Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Buddhism and War (Buddhism and Violence (Buddhism is commonly understood…
Buddhism and War
Buddhism and Violence
Buddhism is commonly understood to be very placid, benevolent and peaceful
-
Buddhism, just as any other religion, is possible of motivating violence
Jerryson, 2017: This popular narrative is blind to the diversity within the Buddhist religion and its long history of violence
Keyes, 2016: While original Buddhist teachings condone the use of violence, violence justified by religion has most likely existed since Buddhism first became a religion supported by state authorities
The failure to acknowledge this in Western intelligence can be traced back to an Orientalist view of Buddhism as well as Western oversimplification
-
While Buddhism can be used to justify nationalist violence, it is crucial to note the discrepancies that exist between Buddhist teachings and its manipulation for political violence
Beech, 2013: “every religion can be twisted into a destructive force poisoned by ideas that are antithetical to its foundations”
Especially when coupled with nationalist campaigns, religion can be instrumentalized to justify violence
Sri Lanka
Four ethnic groups: Sinhala Buddhists (74%), Hindu Sri Lankan Tamils (12.7%), Muslims (7.1%), Hindu Indian Tamils (5.5%) – Buddhist Sinhalese enjoy a majority ratio of 4:1 over all other religious and ethnic groups combined
The rise of modern Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th century was a reaction to British colonialism which favoured Tamils
Buddhism played an important role in the shaping of Sinhalese nationalist identity during the anti-colonial struggle
-
Consequently, politicized Buddhism has contributed to ethnic tension in the island between the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population and other minorities, especially the Tamils
Upon independence, Sinhalese Buddhist elites, fearing to be marginalized in their own country, instituted discriminatory policies towards the minorities in order to establish a Sinhalese Buddhist hegemony
Communal, ethnic and above all confessional divide between Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority triggered a war that began in 1983 and ended only in 2009
Tamils began organizing themselves for an insurgency in the form of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which fought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and the east of the island