“Discovering Buddhist Violence”
by Danny Fisher
Over at Religion Dispatches, Michael Jerryson, co-editor with Mark Juergensmeyer of Buddhist Warfare, the “first collection of essays on Buddhist violence from a comparative perspective,” presents an explanation of his work entitled “Monks With Guns: Discovering Buddhist Violence”. It’s a must-read. Here’s a snippet:
In an effort to combat this view and to humanize Buddhists, then, Mark Juergensmeyer and I put together a collection of critical essays that illustrate the violent history of Buddhism across Mongolia, Tibet, Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India.
Our intention is not to argue that Buddhists are angry, violent people—but rather that Buddhists are people, and thus share the same human spectrum of emotions, which includes the penchant for violence.
Although the book only arrived at bookstores last month, it apparently touched some nerves in the academic community before its release. Some have objected to the cover [image right], which they feel is not an appropriate subject for Buddhism. Ironically, that is the very reason this collection of essays is so important: to address the apparent and widespread inability to acknowledge the violent side to religious traditions. It is this inability that robs its adherents of their humanity.
In a way, I wish I could return to that dream of Buddhist traditions as a purely peaceful, benevolent religion that lacks mortal failures and shortcomings. But I cannot. It is, ultimately, a selfish dream and it hurts other people in the process.
Buddhist Warfare certainly contributes to the broader discussion of religious violence, but on a more intimate and local level, I hope this collection will effect some significant change in the way Buddhism is perceived in the United States. Only time will tell.
I agree with much of what Jerryson has to say, and hope that his and Juergensmeyer’s book has the desired effect. Buddhists are human beings and individuals too, and you find all kinds of beliefs and behaviors within the vast and various traditions of the religion–including diverse ones around the issue of violence.
I’ve ordered this book from Amazon, so I haven’t read it yet. The articles seem to be based on historical pieces, very few contemporary. However, the cover art does seem designed to shock, and provoke debate, which is perhaps good, but I think that a more thoughtful cover would be simply to have a photograph of ordinary lay Buddhists in uniform both Western and ethnic Asian. I am sure that would be more realistic than a posed (?) photo of a juvenile male monk with a pistol. They do exist, and the ones I have interacted with don’t seem to think being Buddhist and serving in the military is an issue at all (after all they’re not monks)! But I do hope this book can diversify the discussion, or at least dispel the image of Buddhists as one-dimensional actors.