Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka

Looks at how a spiritual tradition can be appropriated by those involved in ethno-nationalist conflict. Patrick Grant explores the relationship between Buddhism and violent ethnic conflict in modern Sri Lanka using the concept of "regressive inversion." Regressive inversion occurs when universal teaching, such as that of the Buddha, is redeployed to supercharge passions associated with the kinds of group loyalty that the universal teaching itself intends to transcend. The book begins with an acc