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Buddhist violence.
hermitwin
Veteran
The ugly side of Buddhists. What can you do to stop the spread Buddhist violence?
How can we explain to people that violence is the oppposite
of Buddha's teachings?
"ONE popular view of Buddhism is of a peaceable religion, some of whose devotees sweep brushes in front of them, so that they do not step on and destroy any living creature. Unfortunately there is another, far from placid side to some Buddhists which the Muslim world has had cause to see in recent years.
The genocidal attacks in Myanmar on the luckless Muslim Rohingya community by Buddhist fanatics was, until this week, the most high profile example of this bigotry. Now however Buddhist thugs have been at work in Sri Lanka. A mosque in the capital Colombo has been damaged and forced to close after violent attacks by Buddhist rioters."
How can we explain to people that violence is the oppposite
of Buddha's teachings?
"ONE popular view of Buddhism is of a peaceable religion, some of whose devotees sweep brushes in front of them, so that they do not step on and destroy any living creature. Unfortunately there is another, far from placid side to some Buddhists which the Muslim world has had cause to see in recent years.
The genocidal attacks in Myanmar on the luckless Muslim Rohingya community by Buddhist fanatics was, until this week, the most high profile example of this bigotry. Now however Buddhist thugs have been at work in Sri Lanka. A mosque in the capital Colombo has been damaged and forced to close after violent attacks by Buddhist rioters."
0
Comments
Just remember a hypocrite can wear robes or a humble turban and advocate hatred and people who are susceptible will be influenced.
We can be kind Christians, not members of the Spanish Inqusition. We can only practice and advocate the heart of our own knowing . . . not the heart of hatred, ignorance and self interested frenzy.
We can only be and spread a better example to the best of our potential.
Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
Monty Python
So for one i think its important to recognize that.
And we can take it further. What are people wielded by?
Negative emotions.
What are negative emotions wielded by?
Ignorance of what causes suffering and what relieves suffering.
So how can we help the situation? By knowing without a doubt in ourselves what suffering is and how to end it.
And by becoming a living example of this, not some idea or religion but by showing other humans how one gets free then there won't be silly humans being wielded by emotions which are wielded by their ignorance.
I will respect anybodies right to call themselves Buddhists as long as they respect my right not to call them Buddhists.
I mean are these really the acts of Buddhist Monastics?
Really really really?
If it is then please explain to me how. Thanks.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jathika_Hela_Urumaya
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (Sinhala: ජාතික හෙළ උරුමය, often approximated in English as National Heritage Party) is a political party in Sri Lanka which is led by Buddhist monks.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_violence
During the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009), Buddhist monks urged the government to take aggressive stances against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).[20] Dr. Tessa Bartholomeusz, Professor at the Department of Religion, of Florida State University writes in her book In Defense of Dharma: Just-War Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka; that prominent Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka advocate a "Just war ideology" against LTTE.[20]
A Buddhist fundamentalist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), had expressed concerns about the growth of Muslim's economy in Sri Lanka, and urged the fellow Buddhist to boycott such products manufactured and sold at Muslim's retail chains. In response to the appeal in March 2013, a bhikkhu led a mob of hundreds of Buddhists to attack a retail chain lead by Muslim owner in Colombo. The BBS had organized a moral unofficial police team to check the activities of Christian missionaries and Muslim influence in daily life.[10][21][22] A Buddhist mob also attacked a Colombo mosque in August 2013.[23]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22356306
And that one of the major barriers to seeing the truth of that is to be born into a culture that substitutes for 'turning about' a cultural identity.
Which is probably part of what Ajahn Chah meant when he said that for the sake of Dhamma it was neccessary for it to come to the west.
And what's the big deal about the Mosque? All of them should be removed and replaced with more useful buildings than hate preaching institutions.
It comes with birth, old age. disease & death.
Oh excuse me! Could folks who claim to be Buddhist while doing violence to others overseas be any less violent than me remaining silent about my own countries export of violence?
I just think that folks who wish to point out what a Buddhist is or is not, should start that examination process first in front of the closest mirror.
where do you want to start destroying the mosques?
such foolish comments only incite more violence.
Hatred is never quelled by hatred.
This is the eternal law.
~ Dhammapada.
To categorise all mosques as hate preaching institutions is a somewhat bigoted stance and it is factually incorrect.
Mosques are places where mostly muslims congregate - otherwise they are just buildings.
Are you proposing therefore to 'remove' the muslims?
may all sentient beings be happy in themselves.
And the trap of -- two wrongs don't make a right. People of another religion doing wrong things does not make Buddhists doing wrong things alright.
There are people who identify as Muslim who do not exemplify Islam, either.
So on with Christians. Some of them use the words of Jesus and God to perpetuate their hate. They are Christians who do not exemplify Christianity.
I don't think we can simply say "You misunderstand the teachings so you are not Buddhist/Muslim/Christian." What they are is as identified by them. The labeling of other people is part of the huge problem in our world.
"I am a Buddhist."
"No you aren't. You drink beer/smoke pot/kill bugs/cuss."
True, committing violence isn't the same as drinking a beer or killing a hornet, but they are against the teachings of Buddha just the same. Someone who doesn't follow the Dharma perfectly isn't a Buddhist? Then I guess that means none of us are.
@TheEccentric I find it interesting that you are railing against the bombing of Buddhist temples yet advocate getting rid of mosques. The vast majority of the millions of Muslims are good people. Not terrorists. One of my good friends is Muslim, and is raising his family in North Dakota. They are no different from my family. The only violence in their lives is committed against them in the form of harmful words thrown at them and their small children. Islam is not the problem. Problematic, ignorant people who claim to follow Islam are the problem. Just like the problematic, ignorant people found in every single other religion on the planet.
I think the situation there is probably similar to Myanmar. Because they are born in a Buddhist home, they think they are Buddhists.
Also, I don't like name calling of media such as Islamic terrorists, Buddhist fanatics... They use these nasty inflammatory words in order to sell newspapers! If you are a real Buddhist fanatic, you will spend all your waking hours to meditate.
I'd say no, and if these attackers were buddhists, then I'd like to know what their practice consisted of.
Now, how does that go down with you?
Are you thinking, well who is vinlyn to decide whether or not I am a Buddhist? Who gave him any authority to decide that?
That's exactly my point. I have no authority to decide that. You have no authority to decide if someone in Burma is a Buddhist.
Now, in the Catholic Church, there is someone who can make such decisions. Someone who can excommunicate you. But even then, it's left up to a particularly authority.
How much of the Eightfold Path (since you brought it up) does one have to not follow to not be a Buddhist?
Now if you said, "They're not operating based on Buddhist principles," then I'd say, "Okay, that's true."
Now, I accept you are a Buddhist because you say you're a Buddhist. Even when I do not agree with you about a Buddhist principle, I still assume you're a Buddhist.
Does it upset you when I say that a non-practicing buddhist is not really a buddhist? If someone calls themself an athlete, but never practices, then they might give themself this label (I don't mind), but I would not agree with them. No big deal. Now if there were a newspaper article saying that athletes are about as healthy as everyone else, and it turned out that that "athletes" in this case includes people who never practice sports, I would make a similar remark. I think that's impossible to say, just as it is impossible to define the dividing line between a mountain and a hill. Still it makes sense to talk about mountains and hills, and everyone would agree that Kilimanjaro is a mountain and a 50 meter high hill could not be called a mountain.
Best regards,
Maarten