All for enlightenment: 4,000 British troops to meditate at Bodh Gaya, Sarnath to beat stress

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Patna, India -- The British Army will send about 4,000 of its troops, who are followers of Buddhism, in a group of 100-150 people to spend a week at Bodh Gaya and Sarnath to seek peace after their prolonged involvement in the war zones in different countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. They will all meditate under the famous tree at Bodh Gaya, where Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment in 6th century B.C.

Mahabodhi tree has been declared a world heritage site by the Unesco in 2002.

"The British soldiers will start arriving in Bodh Gaya from early next year," Bihar's minister for tourism Sunil Kumar Pintu told Mail Today on Monday. "They will arrive in separate groups of about 100-150 people and meditate under the holy tree. They will continue to arrive here throughout the next year."

Pintu said that the troops will spend six days in Bodh Gaya and one day at Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh.

The minister said that the tourism department of the Bihar government had entered into an agreement with an international travel agency, to facilitate the trips during the World Tourism Mart held in London last month.

"Bihar had taken part in the World Tourism Mart for the first time which was held in London between November 5-8 this year," he said. "It was during that tourism fair that the officials of the British army got in touch with us through the travel agency. We had three rounds of talks in this regard."

Pintu said that the exact dates of the British troops had not yet been finalised yet. He stated that the state government would take care of the security of the British soldiers and facilitate their smooth stay in holy south Bihar town. "We will provide our wholehearted support to the British soldiers troops who want to meditate under the Mahabodhi tree," he said.

The tourism minister said that the British Army had about 4,000 troops who were followers of Buddhism. "Since Bodh Gaya happens to be the holiest of the holy places for the Buddhists, the British army has decided to arrange the trips for its soldiers," he added.

Stating that he had discussed the details of the trip with the British army officials, Pintu said that most of the British troops coming to Bihar had been deployed in the different countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq in recent times. "The visit to Bodh Gaya and Sarnath is aimed at providing them peace and helping them distress them after their experiences in those countries."

He said that it was for the first time that such a visit has been organised.

Sushil Kumar Singh, managing director of the travel agency, said that his agency had signed an agreement in this regard with the British Army in London month. He said that Dr Sunil Karyakara, a Buddhist chaplain with the British army, had been made the coordinator for the trips. "We have entered into agreement with the British army to bring the stressed soldiers to various places on the Buddhist circuit," he said. "But they would spend most of the time at Bodh Gaya."

Singh said that the exact dates of the first round of the soldiers' visit had not been finalised but they would start arriving from early next year. "We will hold a meeting with the British army officials in January to chalk out the final itinerary in which Bihar tourism department officials will also be involved," he said. "The trips would continue in future as well."

Bihar has witnessed remarkable rise in the number of tourists from the foreign countries in recent years. Last year, the number of international tourists visiting Bihar was 8.70 lakh which was ten times more than what it used to be a decade ago. This year, 8.40 lakh had already visited the state till August and their number was expected to cross 10 lakh by the end of the year.

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Battle-weary British troops find comfort in Buddhism

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London, UK -- Buddhism is experiencing an extraordinary upswing in popularity in the armed forces. Since 2005, the number of servicemen and women practising the religion has risen from 200 to 3,800. Around 2,800 are Gurkhas, whose home nation Nepal has pockets of Buddhism.

But the other 1,000 are British, with many converting since they joined the military. According to spiritual leaders, the reason behind the phenomenon is that Buddhism allows service personnel to escape the stresses and strains of military life.

Sunil Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist chaplain for the armed forces, said: ‘Buddhism has a different perspective about things.
‘The military is a very stressful place. People go to war, that is one factor, and have to fight.

‘Personnel see a lot of suffering in theatre. People are finding that Buddhism can help with these mental agonies.

‘It is laid back and they can practise their own way.’

Dr Sunil said Buddha, who lived 2,500 years ago, never ruled out force: ‘Sometimes you have to choose war as the least bad option.’

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Straddings, who heads up cultural diversity for the Army, said the society was ‘hugely important’.

He said: ‘British society today is hugely different from the Army I joined 25 years ago. Approximately 25 per cent of young people are no longer white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

‘They are the future. They are the people who represented the country at the Olympics, at football and they are the people we need for the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force of the future.’

In 2005, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh chaplains were appointed by the armed forces for the first time.

The appointments reflect the increase in ethnic minority recruitment to the Army, Navy and RAF in recent years.

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Troops outnumber monks at temples in Thai south

With its barbed wire, sandbag bunker and armed guards, Wat Lak Muang in Thailand's strife-torn deep south looks more like a military outpost than a typical Buddhist temple.

Since a deadly insurgency erupted in the Muslim-dominated region seven years ago, the army has become inseparable from religious rituals in the region, where troops live side-by-side with monks in monasteries.

At Wat Lak Muang, a few kilometres from the centre of the city of Pattani, soldiers armed to the teeth return from patrol in pick-up trucks from time to time, while monks in saffron robes busy themselves around a fire inside.

Around the stupa, prefabricated barracks have been set up for soldiers and armoured vehicles and transport lorries are parked nearby.

The eight monks living there are by far outnumbered by the roughly 100 soldiers -- a situation mirrored at other temples in the region.

The army says it is a mainly a matter of convenience.

"Just because soldiers are with monks doesn't mean that it's a religious war," said Major General Acra Tiproach, deputy regional army commander.

"It doesn't mean that we're there to fight. It's only a shelter. There are buildings we can use for accommodation and we can take care of the security of local people."

Since 2004, Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, near the border with Malaysia, have been riven by a complex insurgency that has claimed more than 4,800 lives, both Buddhists and Muslims.

Monks -- seen, like teachers, as a symbol of the Thai state -- are among the targets, sometimes shot or attacked with bombs while out collecting alms.

The militants denounce the Bangkok-based ruling elite and the kingdom's majority Buddhists, in a region where 80 percent of the population is of Malay ethnicity and Muslim religion.

More than ever, the daily religious routines take place under close military surveillance.

In the early morning, monks in pairs go on the traditional collection of alms -- normally gifts of food -- from the Buddhist faithful in the centre of Pattani, reciting prayers as they go.

It could be a scene from anywhere in the country -- apart from the armed bodyguards who closely follow the monks, surveying each doorway, blocking access to each street.

"The situation is bad," said a local shopkeeper who came to take part in the ritual.

But he added: "I don't think it's strange. There's nothing wrong with having soldiers with monks."

Analysts struggle to describe a conflict whose roots can be traced back to the start of the 20th century.

The leaders of the insurgency are difficult to identify, the militants are discreet and the claims of responsibility unclear.

People in the region complain of a long history of perceived discrimination against ethnic Malay Muslims by authorities in the Buddhist-majority nation, including alleged abuses by the armed forces.

While the Muslim militants are not viewed as jihadists, the presence in recent years of troops in the monasteries has brought a new religious dimension to the conflict.

"The militarisation of Buddhist temples is fuelling a sense that this is a clash between religions and that's a problematic direction to move in," said Duncan McCargo, an expert on the conflict with Leeds University in Britain.

In stark contrast to hardcore Islamic militants like Al-Qaeda, the Thai insurgents have not taken their armed struggle out of the deep south.

Moreover, the younger generation of insurgents, said McCargo, is not recruited on the basis of fundamentalist ideology.

But some soldiers have been ordained as monks in recent years. And rumour has it that certain monks are armed.

Officially, the monks do not complain. Most of the superiors approve of a military presence that they can, in any case, do little about.

"It's all right because monks live with monks, soldiers live with soldiers. We live separately," said Pipit Vavakarn Koson, the abbot of Narathiwat's Tung Kha temple.

"There were bombs in some temples, some were burnt down, some monks were killed. So I thought it's a good idea to have soldiers here with us. They can protect the villagers and will make them feel more calm."

But mosques have also been attacked in the past and there are no soldiers guarding those.

Religion is one of the three pillars of the Thai constitution -- along with the nation and the monarchy -- and nobody doubts that Buddhism is the de facto religion of the state.

"The presence of the soldiers in most, if not all, temples in this area makes it appear that temples are representations of the Thai state," said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of conflict monitor Deep South Watch.

"When you present yourself as a protector of the temples of the Thai Buddhist, you become the protector of the minority. State mechanism becomes part of the violence."

Wat Tung Kha sits in the middle of an exclusively Buddhist village, an enclave protected by a military roadblock. The main street is covered with yellow flags, symbols of the monarchy, therefore the domination of Bangkok.

Ophat Yenbut, 66, lives with her husband opposite the monastery. She points to the house of her neighbours and explains that the couple were killed in a rubber plantation some years ago.

"I sleep better when I know that the soldiers are here to protect us," she said.

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