Abstract
Peter Lehr’s new book Militant Buddhism: The Rise of Religious Violence in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand explores the rise of militant Buddhism to shed light on an understudied phenomenon and dispel the ‘outside’ perspective of pacifism being Buddhism’s trademark. Specifically, Lehr analyses Theravāda Buddhism and its place within ultra-nationalist discourse and movements in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (which he refers to as Burma throughout the text) and Thailand. In essence, to illustrate how militant Buddhism has emerged, Lehr pays particular attention to the domestic, regional and global contexts of each state to demonstrate that Buddhists are not immune from the world events and discourses that also impact other major religions. Taking a socio-theological approach, he examines perspectives from the people and contrasts them with the countries’ backgrounds. Interestingly, when conducting his field research in the targeted countries, Lehr consciously engaged in ‘conversations’ rather than ‘interviews’ because the people ‘were only willing to speak on the condition of confidentiality’ using ‘little of what they said verbatim’ and made use of published primary—pamphlets, websites and videos—and secondary sources (p. 7). Lehr concludes, ‘the rhetoric of militant Theravāda Buddhism is very similar to that of political Hinduism, also known as Hindutva, but that it also borrows concepts and rhetoric from the three revealed Abrahamic religions—just as Hindutva does’ (p. 10).
The book has eight chapters that frame the research, define key terms and explain Buddhist discourses. The first few chapters delve into discussions about the ‘return’ of politicised religion in the twentieth century by comparing the politicisation of Buddhism to other religions, like Islam and Christianity. Here, Lehr argues that ‘Theravāda Buddhism as an ostentatiously world-renouncing religion is not exempt from this-worldly issues’ because ‘world-renouncing’ is probably not ‘the best course of action when it comes to dealing with the essentially socio-political implications of current developments affecting the societies the monks preside over’ (p. 40). Turning to Theravāda Buddhist discourse on violence, he examines how the teachings provide for concessions because violence is unavoidable. Lehr explains that the religious discourse recognises that violence happens, and there are aspects of Just War theory with the ‘reinterpretation’ of Buddhist texts. As for the role of monks, he explores how they became political actors, and defensive war became permissible. Lehr writes that the conduct of ‘today’s political monks are not that different from traditional monks in as far as the latter also occasionally engaged in politics’ (p. 110).
The remainder of the book centres around the case studies. First examining Sri Lanka, Lehr details the ultra-nationalist perception of Buddhists becoming marginalised, which is a basis for militant Buddhism in the country. Focusing on the political history on the island, Lehr details how after Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, ‘the nascent Buddhist nationalism was quickly instrumentalized by conservative Sinhalese politicians trying to establish a credible conservative-Buddhist counter-weight to the secular parties of the left and the right’ (p. 125). He also analyses Sri Lankan religious rhetoric, justifying opposition to Muslims and Hindus, as well as the use of violence to defend the Buddhist population.
Moving to Burma, Lehr surveys the country’s history, demonstrating that Buddhist militancy existed prior to independence, most notably with monks becoming involved in violent resistance against colonial authorities. In post-independence Burma, socio-economic issues and the perspective that Buddhism is under siege in the country provoked extremism and attacks against Muslims. Lehr is cautious to make the distinction between the majority of the Burmese who are opposed to ultra-nationalism and the politically active class of ultra-nationalist monks. The population is critical of those monks who have led attacks against their moderate and non-Buddhist countrymen, and the author raises the question ‘whether the views of this silent majority actually matter’ in Burma (p. 188).
Lastly, Lehr explores the development of militant Buddhism in Thailand. Thailand differs from the other case studies as it was not subjected to the same style of colonialism that was responsible for politicising the Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka and Burma. Moreover, with formal control over temples by a relatively strong monarchy, there ‘was no space similar to Sri Lanka to Burma, which was conducive to the emergence of political monks or activist monks’ (p. 201). Nonetheless, there are moments that monks were encouraged to become politically active, most notably in response to the perceived threats of communism during the Cold War. It is also highlighted by Lehr how a class of soldier monks encouraged and participated in a Thai Buddhist militancy that emerged in reaction to the ongoing Muslim separatist insurgency in southern Thailand.
Militant Buddhism is a highly recommended comparative study that provides insightful research to an understudied subject. In comparing the different militancies, Lehr explores country demographics and history as well as highlights that none of the countries are homogeneous, and ‘othering’ plays a role in all three countries. In terms of justification for violence, he argues ‘although even the most belligerent of the militant monks readily concede that an offensive use of violence should never be allowed, they never fail to point out that peaceful and non-violent Buddhist communities have the right to self-defence’ (p. 237). Yet, Lehr is careful to note that his study examines a minority of Buddhists, and that the reader should not overemphasise the impact of militant Buddhism role in the countries. Additionally, Lehr explains that ‘extremist or militant monks’ must engage in ‘a continuous tightrope walk, with the possibility of being summarily disrobed because of having committed a “disrobing” or pārājika offense’ should they take their championing of righteous violence too far (p. 257).
As for a future outlook, Lehr discusses ways to ‘de-militarise’ the ultra-nationalists, including ‘disrobing’ them and denying them publicity. However, there are challenges in any effort to silence extremists or establishing a reform movement. Consequently, he writes ‘for the time being, I fear that we are stuck with these Buddhist variants of the preachers of hate we know from other religions’ and ‘secularists’ should ‘accept that the age of secularism is over’ (p. 268). The research and analysis of the book provokes a rethinking about the nature of political violence in the three Buddhist-majority countries. Yet, one oversight of Militant Buddhism is that Lehr does not provide any detailed accounts of the broader political movements, nor the receptivity of Buddhist militant ideas on the general population. Pursuing this research would have shed light into the context of the Buddhist militants’ actions as well as understand what role militancy has for the wider population. Nonetheless, scholars of extremism and political violence in Asia will find this a welcome contribution to the academic literature.