A Buddhist monk conspiracy assassinated Prime Minister Bandaranaike in 1959.

Evidence

This portrayal, however, contrasts with violent episodes involving Sri Lanka’s Buddhists. All agree that Buddhist philosophy eschews violence, yet in Sri Lanka (and elsewhere) some Buddhist monks and especially Buddhist political elites have used jathaka tales dealing with Buddha’s reincarnated lives and Buddhist mytho-history to celebrate and justify violence. … Buddhist monks, for example, conspired and assassinated Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in September 1959. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 46

Categorization

• CANDY: Compelling, little-known concrete historical fact: monks assassinating a PM — great elevator conversation piece.
• XREF: connects to: Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monkhood is split into three caste-ordered sects with no unified hierarchy. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 137

Broader Connections

• Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monkhood is split into three caste-ordered sects with no unified hierarchy. #complicates (0.70) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 137