Buddhist Violence and Religious Authority - A Tribute to the Work of Michael Jerryson - Margo Kitts

Buddhist Violence and Religious Authority - A Tribute to the Work of Michael Jerryson - Margo Kitts

3. Buddhists, Politics and International Law

Buddhist Violence and Religious Authority - A Tribute to the Work of Michael Jerryson - Margo Kitts

Ben Schonthal [+-]
University of Otago
Ben Schonthal is Associate Professor of Buddhism and Asian Religions at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Description

In this chapter, I examine connections between Buddhist law and international law not from a theoretical or philosophical perspective (as tends to be the case in scholarship) but from an empirical perspective. In particular, I look closely at the story of a single Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka whose domestic arguments about Buddhist law ended up forming the groundwork for a United Nations’ Resolution relating to the status of religious symbols. Drawing on legal archives from Sri Lanka and the UN as well as other monastic legal texts, I hope to illustrate how and why Buddhist monks in the contemporary world might work as agents of international law, even unwittingly. I also hope to add a consideration of processes, persons and institutions into a discussion of Buddhism and international law that has, to date, been largely abstract, disembodied and speculative.

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Citation

Schonthal, Ben. 3. Buddhists, Politics and International Law. Buddhist Violence and Religious Authority - A Tribute to the Work of Michael Jerryson. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 39-53 Oct 2022. ISBN 9781800501010. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=40724. Date accessed: 12 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.40724. Oct 2022

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