Buddhism

Just like there are false Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Hindu teachers who use their religion for hate, there are Buddhists who do the same.


To give a more graphic example look at the Khmer Rouge. They were all born Buddhists.


One of the strengths of Buddhism is its tolerance. It means that their are guidelines but not the same ecclesiastical rules as there are say in the Catholic Church.


So anyone can call themselves a monk and say anything.


To answer your question the Buddhists in Burma are Theravadist Monks. One of the unusual aspects of Buddhism is that there is no theology for statecraft. There is no ancient Buddhist Theology that teaches rulers how to rule for example. Buddhist teaching is for individual practice and belief. Buddhist Kings, for example, use Brahmaic Priests to instruct them on the ethics of statecraft, while they continue to follow Buddhist monks teaching on private behavior.


One of the strengths of Theravada Buddhism, IMO, is that in this atmosphere of extreme tolerance the monks are organized into the Sangha, the organization which controls the monks. If a monk lives outside the teachings of the Sangha there is really nothing that the Sangha can do.

I can tell you that my wife's' father was from Burma, I have lived in parts of Thailand that have significant numbers of Muslims and there is absolutely no conflict or tension. My wife's family are all Buddhist with the exception of one sister who has converted to Islam because she married a Muslim. My brother in law is loved and respected by all the family as I was when I was a Christian before I decided to convert to Buddhism.


These are painful stories from Burma and speak more to the hatred and violence of the regime over the last few decades than the religion.


The circumstances in Burma are not similar to Sri Lanka, for example where Buddhists were terrorized by Tamil terrorists for decades and then reacted with violence against their tormentors.


It is more similar to the inexplicable violence that we saw in Cambodia.


It is very distressing.