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These articles talk about how the Western view that all Buddhists are pacifists is not entirely true. Less than a decade ago there was a civil war between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Thailand. Some Buddhists took part in the violence. Their reasoning - "they are not trying to support the violence but ... it's better to have soldiers with a cool, calm, clear head, with good intentions, than those that are hot headed".....

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Branches are subdivided into several diverse schools, such as Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren, many of which flourish today in East Asia.

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6% of Buddhists, focuses on practicing the Tantras

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38% of Buddhists, the oldest branch, you must become a Monk

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56% of Buddhists,  focuses on teaching and helping others

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Buddhist Pagodas are the religious shrines that contain relics of Buddha. There are 8 Holy Places in Buddhism which are located in Nepal and India.

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- A complex picture representing the Buddhist view of the universe... to Buddhists, existence is a cycle of life, death, rebirth and suffering that they seek to escape altogether.

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Festival of celebration for Buddha's Birthday.

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Vesak - Buddha's Birthday Colombo, Sri Lanka

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The Three Universal Truths; • The Four Noble Truths; and • The Noble Eightfold Path.

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About 2500 years ago, a prince named Siddhartha Gautama began to question his sheltered, luxurious life in the palace. He left the palace and saw four sights: a sick man, an old man, a dead man and a monk. These sights are said to have shown him that even a prince cannot escape illness, suffering and death. The sight of the monk told Siddhartha to leave his life as a prince and become a wandering holy man, seeking the answers to questions like “Why must people suffer?” “What is the cause of suffering?” Siddartha spent many years doing many religious practices such as praying, meditating, and fasting until he finally understood the basic truths of life. This realization occurred after sitting under a Poplar-figtree in Bodh Gaya, India for many days, in deep meditation. He gained enlightenment, or nirvana, and was given the title of Buddha, which means Enlightened One.

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Articles that describe the beliefs of Buddhism

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Articles that describe the beliefs of Buddhism

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The Four Noble Truths are a big part of Buddhism. They contain the essence of Buddha's teachings.

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This article examines the Four Noble Truths, four principles which contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings.

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There is a greater Buddhist population is Kashmir.

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Buddhism is mainly clustered in Southeast Asia but there are traces of it all around the world.

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Distribution of      Buddhism at a country level

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Distribution of      Buddhism at a country level

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Two big branches of Buddhism are Theravada and Mahayana. The North and Southeast: Japan, China , Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia is mainly Theravada. The South: Thailand and Sri Lanka is Mahayana

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Buddhism is not a monolithic tradition. As it spread through Asia over more than two millennia, it divided into several sects, each with its own liturgies, rituals, and canon of scriptures. There are also doctrinal disagreements. However, all are founded on the same basic teachings of the historical Buddha.

Buddhism can be divided into two major schools: Theravada and Mahayana. Today, Theravada is the dominant form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. Mahayana is dominant in China, Japan, Taiwan, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Korea and most of Vietnam.

You will sometimes hear there are three major schools of Buddhism, the third being Vajrayana. Vajrayana is associated with Tibetan Buddhism as well as a Japanese school called Shingon. But Vajrayana is founded on Mahayana philosophy and is more accurately understood as an extension of Mahayana. Further, you can find elements of Vajrayana in many schools of Mahayana beside Tibetan and Shingon.

Note that if you come across a discussion of schools of Buddhism called Sthaviravada or Hinayana, most of the time this refers to Theravada.

The basic doctrinal difference that divides Theravada from Mahayana is an interpretation of anatta, the teaching that there is no soul or self. The self that seems to inhabit our bodies continuously through our lives is an illusion. All schools of Buddhism support this teaching.

However, Mahayana Buddhism takes anatta further and teaches a doctrine called , or emptiness. According to Mahayana, all phenomena take identity to us only in relation to other phenomena and cannot be said to either exist or not exist. The difference in interpretation of anatta impacts how many other doctrines are understood.

If you are scratching your head at this point, you are not alone. These are extremely difficult doctrines to understand, and many will tell you they cannot be understood by intellect alone. If you're a beginner there's not much point spinning your wheels over which school is right. Practice awhile, and come to your own conclusions as you gain more understanding.

If you are new to Buddhism, the most obvious difference you might see is that in Theravada, the ideal of practice is the , the individual who has realized enlightenment. In Mahayana, the ideal of practice is the enlightened being who is dedicated to bringing all beings to enlightenment.

In Asia, there is a bigger difference between monastic and lay Theravada Buddhism than among different orders or sects of Theravada Buddhism. Monks meditate, study and teach; laypeople, on the whole (there are exceptions), do not. Laypeople practice by supporting the monasteries with alms, donations, chants, and prayers. They are encouraged to keep the five precepts and observe days.

In the West, those who come to Theravada as adults -- as opposed to growing up with it in an ethnic Asian community -- most commonly practice Vipassana or "insight" meditation and study the Pali Canon, which is the main body of scripture for Theravada. The more traditional monastic-lay symbiosis found in Asia hasn't yet emerged among non-ethnic-Asian Western practitioners.

There are a number of different Theravada monastic orders in Asia. There are also beliefs and practices associated with Buddhism, often taken from local folk cultures, that are found in some parts of Southeast Asia but not others. But compared to Mahayana, Theravada is relatively homogenous.

The distinctions among different sects of Mahayana Buddhism are so pronounced they might seem to be entirely different religions, yet they are all built on the same philosophical and doctrinal foundation.

The doctrinal differences tend to be minor compared to differences in practice, such as meditation, ritual, and chanting. Most people who come to Mahayana choose a school because its practices resonate well with them.

Here are some of the Mahayana traditions you are most likely to find in the West, but it is not an exhaustive list, and there are many variations and sub-sects. There are also traditions that combine elements of more than one sect. The practices described are all long-established means to enable practitioners to actualize the Buddha's teaching.

Amitabha or Amida Buddhism also called Pure Land Buddhism. Pure Land emphasizes faithful devotion to the Buddha Amitabha. By the grace of Amitabha, one may be reborn in the Pure Land, where enlightenment may be realized and Nirvana is close at hand. The most distinctive practice of Pure Land Buddhism, called Nianfo in Chinese and Nembutsu in Japanese, is the mindful recitation of Amitabha's name.

Nichiren Buddhism is a Japanese tradition that has gained a large following in the West. It emphasizes a mindful chanting practice that evokes the mystical power of the Lotus Sutra to bring all beings to enlightenment. Probably the largest Nichiren group in the West is Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a lay organization, but there are others.

Tendai is less widespread in the West than many other traditions but is a long-established Mahayana tradition in Asia. Tendai offers a number of meditation and other practices to enable enlightenment.

Tibetan Buddhism has gained a huge following in the West in recent years. There are four major schools and many sub-schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism combines meditation with ritual, chanting, and other practices. The most distinctive feature of Tibetan Buddhism is tantra or deity yoga. This is most simply translated as "a means to enlightenment through identity with tantric deities."

is the Japanese name of Chan, a sect that originated in 6th century China. Chan Buddhism also spread to Korea and Vietnam. The most basic practice of Zen is a mindful, silent meditation practice called zazen in Japanese. Zen has been predominantly a monastic school for most of its history, although there is a long tradition of lay practice also.

Not every temple you might visit will fit neatly into one of these sectarian niches. It's not at all unusual to find temples that combine practices of more than one tradition, for example. There are many sects not listed, and those that are listed come in many denominations.

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Buddhism is not a monolithic tradition. As it spread through Asia over more than two millennia, it divided into several sects, each with its own liturgies, rituals, and canon of scriptures. There are also doctrinal disagreements. However, all are founded on the same basic teachings of the historical Buddha.

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There are many subdivisions within Buddhism, but most can be classified into three major branches: Theravada ("Way of the Elders"), Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle") and Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle"). Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism went their separate ways in the first century CE. Mahayana then subdivided into several diverse schools, such as Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren, many of which flourish today in East Asia. The Vajrayana Buddhist tradition is an esoteric sect that is predominant in Tibet and Nepal.

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There are many subdivisions within Buddhism, but most can be classified into three major branches: Theravada ("Way of the Elders"), Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle") and Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle"). Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism went their separate ways in the first century CE.

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Over the centuries, two main branches of Buddhism emerged: a transmission that traveled to Southeast Asia, and a transmission that evolved in East Asia. A further offshoot of the northern transmission also developed. All three branches began in India, and developed further as they moved across Asia.

Theravada Buddhism
Theravada is believed to be the oldest form of Buddhism. The term itself comes into use later, but the Theravada tradition upholds the monastic path and adheres to the oldest surviving recorded sayings of the Buddha, collectively called the Pali canon. These original texts were set down in the Pali language by monks in Sri Lanka in the first century CE. Prior to this codification, teachings had been transmitted orally, and concern arose that original texts must be preserved in light of the growing heterodoxy that was developing in India.

Theravada recognizes the primacy and humanity of the historical Buddha. The Buddha was an exemplary figure. Enlightenment is an arduous task, available only to monks who explicitly pursue the path of Shakyamuni himself. Theravada is the dominant form of Buddhism today in Sri Lanka as well as Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. The subject matter of Buddhist art from these traditions focuses on life events of the Buddha.

Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana is a philosophical movement that proclaimed the possibility of universal salvation, offering assistance to practitioners in the form of compassionate beings called bodhisattvas. The goal was to open up the possibility of buddhahood (becoming a Buddha) to all sentient beings. The Buddha ceased to be simply a historical figure, but rather was interpreted as a transcendent figure who all could aspire to become.

New sutras (texts) were added to the Buddhist canon, causing rifts among the various sects. Reformers called themselves the "greater vehicle" (Mahayana), and they labeled the traditionalists the "lesser vehicle" (Theravada). The bodhisattva developed as an enlightened being who postpones his own salvation in order to help others. Initially understood as companions to the Buddha, bodhisattvas are spiritual beings who compassionately vow to achieve buddhahood, but have deferred this aspiration in order to liberate all creatures in the universe from suffering. The most popular bodhisattvas appearing in sculpture and painting include Avalokiteshvara (bodhisattva of mercy and compassion), Maitreya (the future Buddha), and Manjushri (bodhisattva of wisdom).

Mahayana also spread to Southeast Asia, however its greatest impact is felt in the East Asian nations of China, Korea, and Japan. As Mahayana evolved, it continued to expand a vast pantheon of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other divine and semi-divine beings, drawing from and assimilating regional and local traditions.

Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism
Tantric or Esoteric Buddhism, sometimes called Vajrayana (the Vehicle of the Thunderbolt), developed about 500-600 CE in India. An offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism, the origins of Tantric Buddhism can be traced to ancient Hindu and Vedic practices as well, including esoteric ritual texts designed to achieve physical, mental, and spiritual breakthroughs. Tantric Buddhism is sometimes described as offering a shortcut to enlightenment. Because some practices subverted mainstream Buddhism and Hinduism, engaging in acts otherwise considered taboo, its practitioners were secretive. Initiates worked closely with a spiritual guide or guru.

Vajrayana Buddhism is most closely identified with Tibetan Buddhism, however, it also influenced parts of Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism thrived in India for more than a millennium, reaching an expansive culmination in the Pala period in eastern India. By the 1100s CE, Buddhism had declined mainly as a result of Muslim incursions.

Before this time, however, Buddhist doctrine had been transmitted to Sri Lanka, which became a further point of reference for the spread of Buddhism to Southeast Asia. Travelers and missionaries carried the message of Buddhism by sea and land routes through Central Asia into China by the first century CE. Buddhism flourished in China between 300 and 900 CE and provided a point of reference for Buddhism as it developed in Korea and Japan. Chinese translations of Indian texts contributed to the development of printing.

Buddhism is still strong today in Bhutan, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam. Throughout its history and transmission, Buddhism has been very adaptable to local beliefs and customs, and the combination of these local forms with imported beliefs and symbols is a characteristic of Buddhist art throughout Asia.

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Over the centuries, two main branches of Buddhism emerged: a transmission that traveled to Southeast Asia, and a transmission that evolved in East Asia. A further offshoot of the northern transmission also developed. All three branches began in India, and developed further as they moved across Asia.

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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. So why have monks been using hate speech against Muslims and joining mobs that have left dozens dead?

This is happening in two countries separated by well over 1,000 miles of Indian Ocean - Burma and Sri Lanka. It is puzzling because neither country is facing an Islamist militant threat. Muslims in both places are a generally peaceable and small minority.

In Sri Lanka, the issue of halal slaughter has been a flashpoint. Led by monks, members of the Bodu Bala Sena - the Buddhist Brigade - hold rallies, call for direct action and the boycotting of Muslim businesses, and rail against the size of Muslim families.

While no Muslims have been killed in Sri Lanka, the Burmese situation is far more serious. Here the antagonism is spearheaded by the 969 group, led by a monk, Ashin Wirathu, who was jailed in 2003 for inciting religious hatred. Released in 2012, he has referred to himself bizarrely as "the Burmese Bin Laden".

Buddhism and non-violence

Buddhist teachings were handed down orally and not written until centuries after the Buddha's lifetime. The principle of non-violence is intrinsic to the doctrine, as stressed in the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings attributed to the Buddha.

Its first verse teaches that a person is made up of the sum of his thoughts: "If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage."

The most basic principles of Buddhist morality are expressed in five precepts, which monks are obliged - and laymen encouraged - to follow. The first is to abstain from killing living creatures.

One objective of Buddhist meditation is to produce a state of "loving kindness" for all beings.

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."
BBC Religion - Buddhism
March saw an outbreak of mob violence directed against Muslims in the town of Meiktila, in central Burma, which left at least 40 dead.

Tellingly, the violence began in a gold shop. The movements in both countries exploit a sense of economic grievance - a religious minority is used as the scapegoat for the frustrated aspirations of the majority.

On Tuesday, Buddhist mobs attacked mosques and burned more than 70 homes in Oakkan, north of Rangoon, after a Muslim girl on a bicycle collided with a monk. One person died and nine were injured.

But aren't Buddhist monks meant to be the good guys of religion?

Aggressive thoughts are inimical to all Buddhist teachings. Buddhism even comes equipped with a practical way to eliminate them. Through meditation the distinction between your feelings and those of others should begin to dissolve, while your compassion for all living things grows.

Of course, there is a strong strain of pacifism in Christian teachings too: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," were the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

More on monks and violence

The BBC's Charles Haviland on how hardline Buddhists target Sri Lanka's Muslim minority

The origins of Burma's religious and communal tensions explained in a Q&A

"Burmese bin Laden", Wirathu, tells the Guardian he's just protecting his people

US magazine The Nation on the historical and political background to Buddhist violence

But however any religion starts out, sooner or later it enters into a Faustian pact with state power. Buddhist monks looked to kings, the ultimate wielders of violence, for the support, patronage and order that only they could provide. Kings looked to monks to provide the popular legitimacy that only such a high moral vision can confer.

The result can seem ironic. If you have a strong sense of the overriding moral superiority of your worldview, then the need to protect and advance it can seem the most important duty of all.

Christian crusaders, Islamist militants, or the leaders of "freedom-loving nations", all justify what they see as necessary violence in the name of a higher good. Buddhist rulers and monks have been no exception.

So, historically, Buddhism has been no more a religion of peace than Christianity.

One of the most famous kings in Sri Lankan history is Dutugamanu, whose unification of the island in the 2nd Century BC is related in an important chronicle, the Mahavamsa.

It says that he placed a Buddhist relic in his spear and took 500 monks with him along to war against a non-Buddhist king.

He destroyed his opponents. After the bloodshed, some enlightened ones consoled him that the slain "were like animals; you will make the Buddha's faith shine".

Burmese rulers, known as "kings of righteousness", justified wars in the name of what they called true Buddhist doctrine.

In Japan, many samurai were devotees of Zen Buddhism and various arguments sustained them - killing a man about to commit a dreadful crime was an act of compassion, for example. Such reasoning surfaced again when Japan mobilised for World War II.

Buddhism took a leading role in the nationalist movements that emerged as Burma and Sri Lanka sought to throw off the yoke of the British Empire. Occasionally this spilled out into violence. In 1930s Rangoon, amid resorts to direct action, monks knifed four Europeans.

More importantly, many came to feel Buddhism was integral to their national identity - and the position of minorities in these newly independent nations was an uncomfortable one.

In 1983, Sri Lanka's ethnic tensions broke out into civil war. Following anti-Tamil pogroms, separatist Tamil groups in the north and east of the island sought to break away from the Sinhalese majority government.

During the war, the worst violence against Sri Lankan Muslims came at the hands of the Tamil rebels. But after the fighting came to a bloody end with the defeat of the rebels in 2009, it seems that majority communal passions have found a new target in the Muslim minority.
Alan Strathern is a fellow in History at Brasenose College, Oxford and author of Kingship and Conversion in Sixteenth-Century Sri Lanka: Portuguese Imperialism in a Buddhist Land You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook
In Burma, monks wielded their moral authority to challenge the military junta and argue for democracy in the Saffron Revolution of 2007. Peaceful protest was the main weapon of choice this time, and monks paid with their lives.

Now some monks are using their moral authority to serve a quite different end. They may be a minority, but the 500,000-strong monkhood, which includes many deposited in monasteries as children to escape poverty or as orphans, certainly has its fair share of angry young men.

The exact nature of the relationship between the Buddhist extremists and the ruling parties in both countries is unclear.

Sri Lanka's powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was guest of honour at the opening of a Buddhist Brigade training school, and referred to the monks as those who "protect our country, religion and race".

But the anti-Muslim message seems to have struck a chord with parts of the population.

Even though they form a majority in both countries, many Buddhists share a sense that their nations must be unified and that their religion is under threat.

The global climate is crucial. People believe radical Islam to be at the centre of the many of the most violent conflicts around the world. They feel they are at the receiving end of conversion drives by the much more evangelical monotheistic faiths. And they feel that if other religions are going to get tough, they had better follow suit.

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Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims?

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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. So why have monks been using hate speech against Muslims and joining mobs that have left dozens dead?

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This article is part of "Southeast Asia: Refugees in Crisis," an ongoing series by The Diplomat for summer and fall 2015 featuring exclusive articles from scholars and practitioners tackling Southeast Asia's ongoing refugee crisis. All articles in the series can be found here.

Myanmar has been the site of serious conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim communities, particularly in Rakhine State where at least 146,000 persons have been displaced since the first riots in June 2012. This violence has prompted international organizations dedicated to early warning of mass violence to issue alarms, but the dynamics of this conflict are understood differently in Myanmar. In May, three Nobel laureates called violence and persecution of Muslims in Myanmar " nothing less than genocide." A few days later, U Zaw Aye Maung, the Rakhine Affairs Minister for Yangon Region, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying, " if genocide was taking place in Rakhine State, then it was against ethnic Rakhine Buddhists."

Such a statement is not simple intransigence in the face of external criticism. It illustrates a conception of victim and violator that is diametrically opposed to the one made visible in international discourse. In Myanmar's domestic context, such a conception is closer to the norm than otherwise. Other state authorities use similar rhetoric. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, meanwhile, told the BBC in October 2013, " Fear is not just on the side of the Muslims, but on the side of the Buddhists as well. There's a perception that Muslim power, global Muslim power, is very great."

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Over the last seven months, we have been conducting a 'Listening Project' seeking to understand how people talk about concerns for their local communities and country. In this research, conducted across six regions in Myanmar, we have regularly noted discourses that construct Muslims as an existential threat, in which Buddhism is vulnerable and needing protection lest Islam supplant it as the majority religion. Fear of a Muslim takeover is based on a conception of Islam as intrinsically violent, justified with arguments that are strikingly reminiscent of discourses common in the United States and other countries since September 11th 2001. People regularly raised examples of alleged violence by Muslims in Myanmar as well the actions of ISIS and Al Qaeda. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was pilloried by non-Burmese observers for her 2013 interview, but in situating domestic fears in a global context she was descriptively accurate. Fear in Myanmar is not (only) of a small minority within Myanmar, but of a global threat felt to be both surrounding the country and growing within it.

Understanding these narratives is important because it helps to explain the ferocity of domestic backlash against international responses to recent violence: rejecting calls to recognize Rohingya citizenship is seen by many in Myanmar as integral to national security. Rakhine State is often referred to as the country's "western gate," the front line in a battle to protect Myanmar from an invasion described as both external, via immigration from Bangladesh that is dated to the British colonial period, and internal, via expansion in domestic Muslim populations believed to be driven by large families, inter-faith marriage, and forced conversions. This narrative of threat also helps to justify discriminatory laws, disregard for the suffering of a religious other, and even violence as forms of virtuous self-defense. It should be no surprise, then, that perpetrators of anti-Muslim riots have been described shouting both "Muslims, be gone" and singing Myanmar's national anthem or shouting, " We are Buddhist martyrs. "

Examining these narratives also highlights the ways in which they are emergent works in progress, as are the groups seeking to produce them. Many of the people we spoke with said things that matched the rhetoric of nationalist forces like 969 and Ma Ba Tha, but this was not the case for everyone. Similarly, while these groups present a view of long-standing and irreconcilable Buddhist-Muslim antagonism, many people still remember histories of religious co-existence. Relations between communities defined in religious terms are tense across Myanmar, not just in Rakhine State. But this has not always been so; a core component of conflict is erasing memories of everyday harmony and solidarities that crossed or blurred communal lines. It would be sad for Myanmar if these memories are forgotten, disavowed, or replaced.

Anyone interested in reducing conflict or promoting peace and reconciliation in Myanmar would do well to start by listening carefully to the ways people discuss violence in everyday life. Firstly, this reinforces the importance of backing local civil society efforts to counter narratives of threat and self-defense. This would not only include those who identify (or are identified) as peacemakers, but also those whose stated focus is elsewhere but who have the credibility, connections, and bravery to work for peace at the most difficult moments. These local actors exist, but they are not always the ones first identified by outsiders who would intervene. Local groups and individuals often have a greater understanding and sensitivity to the ways in which narratives of threat are mobilized, and how they may be countered - as well as who is (or is not) countering them.

Secondly, listening helps underscore the ways that discourse about violence in Myanmar can contribute to the mobilization of that violence. How are instances of riotous violence explained and who is identified as victim and aggressor? How is the historical lineage of contemporary conflict being constructed, and what beliefs about the irreconcilability of religious communities do this support? How is Islam being represented, and is it as a unitary and fearsome other? The ways in which influential actors in Myanmar society answer these questions helps to produce the narratives that can enable and legitimize violence. This is true of 969 and Ma Ba Tha, but it would be a mistake to make them the sole object of critique. When the arrests made after a riot disproportionately target one religious community, this operates as a powerful statement about who has been victimized and who must be defended against. So too are legislative and administrative moves that 'protect' one religion from another or privilege public speech and action by representatives of one religious group, along with implicit or explicit condoning of the rationale and rhetoric of 969 and Ma Ba Tha. Most dangerous of all are statements by authorities that imply or assert risks of 'Islamic terrorism' in Myanmar.

International discourses about conflict in Myanmar matter as well. Explanations for violence that focus only on the events immediately precipitating a given incident obscure questions about how violence is mobilized, who is involved, and with what direct or indirect support. Lazy historicization that equates contemporary violence with, for example, Indo-Burman riots in the 1930s reinforces attempts to present religious antagonism as inevitable and historically determined. Finally, writing and rhetoric about 'Islamic terrorism' has real impacts in Myanmar. Unsubstantiated headlines that crow of a terrorist threat in Myanmar, like those recently published by Newsweek and the Independent, are dangerous and irresponsible. And subtler trends in western discourses about Islam and terrorism are important, too. Myanmar is preparing for hotly contested national elections. We have identified the analogy between discourses in Myanmar and the US after 2001. In the US, similar sentiments and security rhetoric became an integral part of the 2004 elections, supporting political agendas while also demonizing Muslim communities in the US and worldwide; we should expect similar dynamics in Myanmar, while hoping for less violent outcomes.

Finally, listening is necessary as an ethical matter and as a way to de-escalate a growing sense in Myanmar that the fears and perceptions of Buddhists are being ignored. Listening need not equate with agreement, nor entail ignoring the voices of marginalized minorities. But it will lead to more informed responses. Without understanding the nature of narratives that posit Islam as an existential threat and the production and reinforcement of those narratives within Myanmar society, there is no hope for crafting responses that can promote peace and reconciliation, or decrease the likelihood of continued violence.
Matt Schissler is an incoming PhD student in anthropology at the University of Michigan and a Graduate Fellow at the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. Dr. Matthew J Walton is the Aung San Suu Kyi Senior Research Fellow in Modern Burmese Studies at St Antony's College, University of Oxford. Phyu Phyu Thi is a co-founder of MIDO and Research Manager for the organization. This essay is excerpted from M.MAS working paper 1:1 "Threat and virtuous defence: Listening to narratives of religious conflict in six Myanmar cities" which can be downloaded here.

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Matt Schissler, Matthew J Walton and Phyu Phyu Thi, The Diplomat

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The Roots of Religious Conflict in Myanmar

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This article is part of "Southeast Asia: Refugees in Crisis," an ongoing series by The Diplomat for summer and fall 2015 featuring exclusive articles from scholars and practitioners tackling Southeast Asia's ongoing refugee crisis. All articles in the series can be found here.

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Founded around 2,400 years ago, Buddhism is probably the most pacifistic of the major world religions. Siddhartha Gautama, who reached enlightenment and became the Buddha, preached not just non-violence toward other human beings, but non-harming of all living things. He said, "As I am, so are these. As are these, so am I. Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither kill nor convince others to kill." His teachings stand in stark contrast to those of the other major religions, which advocate execution and warfare against people who fail to adhere to the religions' tenets.

Don't Forget, Buddhists Are Only Human

Of course, Buddhists are human beings and it should come as no surprise that lay Buddhists over the centuries have sometimes marched out to war. Some have committed murder, and many eat meat despite theological teachings that stress vegetarianism. To an outsider with a perhaps stereotypical view of Buddhism as introspective and serene, it is more surprising to learn that Buddhist monks have also participated in and even instigated violence over the years.

Buddhist Warfare

One of the most famous early examples of Buddhist warfare is the history of fighting associated with the Shaolin Temple in China. For most of their history, the monks who invented kung fu (wushu) used their martial skills mainly in self-defense; however, at certain points, they actively sought out warfare, as in the mid-16th century when they answered the central government's call for aid in the fight against Japanese pirates.

Tradition of "Warrior-Monks

Speaking of Japan, the Japanese also have a long tradition of "warrior-monks" or yamabushi. During the late 1500s, as Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi were reunifying Japan after the chaotic Sengoku period, most of the famous temples of warrior monks were targeted for extermination. One famous (or infamous) example is the Enryaku-ji, which was burned to the ground by Nobunaga's forces in 1571, with a death toll of about 20,000.

The Tokugawa Period

Although the dawn of the Tokugawa Period saw the warrior-monks crushed, militarism and Buddhism joined forces once more in 20th century Japan, before and during the Second World War. In 1932, for example, an unordained Buddhist preacher called Nissho Inoue hatched a plot to assassinate major liberal or westernizing political and business figures in Japan so as to restore full political power to Emperor Hirohito. Called the "League of Blood Incident," this scheme targeted 20 people and managed to assassinate two of them before the League's members were arrested.

Once the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II began, various Zen Buddhist organizations in Japan carried out funding drives to buy war material and even weapons. Japanese Buddhism was not quite so closely associated with violent nationalism as Shinto was, but many monks and other religious figures participated in the rising tide of Japanese nationalism and war-mongering. Some excused the connection by pointing to the tradition of samurai being Zen devotees.

In Recent Times

In more recent times, unfortunately, Buddhist monks in other countries have also encouraged and even participated in wars - particular wars against religious minority groups in predominantly Buddhist nations. One example is in Sri Lanka, where radical Buddhist monks formed a group called the Buddhist Power Force, or B.B.S., which provoked violence against the Hindu Tamil population of northern Sri Lanka, against Muslim immigrants, and also against moderate Buddhists who spoke up about the violence. Although the Sri Lankan Civil War against the Tamils ended in 2009, the B.B.S. remains active to this day.

Example of Buddhist Monks Committing Violence

Another very disturbing example of Buddhist monks inciting and committing violence is the situation in Myanmar (Burma), where hard-line monks have been leading the persecution of a Muslim minority group called the Rohingya. Led by an ultra-nationalist monk called Ashin Wirathu, who has given himself the bewildering nickname of "the Burmese Bin Laden," mobs of saffron-robed monks have led attacks on Rohingya neighborhoods and villages, attacking mosques, burning homes, and assaulting people.

In both the Sri Lankan and Burmese examples, the monks see Buddhism as a key component of their national identity. They consider any non-Buddhists in the population than to be a threat to the unity and strength of the nation. As a result, they react with violence. Perhaps, if Prince Siddhartha was alive today, he would remind them that they should not nurture such an attachment to the idea of the nation.

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Violence and Buddhism Are Opposites - or Are They?

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Violence and Buddhism seem to be directly opposed to each other, yet history shows that violence is a factor in the lives of monks as well as lay Buddhists.

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conflict in buddhism: 'violence for the sake of peace?' - cnn

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Conflict in Buddhism: 'Violence for the sake of peace?' - CNN

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For Thailand's Queen Sirikit, the 2007 attack on a minibus in southern Thailand's Yala province -- in which suspected Muslim militants shot eight Buddhists through the head in broad daylight -- was simply further proof of what she'd been saying for more than three years.

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What Are the Different Denominations and Sects of Buddhism?

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What Are the Different Denominations and Sects of Buddhism?