Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Buddhist Nationalism
Since the late 19th century an influential strand of 'militant' Buddhism has developed in
Sri Lanka, centred on the belief that the Buddha charged the Sinhalese people with making
the island a citadel of Buddhism in its purest form. It sees threats to Sinhalese Buddhist
culture in Christianity, Hinduism and, more recently, Islam. Sri Lankan Buddhism is his-
torically intertwined with politics, and it was a Buddhist monk who assassinated Prime
Minister SWRD Bandaranaike's in 1959 because of his 'drift' from a Sinhala-Buddhist fo-
cus, in contradiction of the very first Buddhist precept against killing. Many Buddhist
monks have also strongly opposed compromise with the Tamils..
In 2007, hardline Sinhalese-nationalist monks achieved leverage in the Sri Lankan gov-
ernment through the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU; National Heritage Party). In 2012, a
group of monks who felt the JHU was not aggressive enough in protecting Buddhism,
founded the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS; Buddhist Power Force), which has, along with other
radical groups, been implicated in several protests and attacks against Muslim and Christi-
an communities in recent years. At a 2013 opening for a BBS training school, Defense
Secretary (and brother of the president) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said in a speech that 'it is the
monks who protect our country, religion and race'.
