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Looks at how a spiritual tradition can be appropriated by those involved in ethno-nationalist conflict.
Patrick Grant explores the relationship between Buddhism and violent ethnic conflict in modern Sri Lanka using the concept of “regressive inversion.” Regressive inversion occurs when universal teaching, such as that of the Buddha, is redeployed to supercharge passions associated with the kinds of group loyalty that the universal teaching itself intends to transcend. The book begins with an account of the main teachings of Theravada Buddhism and looks at how these inform, or fail to inform, modern interpreters. Grant considers the writings of three key figures—Anagarika Dharmapala, Walpola Rahula, and J. R. Jayewardene—who addressed Buddhism and politics in the years leading up to Sri Lanka’s political independence from Britain, and subsequently, in postcolonial Sri Lanka. This book makes the Sri Lankan conflict accessible to readers interested in the modern global phenomenon of ethnic violence involving religion and also illuminates similar conflicts around the world.
Patrick Grant is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of several books, including Literature, Rhetoric, and Violence in Northern Ireland, 1968–1998: Hardened to Death and Personalism and the Politics of Culture.
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Table of Contents
Preface
PART I. READING BUDDHISM
1. Vedic Tradition and the Buddha: How to Say the Unsayable
2. Buddhism: The Art of the Detached Agonist
PART II READING SRI LANKA
3. Sri Lanka: Buddhist Self-Representation
and the Genesis of the Modern Conflict
4. Anagarika Dharmapala: Buddhism, Science,
and the Crisis of Historical Imagination
5. Walpola Rahula and Gamini Salgado: Buddhism,
Dialogue, and the Political Imaginary
6. J. R. Jayewardene: Playing with Fire
7. Conclusion
Notes
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index
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