[Buddha-l] FW: Compassionate Violence?

[Jo]

Interesting it went back to the 80's. I'm thinking of two books by a
well-known anthropologist in Sri Lanka studies: _The Feast of the Sorcerer:
Practices of Consciousness and Power_, 1997, and a 2d ed. of _ A Celebration
of Demons : Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Healing in Sri Lanka_, 1991, both
by Bruce Kapferer.  As I recall, there was no or little mention in these two
studies of the paranoid, nationalistic Sangha process. However, in a more
recent study, _Legends of People Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and
Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia_, 2011, he takes up these
issues.

Gananath Obeyesekere published _The Cult of the Goddess Pattini_ in
1984---I've not seen this book, but I suspect having read other works by
him, there is nothing here of the paranoid nationalist sangha phenomenon: "
Pattini-goddess, virgin, wife, and mother; folk deity of Sinhala Buddhists
and Jains; and assimilated goddess of the Hindu pantheon-has been worshiped
in Sri Lanka and South India for fifteen hundred years or more, as she still
is today. This long-awaited book is the culmination of Gananath
Obeyesekere's comprehensive study of the Pattini cult and its historical,
sociological, and psychoanalytical role in the culture of South Asia. A
well-known anthropologist and a native of Sri Lanka, Obeyesekere displays
his impeccable scholarship and a stunning range of theoretical perspectives
in this work..." (from amazon blurb). He also wrote with Gombrich, _Buddhism
Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka_, 1988---not about
ethnic/religious paranoia, but about the non-Buddhist cults of the island
peoples. 

Then, there is the island-wide cult of Murugan/Kataragama (originally a
Hindu deity, son of Shiva) which annually maintains a pada yatra pilgrimage
of all faiths: Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian. I wonder where that cult
stands today? 
Obeyesekere consulted on a marvelous film about this cult: _Kataragama: A
God For All Seasons_, 1973. No hint in this film of incipient warfare
against non-Buddhists.

I wonder if the monk views surfacing in your 80s interviews were known to
the social scientists who did research there in the 80's, as Obeyesekere
did.  Doesn't seem likely--seems they and the world media caught it later.

Joanna K. 

On Behalf Of GM
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 8:32 PM


It may vaguely interest you that I asked the same question, mostly to
extremist monks, in Sri Lanka during the 80s. 

Genocidal violence was seen by the monk extremists, not so much as directly
sanctioned by scripture, but as a logical outgrowth of Buddhist scripture.
Many held the position that ethnic Singha nationalism was a defense of
Buddhism, the only true pure form of which existed  in Sri Lanka (Nobody
made the Japanese-style argument that the whole country was an ordination
platform, but the Singha were clearly seen as the defenders of the last
defensible outpost of the truth in these degenerate times.). Defending
Buddhism is necessary to preserve the only route out of suffering. Not
defending it would lead to its disappearance in our times and thus it's
non-defenders would be the cause of continued suffering. Being the cause of
suffering is a clear violation of vows and the whole purpose of Buddhism.
(Some of this fusion of ethnic nationalism and religion also stems from the
Buddhist monks' earlier adoption of what they saw as a highly successful
American Protestant approach.)

When I met the most prominent monk advocate of this view, he began by giving
me a lecture on how Buddhism taught the protection of all life and thus he
protected even the ants in the temple. I said that I understood how this was
based in the teachings of Buddhism but I asked what teachings of Buddhism he
was drawing on  when he gave a speech the day before advocating the
execution of every (Hindu)Tamil in Sri Lanka. He explained that when you're
reborn as an ant your brain is very small so you have few options in life.
(Hindu) Tamils are  born human and so have choices. They can immediately end
their lives when they realize they are (Hindu) Tamils and try again in the
cycle of rebirth. If they obstinately resigned alive, every (Hindu) Tamil
man, woman, and child should be driven into the sea and their heads cut off.
If they continue to live they would accumulate bad karma as enemies of
Buddhism and suffer bad rebirths. Murder would really be a way of preventing
their furthe!
 r suffering. 

Conversion, of course, could not be trusted, but they might get lucky enough
to be reborn as a Buddhist. I'm pretty sure he did not consider Christian
Tamils or Hindu Tamil tea plantation Tamils to be significant enough to
warrant condemning. 

At that time, such arguments were  never applied to Muslim Tamils. They were
seen by many Singha as at worse neutral in the war and no one wanted to push
them to the other side. 






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