Buddhist monks stormed a mosque?

zenff

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=43,10852,0,0,1,0

PTI, April 21, 2012
Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Thousands of Buddhist monks and their supporters stormed a mosque in Sri Lanka's north central town of Dambulla to protest its construction in an area designated as a Buddhist sacred zone.
About 2,000 protesters, including 300 monks, waiving Buddhist flags and shouting slogans on Friday marched from the Dambulla town to the mosque at Kandalama a few kilometers away.

Sounds unreal, doesn’t it? Not so peaceful!
I’d like to see some TV coverage of it
And what on earth is a Buddhist "sacred zone”?

federica

It's a well-known fact that those involved in uprisings, purporting to be Buddhist Monks - are often nothing of the kind.
It's happened in Tibet, and I'm sure elsewhere where there is a supposedly high presence of Buddhist monks, and social, domestic and political upheaval/unrest/turmoil..

Also, I believe - though I could be wrong - that monks in Sri Lanka are often simply men "doing their stint" as monks, with a view to returning to lay life later. Ordination is temporary - it's almost like compulsory military service, if you get the comparison.

But all of the above is speculation.
I just thought I would add it for measure....

zenff

The TV coverage is here:
http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/monks-laymen-in-sri-lanka-protest-erecting-mosque-hindu-temple-inside-buddhist-sacred-zone/

@federica The monks look real to me.

federica

the Chinese soldiers dressed as monks in Tibet also looked real.

How do you define 'a real monk'...? :scratch:

Dakini

Isn't Sri Lanka where there are clashes between Buddhists and others over politics? Isn't there serious racial tension in Sri Lanka, going back decades, that involves the Buddhist community? Monks aren't universally peaceful all the time, that's historical fact. Stuff happens.

zenff

@fedrica I didn’t find such an accusation made in this case. Chinese suppression of Tibet is something else.
Ordained people in robes are monks to me (at least in this context).

I admired the “Saffron Revolution” of 2007 in Myanmar. Monks stuck out their necks for the wellbeing of their people.
But is this incident (much smaller fortunately) in Sri Lanka, monks show religious intolerance. That I find appaling really.

Cinorjer

Isn't Sri Lanka where there are clashes between Buddhists and others over politics? Isn't there serious racial tension in Sri Lanka, going back decades, that involves the Buddhist community? Monks aren't universally peaceful all the time, that's historical fact. Stuff happens.

This is from what I've read over the years about the sad state of Sri Lanka, not personal experience. If anyone has better information, please correct me.

Sri Lanka does allow temporary ordination, but that's not popular like other cultures over there. The King was a monk briefly as a young man, for instance. In this case, Buddhism is politically powerful and the higher Buddhist offices are strongly tied to the secular political ones, with both office holders coming from the same families and caste and working together. Buddhism is the official religion of the state, supported and given preferential treatment and defended by the state against other caste defined religions like Islam. Increasingly, the monks are seen as a resource for the authorities and anyone (from the right families) can become a monk by simply applying.

Thus the Buddhist temples and their monks have gotten involved in a simmering civil war that is more about equality and economics than religion. For instance, recently the prime minister himself announced a push to ordain at least 2600 young boys as monks in one year, from age 10. His reason? To lift the boys out of poverty. Given the pressure on the lay family from the local community and authorities, this amounts to a draft of poor children taken from their parents and raised in the temples. The children of well to do families will certainly not be pressured by the authorities. It was roundly condemned.

So it's a mess. Think of it as Tibet religious rule without the offices of secular and high lama combined, but both acting together. Somewhere in there, the teachings have to be suffering.

Oh, and according to some news sources, the mosque in this case has been there for fifty years, and the Buddhists are claiming the entire town it sits in to be a holy city now.

I see this as about like the Irish "Catholic-Protestant" civil war. Very little to do with the religions but just a handy way to choose sides.

Invincible_summer

Monks are still people, that's all I have to say really.

federica

Ordained people in robes are monks to me (at least in this context).

I agree.My point is, that simply because someone dons robes, it doesn't make them an ordained monk.
And as @Cinorjer has so succinctly explained, it seems that being ordained as a monk is not as pious and noble a vocation as one might hope, there....

But is this incident (much smaller fortunately) in Sri Lanka, monks show religious intolerance. That I find appaling really.

I find any person showing religious intolerance appalling, regardless.

Tosh

I think this situation runs a lot deeper than merely religious intolerance. I've just been reading and it's history sounds as complicated as that in Northern Ireland where 'Catholic' was fighting 'Protestant', but really those fighting were not religious. And labels such as Republican could be used for Catholic and Loyalist for Protestant.

RichardH

Don't know about that report.. but in Sri Lanka Buddhism merges with nationalist politics. They are only human after all.... no more beyond that kind of thing than anyone else. Buddhism merged with nationalist politics in Imperial Japan. It is in an heroic way in Tibet.

caz

Would Muslims allow the Building of a Buddhist temple in Mecca or Medina ? Dont forget Islam has been the biggest persecutor of Buddhism what do you think happened to Buddhism in India or Afghanistan ?

Dakini

The bit about drafting boys from poor families was extremely controversial, due to chronic complaints and lawsuits about sexual abuse of the boys. I didn't realize it was so many, though. The other reason for drafting them was that there's some concern on the part of the King that Buddhism may eventually disappear in Sri Lanka, because fewer monks were ordaining. I think a law had been passed prohibiting children from becoming novices, and there'd been a sudden drop-off in the number of monks ordaining and following all the way through with the monastic education. So the King summarily decided to draft those boys.

Would Muslims allow the Building of a Buddhist temple in Mecca or Medina ? Dont forget Islam has been the biggest persecutor of Buddhism what do you think happened to Buddhism in India or Afghanistan ?

What is the point, here? An eye for an eye? And given that the city in Sri Lanka only recently was declared a holy city, while the mosque has been there for 50 years, the analogy doesn't wash, anyway.

zenff

Would Muslims allow the Building of a Buddhist temple in Mecca or Medina ?

No, probably not.
So this mosque shouldn’t be allowed in the village of Kandalama and now we’re even?

Dont forget Islam has been the biggest persecutor of Buddhism what do you think happened to Buddhism in India or Afghanistan ?

Okay this is off topic but the decline of Buddhism in India is not simply the result of Muslim persecution. It was weak and in decline already when they got there :

Chinese scholars traveling through the region between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, such as Faxian, Xuanzang, Yijing, Huisheng, and Song Yun, began to speak of a decline of the Buddhist sangha, especially in the wake of the White Hun invasion.[2] A continuing decline occurred after the fall of the Pala dynasty in the 12th century CE, continuing with the later destruction of monasteries by Muslim invaders.[2]
Buddhism was especially vulnerable to hostile rulers because it lacked strong roots in society as most of its adherents were ascetic communities.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Buddhism_in_India

I find it heard to believe you're serious @caznamyaw

vinlyn

It's a well-known fact that those involved in uprisings, purporting to be Buddhist Monks - are often nothing of the kind.
It's happened in Tibet, and I'm sure elsewhere where there is a supposedly high presence of Buddhist monks, and social, domestic and political upheaval/unrest/turmoil..

Also, I believe - though I could be wrong - that monks in Sri Lanka are often simply men "doing their stint" as monks, with a view to returning to lay life later. Ordination is temporary - it's almost like compulsory military service, if you get the comparison.

But all of the above is speculation.
I just thought I would add it for measure....

I think you make a good point, at least of the possibility. Leading up to and during the Thai riots there were charges that fake monks were involved, as well as charges that real monks were involved. I don't think I ever read that any conclusion had been determined, although it is my guess that both sides were simply using the scenario to discredit the other side.

vinlyn

Would Muslims allow the Building of a Buddhist temple in Mecca or Medina ? Dont forget Islam has been the biggest persecutor of Buddhism what do you think happened to Buddhism in India or Afghanistan ?

Ah, how many Buddhists live in Mecca?????

caz

My point was its a cultural attitude.

vinlyn

And that's my point too. Since there are no Buddhists living in Mecca, that would simply be an in-your-face action...which would not be very Buddhist at all.

caz

And that's my point too. Since there are no Buddhists living in Mecca, that would simply be an in-your-face action...which would not be very Buddhist at all.

Gee is it unknown for Buddhists to be Hypocrites ? :P