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

[Jo]

_Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka_. By Richard Gombrich
and Gananath Obeyesekere. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1988.

http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/allen.htm 

I just read this 1992 review of a the book, published in 1988, where the
reviewer points out that the research for the book was "conducted for the
most part in the 1960s and especially in the 1970s. ... This means that,
with the exception of several sections near the end of the book, Buddhism
transformed is not analyzed in terms of the tremendous transformations
arising from the ethnic riots of 1983 and the Tamil-Sinhala civil war ever
since."

Worth a read--the reviewer is not whitewashing this book.
Joanna

-----Original Message-----
From: GM [mailto:caodemarte at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 10:13 AM
To: Jo; Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Compassionate Violence? and Buddhist Just War
Resource

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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