Buddhist forces in the crucible

Myanmar's protesting monks and the junta follow very different forms of the same faith

BY CHARLES KEYES Charles Keyes is professor of anthropology and Asian studies at the University of Washington and author of many works on Southeast Asia, including "Buddhist Economics and Buddhist Fundamentalism in Bu.

The government's violent crackdown against thousands of monks marching in the streets of Myanmar to protest the long rule of a military dictatorship occurs, ironically, in a country where those who hold political power have always sought legitimacy through association with Buddhism. But the junta follows a very different form of Buddhism than do the protesting monks.

The fundamental relationship between politics and Buddhism is known as the "Two Wheels of the Dhamma." Legitimate order depends both on the dhamma (fundamental truths) embodied in the teaching of the Buddha and the dhamma that constitutes the authority of rulers.

The connection stems from a modernist form of Buddhism called Theravada that took hold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Burma (now Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, emphasizing meditation not to withdraw from the world but to remain active in the world, while tempering desire for material things with compassionate actions to help reduce the suffering of others.

It was this modernist Buddhism that monks such as U Ottama (1879-1939), one of the major leaders of Burmese anti-colonialism, drew on to provide moral support for protests against British rule, which finally ended with independence in 1948. But it is not the Buddhism that the military rulers have embraced since the first coup in 1962.

Gen. Ne Win, the dictator from 1962 to 1988, was conspicuous in his support of an earlier, more magical tradition focused on stupas and shrines, centered on the worship of "reminders" of Buddha, through which it was believed that people could gain magical powers for acting in the world.

This didn't stop many members of the Sangha, as the order of monks is called, from promoting the modernist Buddhism, most emphatically in the act of "turning up of alms bowls," which they did in their last great protest, in 1990, after the government refused to abide by the results of a democratic election. In this gesture, the monks refused to accept offerings from members of the military, an act equivalent to excommunication in the Catholic Church.

In the Buddhist tradition, because monks adhere strictly to a discipline laid down by the Buddha, they are considered to be "fields of merit." Laypersons gain merit, or positive karma, primarily through alms offerings to the monks. Refusing offerings is effectively blocking a path to holiness.

As in the early 1960s, the military junta attempted to gain legitimacy for its violent assertion of power in 1988-90 through very public acts of support for the Buddhist religion. An example was the sponsorship in 1994 of a 45-day tour of a tooth relic of the Buddha that was sent from China. By focusing attention on the relic, the junta sought to accentuate its support for magical Buddhism, as opposed to the modernist Buddhism being taught by most leading monks.

The present protests clearly demonstrate the failure of the military to achieve legitimacy through its ostensible support of Burmese Buddhism. As the monks and their followers again face armed soldiers and police who are willing to use force to reassert the domination of the military regime, they are again turning up alms bowls. If things go according to history, we might expect another government push soon for magical Buddhism.

The monks who are being killed will be seen as Buddhist martyrs, much like Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese monk who immolated himself in 1963 to protest the Vietnam War. The death of monks in a political protest entails a deep and troubling meaning that will not be soon forgotten, even if the junta succeeds through force of arms in imposing control.

Whatever the results of this "saffron revolution," the renewed protests against a corrupt and repressive military regime have captured the attention of people around the world and of the international community - with responses including new U.S. sanctions and the dispatch of a United Nations special envoy.

The monks' bravery also has inspired a measure of hope among the people of Myanmar.

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