BUDDHISM AND TERRORISM.(updated)

 By K P PASWAN.

 In international politics, no body imagined, ever since the end of 2^nd world that balance of power might be disturbed by balance of terror. Well trained army can easily neutralize a dreaded terrorist or group of terrorists, but they cannot eliminate the philosophy and culture of terrorism, which has become an effective tool in the hands of terrorists to achieve their sinister design. They terrorize their opponents without invoking the wrath of super powers.

Buddhism as we know, originated in India and spread through peaceful means to China and Far and East. It has started its assertiveness, and we must understand the reasons for  change in attitude.

 Islamic radicals, all over the world are regarded as dreaded terrorists, who espouse the cause of terrorism in the name of religion, but not supported by Islamic scholars. Small groups of these terrorists inhabiting non-Muslims countries, get support from the West, and rich Arabian Islamic states who are contributing their oil money to spread terror, just to keep themselves in power. West and US are worst victims of religion based terror, but still they are supporting terror activities of a group of lunatics, just for economic gains and to counter political influence of erstwhile super power like Russia and new emerging economic power like China.

 Except Germany and to some extent France, the so-called EU is suffering from economic stagnation. EU cannot dictate the politics of the world and they cannot reshape the economic landscape of former colonies. Islam like Christian, Hinduism and Buddhism are religion with large followers all over the world. Entire Central Asia is dominated by rich Islamic nations, with Saudi Arabia leading the group of Islamic countries. 

There is also a Shiite majority country, Iran which is as rich as Saudi Arabia and is engaged in funding the terrorists, in neighboring countries. Iran and Saudi Arabia are sworn enemies, there are some groups of fanatics, belonging to this religion, who are virtually bent upon tarnishing the image of this wonderful region. Once Angela Merkel. The Chancellor of Germany remarked the Christians were the most oppressed religion in the world, yet the willy politician of economically prosperous Germany, did little to declare the horrendous killing of Armenians at the hands of the brutal Ottoman king in 1915 as genocide, just to please macabre president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, whose anti Christians policy is well known to the Western world.

 Historically Buddhism is the only religion which may be called a religion of peace and have suffered badly at the hands of Arabian invaders, and lost it sphere of influence from Afghanistan to Philippines. Peace loving Buddhists were forced to convert to the religion of the invaders. In Afghanistan, the fanatics Taliban ransacked the statue of Buddha in Bamiyan, which existed since the foreign invaders captured Afghanistan, and nobody on this earth raised voice of protest. On the contrary a large number of Indians claiming themselves as followers of secularism, half-heartedly condemned the ransacking of statue of Buddha. Philosophy of original Buddhism is based on a particular Upanishads, which questions the existence of an immortal super power, and instead prescribes ways and means to get rid of worldly sufferings. Lord Buddha is being regarded as the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is revered by Hindus as well. Constitution of  India, does not distinguish between Hindus and Buddhists. Dalits converted to Buddhism enjoyed benefits like reservation in jobs and educational institutions

Terror in Buddhism is not a proper word to describe the awakening among the Buddhists in modern world, greatly influenced by extraordinary progress in fundamental science. Modern fundamental science does not recognize the existence of a personal God.Buddhists  maintains silence, when being asked the reasons for the origin of the universe. These scientists are echoing the philosophy of Buddhism. In fact, amongst the particular physicists, philosophy of Buddhism is being read widely, and. In Vedanta, soul has been identified with Brahman and not with a personal God. In Buddhism soul dies to born again. Here the neuro science plays a major part and Dalai lama has evinced keen interest in Neuroscience just to solve the puzzle of life and death.

BUDDHISM IN SriLANKA.  SriLanka is predominantly Buddhist country. Tamil Tigers, a ruthless terrorist organization once convulsed the largest democracy in the world. Rajeev Gandhi an outstanding Indian politician with a clean image was brutally assassinated by the followers of a cruel P Prabhakaran, who was a staunch Catholic  and introduced the suicide brigade to achieve his aim of carving out a small sovereign state for the Tamils in SriLanka. What is surprising that the killers of Rajeev Gandhi are expecting release from the prison as the ruling party in Tamilnadu has demanded their release. In a way there is no justification of condemning the uprising of Buddhists against the religious groups for whom terror is a means to satisfy the wish of God, whose very existence has been denounced by modern science and Buddhists. Once it appeared that the tiny island country, SriLanka might face disintegration and a separate Tamil state might be carved out of political geography of Sri Lanka.  Prabhakaanr, a Catholic and surprisingly his followers were mostly Tamil Hindus. Tamil Tigers enjoyed political patronage in a particular state in India, but the Govt of India never supported the disintegration of Sri Lanka.

For two decades Sri Lanka lived with civil war The Civil war killed 64000 people from 1983 to 20001 Tamil rebel who had their own parallel government with courts, traffic courts and a national anthem behind their heavily defended border, had long demanded separate nation for Tamils.  The Tigers stated that if  their sovereignty recognized, then they would discuss the establishment of a federal state, but  the Sri Lankan Govt insisted on a unified state The Tigers had its own die hard  brigade of dedicated fighters named as Tigers. Rebel leader V Prabhakaran often launched new offenses killing not only the Sri Lankan soldiers but also common people, on being suspicious of spies belonging to opposite camps. Lankan army and its paramilitary allies, behaved a little better, raping, abducting, and executing civilians thought to support Tamil nationalism. Both sides accused the other, explaining any killing carried out by their side of the divides as forgivable retaliation. Eric Solheim, from Norway and the Chief Negotiator said SriLanka won’t be sorted out in a few months. Lankan seemed to have forgotten the spirit of cooperation that flickered briefly the spirit of cooperation after the Tsunami. International donors gave 7.5 Billion dollars, but bitter squabbles over how to share the cash, nationalist Sinhalese and Buddhist monks claimed giving aid to the Tigers legitimized terrorism only aggravated the situation.

The rise of Buddhism is an instance of politicization of religion worldwide. Like Hinduism which is concentrated in India, but are migrating to every corner of the world in search of better life and economic opportunity. Buddhism fundamentalism is a myth, but certainly there is military showing up. Buddhism which emphasizes detachment from worldly desires and compassion for all living being has been around 2500 years. In the past, several Buddhist majority countries were converted by the foreign invaders to their own religion, but this is the age when Buddhists are adopting a tough-minded new profile, which can be explained in parts by their sufferings in the past. In China and Taiwan there is marked growth of Buddhism and reflect loosening of political control. While a secular US successfully converted S Korea and Magnolia to Christian countries, but they badly failed in other countries of the far and east.

 Buddhism was supposed to offer Dalits in India a way out of country’s oppressive caste system. Dalits have no difficulty in converting themselves to new religion, as Buddhism to some extent is similar in nature with Hinduism. In India Buddhism like Hinduism is a way of life. If we go to Materialistic ways of Buddhist Philosophy, then we find some outfits of Hinduism, openly defy the existence of supernatural power. ‘’The universe swings from this end to that end, there is no Ishwara”. This famous quote from the Upanishads forms the fundamental of Buddhist philosophy. In India Gautam Buddha is regarded an important recarntation of divine power and in Bodhgaya, a Hindu priest perform rituals which resembles the practices of Hinduism. In fact, a particular Upanishads is the central point of Buddhism religion. Gautam Buddha maintained studied silence when asked about the presence of a supernatural power behind the origin of the universe. Since Buddhism do not accept the supremacy of Vedas, so it is difficult to treat Buddhism as a dissent group of Hinduism. Tibetan Buddhism is closer to Hindu philosophy and the Chinese and Japanese Buddhists are attracted towards Tibetan form of Buddhism.

In India resurgent Buddhism have began entering politics directly. Here is an opportunity for the Dalits to liberate themselves from the shackles of their oppressed past. This sort of political participation is  also seen in far and east. In Sri Lanka Buddhist Sinhalese majority were fighting an on and off war against the Hindu Tamil minority since 1983. The Tamil Tigers led by P Prabhakaran who  ordered the killing of former PM of India and surprisingly his supporters in India called the killers as a great secular leaders and martyrs. The Sinhalese supported a full-fledged crackdown on Tamil fighters and pushed the Government to back away from an internationally backed ceasefire.

Thailand has 90 % of its population as followers of Buddha but country’s south where a Muslim insurgency   has been raging for years, so many Thai Buddhists have taken the matters into their own hands by forming self-defense groups. Nearly7000 volunteers have been armed with shotguns imported from Russia. Here it is interesting to see that coronation of Thai King is not complete without Vedic recitations from the Brahmins of Banaras, a holy city in India. While in India there is only one temple dedicated to Lord Brahma (God Of Hindus), In Thailand there are many Brahma temples and are visited by the Buddhists. Muslims insurgency in Buddhist dominated countries is very common as insurgents receive donations from Saudi Arabia. In South Korea a grand mosque was built by the Saudis in exchange of aids.

 Myanmar is facing the revolt by the Rohingya's Muslims who are demanding separate nation consisting of Rakhine province of Myanmar. These Rohingya's are funded by neighboring countries like Malaysia which in turn receive donation from Saudi Arabia, The Rohingyas are not welcomed even in Muslims countries Myanmar has been a peaceful Buddhist country until the Rohingya created problems, with the result that entire Buddhist communities, even the army have resorted harsh measures to deal with insurgents, which-is not being supported by the West, but won’t mind suppressing Muslims in their own land, and would gladly support the terror activities in other countries.

UIGHUR. Uighur are Muslims of China and is in the news for maltreatment of these Muslims by Govt of China. The stark reality is that these Uighur have been supporting the political power of Pakistan.  Uighur have matrimonial relationship with Pakistanis. Every month large number of Pakistanis are expelled from China for preaching terrorism, but these expulsions are never highlighted by print and electronic media either in India or in the West. Some of the American MNCs and German Business magnets are involved in oppressing the Uighur as these Muslims are source of cheap labor force. No Islamic country, not even Saudi Arabia has ever taken the suppression of Uighur with China.  Islamic nations like Turkey and Egypt have extradition treaty with China and are extraditing Uighur terrorists to China.Talibans in Afghanistan has dissociated from supporting the Uighur even though Talibans are known for their rigid Islamic ideology.

Buddhists like to discuss topics like corruption and climate change, such thinking has already seen in modern Japan. Buddhism growth in China, could also translate to other, long term challenge to the ruling party headed by strongman XiJinping. More and more Chines Buddhists are adopting the Tibetan variety or worshiping with itinerant spiritual instructions at home, outside of Govt approved temples and outside Govt control. Many of these  Buddhas, frequently criticality the ills of present days Chinese society including politically sensitive.

OTHER BUDDHIST COUNTRIES. Laos, Vietnam. And Kampuchea are small but important countries where Buddhism is the religion of the majority. Foreigners interested in preaching their own religion, spend huge amount of money to convert the people of Vietnam, but they badly failed. The largest Hindu temple, now dedicated to Lord Buddha is found in modern Kampuchea, previously known as Cambodia. Buddhism in Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea are more or less based on the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and some of the rituals resemble practiced by Hindus. All these countries suffered badly during the colonial era, but with the advent of new technology and the fastest ways of communication, these Buddhist countries are enjoying the fruits of globalization of technology. They are also asserting their Buddhist ideology and in some countries like Myanmar, SriLanka and Thailand,Buddhists  are confronting major challenge to their religion in the form of religious terrorism which has its roots in the Middle East, and enjoys the support of Western powers. With emergence of China as a leading economic and military power, Buddhist countries have become more assertive and are claiming and glorifying the peace-loving religion of the world.

CAUSES OF BUDDHIST TERROR. In modern era, no religion can flourish on the basis of glorification of terrorism There is lack of democratic institutions and intellectual debate pertaining to our position in the world. Some of the Islamic nations are rich beyond imagination, but instead of  utilizing vast sums of money for development works in poor Islamic countries, these rich Muslims are acting in a different ways. Deadly weapons manufactured in the West are being imported at huge cost to fight the liberals and pro-democratic elements in the Middle East. Exodus of a large number of poor Muslims form Africa and the middle east bear testimony to the apathy of the autocrats, who are ruling these rich Muslims countries. Buddhists are certainly not rich, and so are at the receiving end. China is not being opposed for exploitation of Uighur, but Myanmar, a poor Buddhist country is being projected as a threat to world peace. 

FINAL THOUGHT In the words of former president of US ‘’This world is full of cheats and deceits’’ Buddhism cannot be equated with radicals like Boko Ha ram, ISIS and Talibans, which pose threat to human race. Buddhism does not support violent agitation to glorify its rich philosophy.