While ‘Hindutva’ proponents in India harbour hostility toward Islam and Christianity, they are relatively tolerant of other religions that originated in this subcontinent, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Theoretically, they view these faiths as part of the broader Hindu family, though followers of these religions certainly object to this claim. However, since this is not an enforced demand and the process of conversion into Hinduism is virtually absent in practice, fundamentalists of these religions have not come into direct conflict with each other in this country. Nevertheless, it is believed that this type of "soft" hegemonic Hindutva fuelled the rise of Sikh fundamentalism in the 1980s—a topic to be addressed later.
Our current focus, however, is Buddhist fundamentalism. Specifically, we would examine the fundamentalism and communal conflicts that happened in the past and in recent times in countries, with the dominant religion as Theravada Buddhism.
Theravada Buddhism: Origins and Philosophy
Nearly 2,500 years ago, Buddha founded Buddhism as a reaction against Brahminism and Vedic spiritualism. Primarily, the philosophy and discipline of his faith were intended for monks who renounced worldly life—referred to by various titles such as Bhikkhus, Shramanas, or Arhats. He established the Buddhist Sangha (Monastic community) for them. Initially, he was opposed to establishing permanent monasteries or retreats in specific locations; he and his disciples preached and spread the faith while wandering from place to place.
Buddhism is centered on individual spirituality. The belief is that an individual's actions (Karma) in this life determine the quality of that person’s rebirth. Thus, one is born and dies repeatedly in this ‘sorrowful’ (dukkhamoy) world. The way to liberation from this cycle of birth and death (Nirvana) is to lead the monastic life prescribed by Buddha. The duty of a householder is to assist monks in attaining Nirvana by providing alms such as food and clothing. In return, they receive teachings on living a moral life from these monks. This earns them ‘merit’ (Punya), which may allow them to be born as humans in a favourable environment in the next life to proceed toward Nirvana.
The core of Buddha’s teaching consists of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. In brief, the Four Noble Truths are:
- Life is a suffering (Dukkha).
- Suffering comes from attachment (Tanha).
- The cessation of attachment leads to the end of suffering (Nirvana).
- This can be achieved by following the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path for living includes: right view, right intent, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
The Tripitaka: the Buddhist holy scripture
Buddha explained his philosophy through various dialogues. Shortly after his death, his senior disciples compiled these dialogues in the prevailing Pali language. Over 250 years in a series of three conventions of Great Councils (Mahasangha), the compilation was organized into three parts known as the Tripitaka (the Three Baskets of Wisdom). They are:
- Vinaya Pitaka: Rules for monastic life.
- Sutta Pitaka: A collection of Buddha’s sermons.
- Abhidhamma Pitaka: A compilation of Buddhist philosophical theories.
Like Vedas, the Tripitaka was preserved through oral tradition for a long time. Finally, 450 years after Buddha's death (approx. 29 BCE), the Tripitaka was written on palm leaves during the Fourth Council in Sri Lanka.[1]
In this way, like Abrahamic faiths, Buddhism is a religion defined by a holy ‘Book’ (scripture). Similar to those faiths, it is organization-centric (managed by the Sangha) and missionary-oriented, where the spread of faith through preaching is a goal. It is important to note that Buddhism was introduced at least 500 years before Christianity and 1,000 years before Islam. It spread across a vast part of the world, particularly from West to East Asia and Southeast Asia. However, this expansion was peaceful. Non-violence (Ahimsa) is a core principle of Buddha, who explicitly forbade Sangha members from any direct or indirect involvement in violence, war, or killing. Buddhist monks and their patron kings, such as Emperor Ashoka (c. 304 – 232 BCE), remained faithful to this principle.
This is the fundamental difference in character between Buddhism and the Abrahamic religions. This is also why it is assumed that rulers of Zoroastrianism and later Islam easily defeated Buddhist-majority regions through warfare, leading to the virtual disappearance of the faith from vast areas of West and Central Asia.[2]
The role of a Buddhist monk: the ‘Streetlight’ analogy
While Buddhism shares external similarities with Abrahamic faiths, it is necessary to understand the difference in missionary activity and the role of temples / monasteries compared to churches or mosques. Peter Lehr[3], in his book Militant Buddhism,[4] explains this role.
According to him, it is worth considering why these Buddhist monks, setting aside their own goal of attaining Nirvana, would set out on missionary work. Buddha himself quite emphatically told his followers to go out and propagate the faith. For this reason, in the hierarchy of principles to follow, Metta (Loving-kindness / Friendship) is followed by Karuna (Compassion). Then come Mudita (Altruistic Joy) and Upekkha (Equanimity / Detachment).
From the early period of his preaching, Buddha defined two distinct roles for monks: the wanderers (Pabbajita) and the monastery-dwellers (Abhasika). These monasteries are practically comparable to Christian churches or parishes. Consequently, these resident monks are deemed to be 'professional holy men’ such as priests, preachers, and monks providing services to villagers or city dwellers.[5]
However, they should not be confused with the active Christian missionaries post-16th century who would travel abroad specifically seeking 'lost souls' to convert. Theravada monks are primarily detached and prefer to serve as examples of a gentle, ideal person, allowing them to focus on their own pursuit of Nirvana. To clarify this attitude, Michael Carrithers[6] quotes a modern Sri Lankan monk saying that
“Buddhist monks are like streetlights; like a lighthouse, they do not go anywhere or do anything on their own volition, but simply help confused ordinary people find their way through the maze of morality in this dark world.”[7]
The above is the view of most Buddhist monks. They generally emphasize that monks should focus on spiritual assistance, as it is far superior to any form of social activism. [8]
In this discussion, we would specifically focus on the Theravada[9] branch of Buddhism. Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asian countries are followers of this form. Particularly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand, they form the majority, and the influence of the Buddhist Sangha on public life and politics in these countries is immense. Theravada originated around 250 BCE in Pataliputra (present-day Patna, India) during the Third Buddhist Council, which was organized by Emperor Ashoka and presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa (327 – 247 BCE).[10]
In a previous blog, we discussed the rise of Hindu fundamentalism[11] - how that religion, though inherently tolerant of different faiths and views, experienced an explosion of intolerance and communalism as a reaction to aggression of Christian and Islamic fundamentalism. We find similar examples in countries practicing Theravada Buddhism. For over a century, fundamentalist violence has been visible in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand.
In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, starting from the mid-19th century under British colonial rule, attempts by Christian missionaries to attack Buddhism and convert the indigenous population turned the leading sections of Buddhist society and the Sangha against Christianity, provoking them to build organized reactive movements. In Thailand, during the 1960s, Buddhist Sanghas became alarmed by the atheistic ideology of communist movements in neighbouring countries, and extended their direct or indirect support to the Thai state in ushering violence against the communists. Even in the first quarter of this 21st century, the rise of Islamic militancy internationally, and the expansion of local Islamic fundamentalist organizations have further strengthened the influence of Buddhist fundamentalists in these countries, leading to increased communal violence against people of other faiths. We draw a brief outline of this history of violence and intolerance against other faiths in these countries and its current context from Peter Lehr’s book, Militant Buddhism.
Sri Lanka: the island of Theravada Buddhist nationalism
Sri Lanka has been a Theravada Buddhist country since ancient times. History records various conflicts between Buddhist kings and Tamil kings from the Indian mainland as far back as the 2nd century BCE.[12] From that perspective, there was a traditional rivalry between Buddhists Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils. However, in this rivalry, the conflict over the dominance of two different ethnicities played a more significant role than religious differences.
In later years, this conflict took center stage when Tamil organizations demanded an independent state in Tamil majority regions, leading to a long, bloody struggle that ended in the total victory of Sinhalese nationalists. One of the main pillars of Sinhalese nationalism is Theravada Buddhism; consequently, Buddhist religious organizations played a significant role in these conflicts. It is noteworthy that Tamil nationalists did not build their movement or struggle under the umbrella of such religious organizations. The foundation of their nationalism was their distinct language and culture. While Hinduism is a key identity within that culture, no specific "Hindutva" (Hindu fundamentalism) centric ideology emerged there.
Direct expressions of Buddhist hostility toward other religions began around the time the last independent kingdom of Sri Lanka, Kandy, fell to the British in 1815, bringing the entire island under British rule. In the subsequent colonial era, Christian missionaries became their primary adversaries. Although the British rulers were initially committed via a treaty not to dishonour Buddhism or interfere with its rights, they were quick to break that promise.
In the following decades, as nationwide infrastructural development took place with the introduction of road and rail connectivity, the printing press, and above all, the Western education system, Christian missionary activities too increased with the approval from the colonial government.
Consequently, within a few decades of signing the treaty, in violation to it not only missionary schools but also churches were built in remote villages and often near or even within the sacred boundaries of Buddhist temples. Christian missionaries regularly portrayed the monks living in those temples as superstitious, pagan, uncivilized, uneducated, and ignorant. In response, aggrieved monks began to organize and raise voices against their ideology by using contemporary modern technology to reach a wider audience.[13]
This struggle was led by two distinguished monks: Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera (1833–1890) and Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thero (1827–1911). A third key figure was Colonel Sir Henry Steele Olcott (1832–1907), a spiritual leader and founder of the Theosophical Society in Sri Lanka. His contribution to bringing a new tide to Sri Lankan Buddhism was fourfold[14].
1. He collected original Buddhist scriptures as they were discovered and translated by Western Indologists.
2. By studying these scriptures, he authored a ‘Buddhist Catechism’[15] in 1881, which was perhaps his most significant contribution to Sinhalese Buddhism. For over 100 years, this summary was one of the core texts in Sri Lankan schools.
3. He provided financial assistance to establish a network of Buddhist schools and colleges such as Ananda College in Colombo and Dharmaraja College in Kandy to break the dominance of the English school system in the island.
4. He patronized the establishment of an international organization aimed at reviving Buddhism beyond Sri Lanka.
Although Colonel Olcott was a preacher of liberal Buddhism, tolerant of all faiths, common Buddhist Sinhalese later leaned toward a radical and intolerant Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism under the leadership of the Buddhist monk Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933). The core of Dharmapala’s Sinhalese Buddhism was the concept of a ‘Holy Land’ or ‘Promised Land’, where Sri Lanka was envisioned as Dhammadipa or the ‘Island of Dhamma’. From this perspective, only the Buddhist Sinhalese, whom Dharmapala regarded as descendants of the “Aryan race”, could be the legitimate heirs of the island. He viewed all others as invaders, who had polluted its Buddhist heritage and values—specifically listing both Tamil Hindu and Tamil Muslim citizens among other “foreign” plunderers.[16] This was largely an imitation of Christian missionaries; a mirror reflection of their extreme intolerance and exclusive hegemonism. Unfortunately, the Tamils were not spared from this reaction.
The Political Weaponization of Nationalism
When the island emerged as an independent country on February 4, 1948, the Buddhist Sinhalese held a 4:1 majority over all other religious and ethnic groups combined. Yet, they suffered from a deep-seated fear that their religion and culture would lose dominance due to the explosion of population of other faiths. Conservative Sinhalese politicians sought to weaponize these anxieties of new-born Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism to seize power from both leftist and rightist secular parties.
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (SWRD Bandaranaike) was the first to establish himself as a political leader by using this radical Sinhalese nationalism as a tool. He was successful in polarizing the majority Sinhalese in the Island by upholding Buddhism, the Sinhalese language, and Sinhalese culture as the primary identity of the nation, and positioning them in perceived confrontation with the nearly fifty million Tamils of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the inhabitants of northern Sri Lanka. Thus, in the 1956 election, he triumphed over the then-moderate Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala (1897–1980) as the leader of an anti-Tamil platform.[17]
As promised, within 24 hours of the formation of the Government, he recognized Sinhalese as the sole official language. This ultra nationalist step sowed the seeds of Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka. Immediately following the introduction of this law, the first large-scale riots between Tamils and Sinhalese since independence occurred. Shocked by the escalating violence, Bandaranaike made a belated attempt to “put the genie of radical nationalism back in the bottle” by seeking a compromise between Sinhalese and Tamil interests. However, he could not control the charged atmosphere of distrust. On September 25, 1959, he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk, Thalduwe Somarama Thero, who accused him a betrayer of Buddhist values.[18]
Bandaranaike’s widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916–2000), continued her late husband's ‘Sinhalese Only’ politics. However, she lost power in the March 1965 election. The newly elected Prime Minister, Dudley Senanayake (1911–1973), attempted to provide partial autonomy by establishing district councils in Tamil-dominated areas, but he cancelled the agreement after sensing the anger of the Sinhalese masses.
By campaigning with intense anti-Tamil rhetoric, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was re-elected in May 1970. Shortly after taking power, she faced an uprising by the Marxist political party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). After suppressing the rebellion in 1971, she passed a new constitution in the Parliament, changing the country's name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. Additionally, she enforced all restrictions passed under the "Sinhalese Only" law within the new constitution. Among other things this law stated that:
“The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.”
In response, Tamil parties formed an alliance to struggle for the protection of their language and cultural rights, establishing the Tamil United Front (TUF) on May 14, 1972.[19]
The long run civil war
Although Tamil militancy began in the early 1960s, the formation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on May 5, 1976, firmly established themselves over other Tamil political parties, and heightened militancy in the Island nation. Under the ruthless and charismatic leader Velupillai Prabhakaran (1954–2009), it rapidly crushed all other Tamil militant and democratic movements, monopolizing the Tamil struggle for a separate state. Although the LTTE was a secular organization, Buddhist temples and their monks were often targets of their attacks because the Sri Lankan Buddhist Sangha directly sided with Sinhalese nationalists in the war. For more than three decades, the LTTE continued terrorist activities against the Sinhalese state and conducted a brutal guerrilla war. Finally, on May 18, 2009, the LTTE was completely defeated, bringing an end to Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka.[20]
Even after the defeat of the LTTE, the hostility of Sinhalese nationalists toward Tamils, regardless of whether they are Hindu or Muslim, persists.[21] Particularly since 2012, there has been a series of attacks primarily targeting mosques, as well as some evangelical Christian churches. At this moment, in the current era of post-war political victory, the intense anti-Tamil violence seems to be deeply rooted as part of the Sinhalese Buddhist-nationalism originally propagated by Dharmapala. A clear example of this is the activities of an organization named Bodu Bala Sena (BBS)[22], founded in 2012. According to Kalinga Tudor Silva, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, this organization represents a radical effort aimed at targeting the Muslim minority.[23]
Myanmar: conflicts with Islam
Like Sri Lanka, Burma (now known as Myanmar) is a Theravada Buddhist-majority country. According to 2016 statistics, approximately 87.9% of the population are Theravada Buddhists. The remaining non-Buddhist minorities include 6.2% Christians, 4.3% Muslims, 0.5% Hindus, and 0.8% animists. However, even there, Buddhists express fears of the annihilation of their religion and culture, particularly by Muslims. When the whole of Burma came under British colonial rule toward the end of the nineteenth century, and as the number of Muslims arriving from neighbouring India increased, local Buddhists began harbouring hostile attitudes toward Islam.[24]
This resentment exploded into anti-Muslim riots in 1938. At that time, a Burmese Muslim named Maung Shwe Hpi published a book titled The Abode of Nats. In this book, he condemned and ridiculed Buddhism through an imaginary debate between an Islamic Imam and a Buddhist monk. He mocked Theravada Buddhists as ‘Nats’ (ghosts or spirits), who worship animals. This deeply wounded the religious sentiments of Buddhists, and the public movement against this mockery quickly turned violent.[25]
Even after Myanmar's independence in 1948, this mindset remained unchanged among a large section of Buddhists and has progressively intensified. Many monks of the Buddhist Sangha also harbour this sentiment and directly spread hatred toward Muslims. In recent times, one of their prominent faces is Ashin Wirathu (1968– ), who has been condemned by international media for his ultra nationalist views and racial hatred. In 2003, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his hateful speech against Muslims and incitement of communal violence; however, he was released in 2012, and continued his campaign of hate and anti-Muslim rhetoric. In 2019, he was charged for inciting hate and campaign against the civilian government of Aung San Su Kyi (1945– ), and was arrested in 2020 before the general election. In September 2021, the sedition charges were dropped by the ruling Military Junta and he was released again.[26]
The Rohingya Conflict and Militancy
Immediately after independence, the majority Muslim Rohingyas in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine State began a militant and violent movement to secede. Although the Myanmar government suppressed them firmly at various stages, their jihadi movement still continued. In 2016, a new militant organization named Harakah-al-Yakin[27] attacked a Burmese border guard outpost on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, resulting in the deaths of about 40 guards.
Conflicts between the Burmese army and Islamic jihadists escalated, and in 2017, the former militant group took on a new identity as the Arakan Salvation Army (ARA) and entered into a larger-scale war. On one hand, the Myanmar military launched even harsher military operations against them and engaged in widespread persecution to expel the Rohingya population from the country.[28] On the other hand, the organization Harakah-al-Yakin intensified its attacks under the umbrella of a new group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). On August 25, 2017, they attacked 25 police outposts and one army camp, resulting in 71 deaths.[29] Due to these conflicts, a vast number of Rohingya Muslims fled from Myanmar's Rakhine State (also known as Arakan) to neighbouring countries, Bangladesh and India.
The Monk-Military Alliance
The Buddhist Sangha and many of its monks have provided both indirect and direct support and cooperation not only to anti-Muslim religious and ethnic riots but also to the anti-democratic military junta government. Although a section of monks took a stand against military rule after the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was toppled in February 2021, leading to the imprisonment of several monks, the core leadership of the Buddhist Sangha did not oppose the military rule. On the contrary, one of their top-ranking monks, Sitagu Sayadaw (1937– ), publicly supported the military. He even visited Russia with military leader Min Aung Hlaing (1956– ) to purchase weapons.
Following the 2021 coup, the army has been projected as the sole protector of Buddhism. General Hlaing is attempting to justify his seizure of power by accusing former leader Aung San Suu Kyi of failing to uphold the pillars of ‘race and religion’. Recently, while the junta government has been cornered and harassed by rebels in guerrilla warfare, it is attempting a comeback with the help of the Buddhist Sangha. With the direct instigation of the Sangha, they are enforcing mandatory conscription into the army for men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27. For his support of the military, Ashin Wirathu has been rehabilitated and honoured.[30]
Thailand: countering communism
Just like Sri Lanka and Myanmar, Thailand, a country where 95% of the population is Theravada Buddhist, is currently experiencing similar anti-Muslim sentiment and fear. However, this is primarily confined to the Muslim-majority southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla. In these regions, separatist Malay-Muslim organizations have continued their violent activities. As a result, between 2004 and 2019, at least 8,000 people were killed, including Buddhist monks.[31]
The historical context of the rise of Buddhist fundamentalism in Thailand, however, is quite different from the other two countries. Thailand has always maintained its existence as an independent nation. It managed to preserve itself as a ‘neutral buffer zone’ between the French and British colonial rulers of its neighbouring countries. Alongside this, it adopted programs for developing infrastructure and social reform to keep pace with modernity. For this very reason, the Buddhist Sangha long refrained from involving itself in politics, in accordance with its fundamental character.
However, in the 1970s, communists came to power in neighbouring Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.[32] Under their rule, the institutional organizations of Buddhism in those countries were destroyed. These events intensified anti-communist sentiment within the Thai Buddhist Sangha. From that time, Thai Buddhist monks, with the silent support of the Sangha and in collusion with the then-rulers, joined in the suppression of communists.
In 1965, a communist insurgency began against military rule and quickly spread across the country. The Royal Thai Army, supported by the Royal Thai Police and several volunteer forces, managed to suppress this rebellion until 1973. However, between 1972 and 1973, the military's brutal treatment of rebels, students, and intellectuals caused a large section of Thai society to lean against military rule and form a massive resistance movement. Ultimately, the military rulers were forced to concede. In early 1973, persistent protests by students at Bangkok's Thammasat University brought the rulers to their knees. On October 6, 1973, the situation worsened rapidly when police arrested several student activists and teachers for distributing leaflets demanding a new constitution, leading to a massive protest of nearly five hundred thousand people. On October 14, 1973, clashes between protesters and police / military units resulted in more than 70 deaths - an event that instantly turned the entire nation against the rulers. Even the Thai King expressed support for the rebels. The next day, the military regime collapsed, and Thai Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn (1911–2004) went into exile along with his Deputy Prime Minister Field Marshal Praphas Charusathien (1912–1997) and his son Colonel Narong Kittikachorn (1933–2024).[33]
A democratic government remained in power in Thailand for about three years until October 1976. However, fearing a communist takeover like in neighbouring countries, a radical nationalist far-right movement emerged. Due to their anti-communist stance, they easily received support and aid from Western countries. The Royal Thai Army (RTA) played an active role in building this anti-communist movement. They formed small groups in rural areas called Luk Suea Chao Ban [34] (Village Scouts) and tasked them with expelling suspected communist supporters. In Bangkok, a paramilitary organization named Krating Daeng[35] (Red Gaurs) was established. It primarily consisted of vocational students, school dropouts, unemployed youth, and veterans of the Indochina War[36]. This paramilitary group did not emerge spontaneously; rather, it was initially established by the RTA's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) to counter the student movement and was later equipped with small arms and grenades.
However, the organization that Buddhist monks also joined was named Nawaphon[37] (New Force Movement). On the surface, this organization aimed to maintain economic prosperity, political stability, social peace and security by adopting a Buddhist ‘middle path’. It was founded in 1974 by Wattana Keovimol, a former head of the Thai Student Association in the USA.[38] This group was also secretly supported by the ISOC. Its members were mostly government employees and officials, recruited through personal bureaucratic connections. Realizing that a communist coup in Thailand would mean the destruction of both the monarchy and the Buddhist order, many Buddhist monks joined this organization. They believed it was essential to suppress communist movements before they became too powerful.[39] Although the Buddhist Sangha maintained a distance from this conflict, they took no action against monks joining anti-communist political activities beyond a mild rebuke.[40]
Even today, in response to violent attacks by separatist Muslim Malay organizations in the south, many Buddhist monks in that region have joined in violent resistance and counter-attacks. While Muslim organizations initially prioritized the right to self-determination of a distinct Malay ethnicity over Islamic Jihad, in recent times, fundamentalist Islamists there have been fighting with the goal of establishing an Islamic Caliphate.[41]
(Translated from a Bengali article written by the author with the help of Google Gemini).
6/4/26
[1] Sutta Pitaka: Digha Nikaya (Vol 1) – Translated (in Bengali) by Rajguru Dharmaratna Mahasthavir, 1962.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Buddhists
[4] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
[5] Weber, Max. 1967. The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism. Trans. and Ed. Hans H. Gerth and Don Martindale. New York/London: The Free Press/Collier-Macmillan. pp. 229.
[7] Carrithers, Michael B. 2007. They Will Be Lords Upon the Island: Buddhism in Sri Lanka. In The World of Buddhism: Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture, ed. Heinz Bechert and Richard F. Gombrich, 133–146 Reprint, London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 134
[8] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp-47.
[9] Theravada literally means "Teaching of the Elders."
[10] The second major branch, Mahayana (Great Vehicle), emerged 100 to 200 years later. The third major branch, Tibetan Buddhism, known as Vajrayana (of which the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader), spread in the 4th century CE.
[12] History of these conflicts is recorded in Sri Lankan chronicles Mahavamsa, written in Pali. The war between the Sinhala King Dutthagamani (reigned during 161 – 137 BC) and Tamil King Elara (called Ellalan in Tamil), in 161 B.C. is extensively narrated in that book. King Dutthagamini defeated and killed Elara; and united the Island kingdom. Elara, a noble man from the Chola kingdom, invaded Anuradhapur, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka, in 205 BC and reigned there for 44 years till he was overthrown. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81va%E1%B9%83sa ; https://amazinglanka.com/wp/elara/
[13] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, p. 121.
[14] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, p. 122.
[16] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp-128.
[17] Bandaranaike’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and its allies captured 51 of the 95 seats in Parliament.
[18] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, 2019, pp-125-126.
[19] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, 2019, pp-126.
[20] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, 2019, pp-126.
[21] Meera Srinivasan, ‘A poverty of hope among Sri Lankan Tamils’, The Hindu, May 25, 2024. - https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/a-poverty-of-hope-among-lankan-tamils/article68211648.ece
[23] Silva, Kalinga Tudor. 2016. Gossip, Rumour, and Propaganda in Anti-muslim [sic] Campaigns of the Bodu Bala Sena. In Buddhist Extremists and Muslim Minorities: Religious Conflict in Contemporary Sri Lanka, ed. John C. Holt, 119–137 (e-book version). New York: Oxford University Press.
[24] After their victory in the third Anglo-Burmese war in 1885, the British annexed the whole of Burma to British India in 1897 and it remained as its province till 1937. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_rule_in_Burma
[25] https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/origins-of-an-atrocity-tracing-the-roots-of-islamophobia-in-myanmar-september-2018/
[28] Due to administrative errors during the 1911 colonial census, Rohingyas were listed as "Indian ethnic" rather than "indigenous Arakanese," and were thus mistakenly identified as foreigners. This allowed the independent Burmese government to categorize them as a non-Burmese ethnic group. For example, the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law listed eight ethnic groups (Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine, and Shan) but excluded Rohingyas. Officially, they are described as "Bengalis" and treated as unwanted foreigners. — Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, 2019, p. 162.
[30] Sonia Sarkar, The Buddhist Monk-Military Alliance Taking Over Myanmar, October 23, 2025, in Religion Unplugged
[31] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 193.
[32] During 1965-1975 a bloody war was fought between North Vietnam communist government and USA, which ended with the victory and unification of North and South Vietnam under a communist government in 1975. At the same time, Cambodia and Laos also came under the communist rule. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
[33] The self-proclaimed PM Thanom, his son Narong, and Narong’s father-in-law Praphas were labeled the "Three Tyrants" by contemporary media.
[36] Suksamran, Somboon. Buddhism and Politics in Thailand. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, 1982. pp. 79
[38] Leifer, Michael. Dictionary of the Modern Politics of South-East Asia. London/New York: Routledge, 1995.pp. 170
[39] Peter Lehr, Militant Buddhism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp-204-206.
[40] On October 6, 1976, a military coup toppled the democratic government, and a crackdown on communists and their supporters ensued.
