Armies Of The Enlightened
No more. In this era of religious fervor, an Asia-wide resurgence of Buddhism is spawning activists and increasingly assertive political movements, some of which even act like fundamentalists of other faiths. True, many Buddhist groups, like Taiwan’s massive Tzu Chi movement, still practice nonviolence and antimaterialism; indeed, this meditative side is helping Buddhism make inroads among alienated urban professionals in India, China and elsewhere. But other organizations are now wading straight into the rough-and-tumble of everyday politics, suggesting last year’s monk-led protests in Burma weren’t an anomaly....