Western Images: Nice Buddhists, Not Killer Buddhists

RELIGIOUS DISPATCHES
By Joanna Piacenza

There are a bunch of Buddhist monks killing Muslims in Myanmar and no one seems to care. Prompted by the alleged rape of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men in June, violent clashes between the two groups keep popping up in western Myanmar. This sort of ethnic repression is not new; the Burmese have long viewed the Rohingya (members of the local Muslim community) as illegal immigrants, despite the fact that many belong to families that have resided in Myanmar for generations. This is the realistic image our Western culture needs to add to its vision of the cross-legged men in the funny robes: the powerful and political Buddhist monk. [link]