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well-known “political Bhikkhus” include Ven. U Ottama of Burma, Socialism” at the end of the Vietnam War. At a time when the
who had been actively involved in fighting against British colonial mere mention of the word “socialism” could land one in jail, his
rule in the 1930s. He is considered a national hero of modern engagement in public affairs of this nature was considered radical.
Myanmar yet he did not hold any political post except once in 1935 One of his disciples Dr. Sulak Sivaraksa is now a leading figure in
when he was leader of the All India Hindu Mahasabha. Another SEB, whom I have the pleasure of meeting several times.
prominent Buddhist monk was Ven. Wisara who was repeatedly
imprisoned and tortured by the colonial government for “inciting During the 1930s, monks in Vietnam were involved in anti-
sedition”, and forced to wear plain clothes and abandon religious colonialist movements and their “radical” involvement came to a
observances. He died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike against height during the 1960s when Buddhism was gruesomely suppressed
the British rule in Burma. by the Ngu Dinh Diem regime. That led to the self-immolation of
Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc in 1963.
In Sri Lanka, Ven. Dr. W. Rahula (author of the well-known
book “What the Buddha Taught”) had in his book “Heritage of the Describing the Buddhist movement of 1960s in Vietnam, Ven.
Bhikkhus” provided strong arguments for monks to be socially and Thich Nhat Hanh used the Vietnamese term “入世佛教” which
politically engaged. He was the founder and joint secretary of the was translated as “Le Bouddhisme Engage” in French. The term has
Mahajana Peramuna, a political party formed in 1948. (He was since been translated as “Socially Engaged Buddhism” in English.
not so successful in his political venture but this turned out to be a
blessing, for he later concentrated on Buddhist studies and became However, SEB is not a unified movement. It emerges in
a renowned Buddhist scholar.) different countries at different times to meet the challenges at that
point in time. (The saffron revolution in Myanmar in 2007 may be
In India, the SEB had been associated with the anti-caste seen as a continuation of such a movement). Nonetheless, it has
movement led by Dr. Ambedkar. Dr. Ambedkar was born into an certain common characteristics such as radical engagement, non-
Untouchable caste. A learned scholar, he soon discovered through violence, and mass involvement in public policies.
his studies that the Untouchables were formerly Buddhists, who were
forced to become outcastes for refusing to convert to Hinduism. He As seen in the descriptions earlier, the movement engages the
studied all the major religions and concluded that Buddhism would powers that be radically, such as demanding for political rights
be the best choice. He converted back to Buddhism in October and liberation from suppression, by organising and mobilising
1956, followed by 500,000 followers. That was the largest mass the masses to make such demands. A salient characteristic is that
conversion in recent history. (In October 2017, I was invited to the strategy adopted had always been one that is “non-violence”.
Nagpur to attend the 60th Anniversary of the great conversion) Interestingly, one may asked, why is the term “non-violence” instead
of “peaceful” being used? Well, the word non-violence originated
In Thailand, Ven. Buddhadasa propagated “Dhammic from the Sanskrit term “Ahimsa” , which is a combination of A,

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