Is Rohingya crisis changing the West's view of Buddhism?
Unlike Hollywood portrayals of peaceful monks, some in Myanmar are spurring violence against Muslims in the name of Buddhist nationalism.
(The Christian Science Monitor) For many Americans, the image of Buddhism is that of monks wearing saffron-colored robes, meditating peacefully on windswept mountains, revering all forms of life while seeking higher states of enlightenment.
In the context of such clichés, it has been jarring for many to see very different images coming out of Myanmar. Buddhist monks have been at the forefront of the violent repression of the Rohingya Muslim minority, which the United Nations has characterized as ethnic cleansing.
More than 500,000 Rohingya people have left Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh since late August as violence has escalated and many villages have been cut off from food supplies. Often spurred on by Buddhist monks, mobs and government forces have reportedly burned hundreds of Rohingya villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, slaughtering many of their Muslim inhabitants.
