[Buddha-l] Compassionate Violence? and Buddhist Just War Resource

[GM]

I am having  great trouble typing with my fingers on this tablet and overcoming the automatic spellchecker.  I may launch my own just war against Apple.

The roots of Sinhalese ethno-Buddhist nationalism,  its manifestation through violence by monks or supported by monks, and their Buddhist justifications run deep. "Religion and Legitimation of Power in Sri Lanka," ed. Bardwell L. Smith, ANIMA Books, 1978 has some interesting essays on the role of the state and the monk from the alleged arrival of King Asoka's son Mahinda and four other monks onward. Since Buddhism was entwined with the state and the state was involved with violence and war the question of their just use from a Buddhist perspective necessarily arose. I would recommend a quick read for those interested in Buddhist Just War theories.  

Although they may not have covered this, it is difficult to believe any researcher or indeed newspaper reading resident at that time would be unaware of extremist monks' loud and public support for violence. It would not be that novel after all. The 1959 assassination of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (called a "Bodhisattva" by quite a few after his death) by a monk would seem to be burned into the mind of most Sinhalese. 


On May 25, 2013, at 1:07 AM, "Jo" <ugg-5 at spro.net> wrote:

> 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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