In Burma, when monks speak, people listen. And with violence targeting minority Muslims on the rise, some senior members of Burma’s Buddhist monkhood, the revered Sangha, are counseling their peers to choose their words wisely.
That’s because some of the men accused of stirring up anti-Islamic violence hail from their own ranks, presenting a jarring counterpoint to the image normally associated with Burma’s crimson-robed monks — meditation, good works and brave resistance to the country’s former authoritarian regime.
The religious tensions are complicating Burma’s still-fragile transition from military rule to democracy, and were high on the agenda as more than 1,500 monks met June 27 at a monastery in Insein township, on the northern outskirts of Rangoon, Burma’s largest city and commercial center.
Leaders told attendees that “all of the monks in Myanmar must be in harmony and must be patient and must control themselves,” the Venerable Pannananda, a Rangoon monk, said outside the meeting, using the name the former ruling junta gave the country.
Yet amid the calls for calm, the monks also discussed a controversial proposal to restrict marriages between Buddhists and Muslims, authored by U Wirathu, a Mandalay-based monk who warns of a rising internal Islamic threat to Burma’s 89-percent Buddhist majority.
U Wirathu has been a leading advocate of the “969” campaign, which, among other things, urges Buddhists to patronize Buddhist-run shops. The digits relate to Buddha and his teachings, but the campaign plays on longstanding tensions – often suppressed during the days of military rule – between Buddhists and Muslims, who make up less than 5 percent of the population according to official statistics.
Outside the meeting, a small group of young men wore red t-shirts featuring U Wirathu’s face. His visage also graced the cover of Time magazine’s international editions in late June, along with the headline “The Face of Buddhist Terror” – causing public anger and some sadness in Burma. The episode took on a political tone, as the government banned the issue of Time, just months after the official end of state censorship.
In the wake of that episode, even some monks viewed as moderates are rallying to support U Wirathu, who maintains his innocence in the violence. Monks were among the protesters who converged on Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon on Sunday to denounce Time.
Burma’s reformist president, Thein Sein, said in state-run media Tuesday that the Time article, by “depicting a few individuals who are acting contrary to most Myanmar, is creating misconceptions of Buddhism.”
Burma’s monks gained international acclaim for their bravery in 2007 during the so-called Saffron Revolution, sparked by the former military government’s decision to allow fuel prices to rise dramatically. The monks’ peaceful resistance in the face of a violent government crackdown helped undermine the former junta’s grip on power. In this highly traditional Buddhist country, the monkhood permeates everyday life, and most Buddhist men spend at least a short stint as a novice monk during their childhood.