In August 2017, the Buddhist-majority Myanmar government began a military campaign in response to a group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) taking responsibility for attacking Myanmar’s police and military bases. While the Myanmar government claims to be targeting militants, BBC reports about 700,000 Rohingya civilians have fled their homes, and within the first month of the military campaign, 6,700 civilians were killed. In Buddhist majority Sri Lanka, there was an ongoing civil war between the Sinhalese Buddhists and the Hindu Tamils, in which many human rights acts were violated. This type of violence is not unique to Buddhist majority countries. The Atlantic reports that in 2004, several Malay Muslim guerrillas attacked Thai Buddhist civilians and security posts. While there are no statistics reporting the number of individuals killed, these violent acts are just as atrocious as the ones committed in Buddhist majority areas. The inter-religious violence amongst these three groups is horrific, but it should not be attributed to the teachings of each religion. When looking into these three traditions, many similarities arise. In fact, a key characteristic of each tradition is the strong opposition to violence. The ongoing inter-religious conflicts occurring in Southeast Asia should not be attributed to each individual religion, but rather the political and historical background of each country and the desire to impose power through religion.
Buddhism doctrine and thought discourage the use of violence towards humans and other living things. Dr. Walpola Rahula, who is a Sri Lankan monk and Buddhist scholar, expresses in one of his writings how violence is not promoted in the religion. He says “There is not a single drop of blood in converting people to Buddhism, or in its propogation during its long history of 2500 years. It spread peacefully over the continent of Asia.” This statement illustrates how Buddhism supports peace and tolerance. Rahula clearly explains how, historically, violence is not a tool used in spreading the religion.
The concept of nonviolence is a prominent teaching in Hinduism as well. The term ahimsa, which is shared in both Buddhism and Hinduism, refers to the concept of nonviolence in these two religions. According to Satish Sharma, in his article, “Peace and Nonviolence in the Indian Religious Tradition, two qualities are important in the practice of ahimsa: non retaliation and forgiveness. This concept in practice is best illustrated through Mahatma Gandhi's peaceful protest against the British colonization of India. He organized boycotts and marches to counter the British empire’s efforts of accumulating wealth by taxing Indians. Regarding the practice of ahimsa, Gandhi explains the necessity of sacrifice saying, “If the loss of life becomes necessary in a righteous battle, one should be prepared, like Jesus, to shed his own, not others’ blood.” Through this explanation, Gandhi emphasizes the importance of valuing the lives of individuals, rather than killing them for a “noble” cause. He supports sacrificing oneself, but not putting others in harm's way. This emphasis placed on sacrificing oneself over the lives of others for a “noble” cause demonstrates how teachings in Hinduism value preserving and protecting lives, rather than propagating violence and killing.
While the Islamic tradition does not share a similar term as Hinduism and Buddhism in reference to nonviolence, Islamic teachings align with this concept. The Quran, which is the holy book of Islam, strongly condemns killing, equating the act to taking all of humanity. The verse says, “Whoever kills a human being, except (as punishment) for murder or for spreading life threatening chaos on earth, it is as if killing the entire human race; and whoever saves a life saves the entire human race.” This verse articulates the weight of committing a murder in Islam. Not only is the murderer charged with the murder he or she commited, he or she is also charged with the murder of all of humanity. This demonstrates how violence and killing are not matters taken lightly in Islam. While condemning murder, this verse also emphasizes the value of saving a life. This juxtaposition illustrates the importance of preserving and valuing all humans. When this verse refers to a human life, it does not specify the religion or ethnicity of the individual, it refers to all humans regardless of their identity. This is an important characteristic of the verse because it does not discriminate between Muslims and Nonmuslims. Any life taken holds the same penalty.
All three religions have teachings that emphasize valuing and preserving human life, and strongly advise against killing. The preservation and care of humanity is further supported through the teachings of love and compassion in each tradition.
In Buddhism, the Buddha teaches four qualities one should possess when interacting with other humans or living things. These four states are known as the sublime states, and include: metta or loving kindness, karuna or compassion, mudita or sympathetic joy and upekkha or equanimity. The aim of these four states is to go along the path of ending suffering in the world. These states aim to promote peace amongst people, not torture and terrorize them as some Buddhist majority countries are wrongfully doing. In Taiwan and China, the sangha, or Buddhist monastery, promotes acts of social welfare amongst lay people through teachings of compassion. Their teachings in action are demonstrated through how many volunteers, through Buddhist groups, came together to help victims of the Sichuan earthquake in China. Two groups from the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation in Taiwan cooked food and gave medical aid to the victims. The teachings of the Buddha and the Buddhist sanghas promote creating a community of compassion, and providing aid and assistance to those in need. These teachings clearly do not support the Buddhist-majority regimes that violently oppress people of other ethnicities and religious backgrounds.
Stories in Hinduism also promote having love and compassion. In one account, Parvati, who is the goddess of love and fertility, encounters a crocodile trying to eat a child. Horrified, Parvati rushes to the crocodile begging it to release the child. The crocodile refuses her plea for the child’s release until Parvati offers the good merit she has earned in her lifetime. After her sacrifice, the crocodile reveals his true identity as Sankara, who is considered to be the supreme god in Hinduism. Sankara, impressed by Parvati’s compassion for the child, rewards her with the merit she sacrificed, and increases its worth. Parvati’s merits are multiplied because her sacrifice is driven by compassion. This account illustrates how Hinduism encourages acting through compassion, and how one gains more from their act, despite the sacrifice that one makes for it.
Islam promotes the concept of compassion through the actions and teachings of Muhammad (pbuh). One example of his compassionate acts is reported in Sahih Bukhari, which is an Islamic text encompassing the sayings and actions of Muhammad (pbuh). According to Anas bin Malik, who is one of his companions, Muhammad (pbuh) would shorten congregation prayers when he would hear a child crying. On the matter, Muhammad (pbuh) said “When I start the prayer I tend to prolong it, but on hearing the cries of a child, I cut short the prayer because I know that the cries of the child will incite the mother’s passions.” His actions demonstrate the value Islam places on compassion. Muhammad (pbuh) through compassion for a mother who wants to console her child, shortened congregation prayers, which is a practice considered to be one of the basic qualifications of a practicing Muslim. He placed the mother’s anguish and haste in wanting to console her child above focusing on building his own spiritual connection with God through prayer. His actions demonstrate how Islam encourages considering having empathy and compassion for others, and to put others needs above one’s own.
All three religions have doctrines, teachings, and stories that discourage the practice of violence and encourage treating people with compassion and respect. Therefore, the source of these interreligious clashes should not be attributed to the traditions themselves. A journal article published in the Center for Security Studies examined the ongoing conflict in Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Before these countries were colonized by the Europeans, their states were ruling on the basis of the Dharma, or the teachings of the Buddha. With European colonization came the threat of dismantling the doctrines of the religion and its influence on the state. In reaction to this threat, many Buddhist monks began to be politically active, and hoped to reestablish the legitimacy of that Buddhism had in governing these states prior to colonialism. As a result, the “modern Buddhist state” considers the state and the religion to be one, and any possible threat to either must be eliminated in order to preserve it. According to an article published in Contemporary Postcolonial Asia, explains another aspect of these postcolonial colonies that fuel the tensions that already exist. The article brings up how colonial regimes typically favored religious minorities in the region and encouraged groups to migrate across borders when it benefited their rule, rather than the local people. In contrast, the postcolonial governments that came to power favored the religious majority of the area. This contrast can be characterized as reactionary to the colonial favoritism of the minority. This added to the tensions between the religions in the area. Religion, politics, and power became more intertwined, which lead to atrocities and genocides of minorities in the region.
The interreligious violence that persists in the region cannot simply be stopped by bringing up the similarities amongst the three religions. It requires individuals to separate their religious identities from their political identities, and focus on the teachings of their religions, rather than whether or not their religious group is in power. Open religious dialogue amongst the three religions can bring about an understanding that although each religious tradition consists of their own unique practices, their doctrines all promote nonviolence and compassion for all people. Hopefully, this understanding can bring an end to the horrific atrocities that result from these interreligous clashes.