The very forces that built Ceylonese secularism also cultivated Buddhist communalism.

Evidence

According to Article 9 of the constitution, “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the state to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).” Article 10 provides for “freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice,” and Article 14(1)(e) gives the individual the right “to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching,” alone or as part of a group, “in public or in private.” Even the draft constitutions fashioned by the Chandrika Kumaratunga government in the mid-1990s provided Buddhism privileged status, going beyond the 1972 and 1978 (present) constitutions to attempt to organize a Supreme Council comprising the chief priests, who would ensure Buddhism was protected and fostered. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 144 (#expands, via linked claim)

Scholar monk Walpola Rahula best articulated the bases of political Buddhism in a 1946 book entitled Bhiksuvage Urumaya (later translated as The Heritage of the Bhikkhu), which argued that given their mandate to perform social service, monks could participate in politics and had done so since the time of Buddha. Although historically monks did advise kings, legitimize rulers, and thereby influence policy, H. L. Seneviratne (1999) has vigorously challenged Rahula’s claim. However, many Rahulite bhikkhus have resorted to radical politics and have espoused positions antithetical to Buddhist teachings. Significantly, political Buddhism emphasizes politics over Buddhist values (Schalk 2007) because it disregards Sri Lanka’s polyethnic heritage and seeks to institutionalize a Buddhist ethos for the entire country. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 51 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Dharmapala was certainly insensitive and hostile toward all things un-Sinhalese and non-Buddhist, but his attitude must be viewed within the context of Buddhism’s marginalized and diminished status in pre-independence Sri Lanka. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 111 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sri Lanka’s constitution enshrines Buddhism in a privileged state role. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 144; Monks built anachronistic historical claims to legitimize politicized Buddhism — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 51; Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology commands broad popular support in Sri Lanka (+5 more)

Related

• Sri Lanka’s constitution enshrines Buddhism in a privileged state role. (similarity 0.91)
• The intolerant faction of Buddhism triumphed over the tolerant one in Sri Lanka’s sangha. (similarity 0.91)
• A tolerant faction of monks lost to a supremacist faction within Sri Lankan Buddhism. (similarity 0.86)
• Monks built anachronistic historical claims to legitimize politicized Buddhism (similarity 0.86)
• Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology commands broad popular support in Sri Lanka (similarity 0.85)
• Political Buddhism elevates ethnonationalist politics above Buddhist doctrinal values (similarity 0.84)
• Modern challenges to the sangha, not primordial identity, explain monks’ political engagement. (similarity 0.83)
• The monastic interpretation emphasizing Buddhist supremacy triumphed over the pragmatic one (similarity 0.83)
• Ultra-nationalist Sinhalese parties drew negligible support until monks ran for parliament (similarity 0.82)
• Buddhist monks entered national politics only very gradually over decades (similarity 0.82)
• Sinhalese Buddhist extremists define legitimate Sri Lankan identity as exclusively Sinhalese Buddhist (similarity 0.82)
• The monks’ political manipulation accelerated nationalist entrenchment and blocked peace (similarity 0.82)
• Sinhalese political Buddhism emerged as a protest against Christian and Western dominance. (similarity 0.82)
• Sinhalese monks frame Buddhism’s status through territorial threat perception (similarity 0.82)
• A pacifist religion has been harnessed to an ethnocentric state ideology. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Sri Lanka’s constitution enshrines Buddhism in a privileged state role. #expands (0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 144
• Monks built anachronistic historical claims to legitimize politicized Buddhism #corroborates (0.78) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 51
• Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology commands broad popular support in Sri Lanka #expands (0.75)
• Sinhalese Buddhist hostility to minorities was a reactive response to colonial marginalization. #complicates (0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 111
• Buddhist institutional survival depended on an interdependence between clergy and state. #expands (0.72) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 100
• A tolerant faction of monks lost to a supremacist faction within Sri Lankan Buddhism. #responds-to (0.72) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 118