Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka and Burma

Ian Harris in his book, Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth Century Asia, argues, Buddhist religious estblishment (Sangha) is as interested in politics as other religious orders. He writes:

Buddhism has often been characterised as an entirely other-worldly religion with a Gnostic distaste for the worldly order. Furthermore, the intensely individualistic flavour of the Buddha's spiritual message has led some to suppose that its attitude towards the political order should be lukewarm, to say the very least. Such views are well-attested in the scholarly community, as well as among Buddhist themselves. From this perspective, Buddhism presents a passive and detached face to worldly affairs in stark contrast to the Semitic religions, such as Christianity and Islam, which are both 'strongly oriented to the reconstruction of the world and very militant in this pursuit' (Eisenstadt 1993, 22). However, this stereotyped cannot be further than the truth. Of course, there are, and always have been, Buddhist ascetics who shun the settled world...But most members of the monastic order have decided to live close to regions of permanent settlement....Under these conditions, the temptation to influence the political process in a direction conducive to the continued well-being of the Buddha's teaching and the maintenance of stable Buddhist institutions have always seem attractive to some.

Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka was discussed in a previous blog. Here, we compare and discuss the links between Sri Lankan and Burmese Buddhist nationalism. Both these nations are showing a change in Buddhist nationalism recently. 

As Burma or Myanmar is opening itself to the world and possibly liberalizing and democratizing, religious nationalism is gaining ground. Buddhist Sangha had good relations with the U Nu governments, who was the first Prime Minister of Burma (U Nu was Prime Minister of Burma from 1948 to 1956, from 1957 to 1958 and from 1960 to 1962). So, when there was a military coup d'état, led by General Ne Win, in March 1962, Sangha protested. The Burmese military suppressed these protests and controlled the Buddhist order during its rule, making it largely apolitical till the late 1980s. From 1988 to early 1990s, there were again large scale anti-regime protests attended by monks and others but after that brief activity, there was again an apolitical period for Sangha as it was tightly controlled by the military government. Now, again there is a period of activity but the focus of hatred has changed from the military government to Muslims, particularly Rohingyas who are considered non-Burmese, in addition to being non- Buddhist. 

In Sri Lanka, Buddhist nationalism considers itself triumphant on having won a long war. It has been proven 'right' in its stand of not giving concessions to the Tamils as Lord has given victory to the 'Buddhist' nation. With the vanquished Tamil Hindus, not much of an enemy, the new target is Muslims. 

In an interesting blog on This Is the Modern Axis of Buddhist Hate, Jake Scobey-Thal gives us an update on newly emerging links between the Buddhist nationalists of Sri Lanka and Burma. He particularly focuses on Ashin Wirathu, the Burmese monk called the 'bin Ladin of Buddhism' and Gnanasara, the Sri Lankan monk heading the campaign against Muslims.

As governments of both these countries are weak and not interested in challenging the radical brand of Buddhist nationalism propagated by Wirathu and Gnanasara, Scobey-Thal thinks their militant politics are here to stay. 

It is difficult not to see the commonalities between the Buddhist nationalisms discussed and other militant religious nationalisms. One can recognize the holy land (Burma) and the peaceful majority  (Buddhist Burmese) that is under threat from a tiny but 'vicious' militaristic minority (Muslim Rohingyas).    

A report on a recent conference on Burmese media discussed the issue of Buddhist nationalism and its consequences for Muslims. Mon Mon Myat, an investigative journalist, highlighted the role of powerful military, monks, and media (Burmese journalist beseeches brethren: Stop with the Muslim hate speech)

Besieged by a fear that Muslims will take over Myanmar, Buddhist nationalists as well as some monks have urged people to boycott Muslim-owned businesses and successfully lobbied the government to draft controversial laws, including one that will restrict Buddhist women from marrying Muslim men. No similar restrictions are being planned for Buddhist men.“The two strongest institutions in our country - the military and monk organisations - are driven by men, and promote nationalism and religion. That influences our media coverage,” Mon Mon Myat said on Tuesday at the second day of an international media conference organised by Hawaii-based East-West Center.“I found that in the local media coverage, there are few voices on Muslims’ view. I think some owners worry their circulation may decrease if they are seen as sympathetic to the Muslims.”