‘Buddhists Becoming Minority’: Buddhist Excuses For The Genocidal Activities

By Habib Siddiqui -July 8, 2013

Habib Siddiqui

Recently, after the publication of the Time Magazine’s cover page article on Wirathu, the Buddhist terrorist monk of Myanmar, I came across an article in whichthe Buddhist writer stated that the magazine got it all wrong about Wirathu and that the pogroms against Muslims, which was disingenuously called ‘Buddhist nationalism’, are a ‘last resort’ to preserve Buddhist ‘heritage, religion and country to ensure history is not repeated.’ He says the violence against Muslims in Buddhist majority countries must be understood under the context that Buddhists are now a minority in some of the former Buddhist-majority countries.

Such apologetic writings and views are widely shared today by many Theravada Buddhists of Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, they belie history and twist facts and provide the kind of criminal justification for ongoing violence against a targeted minority. For example, consider Sri Lanka, which is currently a Buddhist majority country. But was it always that way? Surely, not! After all, Buddhism came around 247 BCE while the history of Sri Lanka is much older, believed to be at least 30,000 years old. The forefathers of today’s Sinhalese people were not the aborigines of Sri Lanka. They came from Bengal (today’s Bangladesh and West Bengal state of India) and Orissa (of today’s India). Popular Sinhalese legends claim that Vijaya (543 – 505 BCE), the exiled Bengali prince, supposedly born of a mythical union between a lion and a human princess, became the father of the Sinhalese people, after being seduced by Kuveni, a demon (Yakkhas) queen. The two then exterminated the demons and drove others away from the island. Subsequently Kuveni was betrayed by Vijaya. When she returned with her two children to her people they later killed her for her betrayal.

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