Buddhist invasions, military incursions, massacres. Not the same can be said about Islam; on the contrary, history is witness to its chapters of violence (same goes for Christianity).
While in Bangkok I used to go to an Egyptian restaurant and I befriended the owner. There I met a perfume merchant from Myanmar, a Muslim refugee in Thailand. Regardless how I engaged and tried to understand and yes, sympathize with the plight of Muslims refugees from Myanmar, he would not respond. On the contrary, he made it manifest that he was doing business and talking only with Muslims, who were his buyers and that he found Buddhists and Christians as being wrong and unpleasant due to their faith.
I was taken aback, but truth be said, much as I hate religious dogma and try to engage and interact with folks of different creeds, I have to say that I do find hatred that is stoked in the minds of Muslims as deeply troubling, because it provokes a reaction that many times leads to violence.
Looking at what Saudi Arabia is doing to promote religious dogma in thousands of madrases across Asia and we see that Islam has not evolved towards a peaceful and humanistic model; it still condones violence.
This conflict that has degenerated in violence in Myanmar is awful. But we should also pay attention to historic grievances.
3 Replies51 RecommendShareFlag
Stechjo commented July 9, 2019
S
Stechjo
San Francisco
July 9, 2019
I well remember the 2001 destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. My reaction at the time was sadness but also a recognition that all things change, nothing stays the same.
I have offered a twice daily Buddhist practice for 50 years and am well acquainted with the basics of Buddhism, among them the Five Precepts, which begin with the prohibition against killing.
I fully agree with Ashin Sein Di Ta, the abbot of the Asia Light monastery, regarding his assertion that "if any monk, even respected ones ..., advocate killing, they should be defrocked.”
I came to Buddhism by choice and not as my family religion and for that reason I've come to understand that in many of the lands that portray themselves as Buddhist, the basics of the Buddha's teachings have been lost and perverted, in much the same way that I see Christianity and the teachings of Yeshua ben Yosef being ignored or used to justify inhumane treatment of others.
My only hope is that the voices of peace will eventually prevail.
50 RecommendShareFlag
Michal commented July 8, 2019
M
Michal
United States
July 8, 2019
Why shouldn’t Buddhists and Buddhist-majority countries defend themselves from Islamist aggression and Muslim demographic overwhelm? There are already 50 Muslim-majority states in the world today. Enough!
1 Reply48 RecommendShareFlag
Mimi commented July 8, 2019
M
Mimi
Baltimore and Manhattan
July 8, 2019
When suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State blew up churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, Buddhist nationalists felt vindicated.
“We have been warning for years that Muslim extremists are a danger to national security,” said Dilanthe Withanage, a senior administrator for Bodu Bala Sena, the largest of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist nationalist groups.
“Blood is on the government’s hands for ignoring the radicalization of Islam,” Mr. Withanage said.
The radicalization of Islam is also the basis for the Chinese re-education of Uighurs in Xinjiang - after the riots of 2009 when hundreds of Chinese were killed.
Proof that religion should be banned as it is the root of war and violence throughout the centuries.
6 Replies46 RecommendShareFlag
SC commented July 8, 2019
S
SC
Erie, PA
July 8, 2019
These are not real buddhists. They need to examine their attachments and aversions. Anger and hatred are the most destructive impediments. Reflect on the Diamond Sutra, no-self, emptiness. Even buddhism is impermanent. The Dharma will live on regardless.
2 Replies45 RecommendShareFlag
Metaphor commented July 8, 2019
M
Metaphor
Salem, Oregon
July 8, 2019
"Monks praying in Bengala Monastery in Yangon, Myanmar."
At the risk of splitting hairs, this caption likely misstates the image it accompanies. It is more probable that the monks pictured in the photograph are chanting, not "praying." Buddhist monks chant as a way of memorizing Buddhist teachings. They are reciting certain Buddhist principles, not "praying" in ways that are associated with that term in the Western monotheistic tradition. It's a fine distinction, but one that matters for the purpose of accuracy.
4 Replies44 RecommendShareFlag
Bev commented July 8, 2019
B
Bev
New Jersey
July 8, 2019
If I understand the Buddhists texts I've read, Buddha didn't care much for organized religion. A bit like Jesus, he considered much of it to be a money-making scam.
2 Replies40 RecommendShareFlag
Jenifer Wolf commented July 9, 2019
J
Jenifer Wolf
New York
July 9, 2019
Religions, all of them apparently, ultimately cause a lot more harm than good for human beings.
39 RecommendShareFlag
Robert W. commented July 8, 2019
R
Robert W.
San Diego, CA
July 8, 2019
@Region Valdez "The world didn't even sigh?" Were you paying attention to the news when the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed?
37 RecommendShareFlag
Michael commented July 8, 2019
M
Michael
NYC
July 8, 2019
As an American secular Buddhist, raised Roman Catholic in NYC with a lot of Jewish friends I can clearly see, once again, organized religion spewing its toxic byproducts- oppression and violence. People form groups, religious, cultural, national etc. primarily for the basic need for safety. When that apparent safety is threatened, things get ugly, either because the threat is real and some aggressor is on the move, or imagined where "the other" is demonized to maintain the status quo.
The Buddha's teachings are quite clear- the three poisons- greed, hatred and delusion lead to suffering, both our own and others. If one can comprehend and live by the ethical challenge that that often presents, then one's walking the path. If not, whether you're an alleged monk or abbot, priest, imam, rabbi etc. you're just increasing suffering, like, as the buddha called people who do that- unenlightened worldlings. These folks should know better.
3 Replies37 RecommendShareFlag
Navin commented July 8, 2019
N
Navin
Mumbai
July 8, 2019
What is undeniable is that territories over centuries have been turned green in a missionary zeal which does not seem to abate. In India, the BJP government has come back to power in no small measure because people are sick and tired of the appeasement policies followed by earlier governments. Even today there are state governments who would condone all crimes being committed by minorities, mainly Muslims. West Bengal Chief Minister is especially notorious for allowing hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis to migrate illegally to India and has conspired to give them Indian citizenship and voting rights by stealth.
When we see the history of Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, it becomes abundantly clear that for centuries Islam has violently taken over territories and slaughtered or converted masses. The peaceful religions of Hindus and Buddhists are no longer ready to sit back and allow Muslims to continue growing their population to a point when they start demanding independent regions or country for themselves. That’s why happened when Pakistan was formed. That’s what is happening when ISIS is attracting Muslim men and even teenagers to come forward and sacrifice themselves for the larger goal of appropriating the globe. Where are the state leaders of Middle East countries or those of Pakistan and Indonesia and others when it comes to protecting rights of minorities in those countries??
37 RecommendShareFlag
Tim Kane commented July 8, 2019
Tim Kane
Tim Kane
Mesa, Arizona
July 8, 2019
Well Christianity was all about love thy neighbor/enemies. Then Islam was created as a religious system for conquest by it's warlord founder/prophet. In the span of 500 years Islam inflicted over 400 battles upon Christians & took half the lands of Christianity away from Christianity, including important cities like Jerusalem, Alexandria & Antioch. By 1090 Islam had pushed Christianity out of the Middle East, North Africa, Anatolia/Asia Minor and 95% of Spain & had raided deeply into the center of France & was staring right across the Bosporus straits at Constantinople. Finally the Christian west found enough traction to push back. The Crusades resulted in only 28 battles less than 10% of the number Islam pushed upon Christianity. Eventually Constantinople was lost & Vienna nearly so twice. But Christianity survived. Zorostrianism in Iran a much older religion in Iran did not.
The importance of this is profound. Christ preached "the truth shall set you free." So the west had a greater respect for truth. Joe Stiglitz said in the Times a few months ago that the rise of the West is directly a result of its ability to sustain a methodology in academia for identifying sustaining & protecting truth. In the West truth creates authority (though that's on wobbly legs for the moment thank Trump).
Outside the west (and not just in Islamic cultures) tradition was authority created truth. Violence is a terrible thing but Buddhism is worth defending, lest it perish like Zoroastrianism.
5 Replies33 RecommendShareFlag
Thinker commented July 8, 2019
T
Thinker
New Hampshire
July 8, 2019
Religions are the most significant driver of conflicts, war and murder in the history of human civilization even though they all espouse a version of "thou shall not kill." Humans just cannot evolve in this regard. We really are still primitives at our core. All of the evils done by religious people in the name of their religion would be supremely ironic if it wasn't so tragic.
32 RecommendShareFlag
Edward commented July 8, 2019
E
Edward
Taipei
July 8, 2019
"Known for pacifism" - yes, quite a marketing coup, thanks largely to the proselytizing of Western gurus and hippies and movie stars. Anyone actually familiar with real religious Buddhism as it is practiced knows that while it sometimes preaches peace and forgiveness, it also encourages chauvinism and bigotry. In other words, just like every other religion.
It also has heaps of symbolic ritual, unanchored mysticism and pure superstition. Many Buddhist temples are enormously wealthy and powerful as they aggressively solicit donations from the faithful. Just as with megachurches in the US, embezzlement and corruption inevitably follow. Just as with the Catholic church, abuse of children also occurs.
All this to say: Buddhists are only human and subject to the same faults and weaknesses as the rest of us.
2 Replies31 RecommendShareFlag
Roger C commented July 8, 2019
R
Roger C
Madison, CT
July 8, 2019
Many young boys are shuffled off into monasteries for want of anything better to do with them. It would be a mistake to think that just because someone is dressed as a monk that he will necessarily live out Buddhist principles.
In any event we can see how well a policy of national pacifism fared in Tibet. Or perhaps we can look at the blowing up of Bamyan Buddhas by the Taliban, or the various acts of terrorism committed by the Tamil Tigers who might have been the first modern era suicide bombers, or indeed the separatist movement in Myanmar that's been trying to create an autonomous Islamic area in Rakhine state, essentially erasing de facto Burmese sovereignty.
People who live in Buddhist countries are no less prone to nationalist, tribal and cultural tendencies than people anywhere else. If they do not protect what they perceive as their national interests they will be subsumed.
1 Reply30 RecommendShareFlag
Joe commented July 8, 2019
J
Joe
Germantown, MD
July 8, 2019
The article should make clear that one of Buddhisms central tenants is Ahmisa or nonviolence. You are forbidden to kill, full stop. These monks are traitors to their faith plain and simple. Buddha would weep for the rohingya of Myanmar and the Muslims of Sri Lanka.
8 Replies29 RecommendShareFlag
Wim Roffel commented July 9, 2019
W
Wim Roffel
Netherlands
July 9, 2019
In how many Muslim majority countries can you build a church without major obstacles? Islamophobia has its reasons.
What the article fails to mention is that the Islam has had a special hatred for Buddhism that it considers atheist. It is no coincidence that there are still many Hindus is India but that the Buddhists disappeared: they were exterminated by its Islamic rulers.
29 RecommendShareFlag
Yuri Asian commented July 9, 2019
Yuri Asian
Yuri Asian
Bay Area
July 9, 2019
Buddhism isn't a religion. There's no deity like the Christian god who can't be named. Buddha wasn't a god. He achieved a spiritual state that freed him from the human bondage of desires, emotions, doubts, hopes, essentially all earthly attachments. There's no moral code or specific actions pro or prescribed. Enlightenment is getting beyond right or wrong, good or evil. You find your way on your own.
Because Buddhism is a journey away from your human self towards your spiritual self it lacks a set of instructions about how to be while progressing towards Nirvana.
That task fell to the many different Buddhist sects in different countries. They developed their own practices, forms of propagation, diet, traditions, leadership and authority. Buddha is the destination and Buddhist sects handle logistics.
Sects that emphasized peace, tranquility, moderation, acceptance and compassion as conducive to enlightenment proliferated because they got along with others, didn't cause trouble, and were easy to assimilate.
Those sects that emphasized obedience, loyalty, a strong and visible presence, and aggressive defense retreated to Asian countries that were closed to outsiders or inaccessible. These sects didn't need to get along because Buddhists were dominant.
The sects that incite violence and killing regard pacifism as an attachment to discard. Life is an attachment and taking it or losing it doesn't matter.
One way Buddhism is like Christianity is corrupt leaders.
1 Reply28 RecommendShareFlag
johnsmith commented July 8, 2019
J
johnsmith
Vermont
July 8, 2019
@Resident People also ignore the cultural undercurrent that Muslim women are told that their job is to be mothers and take care of the home. This means even when Muslim women are educated once they have children they stop working (if they ever did) and continue to have children. It's one of the reasons Islamic countries, without oil wealth, tend to be impoverished. When only half your population is working and the other half is having children continuously, it is not a recipe for economic success.
27 RecommendShareFlag
Ana Luisa commented July 9, 2019
A
Ana Luisa
Belgium
July 9, 2019
@nurseJacki@l
In real life:
1. we should not venerate any person in robes just because they are in robes.
2. the Dalai Lama has already actively intervened to try to help the Rohingya,
3. as Jack Kornfield says, don't be a Buddhist, be a buddha ... . We all have "buddha nature". We all have a deep, innate goodness. And we all can become so overwhelmed with decades of violence and terror, as the people of the Myanmar dictatorship had to undergo, that we don't find the power to connect to that inner goodness anymore. All that this shows is that Buddhists are human beings too, and that NO label will EVER be able to replace a sincere, daily practice of installing peace and love in your own heart.
3. in the meanwhile, Western neurology has proven that it's Buddhist meditation techniques that are extremely efficient in helping us with this practice - literally creating new brain networks. So it would be absurd to refuse to let yourself be "inspired" by those techniques just becomes some who claim to be inspired too, fail to act on it ...
27 RecommendShareFlag
ED commented July 8, 2019
ED
ED
Boise, ID
July 8, 2019
If you call yourself a Buddhist and commit violence then you're not Buddhist. It's simple. The core tenent of Buddhism is living a peaceful and moral life because that is the best way to control your mind and release yourself from suffering. It's like saying you're a veteran just because you wear a uniform that you found at the Salvation Army. You have to walk the walk.
2 Replies25 RecommendShareFlag
John commented July 9, 2019
John
John
Midwest
July 9, 2019
This article only mentions the Sri Lankan Civil War once as an aside. How problematic!
It seems like yellow journalism to basically ignore the social and historical conditions that Sri Lanka and Burma respectively have been enduring for decades. Instead, this article takes a salacious (schadenfreude-laced) angle to blame this on condemnable monks, suggesting that Buddhism is to blame and not the aftermath of colonialism, violent military dictatorsips, and civil war. That is misleading journalism, in my opinion.
25 RecommendShareFlag
JW commented July 8, 2019
J
JW
New York
July 8, 2019
This is nothing new. Many of the biggest boosters of the Japanese imperial war machine through WWII were Japanese Zen Buddhist monks. Read the book "Zen at War." It's not a book that sits comfortably with those who believe devoted Zen monks actually achieve enlightenment (satori).Prominent monks maintained close relationships with Nazis. One famous one used to invite the Nazi ambassador to Tokyo to sit zazen with him (Zen meditation). During Japanese student rebellions in the 1960s, this same monk very high in the Zen hierarchy would call for brutal police actions against the students. I've seen at least one study that contends that even DT Suzuki who is famed for introducing Zen to the West in the early 1950s maintained close Nazi relationships.
3 Replies24 RecommendShareFlag
Songbird commented July 8, 2019
S
Songbird
NJ
July 8, 2019
Wars are started by MEN with their fragile egos and wounded pride. No we can’t evolve and it’s time to give the reigns to WOMEN. Let’s see if they can do us all better.
4 Replies23 RecommendShareFlag
Human commented July 9, 2019
H
Human
Earth
July 9, 2019
It is true that the territory of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan was originally Buddhist. Some of the most exquisite and astonishing ancient Buddhist artefacts hail from that region (look up the Buddhist art of Gandhara). It is said that Buddha was depicted for the first time in Gandhara, due to Greek influence (the incursions of Alexander the Great into Sogdiana) - before that, the Buddha was depicted in an aniconic manner, represented by a stupa or an empty throne. The Buddhists are not wrong when they say that Islam was spread by the sword, and as a Buddhist, I am saddened by the partial erasure of Buddhist heritage in an area where it once thrived (the statues demolished by the Taliban, for example). I am saddened by the intolerance shown to other religions in countries like Pakistan.
For Buddhism to remain the religion of peace, though, it must forego the epousal of violence and hatred. The violence-inciting monks of Sri Lanka and Myanmar should remember that, and not become like other religions that have epoused violence.
1 Reply23 RecommendShareFlag
Bkny commented July 9, 2019
B
Bkny
Australia
July 9, 2019
Look deeper. You will notice the rise of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks are only in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, two countries that have suffered from ethnic issues in the past and are home to sizable Muslim minority populations. The reason why ultra-nationalist monks have risen out of nothing is due to the Arabisation of the local Muslim populations of these two countries. South and Southeast Asian Muslims traditionally practice a localised version of Islam different to that found in the Middle East. However, in recent years, Muslims across the region have started adopting stricter Arabic interpretations of Islam and consequently isolating themselves from the rest of the population. Arabisation is now a mainstream issue in Muslim-majority Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar and, since the Easter bombings, in Sri Lanka. It's so mainstream in Sri Lanka, that local Muslim leaders announced that they will do everything to integrate their entire population back into Sri Lankan society. You won't find ultra-nationalist monks in other Buddhist countries like Laos, Cambodia, Bhutan or Taiwan because those countries aren't home to notable Muslim populations so there's nothing to get nationalistic about.
23 RecommendShareFlag
Phil Otsuki commented July 9, 2019
P
Phil Otsuki
Near Kyoto
July 9, 2019
Buddhism condemns murder. Anyone advocating murder must not call himself or herself buddhist. Many extremists or murderers cloak themselves in a cover of religion. A religion of convenience. This is a worldwide phenomenon with many religions being used as cover. Don't fall for it. The Nichiren sect in Japan advocated for murder and aggression eighty years ago. They have seen their error and changed their ways. I hope the extremists posing as Buddhists in Myanmar will change their ways and talk with their brothers and sisters and end violence, and find the right path.
22 RecommendShareFlag
mark commented July 9, 2019
M
mark
lands end
July 9, 2019
Religion, just like nationalism, creates two counter-forces: one that brings people together and one that separates them from others. Both are forms of identity and hence create the sense of tribalism that pit groups of homo sapiens against each other. The advance of human technology has given us a picture taken from space of the little planet we all must share. Which force will prevail, learning through the intelligence we've been given or murdering each other in the seemingly endless history of ancient rivalries?
22 RecommendShareFlag
Dad commented July 8, 2019
D
Dad
Multiverse
July 8, 2019
@Michael I have always been disappointed with the religion created from Buddhist philosophy. There are the same problems with sexual abuse in Buddhist monasteries, as in Catholicism. It is really disappointing to see the same failings in different religions.
In many ways, religion is not helping humanity to engage in truly spiritual practice. It is just like the 'Telephone Game' you play in grade school, where the message gets corrupted as each person repeats it.
You don't need a religion, a temple, or a 'guru' to be a Buddhist. In fact, I don't think the Buddha would approve of the religion named after him. The Buddha would want people to learn the philosophy on their own terms, and not through the dogma of religious practice. The Buddhist religion is a hindrance to Enlightenment, because you are force fed spirituality, instead of learning at your own pace, and on your own terms.
I know personally, that I am a much better learner when I am motivated and curious. And, it is difficult to be motivated when you are being told what to do, and when to do it. It's always better to learn something when you are genuinely interested.
Religious dogma is plaguing humanity and preventing true spiritual evolution from taking place.
"Don't let any clergy be your spiritual arbiter."
21 RecommendShareFlag
Melbourne Town commented July 8, 2019
M
Melbourne Town
Melbourne, Australia
July 8, 2019
What a surprise. A religion being used as justification for violence. Who would have thought, huh?
20 RecommendShareFlag
MC commented July 9, 2019
M
MC
Amherst, MA
July 9, 2019
The way Buddhism has played out in Myanmar is very disappointing. I really don’t call these people Buddhist. I’d include Aung San Suu Kyi - who won the Nobel Peace Prize - as a very poor example of Buddhism. The Nobel committee should take back her prize.
There are two schools of Buddhism - Theravada and Mahayana - and the Mahayana has never taken a very militaristic attitude, emphasizing compassion for others above everything else. Following the Tibetans conversion to Buddhism many centuries ago, they adopted a pacifist attitude - they didn’t invade their neighbors and to my knowledge they didn’t persecute minorities. They were easily slaughtered by the Chinese when they invaded Tibet in 1959.
The Japanese slaughtered millions during the second world war, and for awhile I thought this was an example of militant Mahayana Buddhism. But during the second world war everything except Shintoism was outlawed in Japan, and Buddhists and other practitioners were all persecuted.
It boils down to how literally you take the moral precepts of Buddhism or Christianity or perhaps other religions. In Buddhism the basic precept is ‘cause no harm.’ Included within that is do not kill or steal or rape or any of the other actions that some so-called Buddhists of Myanmar have engaged in. I don’t call people who flagrantly ignore these rules Buddhist. Their leaders are no better then Mussolini or Hitler or others who come and go.
20 RecommendShareFlag
Tenzin commented July 8, 2019
T
Tenzin
Las Vegas
July 8, 2019
One thing that stands out in the conflict between Buddhists and Muslims is that none of the perpetrators has quoted from Lord Buddha’s teaching to justify their action.
In contrast how quotes are drawn from certain religious texts to apply religious endorsements to their acts of prosecution.
1 Reply19 RecommendShareFlag
chienlyn commented July 9, 2019
C
chienlyn
Chengdu
July 9, 2019
Marx was right in saying that religion is the opium of the people. In the modern world, religions are not so much about faith as about habits, customs, institutions and culture, an unexamined way of living embalmed by time, and a form of spiritual imprisonment.
1 Reply19 RecommendShareFlag
SS commented July 8, 2019
S
SS
San Fran
July 8, 2019
@Skip Bonbright, right and militant Islam isn't Islam, and militant Christianity isn't Christianity. A very convenient ending.
18 RecommendShareFlag
Keith Harper commented July 8, 2019
K
Keith Harper
Boulder, CO
July 8, 2019
"Religion ruins everything" – said Christopher Hitchens – Will ring true forever.
2 Replies18 RecommendShareFlag
ExhaustedFightingForJusticeEveryDay commented July 8, 2019
E
ExhaustedFightingForJusticeEveryDay
In America
July 8, 2019
I have lived in four countries and traveled to thirty. I am a strong believer in counselling as a smart secular way to induce or foster self awareness. Religion does not do it, and even philosophies that encourage self examination do not achieve this on many of their men. Rigid minds with petty egos is a universal male problem, and some women's problem. It is universal, just worse in some religions, regions, nations,cultures and sects. Self awareness building, better communication and listening shoud be made the foundation of all mental health.
18 RecommendShareFlag
Jeff commented July 9, 2019
J
Jeff
Perth
July 9, 2019
Nationalism corrupts everything.
Patriotism is not the same as nationalism.
18 RecommendShareFlag
MGJ commented July 8, 2019
MGJ
MGJ
Miami
July 8, 2019
Just as the Christian and Muslim religions have become less connected to their initial teachings and philosophies so falls Buddhism into the same pit of despair and disdain for any of the harmonics from its origins.
1 Reply17 RecommendShareFlag
woofer commented July 8, 2019
W
woofer
Seattle
July 8, 2019
Buddhist scriptures espouse non-violence just as the New Testament advises turning the other cheek in response to aggression. These messages surely have their effect on the most devout practitioners, but over time societies as a whole can always find paths to circumvent inconvenient religious advice.
The destruction of the giant Buddhist statues by Muslim extremists in Afghanistan surely sent a powerful symbolic message to other Asian nations with Buddhist majorities. Plus Buddhists in Sri Lanka have been militarized for decades in response to their lengthy conflict with the country's Tamil minority. The current wave of militancy has been building for awhile.
17 RecommendShareFlag
NYC80 commented July 8, 2019
N
NYC80
So. Cal
July 8, 2019
@Joe One of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shall not kill." Are police and military of Jewish and Christian faith therefore "traitors to their faith"?
We've all seen Samurai movies of medieval Buddhist warriors. Prominent Japanese Buddhist sects supported the Japanese military effort in WW2. See "Zen at War" by Brian Daizen Victoria. So did Japanese Christian groups.
17 RecommendShareFlag
Bill commented July 8, 2019
Bill
Bill
NYC
July 8, 2019
Enough with the myth that Buddhism is peaceful. Anyone who knows Japanese history will know their religious wars in which Buddhism brutally forced itself onto the country, pushing aside Shintoism.
2 Replies17 RecommendShareFlag
kdn commented July 8, 2019
K
kdn
Alberta
July 8, 2019
This article gives the very wrong impression that all Buddhists in Sri Lanka are fighting against all Muslims there – this depiction is completely wrong. There are only a handful of individuals (from both religions) who display violence (note that Sinhalese people even protect Muslims from these handful of violent individuals) – please check out the video titled “Sri Lanka Hoping For Harmony 26 June 2019.” Additionally, the handful of people who display violence cannot even be referred to as ‘religious’ – as explained in the above video.
17 RecommendShareFlag
CraiginKC commented July 9, 2019
C
CraiginKC
Kansas City, MO
July 9, 2019
This is only surprising to people who have bought in to an Orientalist discourse that imagines Buddhists are intrinsically guided by the discursive features of doctrine any more than Christians are guided by the discursive features of a Jesus who talks about peace and forgiveness.
17 RecommendShare
