BUDDHISM AND MYANMAR

• First some background to this situation.  Historically, the Buddhist monks have led resistance to the government before.  For example, most prominently, U Wisara is considered a political martyr for leading resistance against the British.  After a 166-day hunger strike, he died in prison in 1929.  His statue stands near the tall, golden Shwedagon Pagoda, the nation’s holiest shrine, which has become the rallying point for the recent demonstrations and violence over the last week.  That is why the junta’s attack on the Buddhist monks was somewhat surprising.  As Seth Mydans has reported, the junta has actually gone to great lengths to identify itself with Buddhism.  The generals have built Buddhist temples, supported monasteries and all kinds of religiously symbolic acts.  For example, in 1999, they regilded the spire of the Shwedagon Pagoda, which now boasts 53 tons of gold and 4,341 diamonds on its crowning orb.  But the junta has always ruled with raw power and intimidation, believing that only that kind of power can hold the diverse country together and provide the stability needed to govern.  Without that kind of power, Myanmar would disintegrate, they believe.  Why has the junta sought the approval of the Buddhist monks?  Buddhist monks retain the ultimate moral authority of the nation.  The lowliest soldier depends on them for spiritual approval, and even the highest generals have felt a need to honor the clerical establishments.  They claim to rule in its name.  Joseph Silverstein, Rutgers authority on Myanmar, argues that Buddhist monks begging is a ritual that expresses a profound bond between the ordinary Buddhist and the monk.  “The people are feeding the monks and the monks are helping the people make merit. . . When you refuse to accept, you have broken the bond that has tied them for centuries together.”  So, the monks are now drawing on a different, more fundamental bond with Myanmar’s population, leading very large demonstrations after the government tried to repress protests that began a month ago over rising fuel prices.  When the Buddhist monks marched in front of the soldiers with their begging bowls upside down, this was a signal that they would not accept alms from leaders, denying them the ability to atone for bad deeds or to honor their ancestors.  In effect, the Buddhist monks are denying the regime legitimacy!  This symbolic act is incredibly important and incredibly powerful.  This is spiritual hardball.  So, the junta has responded violently and repressively.  The only tool the generals have is raw, brutal force—shooting demonstrators, cordoning off the monasteries and shutting down all forms of communication.  Legitimacy in Myanmar comes from Buddhism, from the potency and karma bestowed by the monks.  “Sangha” is the spiritual authority and legitimacy that the monks can convey.  The symbolic upside-down bowls convey this loss of legitimacy and, hence, the only recourse for the junta is repression.  Unless there is some unexpected turn of events, it would seem that the military junta of Myanmar will succeed in reestablishing control of the nation, but without the legitimacy conferred by the monks.  Can they hold on to power without that legitimacy?  Only time will tell that.  President Bush has announced strong sanctions against Myanmar, but China has supported the brutal regime in exchange for access to Myanmar’s natural gas.  Until China changes its policy, there is little hope that sanctions will work.

• Second, the Buddhist monks of Myanmar demonstrate once again the force of religion in an oppressive society.  What is the essence of Buddhist teaching?  Why are monks willing to risk all in the demonstrations we have seen in Myanmar?

The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in northern India.  Although disputed, his probable dates are 566 to 486 B.C.  Because early Buddhist thought and history were transmitted through oral tradition and not written down until later, the life of Siddhartha contains much legend mixed with historical fact.  Apparently born of a wealthy family, he lived in comfort through his youth, until he was confronted with a crisis.  When challenged with “the four most impressive sights”--a man advanced in age, a sick man, a dead body and an ascetic hermit--, he abandoned his comfort, his wife and child to seek life’s meaning, specifically the questions of suffering and death.

Siddhartha sought answers in Hinduism.  He shaved his head, put on a yellow robe and tried asceticism for five years.  John Noss describes some of his devotional acts during this period:

He lived for periods on all sorts of nauseous foods, dressed in chafing and irritating garments, stood for days in one posture, . . . sat on a couch of thorns, lay in the cemetery on charred bones among rotting bodies, let dirt and filth accumulate on his body till it dropped off of itself, and even ate his own excrement in the extremity of self-discipline.

However, after five years, he realized the futility of asceticism and abandoned the effort. 

According to legend, Siddhartha’s awakening came while he was sitting under a Nigrodha-tree (or Bo-tree).  There he won his battle with desire and attained the knowledge of perfect contentment, becoming a “Buddha,” which means “enlightened one.”  He had discovered a “middle path” between those who taught sensuality (therefore indulging oneself) and those who taught an asceticism (therefore denying oneself).  His Buddhist monastic order (i.e., the order of the enlightened ones) had begun.  It spread quickly throughout India and Buddha spent the rest of his life preaching the “middle path.”

Siddhartha Buddha was profoundly concerned with explaining suffering, its cause and how to escape it.  His answer was the “Four Noble Truths:” 
1.  Suffering is universal.  The act of living is suffering and each person’s incarnation is suffering.  Therefore, “salvation” (Nirvana) is release from this cycle of suffering.
2.  The cause of suffering is craving (selfish desire).  The endless of cycle of reincarnation is tied to this desire, this craving, because humans are attached to this world.
3.  The cure for suffering is to eliminate craving.  Buddha’s great discovery was that since to live is to suffer, and since craving causes suffering, remove craving will cause suffering to cease. 
4.  Eliminate craving by following the Middle Path--the “Noble Eightfold Path.”  This Eightfold Path consists of three categories:
     Understanding:  right viewpoint, right aspiration
     Morals:  right speech, right behavior, right occupation, right effort
     Concentration:  right mindedness, right meditation.
Buddha taught that those who followed this Eightfold Path would eventually attain Nirvana, the release from the endless cycle of birth and death.

Obviously, Buddha’s teaching about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path was very general and could fit with other moral codes of behavior.  Buddha spent his life trying to explain them.  According to John Noss, Buddha’s rules were simple.  All followers were to wear a yellow robe, shave their heads, carry a begging bowl, take part in daily meditation and subscribe to the Buddhist confession:  “I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma (the Law); I take refuge in the Order.”  Buddhists were also to obey the Ten Precepts: Refrain from destroying life, don’t take what is not given, be chaste, be honest, do not drink intoxicants, do not eat after noon, do not watch dancing or singing or drama, do not wear ornaments or scents or garlands, do not have a high or broad bed, and do not possess any silver or gold.

Buddhism spread rapidly throughout Asia.  Buddha strongly opposed India’s caste system, so closely tied to Hinduism.  He taught that Nirvana was for everyone, regardless of caste.  Hence, Buddhism appealed to the lower castes of Asian society.  In addition, unlike the vague, often contradictory ideas of Hinduism, Buddhism offered a precise definition of the human condition with an exact plan of “salvation.”  Finally, Buddhist monks took their new religion along the trade routes of China, Japan and Tibet.  For that reason, from Sri Lanka to Japan, today there are over 300 million Buddhists.

Today, Buddhism is divided into two major sects, with many other variations.  Those two sects are Hinayana Buddhism and Mayanana Buddhism:

• “Hinayana” (Theravada) Buddhism means “the doctrine of the lesser way,” suggesting that only a fortunate few will find Nirvana--those who commit wholeheartedly to Buddha’s teachings.  This sect (sometimes called Theravada Buddhism) stresses the monastic life and has become wealthy through gifts of land and money for the monasteries.  It is dominant today in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
• “Mahayana” Buddhism means the teaching of the “greater way,” and follows the conviction that Buddha taught that salvation is for all people but that Buddha himself is very special.  In fact, in this branch of Buddhism, Buddha is deified.  They argue that Buddha remained on earth for forty-five years after his enlightenment, despite that fact that he could have gone on to Nirvana.  He chose to save humans.  Therefore, Buddha is not only a teacher as he is in Hinayana, he is a savior-god for all people.  He is still accessible through prayer and worship and continues to impart insight and revelation to his followers.  This sect of Buddhism is far more popular and far more influential.  Today it is dominant in China, Tibet, Japan, Vietnam and Korea.

See Michael Gerson in the Washington Post (28 September 2007); Seth Mydans, “What Makes a Monk Mad,” New York Times (30 September 2007); and James P. Eckman, The Truth About Worldviews, pp. 32-34.