ミャンマーにおける仏教ナショナリズムの行方

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of the Buddhist nationalist movement behind the recent Rohingya crisis. The movement began in 2012 with the 969 Movement, an anti-Muslim boycott movement, which was succeeded by the Association for the Patriotic Association of Myanmar (commonly known as MaBaTha), in which many prominent monks participate. The Buddhist nationalist movement was criticized within the Buddhist community from its very inception, but it was the general election in November 2015 and the subsequent formation of the National League for Democracy government that changed the course of the movement. As a result, in 2017 MaBaTha was renamed the Buddha Dhamma Parahita Foundation, and its advocacy of ethnic and religious protection receded into the background. Despite these ups and downs, however, Buddhist nationalistic ideology persists among ordained practitioners. Most previous studies have tended to view the connection between Buddhism and violence as an enigma. In contrast, this paper points out that the Buddhist state model based on Buddhist chronicles is an important justification for the movement.