The roots of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism

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London, UK -- Violence related to Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Burma often leaves observers with a sense of bewilderment; many Buddhist practitioners have resorted to violent means in the name of what is essentially a peaceful religion. This contradiction is somewhat easier to understand when viewed from two angles – East and West.

<< Arakanese Buddhist monks pray for peace at the Sule pagoda in central Rangoon on 12 June 2012. (PHOTO: Reuters)

For the Asian Buddhist, the idea that the teachings of the Buddha could ever lead to hostility is simply dismissed. Buddhism is airbrushed from the scenes of violence and in its place is left only a threat to the nation, a threat to the culture and a threat to the religion.

The Western observer tends to assume that those committing these acts are not ‘real’ Buddhists. The original teachings have mingled with culture to such an extent as to become unrecognisable – dig beneath the culture, to the text, and there the ‘real’ message of the Buddha will be found. For the West, Buddhism has to be separated from its cultural environment. This is out of necessity – for it is assumed that Buddhism is not a ‘religion’ at all. It is a pristine ‘other’, standing alone and somewhat aloof from the messiness of the masses.

For the Asian Buddhist, the West can never culturally understand Buddhism (the West is ‘foreign’ – modern and corrupt). Whereas for the Western Buddhist, it is precisely these cultural accretions that obscure the real teachings. The East is naïve and lacks sophistication. Both sides, East and West, seek authenticity in Buddhism.

Buddhism has portrayed itself, and been described by Western commentators, as the religion untainted by ‘religiousness’ (dogmatism, violence, fundamentalism). It is the religion of choice for the compassionate, modern individual. Many believe that Buddhism has a pure history in which misdemeanors, carnage, war and hostility has been committed by everyone — except the Buddhist. This is why the recent violence in Sri Lanka and Burma elicits such shock.

In seeking the origins of these hostilities, we shouldn’t turn to the core textual tradition, even though some Buddhist groups may refer to particular texts to support their own positions. In the fundamental ideas of the Pali Canon, or the early Sutras of the Mahayana tradition, the teachings of the Buddha are based on tolerance and compassion.

The roots of intolerance might be found in the reaction of one Buddhist group to another. For example, this sectarian attitude surfaced in the emergence of the Mahayana Buddhism. The Mahayana identified itself in opposition to what it termed ‘Hinayana’ Buddhist groups. Although Mahayana is often translated as ‘Great Vehicle’ and Hinayana as ‘Smaller Vehicle’ – the term ‘hina’ actually means ‘inferior’, ‘low,’ ‘poor’, ‘miserable’, ‘vile’, or ‘contemptible’.

Evidence suggests that some Buddhist schools had uncompromising attitudes towards others. That intolerance was pronounced by the rise of Buddhism in the West (including the Asian ‘West’). There is an ongoing debate concerning which group is the most compassionate. The argument has been made that some Buddhist groups in Asia and elsewhere are using this ‘stick of compassion’ against Burmese Buddhists as a way of distancing the rest of the Buddhist world from the situation in Burma. Buddhist groups have long been vying for the claim of authenticity, an element of Buddhist history that could be at the heart of recent hostilities.

Even beyond disputes between differing factions of Buddhism, there is a broader sense of religious superiority. The notion of the superiority of Buddhism is often based upon a supposed scientific resemblance and methodology; Buddhism is better because it is viewed as scientific, rational. Because it is perceived as ‘better’, Buddhists go to war, discriminate against others, take Buddhism to be essential to national identity, and do things that we might find completely contrary to the Buddha’s teachings.

There is an historic pride in the fundamental goodness of the Dhamma which causes conflict and hostility. There are enough teachings in the Buddhist Canon that warn against these attitudes, but there are also many examples in Buddhist history where a strong sense of pride in one’s own tradition is supported. It is precisely where an attitude in which the most compassionate, the most Buddhist, the most traditional are valued – that intolerance in Buddhist culture comes into focus.

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Dr Paul Fuller has taught Religious Studies at Universities in Southeast Asia, the University of Sydney in Australia and at Bath Spa University in the UK. His research interests include early Indian Buddhist philosophy and the Buddhist ideas of Aung San Suu Kyi. His book, The Notion of Ditthi in Theravada Buddhism: The Point of View (Routledge Curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism, 2004) explores the textual basis of discrimination and attachment in the Pali Canon.

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Salt Lake Buddhist temples: one has Protestant look, one has Mormon roots

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One looks more Protestant but was Buddhist from birth — the other looks more Buddhist but has an LDS beginning.

Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) -- Two Buddhist temples dot Salt Lake City’s urban core. Both are housed in historic structures, serve a diverse population and preach about the transitory nature of human life.

<< (Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune) The exterior of the Urgyen Samten Ling Buddhist temple in Salt Lake City on April 21, 2013. The building was once a Mormon ward and a gothic nightclub before it was renovated and became a Buddhist temple.
Salt Lake Buddhist temples: one has Protestant look, one has Mormon roots

One of these temples, though, is simple and understated, while the other is ornate and awash in traditional Asian colors. And the details of their sacred spaces reflect very different — even opposite — historical trajectories.

The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple, home to Utah’s oldest and most continuous Buddhist congregation, is nestled into a crowded city block near the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center. The building sits unobtrusively in an area now noted for parking lots and industrial spaces but was once a bustling neighborhood known as Japan Town.

This temple has the look and feel of a Protestant church, and that is no accident, says longtime member Brenda Koga. It was meant to blend in with the country’s predominant Christian culture.

"Our particular temple doesn’t resemble a Jodo Shinshu temple in other American cities or in Japan," she says. "It’s more Americanized architecture."

Across town on 300 West and 700 South, the Urgyen Samten Ling Gonpa is in a century-old Mormon meetinghouse, which has been remade into a traditional Tibetan Buddhist place of worship.

The red, green, white, orange and blue prayer flags and wall hangings, along with the giant wooden shrine bedecked with rows of gold-encased Buddha statues and ablaze with candles, make it tough to imagine the space began as anything but a Buddhist temple. Then there are the yellow walls.

"You can’t believe how many versions of mustard yellow there are," quips Jean LaSarre Gardner, a co-founder of the sangha or congregation. "We sent pictures and would call our teacher in Nepal about the color."

When the leader arrived to see the finished space, she says, "he was very pleased."

Old and new, converts and lifelong believers, past and present — all these Buddhists and their buildings add flavor and dimension to Utah’s religious scene.

Coming to America

Japanese Buddhism arrived in the Mormon heartland more than 100 years ago with migrant workers who took jobs with Utah mines, farms and railroads.

By 1912, these Buddhists created their first congregation in Ogden, known as the Intermountain Buddhist Church. A few years later, the group moved to Salt Lake City, where members practiced Jodo Shinshu, a sect of Buddhism.

Through the years, more immigrants arrived — during World War II, for example, many Japanese Americans were sent to the Topaz internment camp in west-central Utah — bringing their faith and family shrines with them.

When the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple was built in the 1960s, these Buddhists "wanted to prove they were Americanized," Koga says. "They almost overdid it ­— but it’s understandable."

The chapel — or hondo — features pews, pulpit and layout that are more like Protestant churches than their counterparts in Japan.

"The chapel area is supposed to be wider than long because the horizontal line is more soothing than a vertical line," she says. "Our particular chapel does not comply with that whole concept."

It does, however, feature three traditional Jodo Shinshu shrines, elements of design seen in all the sect’s temples.

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Buddhism strikes its roots in Gandhidham

The sapling on Monday was planted on the premises of the sprawling port colony here by the Gandhidham-based chapter of Buddha Light International Association (BLIA).

However, before planting the sapling, the BLIA took out a peace march in the town with the sapling.

The holy sapling was planted in the presence of renowned Japanese Buddhist monk, Therasavji, who is also a UN ambassador for world peace. Therasavji is currently

touring the country and had especially come to Gandhidham for the event.

Rupa Bhaty, noted architect and president of Gujarat chapter of BLIA, said that the sapling had been planted on the premises of the port colony temporarily. It will be shifted to the BLIA Park that is to be built in the port town soon, she said.

?We are happy that by planting in Gandhidham a sapling from the original Bodhi tree, we are in a way restoring the state?s Buddhist heritage. We received the sapling a month back from the Global Buddhist Congregation, New Delhi,? she said.

Bhaty further said that Bodhi tree saplings from Anuradhapura (in Sri Lanka), and Bodh Gaya and Sravasti had been distributed in all countries where Buddhism is practiced as a religion. She further said that a large number of Dhamma practitioners and ordinary people had taken part in the peace procession on Monday.

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