Dalai Lama lashes Myanmar, Lanka Buddhist violence

[Ensapa]

This is interesting. The Dalai Lama is speaking for Buddhism now.

Dalai Lama lashes Myanmar, Lanka Buddhist violence

By RAVI NESSMAN Associated Press
Posted:   05/08/2013 01:45:28 AM PDT

NEW DELHI—The Dalai Lama has implored Buddhist monks in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to put an end to a series of recent attacks on Muslims in their countries.
The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader spoke Tuesday night about religious violence when asked questions following a speech he delivered to 15,000 people at the University of Maryland in the United States.

Myanmar, which was earlier known as Burma, has been wracked by sectarian violence that has killed hundreds and displaced more than 135,000 over the past year, while Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have recently attacked Muslim businesses.

"Killing people in the name of religion is really very sad, unthinkable, very sad," the Nobel Peace laureate said. "Nowadays even Buddhists now involved, in Burma and Sri Lanka also. Buddhist monks ... destroy Muslim mosques or Muslim families. Really very sad."

He said that he sometimes counsels his fellow Buddhists: "When they develop some sort of negative emotions toward the Muslim community, then please think (of) the face of Buddha."

If the Buddha is there, he will protect the Muslims, he said in a video of the speech posted on the university's website.

The Dalai Lama is the head of the Tibetan school of Buddhism, while Buddhism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka is dominated by the separate Theravada branch, which does not answer to his authority.

The sectarian violence in Myanmar first flared in western Rakhine state nearly a year ago, when mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving hundreds dead and forcing 125,000 people to flee, mostly Muslims.

That violence has since spread into a campaign against the country's Muslim community in other regions.

In March, at least 43 people were killed and 12,000 displaced in the central city of Meikhtila when Buddhist mobs rampaged through the town and police stood idly by. Most of the victims were Muslim.

Last week, one person was killed and nine others injured when Buddhists stormed a township about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the main city Yangon, ransacking mosques and burning several villages to the ground.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused authorities—including Buddhist monks, local politicians, government officials, and state security forces—of fomenting an organized campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against the Muslims in Rakhine state. The government has denied the charges.

Sri Lanka, which is dominated by a Buddhist majority, has also been hit by rising instances of hate speech against Muslims and attacks on Muslim-owned businesses.

Groups led by Buddhist monks have spread allegations that the small Muslim minority was dominating business there and trying to take over the country by increasing its birthrate and secretly sterilizing Buddhists.



Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_23196695/dalai-lama-lashes-myanmar-lanka-buddhist-violence#ixzz2Ur50RNS6

[Big Uncle]

The Dalai Lama is of course right. It is sad and really a very bad image of Buddhism. This is the first time Buddhism has participated in active violence against another. Well, at least the first time I have ever heard of. This shows degeneration and it also shows the lack of real Sangha and Dharma teachers in these Buddhist countries.

People are not brought up according to Buddhist non-violent principles and whatever teachers are there are no longer holding their vows or have little or no realization of the teachings. The preservation and propagation of the teachings and its practitioners depends solely upon the creation of authentic Dharma teachers/masters and scholars. Their training cannot be just on the scholarly but also on practice and realization arisen from practice. Whatever it is, monastics must always uphold their vows in order to keep the flame of the teachings alive.

[Ensapa]

The Dalai Lama is of course right. It is sad and really a very bad image of Buddhism. This is the first time Buddhism has participated in active violence against another. Well, at least the first time I have ever heard of. This shows degeneration and it also shows the lack of real Sangha and Dharma teachers in these Buddhist countries.

People are not brought up according to Buddhist non-violent principles and whatever teachers are there are no longer holding their vows or have little or no realization of the teachings. The preservation and propagation of the teachings and its practitioners depends solely upon the creation of authentic Dharma teachers/masters and scholars. Their training cannot be just on the scholarly but also on practice and realization arisen from practice. Whatever it is, monastics must always uphold their vows in order to keep the flame of the teachings alive.

It is very sad that in both countries, Buddhism has been integrated to be part of their cultural identity, much like the Tibetans, but without a leader to oversee, the lay practitioners do not have anyone to turn to for leadership and inspiration, hence, they have this problem. In Thailand, the Sangharaja precedes over all Buddhist matters, but this system is not found in Sri Lanka and myanmar. In a way, we can safely say that their degeneration is caused by the lack of a system to protect the people and to lead them to prevent them from misconstructing Buddhism.

[RedLantern]

Dalai Lama speaks the truth.The Buddha and our Guru preach against violence and to promote peace and harmony.However Dalai Lama said in a recent interview with the Canadian News Broadcast that for example some violence may be necessary in the short term but it should be a last resort.
What is happening has little to do with religion as both religion are supposed to be religion of peace.The government should lead their country by Buddhist principles and not use the militant way.Action is neither violent or non-violent -it simply is.One must do what one must do with the right heart.

[dondrup]

The behaviours of the Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka are appalling.  How could they call themselves Buddhists when they had attacked, harmed and killed the Muslims in their respective countries?  Their actions had caused disrepute to Buddhism that advocates kindness and compassion towards all sentient beings!

It came a bit too late for Buddhist leaders like His Holiness the Dalai Lama to voice out their concern over the situation in Myanmar and Sri Lanka now.  Much damage had been done. Furthermore HH Dalai Lama has no authority over the Buddhists in both the countries concerned. 

To address the disharmony and conflict, both the countries’ respective governments and local spiritual leaders must restore law and order, harmony and eradicate whatever misunderstanding between the Buddhists and the Muslims. 

[Benny]

As far as i am concerned those people committing these crimes are no longer buddhists , how could they when they break the most fundamental vow of not killing ? Lets not be led to believe that this is a religious conflict , it is merely another barbaric act fuel by hate politics and selfishness . We should never allow , religion to be linked in anyway with war , i personally do not believe in wars , especially those that are waged in the name of religion !

However , many wars have been waged in the name of religion in human history . This is the most vile and evil type of propaganda , as religion is a powerful " weapon " used by the worst of humanity. Let us pray for peace to prevail and reject all forms of religious fanaticism and perversion.

[fruven]

When we use religion to do violence we are using it for our own personal agenda. Religious teachings taught us to be kind, showing respect to others, living in harmony. Instead if we choose to live our lives the opposite of the teachings and claiming it is in the named of religion we are using it as a cover to achieve our own goals. This is not religion anymore. If we use violence to justify violence then what is non-violence, and peace? There is no more peace.

Here Dalai Lama is giving another method of how to view others if we are believer and called ourselves Buddhist. "When they[we] develop some sort of negative emotions toward the Muslim community, then please think (of) the face of Buddha."

[Ensapa]

The behaviours of the Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka are appalling.  How could they call themselves Buddhists when they had attacked, harmed and killed the Muslims in their respective countries?  Their actions had caused disrepute to Buddhism that advocates kindness and compassion towards all sentient beings!

It came a bit too late for Buddhist leaders like His Holiness the Dalai Lama to voice out their concern over the situation in Myanmar and Sri Lanka now.  Much damage had been done. Furthermore HH Dalai Lama has no authority over the Buddhists in both the countries concerned. 

To address the disharmony and conflict, both the countries’ respective governments and local spiritual leaders must restore law and order, harmony and eradicate whatever misunderstanding between the Buddhists and the Muslims.

Well, to be fair, no other Buddhist leader in the world has talked about the violence and how wrong it is for these two groups to rampage against others. They kept quiet. At least we have to commend the Dalai Lama for speaking the right thing, but it is somewhat hypocritical to a degree as he is promoting the same kind of violence and discrimination in his backyard against Dorje Shugden followers. It would be more interesting if the Dalai Lama would stop the discrimination against Dorje Shugden by speaking up against it "I said not practice, not discriminate against" and that would be cool.

[Midakpa]

Although Buddhism is rapidly growing throughout Asia, it has also become more militant in certain areas, especially in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It is shocking to see monks actually taking a political role, picking up arms to defend their beliefs. It resembles Muslim fundamentalism, only they stop short of terrorism.

According to Jim Holt, a religion professor at Bowdoin College, the rise of this more activist form of Buddhism "is an instance of the wider politicization of religion worldwide". In India, the Bahujan Samaj Party founded by Dalits (Untouchables) who converted to Buddhism now control Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monks serve in Parliament under the banner of the ultranationalist JHU party. The JHU supported a military crackdown on Tamil fighters during the uprising. In Thailand, a group called the Dharma Army associated with the Buddhist sect "Santi Asoke" is very active in national politics and helped to bring down Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during massive street demonstrations in 2006.

I feel that it is very important to keep politics out of religion in order to avoid violence and inter-ethnic conflicts. It is the responsibility of Buddhist religious leaders to teach non-violence and spread peace and harmony among the ethnic communities in their countries.

[Ensapa]

Although Buddhism is rapidly growing throughout Asia, it has also become more militant in certain areas, especially in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It is shocking to see monks actually taking a political role, picking up arms to defend their beliefs. It resembles Muslim fundamentalism, only they stop short of terrorism.

According to Jim Holt, a religion professor at Bowdoin College, the rise of this more activist form of Buddhism "is an instance of the wider politicization of religion worldwide". In India, the Bahujan Samaj Party founded by Dalits (Untouchables) who converted to Buddhism now control Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monks serve in Parliament under the banner of the ultranationalist JHU party. The JHU supported a military crackdown on Tamil fighters during the uprising. In Thailand, a group called the Dharma Army associated with the Buddhist sect "Santi Asoke" is very active in national politics and helped to bring down Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during massive street demonstrations in 2006.

I feel that it is very important to keep politics out of religion in order to avoid violence and inter-ethnic conflicts. It is the responsibility of Buddhist religious leaders to teach non-violence and spread peace and harmony among the ethnic communities in their countries.

People are still people, but somehow if they kind of mixed buddhism with their cultural identity, it is more or less expected that things like that will happen. These people have sadly mixed Buddhism with their cultural identity or with their selfish individual pursuits but use the name of Buddhism to mislead others and well, the results are violence and the like. CTA is also one of them where they encourage self immolations in addition to imposing an unfair Dorje Shugden ban on the Tibetans and this has also a ripple effect on the westerners that they have an influence on where they openly discriminate against Dorje Shugden practitioners and create trouble for them.

[kris]

It is indeed very sad to see what has happened Myanmar and Sri Langka, it is even more so since these two countries has strong influence of Buddhism for so many years. These violent incidents should not even happen in the first place as Buddhism teaches us to be accommodating and patience.

Since these incidents are made know of the world, HH Dalai Lama (and his teams) has been very quiet about this, and now finally they made a stand.

We should work on a solution to solve this issue VERY soon..

[Ensapa]

It is indeed very sad to see what has happened Myanmar and Sri Langka, it is even more so since these two countries has strong influence of Buddhism for so many years. These violent incidents should not even happen in the first place as Buddhism teaches us to be accommodating and patience.

Since these incidents are made know of the world, HH Dalai Lama (and his teams) has been very quiet about this, and now finally they made a stand.

We should work on a solution to solve this issue VERY soon..

There is no real solution to the problem unless there is a figure that is there to govern Buddhism. There is supposed to be a Dhammaraja in Sri Lanka that regulates Buddhist affairs in Sri Lanka, but i guess they were too entrenched with their culture and race to actually be able to see that Buddhism is actually not their culture and they are separate things together. So this is the part that allows this sort of nonsense to happen and misrepresent Buddhism in the long run. I am not sure if there is such a system in place to regulate Myanmar tho, but it does appear to be the exact same problem.

[diablo1974]

Buddhists are well known anti-violence religious practitioner, the acts of violence in the present ordained buddhists in myanmar and Sri lanka are not due a single event or riot/breakout that causes them to act in violence. From my point of view, it has to do with the social instability in these two countries including poverty. Especially in Myanmar, most people are surpressed by the military ruling in their speech and actions, even if there are adequate public education for the people, most are still struggling to survive for three meals a day.

[Ensapa]

Buddhists are well known anti-violence religious practitioner, the acts of violence in the present ordained buddhists in myanmar and Sri lanka are not due a single event or riot/breakout that causes them to act in violence. From my point of view, it has to do with the social instability in these two countries including poverty. Especially in Myanmar, most people are surpressed by the military ruling in their speech and actions, even if there are adequate public education for the people, most are still struggling to survive for three meals a day.

This isnt a religious issue but a race one, like what I have said before, but to sensationalize it it was made into a religious one.In Myanmar, it is clearly a racist issue where the majority of the rakhines oppose the minority rogiyas. The situation at sri lanka is slightly different, but it still centers around the idea of the supremacy of a certain race but unfortunately Buddhism was also used as part of the racial identity and it was used to re-enforce the racial identity of a certain race. Luckily, many people in Sri Lanka as well are speaking up against this group and the high monks of the Myanmar sangha has also spoken out against this.