You know that things are bad when monks decide to come out and protest. As many of you, who actually pay attention to the happenings around the world, you would have heard about the plight in Myanmar.
As a Buddhist, it saddens me that the Sanghas have actually taken to the streets of Yangon and Mandalay to protest against the junta. Monks usually do not leave their monasteries unless it is to do blessings, get alms or for religious festivals.
Seeing the corpse of monks floating in a river, plastered on my television screen was the last image that I want to have before I called it a night. But that is the grim truth at the moment.
I can’t help but have flashbacks to the many wars before where monks and nuns were tortured, raped and killed. Pictures of Buddhist monks burning themselves in Vietnam as well as images of Buddhist monks being killed and tortured in Tibet began to fill my mind. I have personally heard of stories from Liberia where nuns were raped and butchered during the civil war.
Where does this end? Why are the servants of God, a major target? Perhaps, it is our own interpretation of God that has doomed us in that matter. Look at the many wars that people shout the name of God in vain and claim the war a Holy War.
Coming back to Myanmar, I post this question. As I understand, the junta and its army are Buddhists. The monks are Buddhists. Did someone make a mistake in giving these two groups different sutras to read from? Or have I missed out a chapter in the sutra that says it is alright for us to kill one another?
I might not be the best person to preach about Buddhism and I will well admit that. But I have yet to find a well established religion that uses violence as its main teaching.
I am a Reluctant Pacifist. But still a major part of me is a peace lover. I do not watch war movies that portray wars within the past two centuries because of this. Somehow, I never could understand how people glorify wars.
