Where Is The Love In Burmese Buddhism?

Love? What Love?
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Monks Patrol Meikhtila As Military Watches)

When Buddha was a young man he sat at beneath a large tree and watched as the peasants prepared the fields for the planting. Instead of worrying about the hunger of his people, the Buddha thought to himself about the plight of the worms in the soil as the plows turned over the land. If the crops were not planted the people would starve to death. But that did not cross the Buddha's mind as he worried about and animal that can survive being cut in half. To the Buddhists of today this is supposed to represent his love for even the least of these. But I ask what love? 

It is hard to imagine any person, regardless of his supposed deity status, thinking that the life of a single worm was more important than the lives of millions of starving humans. It is a self righteous behavior that has become characteristic of the Buddha. While he had everything provided for him the people beneath his "enlightened" state died of hunger. So once again, what love? 

(Helix058 Is My Account On Instagram, This Is Burmese Hate)

"Parasites"... "Termites"... "Cockroaches"... 

Is this the love of which Buddhists speak? Is this the compassion which Buddha supposedly held for the worms? What if the worms had been called "parasites"? Would the Burmese still refer to Rohingya and other Muslims as such? 

When a people forget the morality that helped shape their culture they forget the soul of their culture. Stepping away from love and compassion brings us to the brink of catastrophe. It takes us beyond the point of no return... it drags us to place where we no longer recognize the people we once were. This is the hate with which Burmese Buddhism has been poisoned. What love was once there is trapped beneath it's heel. The hatred for their fellow man now replaces the love of which Buddha spoke. 

The parable of the worms and Buddha was much more than mere self righteousness. It was meant to show that at times when we think we are helping others, performing a task greater than ourselves, we often hurt others without knowing. Buddha showed that with other ways of doing the same task we can often avoid the casualties of even the least of these (those society rejects or abandons). 

If Buddhism is to ever heal in Burma it will have to learn to exercise resistance to the hate that has worked it's way into Myanmar's culture. The racism, bigotry, and intolerance must be dealt with in ways other than the killing and ostracizing of an entire portion of the population. Those who have introduced this disease must be dealt with also. The sickness must not be allowed to govern the politics of a nation. In approaching this problem in this way, Myanmar must recall that the illness of one man changed the way Europe thinks today. Had Hitler's disease not been permitted to take hold, Europe and America might have been able to avoid the Nazi's "Final Solution". 

But none of this can be accomplished or even worked on until the country of Burma decides to first abandon its policies of extermination and religious bigotry. Until the blood stops flowing this disease can not be contained. The love that Buddha tried to spread can not be achieved as long as hate is allowed to rule the hearts and control the minds of the Burmese.

Meikhtila Riots Illustrates Burma's Failures

Where Is Thein Sein's Democracy?
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Helpless and Homeless)

On Saturday afternoon the Myanmar military finally gained control of a burnt out and devastated city center. The city of Meikhtila had become a pile of rubble and burnt out timber. Cars sat like carcasses along the roadside as the military drove past. Refugees carried what little they had left on their backs as they dared not look at the soldiers. Only the Buddhists monks wielding weapons bothered to greet the military. 

When cleanup began the military reported that they had uncovered 32 dead and were tending to wounded and displaced Muslims. Once the 6,000 plus Muslims who had fled to a sports stadium were evacuated to safety the military secured the burnt out city. Taking up positions at banks and "valuable infrastructure" the military began patrols to keep the peace. 

(The Hallmark Of The Ethnic Violence)

For months the Buddhists have been pumping propaganda into areas like Meikhtila. They have used the plight of the Rohingya in the Arakan state to justify these attacks on other Muslim minorities. Their goal has been to create an ethnically pure Myanmar with one religion. And yet the pogroms have been successful due to the lack of protection the religious minorities in Burma receive.

This incredible amount of hatred was not only evident in the shear amount of Muslim's left homeless but also by the methods used to attack them. The Buddhists mobs were armed with machetes and hammers thus leaving their victims either hacked to pieces or beaten savagely. The homes and businesses that were burnt were torched so as to leave the Muslims no place in Meikhtila to call home. And the mosque that were razed had been hiding places for many of the Muslims fleeing the initial waves of Buddhists assailants. 

As the smoke clears the Muslims of Meikhtila are left with the horrible decision of whether they should flee to the military protected refugee camps or attempt to salvage their homes. For many it is hard to imagine that the Burmese military will protect them in the camps if the Monks decided to use the camps as ghettos like they did in Arakan. For those who dare stay the threat of death is more immediate. 

Thein Sein had promised to make Myanmar into a democracy. He had said that this would be a modern state where all of Burma's citizens would have a voice. Yet Meikhtila shows the weakness or unwillingness of the ex-general when it comes to protecting Muslims. It once again illustrates the desire on the part of the Burmese government to create a society in which tolerance has clear and concise limits. Thein Sein's version of democracy is thus clearly a form in which liberty is prisoner to the whims of the state. 

(Mother And Baby Now Homeless)

And It Begins

The Rohingya Watch As Other Muslims Come Under Fire
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Central Burma Being "Cleansed" of Muslim Communities)

As the Rohingya wait for the hammer to fall they can't help but notice the Muslims of central Burma being burnt out of their homes. Meikhtila and Yangon have begun to see large riots where Buddhists extremist have whipped their followers into a frenzy of looting and burning. This is a recreation of the massacres and pogroms that the Rohingya suffered for nearly 8-9 months now. The only difference is that the extremist are spreading the fire beyond the Arakan region of Burma. 

On March 20th the extreme wings of Buddhists nationalism descended upon Meikhtila and began burning Muslim districts. Police, apparently less willing to participate in violence outside the Arakan, tried hard to push the mobs back. Yet when the mobs refused to stop and put away their weapons... the police stood down. Instead of fighting the mobs, the police tried to confine the violence to areas already on fire and to help get Muslims out of the line of fire. 

(Centers of Muslim Daily Life Targeted First)

It is believed that in response to this the security forces in the Arakan have attempted to prepare themselves for the coming "third massacre". In routinely poor forum and provoked out of fear, the security personnel are confining Rohingya to their homes and villages. Security personnel have ordered Rohingya in MinPya to stay indoors and not leave the confines of their own homes. At best they are banned from leaving their villages. All the while Rakhine mobs are telling calling for the Rohingya homes in MinPya to be burnt and the Rohingya killed. 

The desire to appear as though the local authorities are trying to fight the violence is however a mask. Just as in the past two massacres the Myanmar military will either stand off to the side and watch or actively join in the blood bath and take the opportunity to slaughter Rohingya. The second option will only be made easier now that the Rohingya are confined to concentration camps and ghettos. In essence the ground work for a Burmese style "final solution" has already been laid. 

(This Is What Awaits The Rohingya)

Rakhine Buddhists have promised the world a "third massacre". Their lack of desire to stop the violence has been only encouraged by Burmese politicians who have rewarded the past two pogroms. Leaders in the Nasaka (border police) have helped Rakhine while imprisoning the Rohingya. Leaders in Thein Sein's party have made a habit of denouncing the "ethnic tension" while praising the Rakhine extremist. Thein Sein himself has told leaders like Barack Obama that he is against the slaughter of the Rohingya while making it easier for the Rakhine mobs to do just that. 

The conditions in the Arakan state are a tinderbox for this next pogrom. The stage has been set. The show is ready and the outside world is watching. Even the governments that claim to be looking the other way are eagerly looking at Arakan, Myanmar. Yet nobody is trying to stop it?

(What Will We Do When The Rohingya Ghettos Look Like This?)

In HaraPyaing, MinPya 871 Rohingya are starving to death as they wait for the next pogrom. But they aren't alone:

• Tenseik has 1,867 starving Rohingya
• Sakkyar Ywa has 1,109 Rohingya starving to death
• There are 3,232 Rohingya starving in Lama Ywa
• 768 Rohingya are starving to death in Thadar Ywa
• 1,152 Rohingya are close to death in Piekthay Ywa
• There are 1,250 Rohingya starving to death in Tara Auk
•  NagaPyan has 1,065 starving Rohingya 
• 2,400 Rohingya are starving to death in Nagara Pauktaw
• SanGyi Pyin has 2,232 starving Rohingya
• Nawnaw Ywa is home to 997 starving Rohingya
• And in Yatori Ywa there are 767 starved Rohingya

All of these could be dead once the next pogrom takes place in MinPya. And if the Buddhist monks who are planning this next massacre have their way... most of these could be dead within a week. After all, this is supposed to be a "flash mob" style attack. The violence is designed to happen quickly and rapidly so that the Rohingya have little time to escape the confines of their concentration style camps or the ghettos in which the Nasaka have confined them.

All the world has to ask itself now is just how they will justify the lack of action that has characterized our response to the last two massacres. How will we justify the silence? How will we rationalize the dead? And who will remain silent once this massacre begins?

Whatever happened to "Never Again"?