ANTH 321
Brutal Buddhism: Buddhism & Violence Fall 2022
Division II
Cross-listed ASIA 322 / ANTH 321 / REL 322
This is not the current course catalog

Buddhist-sanctioned violence is often met with incredulous reception. Why? Buddhists, including monks, are human too. The single-story narrative that praises Buddhism as a peaceful tradition is fallacy. This myopic view of Buddhism is a result of colonial and orientalist legacies that have shaped Euro-American perspectives. Building upon the intellectual and social history of that legacy, in this course, we study Buddhist brutality. The cases include: the persecution of the Hindu-Tamil minority in Sri Lanka; the genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar, fueled by the influence of outspoken figures like the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, a nationalist and leader of the anti-Islam group 969, whose sentiments are shared among Buddhists in southern Thailand along the Muslim Malay border. We also look at the Thai conscription of forty-thousand soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War with the blessings of Buddhist monks, and WWII’s Japanese militarism supported by Zen Buddhism. The struggles for recognition of the nun’s order in Southeast Asia, and East Asian women’s soteriological limitations due to patriarchal structures, another kind of brutality, is also addressed. While these cases focus on Buddhist agencies of violence, war, and terror, we must consider political, economic, and socio-cultural factors. Students are encouraged to pursue original research that moves beyond questions such as “How do we reconcile violent episodes enacted by Buddhists?”, or “What justification is given for Buddhists to condone such acts?”. We do discuss these concerns, but we will not prioritize philosophical approaches or religious ideals. Rather this course emphasizes considerations on how Buddhism, like any other religion (indeed, any “-ism”), can be weaponized. So, the question becomes, “why?”. By the end of the semester, students will understand the importance of contextual analysis, positionality, globalization, and will be able to apply social theories of religion and violence.