Last week I noticed an interesting event in the news. The Government of China loaned Buddha’s Tooth, a sacred relic, to the government of Thailand in honor of the Thai King’s 72nd birthday and to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between their two countries. The tooth, one of many believed to have been preserved after Siddhartha Gautama, the original Buddha, passed away and was cremated somewhere between 400-500 B.C., is kept in a Peking shrine. The tooth, enclosed in a golden container, was welcomed to Bangkok with a procession through the streets. It will be housed in a local temple for the next several weeks.
What’s interesting, of course, is that China is an officially atheist country. Using a religious symbol in their diplomacy would seem at first glance to be a contradiction. When you look closer, however, the historical link between religion and politics stands out loud and clear. Religion, like politics, is all about identity. While China recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Taoism/Confucianism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam, this recognition is given only as long as the believers of these faiths do nothing to question their political identity as members of the People’s Republic of China. For the most part, the believers, who make up 70% of the Chinese population, appear to be able to live with this arrangement, making China the world’s largest example of the separation of church and state.
The notorious exception was a 2014 separatist movement by a Muslim sect in Xinjiang in northwestern China. This movement was answered with a harsh military response, the destruction of mosques and the creation of “reeducation camps” in which Muslims were imprisoned and thousands died. The message was obviously not lost on the rest of the population, who have continued to keep the peace.
While Thailand has no State Religion, almost 95% of the country’s population identify as Buddhist. In fact, Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, which has the largest. By sharing the Buddha’s Tooth, China is not only firming up their relationship with Thailand but also keeping their millions of Buddhists happy – a win/win for the People’s Republic.
It is worth noting that Buddhism is non-theistic. Buddhists do not acknowledge a supreme being. Buddha is revered as a teacher, not a God. However, his tooth was given the same reverence that the crown of thorns believed to have been worn by Jesus on the cross was given during the same week on its return to the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. While France. A historically Catholic country, also has no official religion, Notre Dame is a central symbol of French identity and millions of dollars were spent to restore it.
Whether the tooth actually came from the Buddha’s mouth or the crown of thorns from Jesus’ head is almost beside the point. It’s all about belief. Symbol trumps information, faith trumps fact (an odd verbal coincidence given current political realities). It’s about human identity and our ongoing need to see ourselves as more than the sum of our biological parts. Dying for your country or for being martyred for your faith is better than dying for nothing (that would be heart attack, a traffic accident, or, worse of all, natural causes). Nobody honors the grave of the unknown smallpox victim. The truth behind the myth, be it political or religious, is outweighed by the need to believe. Evidence-based science has shaken things up as the cost for providing us with light bulbs, air travel and medicine but the need to believe goes on. Political leaders who are able to tap into that human need have been using it to their advantage since the stone age and continue to do so in the age of the internet, which is where I learned about both Buddha’s tooth, the reopening of Notre Dame and, of course, the recent American election.
And why am I raising all this? Because the game’s gotten critical. It’s always been dangerous and is responsible for most of the war and oppression in our race’s checkered history. And in an age where decisions by one country can affect the world, the level of risk has risen substantially. Even the Buddha would have a hard time making peace with it.
We have a lot of work to do. More to come.
What’s interesting, of course, is that China is an officially atheist country. Using a religious symbol in their diplomacy would seem at first glance to be a contradiction. When you look closer, however, the historical link between religion and politics stands out loud and clear. Religion, like politics, is all about identity. While China recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Taoism/Confucianism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam, this recognition is given only as long as the believers of these faiths do nothing to question their political identity as members of the People’s Republic of China. For the most part, the believers, who make up 70% of the Chinese population, appear to be able to live with this arrangement, making China the world’s largest example of the separation of church and state.
The notorious exception was a 2014 separatist movement by a Muslim sect in Xinjiang in northwestern China. This movement was answered with a harsh military response, the destruction of mosques and the creation of “reeducation camps” in which Muslims were imprisoned and thousands died. The message was obviously not lost on the rest of the population, who have continued to keep the peace.
While Thailand has no State Religion, almost 95% of the country’s population identify as Buddhist. In fact, Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, which has the largest. By sharing the Buddha’s Tooth, China is not only firming up their relationship with Thailand but also keeping their millions of Buddhists happy – a win/win for the People’s Republic.
It is worth noting that Buddhism is non-theistic. Buddhists do not acknowledge a supreme being. Buddha is revered as a teacher, not a God. However, his tooth was given the same reverence that the crown of thorns believed to have been worn by Jesus on the cross was given during the same week on its return to the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. While France. A historically Catholic country, also has no official religion, Notre Dame is a central symbol of French identity and millions of dollars were spent to restore it.
Whether the tooth actually came from the Buddha’s mouth or the crown of thorns from Jesus’ head is almost beside the point. It’s all about belief. Symbol trumps information, faith trumps fact (an odd verbal coincidence given current political realities). It’s about human identity and our ongoing need to see ourselves as more than the sum of our biological parts. Dying for your country or for being martyred for your faith is better than dying for nothing (that would be heart attack, a traffic accident, or, worse of all, natural causes). Nobody honors the grave of the unknown smallpox victim. The truth behind the myth, be it political or religious, is outweighed by the need to believe. Evidence-based science has shaken things up as the cost for providing us with light bulbs, air travel and medicine but the need to believe goes on. Political leaders who are able to tap into that human need have been using it to their advantage since the stone age and continue to do so in the age of the internet, which is where I learned about both Buddha’s tooth, the reopening of Notre Dame and, of course, the recent American election.
And why am I raising all this? Because the game’s gotten critical. It’s always been dangerous and is responsible for most of the war and oppression in our race’s checkered history. And in an age where decisions by one country can affect the world, the level of risk has risen substantially. Even the Buddha would have a hard time making peace with it.
We have a lot of work to do. More to come.
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