Since the deterioration of Iraq has grabbed about all the attention to foreign affairs most Americans have time to give, little notice has been paid to the violence consuming Sri Lanka. A mob of Buddhists, inspired by the inflammatory rhetoric of Bodu Bala Sena, an ultra-right-wing Buddhist militia, marched through Muslim neighborhoods, setting ablaze dozens of homes. Three people were killed and 52 injured before authorities imposed a curfew to quell the violence.
Anyone who knows much of anything about Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, but little about the history of Sri Lanka, has to be flabbergasted. How could anybody derive a militant, nationalist agenda from the teachings of the man who eschewed all violence as the behavior of people imprisoned by their own unhealthy desires? It really does defy credulity. Yet there it is: Buddhism twisted into terrorism. We’ve grown sadly accustomed to this sort of thing happening among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. But Buddhists? Seriously?
Well, if you were a resident of, say, rural Mongolia and you had read the four gospels of the New Testament but knew nothing about Christianity, you would be just as perplexed when you learned of the persecutions, religious wars, and the Crusades that have marred the history of the church. How on earth did Jesus’ followers get from his example and teachings to a program of violence against those who do not call him Savior – and even against others who do call him Savior but practice their faith in a different way?
The same scenario applies to Muhammed and Islam. One of the most moving