Buddist leader visits India, calls terrorists victims, ignores attacks on minorities

When prominent Buddhist monk and scholar Thicht Naht Hanh arrived in India, the country was reeling from months of Islamist terrorist attacks, a campaign of violence in Orissa to wipe out Christians, the spillover of America’s economic turmoil, and the death of over 220 Hindus in a stampede at temple. Many were eager to hear what solutions the renowned “peace activist” had to offer to India’s troubles.

He called the terrorists “victims,” blaming their actions on poverty and growing up in difficult circumstances. He said not a single word about the attacks on Christians or the continued discrimination faced by Indian Muslims. Instead, in an October 2 interview with the Times of India, he warned journalists not to "water the seeds of hate.” Nice advice - as far as it goes. Speaking only in vague generalities, he dodged every major question facing India today, trying instead to appear wise and sophisticated by spouting such classic Buddhist fare as (in the Times' paraphrase) "once we realize that the idea of 'I' is a mere figment of the imagination, with nothing real to correspond with it, we will realize our larger or universal self." He offered all sorts of platitudes about being nice to one another, but when it came to the pressing moral issues of the day he had no huevos. Or, perhaps he simply had no answers.

One of the few specifics he offered was to urge people to eat less meat or adopt a vegetarian (or even vegan) diet. Of course! That’s it! If we only stop eating meat, global warming will halt, Russia will cease their aggression, Sunnis and Shias will get along, the Indian Mujahideen will renounce violence, the genocide in Darfur will end, the world’s financial markets will right themselves, and all of India’s Dalits and Tribals will be lifted out of poverty.

As for me, I’ll have a steak.