Buddhist monks take out a peace rally to protest against Bodh Gaya blasts

[Ensapa]

yeah but what can a rally like this really do?

Hundreds of people, including Buddhists monks, on Monday took out a peace rally in Nagpur to protest against the July 7 serial blasts in Bihar's Bodh Gaya Temple. Clad in white attire, the monks, along with members of other communities, including Sikhs and Christians, gathered near the life-size statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at RBI Square on busy Nagpur-Jabalpur Road and took out the rally after paying tributes to the late Dalit leader.
A number of Dalit activists also joined the rally though no political party was involved in it. Chandrakant Wasnik, a Dalit activist, said even after three weeks the Bihar Government has failed to nab the culprits responsible for the terror attack on one of the holiest Buddhist shrines.

Local units of Akhil Bhartiya Bhikku Sangh and Akhil Bhartiya Bikshuni Sangh had taken the lead in organising the protest march.

[Ensapa]

Related news:

July 28, 2013
Jihadists Bombing the Buddhists
By Bill Warner

 
The jihadists -- on this occasion the Indian Mujahadeen -- are at it again. On a Sunday in July nine bombs went off in Buddhism's most sacred place, Bodh Gaya in India. The jihadists said the bombing was in retaliation for the Buddhists resisting jihad in Myanmar. This would be the equivalent of bombing the Wailing Wall, St. Paul's Cathedral, Bethlehem or the Kabbah. But, since Buddhists are the least political of all religions, the media barely noticed.
This jihad attack may have long term consequences for jihad, due to favorable attitudes toward and perceptions of Buddhists, and who Buddhists are. Buddhism is the pet religion of the media, Leftists, Progressives and Liberals, and even those who are right of center find it hard to dislike Buddhism. Buddhism is truly the religion of peace, not like that other "religion of peace" with the jihad doctrine and 1400 years of conquest.
But the Left and Liberals are also the apologists for Islam, and one of the ways apologists deny the brutality of Islam is to attack its victims as somehow deserving of the jihadist attacks. When Christians are killed every week by jihadists, the leftist types justify it because of the Crusades and other wars by nations that are primarily Christian. When 30 Christian children are murdered in Nigeria, it is considered payback for the Crusades. (The Crusades lasted for 300 years and the last one was 800 years ago.) And any Jews killed are payback for the purported Israeli persecution of the so-called Palestinians. Put another way, the apologists for Islam figure that most of those who are killed in jihad deserve it.
So, the apologists for Islam are in a quandary. Jihad is hurting Buddhists, but it would be bigoted to complain about it. The denial machine is set to spin -- those jihadists were not real Muslims or else they were just a few crazies.
A second problem for the apologists is their theory that if Muslims are treated right, they won't be violent. This is the "treat the Palestinians right and they will do right" theory of dealing with Islam. This gets expanded to the theory that all Islamic violence is due to how the Palestinians are treated. Well, bombing Buddhists in India has no connection to Palestine.
Many Buddhists are absolute pacifists who hold to the "if you do good, good will come to you" school of politics. The problem is that such Buddhists usually cannot figure out why Muslims believe that being a Buddhist is evil. They may be ignorant of Islamic doctrine that says that the only good that can come out of a Buddhist is submission to Islam.
Buddhist doctrine holds that we need both compassion and wisdom. But the wisdom aspect does not seem to be highlighted when the Dalai Lama says that the attacks are "very sad" while noting that it could be an act of a "few individuals" and "shouldn't be considered something serious."
If the Dalai Lama would pick up the clue phone, he would hear this: "Hello, the Buddhism that you practice, Vajrayana Buddhism, came from the Swat Valley in Afghanistan and where is Buddhism now? It has been annihilated from Afghanistan by jihadists. That same doctrine of jihad is annihilating Buddhists in Thailand today. Is that sad enough for you?" Jihad seeks to annihilate all religions in the territory that Muslims enter. And that should be considered as something serious.
But bombing Bodh Gaya has a down side for the jihadists. A few of the usual apologists may decide that if jihad means bombing Buddhists, then maybe, just maybe, there is something fundamentally wrong with Islam. Islam's apologists have a lot more trouble in justifying the justice of jihad against Buddhists since the jihad is against their own political alliance.
So bombing Buddhists may be a tactical victory, but it could a long-term strategic error but, only if the Buddhists and the apologists pay attention to murder of their own.

Bill Warner, Director-Center for the Study of Political Islam [email protected]; www.politicalislam.com

[Rihanna]

Protests in such nature will only flare up more violence which is the last thing we want. Conflicts among religion sects should not be growing as devotees need to calm down and not the matter develop into more violence act. Ism't this the essence of all religion ie peace and harmony??

It can be very devastating as such attacks will only hurt the innocent civilians and will lead to a more serious stage. Violence fuels violence. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, says Mahatma Gandhi.

No real religion in the world would teach its devotees to hurt another fellow being and should be corrected if there is any.  I hope the conflicting parties can reach to an agreement where no more violence will be inflicted upon themselves and the innocent public. This is where the government need  to step in and be level headed to resolve this issue.

[pgdharma]

This is so sad. Protests like this even though it’s peaceful will incite hatred and anger. Of all the moral precepts instilled in Buddhist monks the promise not to kill comes first, and the principle of non-violence is arguably more central to Buddhism than any other major religion.

Verse five of the Dhammapada tells us that: "Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an eternal rule." The objective of Buddhist meditation is to produce a state of "loving kindness" for all beings. The monks should be praying for peace and harmony.

I hope that there will be an increase in security to prevent further attacks and destruction to such a holy site

[RedLantern]

Buddhist monkhood evolved to propagate the teachings of Buddha.The basic concepts of Buddhism are tolerance and pacifism.In recent times Buddhist monkhood has become a profession and the monks have started to propagate the spectre of the danger to the survival of Buddhism.Those who have'nt venture a little bit further in the "teachings" of Buddha are aware that a) everything changes and nothing stays the same.
b)Those take up arms will always perish from the arms.Buddhist are aware that they are not required to turn the other cheek and free to fight injustice,the principal of Karma is indeed in action.

[DS Star]

Buddhist monkhood evolved to propagate the teachings of Buddha.The basic concepts of Buddhism are tolerance and pacifism.In recent times Buddhist monkhood has become a profession and the monks have started to propagate the spectre of the danger to the survival of Buddhism. Those who have'nt venture a little bit further in the "teachings" of Buddha are aware that a) everything changes and nothing stays the same.
b)Those take up arms will always perish from the arms. Buddhist are aware that they are not required to turn the other cheek and free to fight injustice, the principal of Karma is indeed in action.

Dear Red Lantern, you are implying that the Buddhist monkhood had somehow becoming like a secular 'job' and that the monks are 'protecting' the survival of Buddhism, not unlike the commercial workers trying to protect a particular industry for the sake of their own survival?

I do agree that Buddhist ought not to turn the other cheeks and they have every right to fight injustice, but how they fight is very important. In this process of 'fighting for survival', there should not be any violence and there should not be any discrimination or victimization of any particular groups/ ethnics like the case in Myanmar.

I don't quite get it, what do you refer to as "the principal of Karma is indeed in action".