'The Robe and the Sword: How Buddhist Extremism is Shaping Modern Asia': An unquiet silence

Sonia Faleiro’s The Robe and the Sword: How Buddhist Extremism is Shaping Modern Asia follows a spectre that is haunting parts of South Asia — radical Buddhism, which many would see as a contradiction in terms. Buddhism has, in public thinking and discourse, been associated with peace and non-violence, and the Middle Path that shuns extremes. But Sonia recounts the transformation of the religion into a militant faith, mixed up with racial or national identities or both, directed against minorities and drawing its power and even legitimacy from hatred, intolerance and intimidation. It is the invention of the Other in society and politics, aided by colonial policies and spurred by wrong readings of history, that created inverted versions of Buddhism in the region, with radical monks turning their robes into weapons.

Faleiro, author and journalist, travels from Dharamshala in India, where the Tibetan Buddhists live in exile, to Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand to observe and record the transformation.  

It is a slim volume, which details the changes in the religion in the three countries with the help of profiles of radical Buddhist monks and their conduct, the structure and activities of the militant organisations that champion an extreme form of Buddhism, events from the present and the past and conversations with a range of people. The style and approach are journalistic, but Faleiro provides depth and width to her stories with historical accounts and a search for the roots of the changes in history, social and demographic situations and traditions. She tells tales of people and groups in each place, and they are stories of deaths and destruction, attacks and intimidation that fragment lives and disrupt families and communities.

After spending time in Dharamshala and meeting Lhakpa Tsering, who had once attempted self-immolation in protest against the visit by the then Chinese leader Hu Jintao to India, she realised that there was rising acceptance of violence and aggression for what was deemed protection of Buddhism. There was a sense of crisis among followers that demanded a more engaged Buddhism, which responded to violence not only with contemplation but also with action. As Faleiro left Dharamshala, she felt something had shifted, and the silence no longer sounded like peace. 

It is this shift that she explores in other countries. Everywhere, the religion is presented as a faith in crisis, which needs to be retrieved, and this could only be done by fighting other faiths and persecuting their followers. Religion is turned into a majoritarian force to suppress the minorities — Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka, and the Muslim Rohingya in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is an ultra nationalist organisation of Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, and its counterpart in Myanmar is Ma Ba Tha. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, the hardline monk in Sri Lanka, and Ashin Wirathu, described as “one of modern Buddhism’s most polarising figures” in Myanmar, lead the charge of the new religious brigade, never shying away from violence and advocating it.

Buddhism becomes political and is identified with national identity. Those who do not belong in terms of religion are branded as outsiders and enemies who deserve punishment and are actually punished. Attacks are described, and the testimonies of victims, such as Fazeena Fihar, who is still struggling to rebuild her life after her house was ransacked in 2014, are presented. There were killings and destruction, and Gnanasara once said his duty was to act against any threat to Buddhism. “Attaining nirvana can wait’’, he said. Economic and social differences and fault lines also fed into the politics of religious militancy and exclusion. 

In Myanmar, Asin Wirathu, the leader of the extremist 969 movement,  uses race, religion, colour of the skin and language to shape wilful and hostile attitudes and target Muslims. The state also becomes a party to the campaign. But there is resistance also, though feeble. Faleiro meets Abbot Zero, who was once a follower of Asin Wirathu but now protests against militant Buddhism. He lives in the Thai city of Mae Sot, which borders Myanmar, hiding there. 

The situation in Thailand is different. It is not a case of hostility to practitioners of other religions but of corruption and degeneration of Buddhism as it was known and practised,  and its co-option by the state represented by the royalty and the military. Monks have turned greedy, love comfort and luxury and are even known for sexual escapades, violating the vows that bind them to poverty, celibacy and other values and practices propounded by the religion.

Monks are not allowed to take part in politics but are pampered and privileged. The argument is that Buddhism, as it was known, has been changed, though not in the way it has changed in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The change has been attributed to the rise of a new middle class in the 1970s and 1980s, the transition of society from agriculture to industrialisation and from tradition to modernity. Faleiro notes a bright side, also. There are monks and temples which who stick to the hard and difficult path.

The radicalisation of Buddhism is similar to the radicalisation of other religions, such as Islam and Hinduism, though local and specific situations might differ in countries. Extremist Buddhist bodies have links with radical Hindu organisations. Faleiro mentions these links in passing, but does not explain the changes in Buddhism as part of the changes that have happened to other religions in the world. The rise of militant religions and their links with rightist politics have common themes and causes, and have been studied and commented on. That may not have been the intention of this book, but her account is a useful aid to such studies.