Religious Studies professor Alicia Turner has written a piece (with Dan Arnold) for the New York Times on the violence against the Rohingya and the colonial legacies for how Buddhism is perceived. The article, “Why Are We surprised When Buddhists are Violent?,” appeared in the March 5, 2018 edition and can be accessed at THIS link. From the article:
While few sophisticated observers are shocked, then, by the occurrence of religious violence, there is one notable exception in this regard; there remains a persistent and widespread belief that Buddhist societies really are peaceful and harmonious. This presumption is evident in the reactions of astonishment many people have to events like those taking place in Myanmar. How, many wonder, could a Buddhist society — especially Buddhist monks! — have anything to do with something so monstrously violent as the ethnic cleansing now being perpetrated on Myanmar’s long-beleaguered Rohingya minority? Aren’t Buddhists supposed to be compassionate and pacifist?