Asian Buddhism's Growing Fundamentalist Streak Signals Growth Of Religious
Nationalism In Several Countries
Anuradha Sharma and Vhishal Arora ("The Huffington Post," May 1, 2014)
Bankgok To many Americans, Buddhism is about attaining enlightenment, maybe
even nirvana, through such peaceful methods as meditation and yoga.
But in some parts of Asia, a more assertive, strident and militant Buddhism
is emerging. In three countries where Buddhism is the majority faith, a
form of religious nationalism has taken hold:
* In Sri Lanka, where about 70 percent of the population is Theravada
Buddhist, a group of monks formed the Bodu Bala Sena or the Buddhist Power
Force
in 2012 to “protect” the country’s Buddhist culture. The force, nicknamed
BBS, carried out at least 241 attacks against Muslims and 61 attacks
against Christians in 2013, according to the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.
* In Myanmar, at least 300 Rohingya Muslims, whose ancestors were migrants
from Bangladesh, have been killed and up to 300,000 displaced, according to
Genocide Watch. Ashin Wirathu, a monk who describes himself as the Burmese
“bin Laden,” is encouraging the violence by viewing the Rohingya presence
as a Muslim “invasion.”
* And in Buddhist-majority Thailand, at least 5,000 people have died in
Muslim-Buddhist violence in the country’s South. The country’s Knowing Buddha
Foundation is not a violent group, but it advocates for a blashemy law to
punish anyone who offends the faith. It wants Buddhism declared the state
religion and portrays popular culture as a threat to believers.
Though fundamentalism is a term that has thus far been used mostly in
relation to Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, some are beginning to use it to
describe Buddhists as well.
Maung Zarni, an exiled Burmese who has written extensively on the ongoing
violence in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, argues that there is no room for
fundamentalism in Buddhism.
“No Buddhist can be nationalistic,” said Zarni, a visiting fellow at the
London School of Economics. “There is no country for Buddhists. I mean, no
such thing as ‘me,’ ‘my’ community, ‘my’ country, ‘my’ race or even ‘my’
faith.”
He views the demand for an anti-blasphemy law in Thailand also as a
distortion of Buddhism, which doesn’t allow any “organization that polices or
regulates the faithful’s behavior or inner thoughts.”
But Acharawadee Wongsakon, the Buddhist teacher who founded the Knowing
Buddha Foundation, insists Buddhism needs legal protections and society must
follow certain prescribed do’s and don’ts.
She and others see the new movements as providing “true knowledge on
Buddhism.”
Thailand’s conflict between Muslim insurgents and local Buddhists, which
reignited along the Malaysian border in 2004, is part of a long-standing feud
pitting Buddhist monks and Muslim insurgents.
“For sure, Thailand has its own brand of ‘Buddhist’ racism towards
non-Buddhists,” said Zarni. “But, I am not sure the Thai society will go the
way
of those two genocidal Theravada Buddhist societies (Sri Lanka and Myanmar)
— where racism of genocidal nature has enveloped the mainstream ‘Buddhist’
society.”
Buddhist monk Phramaha Boonchuay Doojai, a senior lecturer at Chiang Mai
Buddhist College in Thailand, said there are reasons why Theravada Buddhists
see Islam as a threat. Among them, he cited the destruction of Nalanda
University in India by Turkic military general Bakhtiyar Khilji in the early
13th century and attacks on Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, around
the seventh century and more recently by the Taliban in 2001.
“Thousands of monks were burned alive and thousands beheaded as Khilji
tried his best to uproot Buddhism,” he said.
Zarni agrees there are links “among what I really call anti-Dharma ‘
Buddhist’ networks” in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, which are “toxic,
cancerous and deeply harmful to all humans anywhere.”
Wirathu was recently labeled on the cover of Time magazine as “The Face of
Buddhist Terror.” The Myanmar government banned the edition. But Wirathu
was quoted telling a reporter, “I am proud to be called a radical Buddhist.”
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