Buddhism and violence refers to acts of violence
and aggression committed by Buddhists with
religious, political, or socio-cultural motivations,
as well as self-inflicted violence by ascetics
or for religious purposes. Buddhism is generally
seen as among the religious traditions least
associated with violence. However, in the
history of Buddhism, there have been acts
of violence directed, promoted, or inspired
by Buddhists. As far as Buddha's teachings
and scriptures are concerned, Buddhism forbids
violence for resolving conflicts.
== Teachings, interpretations, and practices
==
Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions,
beliefs and spiritual practices largely based
on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha.
Ahimsa, a term meaning 'not to injure', is
a primary virtue in Buddhism.Nirvana is the
earliest and most common term used to describe
the goal of the Buddhist path and the ultimate
eradication of dukkha—nature of life that
innately includes "suffering", "pain" or "unsatisfactoriness".
Violent actions and thoughts, actions which
harm and debase others and thoughts which
contemplate the same, stand in the way of
spiritual growth and the self-conquest which
leads to the goal of existence and they are
normally deemed unskilled (akusala) and cannot
lead to the goal of Nirvana. Buddha condemned
killing or harming living beings and encouraged
reflection or mindfulness (satipatthana) as
right action (or conduct), therefore "the
rightness or wrongness of an action centers
around whether the action itself would bring
about harm to self and/or others". In the
Ambalatthika-Rahulovada Sutta, the Buddha
says to Rahula:
If you, Rahula, are desirous of doing a deed
with the body, you should reflect on the deed
with the body, thus: That deed which I am
desirous of doing with the body is a deed
of the body that might conduce to the harm
of self and that might conduce to the harm
of others and that might conduce to the harm
of both; this deed of body is unskilled (akusala),
its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.
The right action or right conduct (samyak-karmānta
/ sammā-kammanta) is the fourth aspect of
the Noble Eightfold Path and it said that
the practitioner should train oneself to be
morally upright in one's activities, not acting
in ways that would be corrupt or bring harm
to oneself or to others. In the Chinese and
Pali Canon, it is explained as:
And what is right action? Abstaining from
taking life, from stealing, and from illicit
sex [or sexual misconduct]. This is called
right action.
For the lay follower, the Cunda Kammaraputta
Sutta elaborates:
And how is one made pure in three ways by
bodily action? There is the case where a certain
person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains
from the taking of life. He dwells with his...
knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate
for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning
the taking of what is not given, he abstains
from taking what is not given. He does not
take, in the manner of a thief, things in
a village or a wilderness that belong to others
and have not been given by them.
Sarambha can be translated as "accompanied
by violence". As the mind filled with lobha,
dosa and moha (lust, hatred and delusion)
is led to actions which are akusala. Indulging
in violence is a form of self-harming. The
rejection of violence in society is recognized
in Buddhism as a prerequisite for the spiritual
progress of society's members, because violence
brings pain to beings with similar feelings
to oneself. The Buddha is quoted in the Dhammapada
as saying, "All are afraid of the stick, all
hold their lives dear. Putting oneself in
another's place, one should not beat or kill
others". Metta (loving kindness), the development
of mindstates of limitless good-will for all
beings, and karuna, compassion that arises
when you see someone suffering of the human
being, are attitudes said to be excellent
or sublime because they are the right or ideal
way of conduct towards living beings (sattesu
samma patipatti). The Sutta Nipata says "'As
I am, so are these. As are these, so am I.'
Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither
kill nor get others to kill."In Buddhism,
to take refuge in the Dharma—one of the
Three Jewels—one should not harm other sentient
beings. The Nirvana Sutra states, "By taking
refuge in the precious Dharma, One's minds
should be free from hurting or harming others".
One of the Five Precepts of Buddhist ethics
or śīla states, "I undertake the training
rule to abstain from killing." The Buddha
reportedly stated, "Victory breeds hatred.
The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful
live giving up victory and defeat." These
elements are used to indicate Buddhism is
pacifistic and all violence done by Buddhists,
even monks, is likely due to economic or political
reasons.The teaching of right speech (samyag-vāc
/ sammā-vācā) in the Noble Eightfold Path,
condemn all speech that is in any way harmful
(malicious and harsh speech) and divisive,
encouraging to speak in thoughtful and helpful
ways. The Pali Canon explained:
And what is right speech? Abstaining from
lying, from divisive speech, from abusive
speech, and from idle chatter: This is called
right speech.
Michael Jerryson, Associate Professor of Religious
Studies at Ohio's Youngstown State University
and co-editor of the book Buddhist Warfare,
said that "Buddhism differs in that the act
of killing is less the focus than the 'intention'
behind the killing" and "The first thing to
remember is that people have a penchant for
violence, it just so happens that every religion
has people in it."Gananath Obeyesekere, Emeritus
Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University,
said that "in the Buddhist doctrinal tradition...
there is little evidence of intolerance, no
justification for violence, no conception
even of 'just wars' or 'holy wars.' ... one
can make an assertion that Buddhist doctrine
is impossible to reconcile logically with
an ideology of violence and intolerance"There
is however in Buddhism a long tradition of
self-inflicted violence and death, as a form
of asceticism or protest, as exemplified by
the use of fires and burns to show determinations
among Chinese monks or by the self-immolations
of monks such as Thích Quảng Đức during
the Vietnam war.
== Regional examples ==
=== Southeast Asia ===
==== Thailand ====
In Southeast Asia, Thailand has had several
prominent virulent Buddhist monastic calls
for violence. In the 1970s, nationalist Buddhist
monks like Phra Kittiwuttho argued that killing
Communists did not violate any of the Buddhist
precepts. The militant side of Thai Buddhism
became prominent again in 2004 when a Malay
Muslim insurgency renewed in Thailand's deep
south. At first Buddhist monks ignored the
conflict as they viewed it as political and
not religious but eventually they adopted
an "identity-formation", as practical realities
require deviations from religious ideals.
==== Myanmar ====
In recent years the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), the military regime of Burma
from 1988 to 2011, had strongly encouraged
the conversion of ethnic minorities, often
by force, as part of its campaign of assimilation.
The regime promoted a vision of Burmese Buddhist
nationalism as a cultural and a political
ideology to legitimise its contested rule,
trying to bring a religious syncretism between
Buddhism and its totalitarian ideology.The
Saffron Revolution, a series of economic and
political protests and demonstrations that
took place during 2007, were led by students,
political activists, including women, and
Buddhist monks and took the form of a campaign
of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called
civil resistance.In response to the protests
dozens of protesters were arrested or detained.
Starting in September 2007 the protests were
led by thousands of Buddhist monks, and those
protests were allowed to proceed until a renewed
government crackdown in late September 2007.
At least 184 protesters were shot and killed
and many were tortured. Under the SPDC, the
Burmese army engaged in military offensives
against ethnic minority populations, committing
acts that violated international humanitarian
law.Myanmar had become a stronghold of Buddhist
aggression and such acts are spurred by hardline
nationalistic monks. The oldest militant organisation
active in the region is Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA), headed by a Buddhist monk U Thuzana,
since 1992. In the recent years the monks,
and the terrorist acts, are associated with
the nationalist 969 Movement particularly
in Myanmar and neighboring nations. The violence
reached prominence in June 2012 when more
than 200 people were killed and around 100,000
were displaced. As of 2012, the "969" movement
by monks (the prominent among whom is Wirathu)
had helped create anti-Islamic nationalist
movements in the region, and have urged Myanmar
Buddhists to boycott Muslim services and trades,
resulting in persecution of Muslims in Burma
by Buddhist-led mobs. However, not all of
the culprits were Buddhists and the motives
were as much economic as religious. On 20
June 2013, Wirathu was mentioned on the cover
story of Time magazine as "The Face of Buddhist
Terror". According to the Human Rights Watch
report, the Burmese government and local authorities
played a key role in the forcible displacement
of more than 125,000 Rohingya people and other
Muslims in the region. The report further
specifies the coordinated attacks of October
2012 that were carried out in different cities
by Burmese officials, community leaders and
Buddhist monks to terrorize and forcibly relocate
the population. The violence of Meiktila,
Lashio (2013) and Mandalay (2014) are the
latest Buddhist violence in Burma.Michael
Jerryson, author of several books heavily
critical of Buddhism's traditional peaceful
perceptions, stated that, "The Burmese Buddhist
monks may not have initiated the violence
but they rode the wave and began to incite
more. While the ideals of Buddhist canonical
texts promote peace and pacifism, discrepancies
between reality and precepts easily flourish
in times of social, political and economic
insecurity, such as Myanmar's current transition
to democracy."However several Buddhist leaders
including Thích Nhất Hạnh, Bhikkhu Bodhi,
Shodo Harada and the Dalai Lama among others
condemned the violence against Muslims in
Myanmar and called for peace, supporting the
practice of the fundamental Buddhist principles
of non-harming, mutual respect and compassion.
The Dalai Lama said "Buddha always teaches
us about forgiveness, tolerance, compassion.
If from one corner of your mind, some emotion
makes you want to hit, or want to kill, then
please remember Buddha's faith. We are followers
of Buddha." He said that "All problems must
be solved through dialogue, through talk.
The use of violence is outdated, and never
solves problems."Maung Zarni, a Burmese democracy
advocate, human rights campaigner, and a research
fellow at the London School of Economics who
has written on the violence in Myanmar and
Sri Lanka, states that there is no room for
fundamentalism in Buddhism. "No Buddhist can
be nationalistic," said Zarni, "There is no
country for Buddhists. I mean, no such thing
as ‘me,’ ‘my’ community, ‘my’
country, ‘my’ race or even ‘my’ faith."
=== South Asia ===
==== India ====
Ashokavadana states that there was a mass
killing of Jains for disrespecting the Buddha
by King Ashoka in which around 18,000 followers
of Jainism were killed. However this incident
is controversial. According to K.T.S. Sarao
and Benimadhab Barua, stories of persecutions
of rival sects by Ashoka appear to be a clear
fabrication arising out of sectarian propaganda.
==== Sri Lanka ====
Buddhism in Sri Lanka has a unique history
and has played an important role in the shaping
of Sinhalese nationalist identity. Consequently,
politicized Buddhism has contributed to ethnic
tension in the island between the majority
Sinhalese Buddhist population and other minorities,
especially the Tamils.
===== Mytho-historical roots =====
The mytho-historical accounts in the Sinhalese
Buddhist national chronicle Mahavamsa ('Great
Chronicle'), a non-canonical text written
in the sixth century CE by Buddhist monks
to glorify Buddhism in Sri Lanka, have been
influential in the creation of Sinhalese Buddhist
nationalism and militant Buddhism. The Mahavamsa
states that Lord Buddha made three visits
to Sri Lanka in which he rids the island of
forces inimical to Buddhism and instructs
deities to protect the ancestors of the Sinhalese
(Prince Vijaya and his followers from North
India) to enable the establishment and flourishing
of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. This myth has led
to the widely held Sinhalese Buddhist belief
that the country is Sihadipa (island of the
Sinhalese) and Dhammadipa (the island ennobled
to preserve and propagate Buddhism). In other
words, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists maintain
that they are the Buddha's chosen people,
and that the island of Sri Lanka is the Buddhist
promised land. The Mahavamsa also describes
an account of the Buddhist warrior king Dutthagamani,
his army, and 500 Buddhist monks battling
and defeating the Tamil king Elara, who had
come from South India and usurped power in
Anuradhapura (the island's capital at the
time). When Duthagamani laments over the thousands
he has killed, the eight arhats (Buddha's
enlightened disciples) who come to console
him reply that no real sin has been committed
by him because he has only killed Tamil unbelievers
who are no better than beasts, then go on
to say: "thou wilt bring glory to the doctrine
of the Buddha in manifold ways; therefore
cast away care from the heart, O ruler of
men".The Dutthagamani's campaign against king
Elara was not to defeat injustice, as the
Mahavamsa describes Elara as a good ruler,
but to restore Buddhism through a united Sri
Lanka under a Buddhist monarch, even by the
use of violence. The Mahavamsa story about
Buddha's visit to Sri Lanka where he (referred
to as the "Conqueror") subdues forces inimical
to Buddhism, the Yakkhas (depicted as the
non-human inhabitants of the island), by striking
"terror to their hearts" and driving them
from their homeland, so that his doctrine
should eventually "shine in glory", has been
described as providing the warrant for the
use of violence for the sake of Buddhism and
as an account that is in keeping with the
general message of the author that the political
unity of Sri Lanka under Buddhism requires
the removal of uncooperative groups.According
to Neil DeVotta (an Associate Professor of
Political Science), the mytho-history described
in the Mahavamsa "justifies dehumanizing non-Sinhalese,
if doing so is necessary to preserve, protect,
and propagate the dhamma (Buddhist doctrine).
Furthermore, it legitimizes a just war doctrine,
provided that war is waged to protect Buddhism.
Together with the Vijaya myth, it introduces
the bases for the Sinhalese Buddhist belief
that Lord Buddha designated the island of
Sri Lanka as a repository for Theravada Buddhism.
It claims the Sinhalese were the first humans
to inhabit the island (as those who predated
the Sinhalese were subhuman) and are thus
the true "sons of the soil". Additionally,
it institutes the belief that the island's
kings were beholden to protect and foster
Buddhism. All of these legacies have had ramifications
for the trajectory of political Buddhism and
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism."
===== Rise of modern Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism
=====
With the rise of modern Sinhalese Buddhist
nationalism in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries as a reaction to the changes
brought under the British colonialism, the
old religious mytho-history of the Mahavamsa
(especially the emphasis on the Sinhalese
and Tamil ethnicities of Duthagamani and Elara,
respectively) was revitalized and consequently
would prove to be detrimental to the intergroup
harmony in the island. As Heather Selma Gregg
writes: "Modern-day Sinhalese nationalism,
rooted in local myths of being a religiously
chosen people and of special progeny, demonstrates
that even a religion perceived as inherently
peaceful can help fuel violence and hatred
in its name."Buddhist revivalism took place
among the Sinhalese to counter Christian missionary
influence. The British commissioned the Sinhala
translation of the Mahavamsa (which was originally
written in Pali), thereby making it accessible
to the wider Sinhalese population. During
this time the first riot in modern Sri Lankan
history broke out in 1883, between Buddhists
and Catholics, highlighting the "growing religious
divide between the two communities".The central
figure in the formation of modern Sinhalese
Buddhist nationalism was the Buddhist revivalist
Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933), who has
been described as "the father of modern Sinhalese
Buddhist nationalism". Dharmapala was hostile
to all things un-Sinhalese and non-Buddhist.
He insisted that the Sinhalese were racially
pure and superior Aryans while the Dravidian
Tamils were inferior. He popularized the impression
that Tamils and Sinhalese had been deadly
enemies in Sri Lanka for nearly 2,000 years
by quoting the Mahavamsa passages that depicted
Tamils as pagan invaders. He characterized
the Tamils as "fiercely antagonistic to Buddhism".
He also expressed intolerance toward the island's
Muslim minorities and other religions in general.
Dharmapala also fostered Sinhalese Buddhist
nationalism in the spirit of the King Dutthagamani
who "rescued Buddhism and our nationalism
from oblivion" and stated explicitly that
the Island belongs to the Sinhalese Buddhists.
Dharmapala has been blamed for laying the
groundwork for subsequent Sinhalese Buddhists
nationalists to create an ethnocentric state
and for hostility to be directed against minorities
unwilling to accept such a state.
===== Politicized Buddhism, the formation
of ethnocracy and the civil war =====
Upon independence Sinhalese Buddhist elites
instituted discriminatory policies based on
the Buddhist ethno-nationalist ideology of
the Mahavamsa that privileges Sinhalese Buddhist
hegemony in the island as Buddha's chosen
people for whom the island is a promised land
and justifies subjugation of minorities. Sinhalese
Buddhist officials saw that decreasing Tamil
influence was a necessary part of fostering
Buddhist cultural renaissance. The Dutthagamani
myth was also used to institute Sinhalese
Buddhist domination with some politicians
even identifying with such a mytho-historic
hero and activist monks looked to Dutthagamani
as an example to imitate. This principal hero
of Mahavamsa became widely regarded as exemplary
by the 20th century Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists
because of his defense of Buddhism and the
unification of Sri Lanka that journalists
started talking about "the Mahavamsa mentality".D.
S. Senanayake, who would become Sri Lanka's
first prime minister in 1947, reaffirmed in
1939 the common Mahavamsa-based assumption
of the Sinhalese Buddhist responsibility for
the island's destiny by proclaiming that the
Sinhalese Buddhists "are one blood and one
nation. We are a chosen people. Buddha said
that his religion would last for 5,500 [sic]
years. That means that we, as the custodians
of that religion, shall last as long." Buddhists
monks became increasingly involved in post-independence
politics, promoting Sinhalese Buddhist interests,
at the expense of minorities. Walpola Rahula,
Sri Lanka's foremost Buddhist monk scholar
and one of the leading proponents of Sinhalese
Buddhist nationalism, played a major role
in advocating for the involvement of monks
in politics, using Buddhist king Dutthagamani's
relationship with the sangha to bolster his
position. Rahula also argued for a just war
doctrine to protect Buddhism by using the
example of wars waged by Dutthagamani to restore
Buddhism. Rahula maintained that "the entire
Sinhalese race was united under the banner
of the young Gamini [Dutthagamani]. This was
the beginning of nationalism among the Sinhalese.
It was a new race with healthy young blood,
organized under the new order of Buddhism.
A kind of religionationalism, which almost
amounted to fanaticism, roused the whole Sinhalese
people. A non-Buddhist was not regarded as
a human being. Evidently all Sinhalese without
exception were Buddhists." In reflecting on
Rahula's works, anthropologist H.L. Seneviratne
writes that, "it suits Rahula to be an advocate
of a Buddhism that glorifies social intercourse
with lay society ... the receipt of salaries
and other forms of material remuneration;
ethnic exclusivism and Sinhala Buddhist hegemony;
militancy in politics; and violence, war and
the spilling of blood in the name of "preserving
the religion"".In 1956, the All Ceylon Buddhist
Congress (ACBC) released a report titled,
"The Betrayal of Buddhism", inquiring into
the status of Buddhism in the island. The
report argued that Buddhism had been weakened
by external threats such as the Tamil invaders
mentioned in the Mahavamsa and later Western
colonial powers. It also demanded the state
to restore and foster Buddhism and to give
preferential treatment to Buddhist schools.
The same year, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike capitalized
on the ACBC report and its recommendations
as the foundation for his election campaign,
using it as the 'blueprint for a broad spectrum
of policy', which included introducing Sinhala
as the sole official language of the state.
With the help of significant number of Buddhist
monks and various Sinhalese Buddhist organizations,
Bandaranaike became prime minister after winning
the 1956 elections. Bandaranaike had also
campaigned on the basis of Sinhalese Buddhist
nationalism, drawing influences from the writings
of Dharmapala and the Mahavamsa, arguing that
it was the duty of the government to preserve
the Sinhalese Buddhist nature of the island's
destiny. Once in power, Bandaranaike implemented
the 1956 Sinhala Only Act, which would make
Sinhala the country's official language and
hence all official state transactions would
be conducted in Sinhala. This put non-Sinhala
speakers at a disadvantage for employment
and educational opportunities. As a result,
Tamils protested the policy by staging sit-ins,
which in turn prompted counterdemonstrations
by Buddhist monks, later degenerating into
anti-Tamil riots in which more than one hundred
people were injured and Tamil businesses were
looted. Riots then spread throughout the country
killing hundreds of people. Bandaranaike tried
to mitigate tensions over the language policy
by proposing a compromise with the Tamil leaders,
resulting in a 1957 pact that would allow
the use of Tamil as an administrative language
along with Sinhala and greater political autonomy
for Tamils. Buddhist monks and other Sinhalese
nationalists opposed this pact by staging
mass demonstrations and hunger strikes. In
an editorial in the same year, a monk asks
Bandaranaike to read Mahavamsa and to heed
its lessons: "[Dutthagamani] conquered by
the sword and united the land [Sri Lanka]
without dividing it among our enemies [i.e.
the Tamils] and established Sinhala and Buddhism
as the state language and religion." In the
late 1950s, it had become common for politicians
and monks to exploit the Mahavamsa narrative
of Dutthagamani to oppose any concession to
the Tamil minorities.With Buddhist monks playing
a major role in exerting pressure to abrogate
the pact, Bandaranaike acceded to their demands
in April 9, 1958 by tearing up "a copy of
the pact in front of the assembled monks who
clapped in joy". Soon after the pact was abrogated,
another series of anti-Tamil riots spread
throughout the country, which left hundreds
dead and thousands displaced. Preceding the
1958 riots, rhetoric of monks contributed
to the perception of Tamils being the enemies
of the country and of Buddhism. Both Buddhist
monks and laity laid the foundation for the
justifiable use of force against Tamils in
response to their demand for greater autonomy
by arguing that the whole of Sri Lanka was
a promised land of the Sinhalese Buddhists
and it was the role of the monks to defend
a united Sri Lanka. Tamils were also portrayed
as threatening interlopers, compared to the
Mahavamsa account of the usurper Tamil king
Elara. Monks and politicians invoked the story
of the Buddhist warrior king Dutthagamani
to urge the Sinhalese to fight against Tamils
and their claims to the island, thereby providing
justification for violence against Tamils.
As Tessa J. Bartholomeusz explains: "Tamil
claims to a homeland were met with an ideology,
linked to a Buddhist story, that legitimated
war with just cause: the protection of Sri
Lanka for the Sinhala-Buddhist people." In
order to appease Tamils amidst the ethnic
tension, Bandaranaike modified the Sinhala
Only Act to allow Tamil to be used in education
and government in Tamil areas and as a result
a, Buddhist monk named Talduwe Somarama assassinated
him on September 26, 1959. The monk claimed
he carried out the assassination "for the
greater good of his country, race and religion".
It has also been suggested that the monk was
guided in part by reading of the Mahavamsa.Successive
governments after Bandaranaike implemented
similar Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist agenda,
at the expense of minorities. In 1972, the
government rewrote its constitution and gave
Buddhism "the foremost place [in the Republic
of Sri Lanka]" and making it "the duty of
the state to protect and foster Buddhism".
With another pact in 1965 that sought to establish
greater regional autonomy for Tamils being
abrogated (some members of the Buddhist clergy
were at the forefront in opposing the pact)
and the implementation of discriminatory quota
system in 1974 that severely restricted Tamil
entrance to universities, Tamil youth became
radicalized, calling for an independent homeland
to be established in the Tamil-dominated northeastern
region of the island. In 1977, anti-Tamil
riots spread throughout the country, killing
hundreds of Tamils and leaving thousands homeless.
A leading monk claimed that one of the reasons
for the anti-Tamil riots of 1977 was the Tamil
demonization of the Sinhalese Buddhist epic
hero Dutthagamani, which resulted in a justified
retaliation. Another anti-Tamil riot erupted
in 1981 in Jaffna, where Sinhalese police
and paramilitaries destroyed statues of Tamil
cultural and religious figures; looted and
torched a Hindu temple and Tamil-owned shops
and homes; killed four Tamils; and torched
the Jaffna Public Library which was of great
cultural significance to Tamils. In response
to the militant separatist Tamil group LTTE
killing 13 Sinhalese soldiers, the largest
anti-Tamil pogrom occurred in 1983, leaving
between 2,000 and 3,000 of Tamils killed and
forcing from 70,000 to 100,000 Tamils into
refugee camps, eventually propelling the country
into a civil war between the LTTE and the
predominately Sinhalese Buddhist Sri Lankan
government. In the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom,
Buddhist monks lead rioters in some instance.
Cyril Mathew, a Senior Minister in President
Jayawardene's Cabinet and a Sinhalese Buddhist
nationalist who in the year preceding the
pogrom reaffirmed the special relationship
between Buddhism and Sinhalese and the Buddhist
nature of the country, was also responsible
for the pogrom. In the months following the
anti-Tamil pogrom, authorizations for violence
against Tamils began to appear in the press,
with Tamils being depicted as interlopers
on Dhammadipa. The Mahavamsa narrative of
Dutthagamani and Elara was also invoked to
justify violence against Tamils. The aftermath
of the pogrom spawned debates over the rights
to the island with the "sons of the soil"
ideology being called into prominence. A government
agent declared that Sri Lanka's manifest destiny
"was to uphold the pristine doctrine of Theravada
Buddhism". This implied that Sinhalese Buddhists
had a sacred claim to Sri Lanka, while the
Tamils did not, a claim which might call for
violence. The Sinhalese Buddhists, including
the Sri Lankan government, resisted the Tamil
claim to a separate homeland of their own
as the Sinhalese Buddhists maintained that
the entire country belonged to them. Another
government agent linked the then Prime Minister
Jayewardene's attempts to thwart the emergence
of a Tamil homeland to Dutthagamani's victory
over Elara and went on to say, "[w]e will
never allow the country to be divided," thereby
justifying violence against Tamils.In the
context of increasing Tamil militant struggle
for separatism, militant Buddhist monks founded
the Mavbima Surakime Vyaparaya (MSV) or "Movement
for the Protection of the Motherland" in 1986
which sought to work with political parties
"to maintain territorial unity of Sri Lanka
and Sinhalese Buddhist sovereignty over the
island". The MSV used the Mahavamsa to justify
its goals, which included the usage of force
to fight against the Tamil threat and defend
the Buddhist state. In 1987, along with the
MSV, the JVP (a militant Sinhalese nationalist
group which included monks) took up arms to
protest the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka
Accord which sought to establish peace in
Sri Lanka by requiring the Sri Lankan government
to make a number of concessions to Tamil demands,
including devolution of power to Tamil provinces.
The JVP, with the support of the Sangha, launched
a campaign of violent insurrection against
the government to oppose the accord as the
Sinhalese nationalists believed it would compromise
the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.From the beginning
of the civil war in 1983 to the end of it
in 2009, Buddhist monks were involved in politics
and opposed negotiations, ceasefire agreements,
or any devolution of power to Tamil minorities,
and most supported military solution to the
conflict. This has led to Asanga Tilakaratne,
head of the Department of Buddhist Philosophy
in the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and
Buddhist Studies in Colombo, to remark that
"the Sinhala Buddhist nationalists are ... opposed
to any attempt to solve the ethnic problem
by peaceful means; and they call for a 'holy
war' against Tamils". It has been argued that
the absence of opportunities for power sharing
among the different ethnic groups in the island
"has been one of the primary factors behind
the intensification of the conflict". Numerous
Buddhist religious leaders and Buddhist organizations
since the country's independence have played
a role in mobilizing against the devolution
of power to the Tamils. Leading Buddhist monks
opposed devolution of power that would grant
regional autonomy to Tamils on the basis of
Mahavamsa worldview that the entire country
is a Buddhist promised land which belongs
to the Sinhalese Buddhist people, along with
the fear that devolution would eventually
lead to separate country.The two major contemporary
political parties to advocate for Sinhalese
Buddhist nationalism are The Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya
(JHU) or "National Heritage Party", the latter
of which is composed solely of Buddhist monks.
According to A. R. M. Imtiyaz, these groups
share common goals: "to uphold Buddhism and
establish a link between the state and religion,
and to advocate a violent solution to the
Tamil question and oppose all form of devolution
to the minorities, particularly the Tamils".
The JHU, in shunning non-violent solutions
to the ethnic conflict, urged young Sinhalese
Buddhists to sign up for the army, with as
many as 30,000 Sinhalese young men doing just
that. One JHU leader even declared that NGOs
and certain government servants were traitors
and they should be set on fire and burnt due
to their opposition to a military solution
to the civil war. The international community
encouraged a federal structure for Sri Lanka
as a peaceful solution to the civil war but
any form of Tamil self-determination, even
the more limited measure of autonomy, was
strongly opposed by hard-line Sinhalese Buddhist
nationalist groups such as the JVP and JHU,
who pushed for the military solution. These
groups in their hard-line support for a military
solution to the conflict, without any regard
for the plight of innocent Tamil civilians,
have opposed negotiated settlement, ceasefire
agreement, demanded that the Norwegians be
removed as peace facilitators, demanded the
war to be prosecuted more forcefully and exerted
influence in the Rajapaksa government (which
they helped to elect), resulting in the brutal
military defeat of the LTTE with heavy civilian
casualties. The nationalist monks' support
of the government's military offense against
the LTTE gave "religious legitimacy to the
state's claim of protecting the island for
the Sinhalese Buddhist majority." President
Rajapaksa, in his war against the LTTE, has
been compared to the Buddhist king Dutthagamani
by the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists.
===== Violence against religious minorities
=====
Other minority groups have also come under
attack by Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists.
Fear of country's Buddhist hegemony being
challenged by Christian proselytism has driven
Buddhist monks and organizations to demonize
Christian organizations with one popular monk
comparing missionary activity to terrorism;
as a result, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists,
including the JVP and JHU, who oppose attempts
to convert Buddhists to another religion,
support or conduct anti-Christian violence.
The number of attacks against Christian churches
rose from 14 in 2000 to over 100 in 2003.
Dozens of these acts were confirmed by U.S.
diplomatic observers. This anti-Christian
violence was led by extremist Buddhist clergy
and has included acts of "beatings, arson,
acts of sacrilege, death threats, violent
disruption of worship, stoning, abuse, unlawful
restraint, and even interference with funerals".
It has been noted that the strongest anti-West
sentiments accompany the anti-Christian violence
since the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists
identify Christianity with the West which
they think is conspiring to undermine Buddhism.It
has been noted that the strongest anti-West
sentiments accompany the anti-Christian violence
since the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists
identify Christianity with the West which
they think is conspiring to undermine Buddhism.In
the postwar Sri Lanka, ethnic and religious
minorities continue face threat from Sinhalese
Buddhist nationalism. There have been continued
sporadic attacks on Christian churches by
Buddhist extremists who allege Christians
of conducting unethical or forced conversion.
The Pew Research Center has listed Sri Lanka
among the countries with very high religious
hostilities in 2012 due to the violence committed
by Buddhist monks against Muslim and Christian
places of worship.These acts included attacking
a mosque and forcefully taking over a Seventh-day
advent church and converting it into a Buddhist
temple.
Extremist Buddhist leaders justify their attacks
on the places of worship of minorities by
arguing that Sri Lanka is the promised land
of the Sinhalese Buddhists to safeguard Buddhism.
The recently formed Buddhist extremist group,
the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Power
Force, founded by Buddhist monks in 2012,
has been accused of inciting the anti-Muslim
riots that killed 4 Muslims and injured 80
in 2014. The leader of the BBS, in linking
the government's military victory over the
LTTE to the ancient Buddhist king conquest
of Tamil king Elara, said that Tamils have
been taught a lesson twice and warned other
minorities of the same fate if they tried
to challenge Sinhalese Buddhist culture. The
BBS has been compared to the Taliban, accused
of spreading extremism and communal hatred
against Muslims and has been described as
an "ethno-religious fascist movement". Buddhist
monks have also protested against UN Human
Rights Council resolution that called for
an inquiry into humanitarian abuses and possible
war crimes during the civil war. The BBS has
received criticism and oppostition from other
Buddhist clergy and politicians. Mangala Samaraweera,
a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist politician
who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs
since 2015, has accused the BBS of being "a
representation of ‘Taliban’ terrorism’"
and of spreading extremism and communal hatred
against Muslims. Samaraweera has also alleged
that the BBS is secretly funded by the Ministry
of Defence. Anunayake Bellanwila Wimalaratana,
deputy incumbent of Bellanwila Rajamaha Viharaya
and President of the Bellanwila Community
Development Foundation, has stated that "The
views of the Bodu Bala Sena are not the views
of the entire Sangha community" and that "We
don’t use our fists to solve problems, we
use our brains". Wataraka Vijitha Thero, a
buddhist monk who condemns violence against
Muslims and heavily criticized the BBS and
the government, has been attacked and tortured
for his stances.
===== Buddhist opposition to Sinhala Buddhist
nationalism =====
Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism is opposed to
Sarvodaya, although they share many of the
same influences like Dharmapāla's teachings
for example, by having a focus upon Sinhalese
culture and ethnicity sanctioning the use
of violence in defence of dhamma, while Sarvodaya
has emphasized the application of Buddhist
values in order to transform society and campaigning
for peace.These Buddhist nationalists have
been opposed by the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement,
a self-governance movement led by the Buddhist
Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne and based in Buddhist
ideals, who condemn the use of violence and
the denial of Human rights to Tamils and other
non-Buddhists. Ariyaratne calls for non-violent
action and he has been actively working for
peace in Sri Lanka for many decades, and has
stated that the only way to peace is through
"the dispelling of the view of 'I and mine'
or the shedding of 'self' and the realization
of the true doctrines of the interconnection
between all animal species and the unity of
all humanity," thus advocating social action
in Buddhist terms. He stated in one of his
lectures, "When we work towards the welfare
of all the means we use have to be based on
Truth, Non-violence and Selflessness in conformity
with Awakening of All". What Ariyaratne advocates
is losing the self in the service of others
and attempting to bring others to awakening.
Ariyaratne has stated, "I cannot awaken myself
unless I help awaken others".
=== East Asia ===
==== Japan ====
The beginning of "Buddhist violence" in Japan
relates to a long history of feuds among Buddhists.
The sōhei or "warrior monks" appeared during
the Heian period, although the seeming contradiction
in being a Buddhist "warrior monk" caused
controversy even at the time. More directly
linked is that the Ikkō-shū movement was
considered an inspiration to Buddhists in
the Ikkō-ikki rebellion. In Osaka they defended
their temple with the slogan "The mercy of
Buddha should be recompensed even by pounding
flesh to pieces. One's obligation to the Teacher
should be recompensed even by smashing bones
to bits!"During World War II, Japanese Buddhist
literature from that time, as part of its
support of the Japanese war effort, stated
"In order to establish eternal peace in East
Asia, arousing the great benevolence and compassion
of Buddhism, we are sometimes accepting and
sometimes forceful. We now have no choice
but to exercise the benevolent forcefulness
of 'killing one in order that many may live'
(issatsu tashō). This is something which
Mahayana Buddhism approves of only with the
greatest of seriousness..." Almost all Japanese
Buddhists temples strongly supported Japan's
militarization. These were heavily criticized
by the Chinese Buddhists of the era, who disputed
the validity of the statements made by those
Japanese Buddhist supporters of the war. In
response the Japanese Pan-Buddhist Society
(Myowa Kai) rejected the criticism and stated
that "We now have no choice but to exercise
the benevolent forcefulness of 'killing one
in order that many may live' (issatsu tashō)"
and that the war was absolutely necessary
to implement the dharma in Asia. The society
re-examined more than 70 texts written by
Nichiren and re-edited his writings, making
changes in 208 places, cutting all the statements
that disagreed with the state Shinto. In contrast,
a few Japanese Buddhists such as Ichikawa
Haku and Seno’o Girō opposed this and were
targeted. During the 1940s, "leaders of the
Honmon Hokkeshu and Soka Kyoiku Gakkai were
imprisoned for their defiance of wartime government
religious policy, which mandated display of
reverence for the state Shinto".Brian Daizen
Victoria, a Buddhist priest in the Sōtō
Zen sect, documented in his book Zen at War
how Buddhist institutions justified Japanese
militarism in official publications and cooperated
with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese
War and World War II. In response to the book,
several sects issued an apology for their
wartime support of the government.In more
modern times instances of Buddhist-inspired
terrorism or militarism have occurred in Japan,
such as the assassinations of the League of
Blood Incident led by Nissho Inoue, a Nichirenist
or fascist-nationalist who preached a self-styled
Nichiren Buddhism.Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese
new religion and doomsday cult that was the
cause of the Tokyo subway sarin attack that
killed thirteen people and injured more than
a thousand, drew upon a syncretic view of
idiosyncratic interpretations of elements
of early Indian Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism
and Hinduism, taking Shiva as the main image
of worship, Christian millennialist ideas
from the Book of Revelation, Yoga and the
writings of Nostradamus. Its founder, Chizuo
Matsumoto, claimed that he sought to restore
"original Buddhism" and declared himself "Christ",
Japan's only fully enlightened master and
identified with the "Lamb of God". His purported
mission was to take upon himself the sins
of the world, and he claimed he could transfer
to his followers spiritual power and ultimately
take away their sins and bad deeds. While
many discount Aum Shinrikyo's Buddhist characteristics
and affiliation to Buddhism, scholars often
refer to it as an offshoot of Japanese Buddhism,
and this was how the movement generally defined
and saw itself.
== See also ==
Ahimsa in Buddhism
Buddhist ethics
Religious nationalism
Sohei
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