The Buddhist of 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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Why Buddhists turn to violence
Duration: 02:13
Broadcasts
- Fri 7 Sep 201812:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Sat 8 Sep 201801:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Sat 8 Sep 201819:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 9 Sep 201808:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Sun 9 Sep 201822:32GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
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Personal approaches to religious belief from around the world.
