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Heart and Soul: The Buddhist of Sri Lanka

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Gnanasara Thero Buddhist Monk and head of the BBS

07/09/2018 GMT

The Buddhist of Sri Lanka

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, The Buddhist of Sri Lanka

Why is there violence between some Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka?

Nihal Arthanayake returns to Sri Lanka to explore why some Buddhist monks are promoting violence against Muslims.

Nihal Arthanayake was born into a Sri Lankan Buddhist family. As he grew up, he saw it as a peaceful and thoughtful religion - but now the traditionally peaceful faith has made headlines in Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka with stories of violence and persecution.

He returns to Sri Lanka to explore why Buddhists have been violently harassing the Muslim minority there. He witnesses monks in the orange robes recasting their role as peacemakers to defenders of a strident Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism. 

Nihal fears his faith has been corrupted, but there is an argument that may actually justify violence in Buddhism; one that was revealed in a text over 1500 years ago.

Photo: Gnanasara Thero, Buddhist Monk and head of Bodu Bala Sena, a Sinhalese nationalist organisation
Credit: BBC

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