Deconstructing Buddhist Extremism: Lessons from Sri Lanka

This article argues that it is not Buddhism, per se, but rather Buddhist extremism, responsible for violence against relevant out-groups. Moreover, suggests the causes of than being determined solely by textual and scriptural justifications out-group violence, are rooted instead in intersection between social psychology theology, organically arising from latter, se. unpacks this argument a deeper exploration Theravada extremism Sri Lanka. It religious including its variant, best understood as fundamentalist belief system justifies structural A total seven core characteristics extremist identified employed to better grasp how Lanka manifests itself on ground. These are: fixation with maintaining identity supremacy; in-group bias; prejudice; emphasis preserving purity via avoidance commingling out-group; low integrative complexity expressed binary thinking; dangerous speech both soft- hard-modes; finally, quest political power, force if needed. Future research could, inter alia, explore these also adequately describe other types extremism.