The Rise In Buddhist Violence: How Does Theology Explain It?

[silas]

Just saw this article. Does anyone understand how Buddhist theology views the conflict in Myanmar?

 

Buddhist monks incite Muslim killings in Myanmar

[adept]

That's terrible !

All the talk of peace, non-violence, precepts, wisdom, insight etc seems contradictory.

Buddhism, just like any man-made organized religion, is a means to control the masses.

I've lost all faith in organized religions, all of them.

Instead it's more wiser to look to the natural world as a teacher. That way, you know what you're getting and won't be disappointed.

[RongzomFan]

Does anyone understand how Buddhist theology views the conflict in Myanmar?

 

Buddhism is vast.

[RongzomFan]

Buddhism, just like any man-made organized religion, is a means to control the masses.

I've lost all faith in organized religions, all of them.

 

 

Buddhism is definitely not an organized religion. There is no pope of Buddhism.

 

And I think Buddhism is a divine religion, not "man-made".

[adept]

There may be no pope, but there's still a hierarchy and rules handed down over the generations by lama's, priests, abbott's etc etc.

The original message, as in all religions, has been corrupted by the hand of man.

[RongzomFan]

There may be no pope, but there's still a hierarchy and rules handed down over the generations by lama's, priests, abbott's etc etc.

 

I think you are confusing serious Buddhism with general common Buddhism.

[adept]

What is the difference ?

[voidisyinyang]

Just saw this article. Does anyone understand how Buddhist theology views the conflict in Myanmar?

 

Buddhist monks incite Muslim killings in Myanmar

 

I was co-founder of the Free Burma Coalition in my state so I worked with the Burmese refugees.

 

My Burmese friend repeatedly emailed me rabid anti-Muslim propaganda. The last email I sent him was a reply to propaganda he sent - I sent a link demonstrating that the photo was faked.

 

So the Burmese community -- the Buddhists -- are spreading hateful lies about Muslims.

 

But the Burmese also have a history of dominating the other minorities -- the ethnic minorities - for example the Karen converted to Christianity - but the military regime of Burma, also Buddhist based, takes after the British colonialism in its heinous tactics.

 

So really the problem is a battle between patriarchal religions in my opinion. It's similar to the partition of India between Muslims and Hindus -- the British colonial tradition was passed onto the new "freedom fighters" of India which took on the British tactics of massacres.

 

In Sri Lanka the Buddhist monks had weapons in the monasteries in the war against the Tamils.

 

Or you can consider Buddhism in fascist Japan or the Buddhist tension with the Taoists in China.

 

Buddhism is an imperialist religion. For example the Burmese military follows "power meditation" while the democracy movement follows vipassana - the power meditation is full lotus forest style while vipassana is more just mind yoga.

 

So the military regime uses slaves to build new meditation centers in Burma to attract Western spiritual tourists who go to Burma to meditate -- doing Buddhist meditation in slave-built religious centers.

 

So in Thailand it is the job of the Buddhists to go "convert" the tribal ethnicities and the same is true in Burma.

 

And so the military regimes then fund these conversions -- using donations, etc.

 

The monasteries in Burma are now more run by the secular community -- as part of the supposed democratization - but what this causes is less focus on meditation.

 

Because only a real meditation master can ensure the proper focus on meditation but if the functioning of a monastery is overseen by the laypersons then the laypersons emphasize charity work and education teaching by the monks. So then the monks lose their samadhi meditation capabilties and the monks are easily misled by propaganda, etc.

 

The logic of Buddhism is "neti, neti" or "neither this, neither that" - which means Buddhism is based on "proof by contradiction" - it is the same logic as Western science. So this means Buddhism can more easily be assimilated into Western military mindsets in contrast to the older more direct logic of "logical inference."

 

Language used to be tonal based before it became focused on writing - which is left brain dominant. Left brain dominance shuts off the mind from conscious transformation of the lower emotions so the mind becomes possessed by anger, fear, lust, etc.

 

And so even in Nepal - this is called "sankritization" when the local tribes try to become Buddhist monks - so they become vegetarian, etc.

 

It is part of an urbanization trend.

Edited April 8, 2013 by pythagoreanfulllotus

[RongzomFan]

I was going to respond to this post, but it is just a bunch of crap.

[XieJia]

just too many times that the different in beliefs have been used to promote the agendas of few.

 

Religions is not to be blame but the people using it are.

[taijistudent]

I think the answer lies in that there is a bit of everything in all of us. The problems of all people exist everywhere. There is no escape. It is a matter of learning how to live with all that humans are and are capable of.

[gendao]

Just saw this article. Does anyone understand how Buddhist theology views the conflict in Myanmar?

 

Buddhist monks incite Muslim killings in Myanmar

Sounds like it was actually instigated by Muslims, but nonetheless the Burmese Buddhists lacked the understanding and tools to resolve their own inner conflicts manifesting as outer conflicts with the Muslims. So, instead resorted to violently attacking their own reflections like a kitty swiping at itself in the mirror...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCinHXHOmWg

[Seth Ananda]

People are not perfect, and Buddhists are people.

 

Considering how many Muslims groups are behaving through the large belt of Asian countries, it should be of no surprise when humans regularly fail to live up to their favoured peaceful philosophy. Only the greatest masters from any tradition have total control of their reactions in the face of murder/extermination/theft/rape/torture...

 

Sitting back smugly, where nothing is happening to you, and whinging about some Buddhists reacting as humans is rather stupid.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Fear short-circuiting wisdom is the cause of these things, not the dharma.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Harmonious Emptiness

[Vmarco]

I vote that this thread, a pro-Muslim view, go to the pit. Overall, from stories I've read, the Muslim minority of Myanmar, who by the way, own the majority of the Country's private wealth, and treat Buddhists like scum infidels, are quite oppressive towards Buddhists in daily life.

 

This latest clash was fueled by two incidents,...first involved a Buddhist woman attempting to sell a gold hair piece, worth an equivalent of $200 in gold. The creepy Muslim merchant would only pay $100,...and as the woman attempted to counter for $120, the merchanct sneakily damaged the piece, and in traditional Muslim form, offered $50. The police were called, and the Muslim got caught in their unconscionable act,...which riled the Muslims to initiate incident number 2,...that of 4 Muslim males attacking, and then setting fire to a Buddhist monk. Next thing you know,...the world is condemning Buddhists for retaliating.

 

The way I see it,...Muslims invaded Myanmar in the 14th Century,...and it's now time to purge the Country of this disease. I personally like to see the religion of the pedophile Prophet removed from all of Asia,...and along with Judeao-Christianity, obliterated from the world.

[voidisyinyang]

Two wrongs don't make a right! haha.

 

The Burmese military owns most of the wealth of "Myanmar" - the name of the country is not recognized by the masses since it was a name chosen by the military regime which took over in 1962.

 

So it's fun to see the Buddhists get all angry and reactionary. haha.

 

Just because it's o.k. to criticize Buddhism does not mean anyone favors Islam.

 

Obviously it's easy to generalize - but any violence based on religion is just inherently wrong.

 

We can say Buddhism is not like Islam but the spread of Buddhism originally depended on a military expansion, just as was the case with Islam.

 

The real problem is patriarchy with male ejaculation addiction causing cortisol spikes which then creates a dopamine positive feedback cycle.

 

People just don't understand psychophysiology -- so people think violence is testosterone but actually it's from dopamine -- and then the ejaculation switches the dopamine to cortisol.

 

So within Islam there are various factions that disagree more or less depending on the individual - -just as with Christianity -- and the same is true with Buddhism.

 

Burma is probably the poorest, most violent country in the world -- in terms of the military regime. Arguably the U.S. funded genocide of central america is on the same level - as with El Salvador for example.

 

O.K. a great background on how British colonialism has created the military regime in Burma -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g97dxvhDrjI

[thelerner]

I vote that this thread, a pro-Muslim view, go to the pit. Overall, from stories I've read, the Muslim minority of Myanmar, who by the way, own the majority of the Country's private wealth, and treat Buddhists like scum infidels, are quite oppressive towards Buddhists in daily life.

 

This latest clash was fueled by two incidents,...first involved a Buddhist woman attempting to sell a gold hair piece, worth an equivalent of $200 in gold. The creepy Muslim merchant would only pay $100,...and as the woman attempted to counter for $120, the merchanct sneakily damaged the piece, and in traditional Muslim form, offered $50. The police were called, and the Muslim got caught in their unconscionable act,...which riled the Muslims to initiate incident number 2,...that of 4 Muslim males attacking, and then setting fire to a Buddhist monk. Next thing you know,...the world is condemning Buddhists for retaliating.

 

The way I see it,...Muslims invaded Myanmar in the 14th Century,...and it's now time to purge the Country of this disease. I personally like to see the religion of the pedophile Prophet removed from all of Asia,...and along with Judeao-Christianity, obliterated from the world.

I second putting it in the pit, mostly because of your comment. This is text book on how to incite people. Take a nasty incident and use as an example to 'purge the Country of this disease'. The answer is not obliterating anyone. Live and let live, not easy. Blessed are the peace makers, but they're out numbered by those who throw gasoline to further their prejudices.

 

I heard about this incident on Public Radio. It was followed up by a Myamar Buddhist leader calling for peace on all sides.

Edited April 9, 2013 by thelerner

[voidisyinyang]

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/18/burma_vj_reporting_from_a_closed

 

Umm I just want to emphasize -- how bad it is in Burma.

 

If there are more than five people gathered in the street then they are hauled off into prison.

 

You can watch the above doc on netflix - Burma VJ reporting - video journalists use satellite to get out footage of the military thugs massacuring people.

 

It's pretty graphic - like when a Japanese journalist gets shot in the head -- because he had a video camera on the street.

 

The Burmese media get killed off or flee through the jungle into Thailand, etc.

 

My Burmese friend was forced to flee through the jungle into Thailand -- no wonder he hates Muslims - it's just a psychological PTSD reaction from deep seated trauma.

 

People's brains break down from cortisol damage of the neurons and so they get stressed out too easily and then they can't take in new information that enables diversity and compassion, etc.

 

 

 

KHIN MAUNG WIN: That immediate response came from the Japanese government. Japan is the biggest aid-giving country to the military junta. Only after their citizen is killed — it is proven on camera — they reacted by stopping the aid.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Japan stopped giving aid to Burma.

KHIN MAUNG WIN: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: To this day?

KHIN MAUNG WIN: Yeah.

Edited April 9, 2013 by pythagoreanfulllotus

[RongzomFan]

Research standard world history.

 

For example when Muslims invaded India and killed all the Buddhist monks they could, for example at Odantapuri.

 

Or when they destroyed the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan which were described by ancient pilgrims.

 

Or how Muslims in the UK are calling for sharia law, when they are not even the majority yet.

[Vmarco]

I second putting it in the pit, mostly because of your comment. This is text book on how to incite people. Take a nasty incident and use as an example to 'purge the Country of this disease'. The answer is not obliterating anyone.

 

Once more you've shown your inability to comprehend English. I never insinuated,...not even in the slightest,...to obliterate anyone,...nor would I. However, you clearly have a pattern of inciting, dare I say, hatred for others,...such as your above post,...pointing to VMarco as one who wants to obliterate people, when he was in fact pointing to the belief system of Islam,...not the people who believe it.

 

There will NEVER be peace through inter-faith,....through tolerance of beliefs,....but ONLY by letting go of beliefs.

 

Know Allah, no Peace; Gnow Peace, no Allah.

 

The Heart essence of life cannot be understood through theism. As Chogyam Trungpa said, "we need to let go of theism."

 

As for me,...I look forward to the Kalachakra War as soon as possible. Not that I'm for war,...but for most, like yourself, it will take war, both inner and out, to rid the world of belief systems that think people are their beliefs.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Vmarco

[Vmarco]

Research standard world history.

 

For example when Muslims invaded India and killed all the Buddhist monks they could, for example at Odantapuri.

 

Or when they destroyed the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan which were described by ancient pilgrims.

 

Or how Muslims in the UK are calling for sharia law, when they are not even the majority yet.

 

Islam in a nutshell....

Muslims unquestioningly accept the Shahada, that is, that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger. To understand the dynamics of that, simply ask a Muslim why he believes in the Qur’an, and he will say, "Because the Qur’an is the infallible words of Allah written by his prophet Muhammad." If you continue the inquiry and request that he divulge how he knows that Muhammad is Allah’s prophet, the Muslim will, without the slightest pondering, respond that he knows that Muhammad is Allah’s prophet because it says so right in the Qur’an. This is a faith-driven circular reasoning common to all three Abrahamic religions and their hundreds of denominations. They believe that their Holy Book is the correct Holy Book, and only their Holy Book correctly describes god.

 

Muhammad (570–632 CE), the Abrahamic teacher who, prompted by persecutions upon Arabs, such as those continued by Pope Gregory (540–604 CE), the Father of the Dark Ages, invented the Arab version of monotheism. Interestingly, this new religion supplied the pedophile prophet with many attractive wives, the youngest of whom is said to be nine-year-old. Of course, verbalizing such facts could get me detained by the Mutawa—the Islamic religious police—and as I, like most, don’t fancy having a fatwa issued regarding my stating of facts, unraveling the disease of Islam, such as its self-authenticating Qur'an, is difficult.

[voidisyinyang]

Research standard world history.

 

For example when Muslims invaded India and killed all the Buddhist monks they could, for example at Odantapuri.

 

Or when they destroyed the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan which were described by ancient pilgrims.

 

Or how Muslims in the UK are calling for sharia law, when they are not even the majority yet.

 

O.K. many wrongs don't make a right! haha.

 

 

By his own account, 1,00,000 men were killed and another 1,50,000 people driven from the land in the terrible violence that Ashoka, unleashed when he invaded the neighboring kingdom of Kalinga.

 

So this dude kills a couple million people and then converts to Buddhism.

 

It reminds me of Constantine converting to Christianity.

 

It's easy for an empire to be "peaceful" internally.

 

The fundamentalist trend of Islam today was largely created by the CIA working with the Nazis and so fundamentalist Muslims are reactionary to the spread of Western colonialism.

 

I just find it ironic.

 

For example I watched the documentary posted on this board - the Thai former martial artist turned monk who is spreading Buddhism along the ethnic minorities of the Golden Triangle.

 

So he has to fight this young male who tried to start a fight with other males -- and the young male called the monk - "crazy monk."

 

So the monk knees the young male to the chest after putting him in a lock hold.

 

The monk yells -- "you're not the only one who can lose his temper!"

 

Later the young male is pacified, kneeling next to the monk who is sitting supervising the labor.

 

So then later the village is given donations from the monastery -- who in turn had received the donations from more urban indviduals - and most likely government connections, etc.

 

There's a well-documented history of the Thai government funding the forest monks more since the forest monks can provide more merit in terms of their deeper meditation skills, etc.

 

Anyway so then eventually these ethnic minority villages are converted to Buddhism and then pacificed into the Thai state government structure, paying taxes, etc.

 

It's very similar to how the Christian monks forced the Indians to cut their hair (which means being homosexual in Native American culture) and then the males take up farming (which is the women's work as horticulture) or else the priests hand over the Indians to the military if they don't conform.

 

Sure the Buddhist monks are not using out right violence but the documentary states that they were not able to convert the area until the Thai military took over the area -- I mean it's better than the CIA-funded Burmese drug lords that had controlled the area.

 

But at the same time there is a concern of local autonomy, cultural diversity, etc.

 

In Burma there's a lot of cultural diversity -- it's not just a Buddhist country.

 

Obviously the British use a "divide and rule" mentality -- so get the Karen to become Christian for example.

 

 

Indian Muslims migrated to Burma during British rule to fill jobs in the expanding economy, especially in clerical work and business.

 

Yeah so obviously this is a legacy of British rule.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma

 

http://www.burmamuslims.org/

 

It reminds me of Africa where Westerners are really mind-controlled to think it's just ethnic cleansing, etc. but if you dig into it you find that Western powers are driving the killing.

 

For Burma it's more like China as the backing for "divide and conquer" although there is significant Western support of the military regime.

 

The irony of a non-violent religion that has to be "protected" through violence.

 

It is similar to the caste system in India -- the Brahmin priests are non-violent but protected by a violent warrior caste.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

..

Edited April 9, 2013 by Harmonious Emptiness

[RongzomFan]

It is similar to the caste system in India -- the Brahmin priests are non-violent but protected by a violent warrior caste.

 

Do you even know what the fuck you are talking about?

[voidisyinyang]

Do you even know what the fuck you are talking about?

 

appropriate word as this started by a rape.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burmas-monks-call-for-muslim-community-to-be-shunned-7973317.html

 

So the real issue here is male violence from ejaculation addiction.

 

 

But many of those expelled from Kyaukpyu are not Rohingya but Muslims from the officially recognised Kaman minority, said Chris Lewa, director of the Rohingya advocacy group, Arakan Project.

 

http://www.channel4.com/news/burma-rohingya-muslims-rakhine-violence

 

Just as I expected -- this is part of a longer tradition of the Burmese majority discriminating against the ethnic non-Buddhist minorities.

 

 

Some Buddhist leaders are feeding hatred against Muslims, including the Kaman. U Bat Di Ya, the head monk at the Than Phyu Monastery, uses the ethnic slur "Kular," meaning dark-skin, to describe Rohingya.

 

"Kaman are also Kular," he said. "They are a kind of Kular race. They are the same blood. When incidents happen they unite with Kular, they don't stay on the Rakhine side."

 

President Thein Sein rebuked Buddhist leaders for anti-Muslim rhetoric. Nonetheless, Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing rejects the view that tensions have become religious.

 

"This is not a religious problem. This is not about ethnicity. I believe that only some extremist groups are creating the problems from behind the scenes," he noted.

 

http://www.voanews.com/content/burmas-kaman-muslims-cite-religious-ethnic-conflict-in-rakhine-state/1555524.html

 

 

Go back to the civilian government of U Nu, and you’ll see that he expelled the Burma Muslim Congress and made Buddhism the state religion; General Ne Win carried out several pogroms against Rohingya, and deported hundreds of thousands of Indian Hindus and Muslims. The army has for decades attacked sites of Christian and Muslim worship in the ethnic states in a deliberate attempt to Burmanise (“Buddhicise”?) the entire country.

Yet this latest wave of attacks on Muslims is so troubling because of the involvement of civilians, who have otherwise been tolerant of the Christian beliefs of their countrymen. (To be sure, it is highly likely that hardline elements in the government are driving this, and using civilian groups as proxies.)

 

http://asiancorrespondent.com/103139/this-is-militant-islamophobia-in-burma-rooted-in-history/

Edited April 9, 2013 by pythagoreanfulllotus