The darker side of Buddhism

A bit sad to see this extreme brand of Buddhism, an otherwise peaceful teaching. Unfortunately since trhe article came out little or no progress has been made to stem the virulent actions by some, like in Myanmar against some Muslim minorities.
The darker side of Buddhism, by Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo, 30 May 2015
BBC article

Some excerpts:

The principle of non-violence is central to Buddhist teachings, but in Sri Lanka some Buddhist monks are being accused of stirring up hostility towards other faiths and ethnic minorities. Their hard line is causing increasing concern.

The firebrand strain of Buddhism is not new to Sri Lanka. A key Buddhist revivalist figure of the early 20th Century, Anagarika Dharmapala, was less than complimentary about non-Sinhalese people. He held that the “Aryan Sinhalese” had made the island into Paradise which was then destroyed by Christianity and polytheism. He targeted Muslims saying they had “by Shylockian methods” thrived at the expense of the “sons of the soil”.

Since 2012, the Buddhist Power Force (BBS)has embraced direct action, following the example of other like-minded groups. It raided Muslim-owned slaughter-houses claiming, incorrectly, that they were breaking the law. Members demonstrated outside a law college alleging, again incorrectly, that exam results were being distorted in favor of Muslims.
Moderate Buddhists have also been targeted by hardline ones.

Another country where fierce Buddhism has recently made headlines is Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. A Buddhist faction there, the 969 movement, is known for strident anti-Muslim campaigns that have triggered widespread violence.

See: Myanmar mob burns down mosque, 2 July 2016
BBC article

A mob has burned down a mosque in northern Myanmar in the second attack of its kind in just over a week.
Police are reported to be guarding the village of Hpakant in Kachin state, after failing to stop Buddhist villagers setting the mosque ablaze.
Last week, a group of men destroyed a mosque in central Myanmar in a dispute over its construction.
The latest attack took place on Friday, when a group of villagers stormed the mosque and set it on fire. Reports said they attacked police officers guarding it, and stopped the fire brigade from reaching the site.

Tolerance, the light side

Some humor is welcome in the often acid comments on tolerance, religion, racism… Sadly enough, some people are also offended by humor…
See here one I like:

Tolerance

I am truly perplexed that so many of my friends are against another mosque being built in London.
I think it should be the goal of every Englishman to be tolerant.
Thus the Mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance.
That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque, thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque.
We could call one of the clubs, which would be gay, “The Turban Cowboy “, and the other a topless bar called “You Mecca Me Hot.”
Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbeque pork restaurant, called “Iraq o’ Ribs.”
Across the street there could be a lingerie store called “Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret “, with sexy mannequins in the window modeling the goods.
Next door to the lingerie shop there would be room for an adult sex toy shop, “Koranal Knowledge”, its name in flashing neon lights, and on the other side a liquor store called “Morehammered.”
All of this would encourage the Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us, so the mosque problem would be solved.

2 weeks 8 attacks 247 victims

All in the name of some extremist religion. Where is love and peace?

While extremist attacks in the Western world are put all over the media and people find it “horrible”, many others in some far-away country are killed, with few thinking too much about it. The articles here tried to paint a picture of some whose life was taken away for no reason.

The Human Toll of Terror
26 July 2016
NYT article

And see also:
NYT article

160727-terrorvictims

The pace and scope of the killing are dizzying. Some 300 members of families blown apart by bombs as they celebrated the end of Ramadan in Baghdad. Forty-nine dead at the Istanbul airport, 40 more in Afghanistan. Nine Italians, seven Japanese, three students at American universities and one local woman brutalized in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The bodies piled up on a bus in Somalia, at a mosque and video club in Cameroon, at a shrine in Saudi Arabia.
All that carnage was in a single week — a single week of summer in what feels like an endless stream of terror attacks. Orlando and Beirut. Paris and Nice and St. Etienne-du-Rouvray, France. Germany and Japan and Egypt. Each bomb or bullet tearing holes in homes and communities.

Also incredible this picture of the “World’s biggest cemetery”: Najaf, Iraq, with more than five million people buried there, the majority being Shia Muslims, many recent victims of IS. Again mostly Muslims killing Muslims.

Now who are the real “infidels”?

No beef vs no pork

Some cannot eat beef. Others love beef (most countries). Some cannot eat pork, some love pork (count China and Belgium in). Now, based on what? Of course no mutual respect nor tolerance.

Indian mob kills man over beef eating rumor
By Saif Khalid
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/indian-mob-kills-man-cow-slaughter-rumour-150930193719666.html

A man has been dragged out of his house and beaten to death by a mob near New Delhi over rumors that his family killed and ate a cow, the victim’s brother has told Al Jazeera.
Mohammed Akhlaq, 52, a resident of Bisara village in Gautam Budh Nagar, about 40km from the Indian capital, was attacked on Monday night.

He died of his injuries early on Tuesday while his 22-year-old son Mohammed Danish was admitted to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.
“My brother threw goat’s skin in the garbage dump. But some people circulated a rumour that a cow was slaughtered and an announcement was made from the local temple,” Mohammed Saifi, the victim’s brother, said.
“Soon a mob of about 1,000 people, armed with lathis [batons] and swords, gathered and attacked the house of my brother.
“They did not even spare my 82-year-old mother Asgari Begum, who has suffered injuries, along with Akhlaq’s wife and daughter, Sajida Saifi,” he said.

Since that news came out, the situation remains totally unclear. The “meat” was first tested and came out as not being beef. Then another test put doubts. And more confusing reports, showing an incompetent police force.

Onverdoofd slachten in België

Onverdoofd slachten: ‘Raad van State koos partij voor rigide religieuze regels’

Knack 1 juli 2016
Knack article

De Raad van State deed afgelopen week een bijzonder merkwaardige uitspraak. Volgens het imminent rechtscollege zijn twee Vlaamse parlementaire voorstellen over een verbod op onverdoofd slachten een inbreuk op godsdienstvrijheid.
Het is opmerkelijk dat een rechterlijke instantie een uitspraak doet over een religieuze praktijk. Want de Raad stelt dat als dieren verdoofd worden voor ze ritueel geslacht worden, er op een ‘onevenredige manier afbreuk wordt gedaan aan de godsdienstvrijheid.’ Eigenlijk zegt de raad zo impliciet dat het lijden van dieren aanvaardbaar is, als het om een religieuze praktijk gaat.

Mijn kommentaar: kunnen wij dus een biertje drinken in Muslim countries en overdag eten tijdens Ramadan? Dat is “onze godsdienst”. Langs de andere kant: als je kat in België kleintjes heeft mag je die niet eens GRATIS aanbieden aan vrienden op Facebook enz. Jaja, dierenbescherming!

Hunt the infidels!

Mutual respect and tolerance?
French knifeman who wanted to ‘hunt infidels’ for Islamic State uploaded video from inside victim’s home15 June 2016
SCMP article

A knife-wielding Islamist militant suspected of killing a French police commander and his partner at their home before being killed by police commandos had vowed five years ago to “hunt infidels” and been trained to slit the throats of rabbits.
Larossi Abballa, 25, a Frenchman who pledged allegiance to Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an 12-minute video uploaded inside the victims’ home on Monday evening hours before he was shot, had been under police surveillance for years.
Policeman Jean-Baptiste Salvaing was stabbed to death outside his home by Abballa, who holed up inside the house with the officer’s partner, Jessica Schneider, before stabbing her to death in front of the couple’s toddler son.
Explaining his motives in a mixture of French and Arabic, he told the French authorities: “You closed our doors to ‘hijra’ (emigration to Muslim countries), so we are opening the gates of ’jihad’ on your territory.”

Het Westen: hypocrisie of kortzichtig?

Zie hier in  Knack 17 July 2016
http://www.knack.be/nieuws/wereld/we-verdrinken-in-politieke-correctheid-en-verslikken-ons-in-de-vrijheid-van-godsdienst/article-opinion-729615.html

Mijn kommentaar:
“We verdrinken in politieke correctheid en verslikken ons in de vrijheid van godsdienst, terwijl ongelovigen onschuldig geslacht worden met de halsnede van een achterlijke religie, of met een vermaledijde truck. “. Zeer goed gezegd. Mijn religie is atheisme en ik duld niet dat mensen rondom mij geen biertje samen drinken, geen varkensworst eten, geen goede steak eten en de vrouwen volledig verpakt rondlopen. Die fidels moeten verdwijnen. Hoe klinkt dat? OOOO ja, de olie, het geld, de politieke stemmen van de immigranten, de schijnheiligheid van “onze” gelovigen. Sorry, ik was stomweg aan het dagdromen.

Muslims worldwide struggle to comprehend a violent Ramadan

As said, China Daily took over the details from AP, see China Daily 7 July 2016, “Muslims hit hard during Ramadan”. By Associated Press In Beirut (China Daily):
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2016-07/07/content_25996560.htm

And here: 6 July 2016, by ZEINA KARAM and SARAH EL DEEB – AP
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b78f4511cd7048a2bf81bca04746a6ad/muslims-worldwide-come-grips-bloody-ramadan

Terror attacks killed 350 people across several continents this Ramadan.

Terror attacks killed 350 people across several continents this Ramadan.

Excerpts:
As Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan, many are struggling to comprehend a wave of attacks that killed 350 people across several countries during the holy month and raised the question of what drives the militants to ever more spectacular violence.
Most Muslims regard the month as a time for introspection, peace and piety, but militants and hard-line clerics have been touting it as an opportunity for jihad, or holy war.
Weeks before Ramadan, IS urged its supporters to strike wherever possible, and those calls appear to have found resonance.

Fake Muslims offend the true spirit of Ramadan

See overview dated 6 July 2016 – A look at bloody attacks around the world this Ramadan by The Associated Press:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bfca3f298e5443d3b54be06e022d2b55/look-bloody-attacks-around-world-ramadan
China Daily carried much the same overview. I quote here the full list. It is also a pity that the many deaths reported in the Middle East do not get the same attention as when terrorists hit in Europe. They are all human beings and innocent bystanders

160716toomanydead

A series of attacks, most linked to the Islamic State group, has killed nearly 350 people in eight countries during the holy month of Ramadan. The attacks are widely seen as an attempt to distract from a string of battlefield losses suffered by the extremist group in Syria and Iraq, where the borders of its self-styled caliphate are shrinking.
Here is a list of the major attacks carried out during Ramadan.

ORLANDO
On June 12, A gunman opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing at least 49 people in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Police say the slain shooter had pledged allegiance to IS, which hailed him as a “soldier of the caliphate,” but there is no evidence he was in contact with the group prior to the attack.

JORDAN
On June 21, a suicide car bomb struck a Jordanian army post along the Syrian border, killing seven soldiers in the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years. IS claimed the attack.

YEMEN
On June 27, an IS affiliate carried out a series of attacks in Yemen’s southern port city of Mukalla, killing 43 people, mostly intelligence and security troops. In one attack, a bomb was concealed in a box of food delivered to soldiers to break their dawn-to-dusk Ramadan fast.

LEBANON
On June 27, eight suicide bombers struck in two waves in a small Christian Lebanese village on the border with Syria, killing five people. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

TURKEY
On June 28, three suicide bombers armed with assault rifles stormed Istanbul’s international airport, one of the world’s busiest, killing 44 people and wounding nearly 150. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkish officials say they believe it was carried out by IS.

MALAYSIA
On June 28, a grenade was lobbed at a bar outside Kuala Lumpur as patrons watched Euro soccer matches, wounding eight people. Authorities said it was the first IS attack in the Muslim-majority country, and that the attackers received orders from a Malaysian man fighting alongside the group in Syria.

BANGLADESH
On July 1, men armed with knives, automatic rifles and bombs battled police before storming a popular restaurant in an upscale Dhaka neighborhood, taking 35 hostages for hours before killing 20 of them, including nine Italians and seven Japanese. Witnesses said the attackers let Muslims go but tortured hostages who could not recite the Quran. IS claimed the attack.

IRAQ
On July 3, a suicide truck bombing in a bustling Baghdad shopping district killed at least 175 people in one of the deadliest attacks in 13 years of war and insurgency. IS claimed the attack, saying it was targeting Shiites.
Update 7 July: (CNN)The death toll from a devastating ISIS truck bomb in Baghdad has risen to 292 after dozens more of the wounded succumbed to their injuries, Iraqi officials said Thursday.
A further 200 people were injured in the attack, according to Ahmed Al-Redaini, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

SAUDI ARABIA
On July 4, suicide bombers struck in three Saudi cities, including outside the mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, one of the holiest sites in Islam, killing four security personnel. A Pakistani resident struck outside the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, lightly wounding two security guards, and a third bomber struck near a Shiite mosque in the country’s east. No one claimed the attacks.

INDONESIA
On July 5, a suicide bomber struck outside a police station in Solo, Java, wounding one policeman. Police say the attacker was linked to a leading figure among Indonesians fighting with IS in Syria.