The Tibetan capital of Lhasa saw its worst anti-China protest in decades, six months after Buddhist monks in Myanmar thronged the streets in a march for democracy.

Both were peaceful but defiant protests against authoritarian governments that took a bloody turn when security forces moved in. Both showed a more assertive side to Buddhism.

Could 'Asia's quietest religion' be shedding its meditative image in favour of head-on activism, as a recent Newsweek cover story suggested?

Yes and no, say scholars of Buddhism and religion interviewed by The Straits Times.

Some agree that Buddhism is adopting a more confrontational approach, and attribute this to the wider revival of religion in secular politics.

'You can situate the politicisation of Buddhism as another manifestation of the worldwide trend of the 'return of the sacred' in politics that started in the late 1960s and early 1970s,' says Dr Lee Hock Guan of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

The period saw the emergence of liberation theology in South America - a fusion of Christianity and Marxism, Christian fundamentalism in the United States and Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East.

The difference between the politicisation of Buddhism and that of Islam and Christianity is that Buddhists 'are not overly concerned with the path society is taking', says Tibet expert Tsering Shakya of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada.

While Muslims and Christians 'feel the modern world is moving away from the true faith and the faith has to be reasserted, for Buddhists what is important is the ability to practise their faith', he adds.

Other scholars say Buddhism has always been politically active in Asia.

In Thailand, where 95 per cent of the people are Buddhists, the religion has helped legitimise the power of both royalty and politicians.

Monks have even led governments - as the Dalai Lama did in Tibet before his government was forced out by China in 1959.

The striking difference now is that Buddhist monks are no longer in government, but influencing it from the sidelines or driving movements that challenge the establishment, says anthropologist Martin Mills of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Buddhism originated some 2,500 years ago in India, the birthplace of Buddha.

There are now an estimated 350 million people worldwide who follow various schools of Buddhism, compared to 2.2 billion Christians and 1.3 billion Muslims.

In at least two Asian countries, Buddhism has become enmeshed in violent inter-ethnic conflicts.

In the past few years, Thai Buddhists have been attacked by Muslims in the country's southern provinces. In response, Buddhist factions took to the streets last year to demand that Buddhism be made the state religion.

Religious chauvinism has flared up even more strongly in Sri Lanka, where some monks have mobilised to support the Buddhist Sinhalese majority in its on-off 25-year-long civil war with the Hindu Tamil minority.

While the threat posed by other religions may have contributed to Buddhists in Asia turning activist, non-religious factors have spurred the recent protests, says National University of Singapore anthropologist Pattana Kitiarsa.

When monks in Myanmar and Tibet 'lead their people to protest against their oppressive military and Chinese rulers, respectively, they are instigated more by historical, political and cultural situations'.

China claims sovereignty over Tibet and requires Buddhists there to renounce the Dalai Lama's spiritual leadership, something the Tibetans resent. The Dalai Lama now lives with his government- in-exile in India.

There have been unconfirmed reports over the years of arrests and beatings of Tibetans who demonstrated against the Chinese authorities or tried to flee across the border to India.

As for Myanmar, the junta controls all monasteries and has detained monks for criticising the regime.

In both places, 'the Buddhists feel the state intrusion and their religious space being invaded; therefore, they must resist and restore their space', says Prof Shakya of UBC.

Another cause of political activism is 'an increased responsibility to act on behalf of laity in the face of oppression, as monks and nuns have neither children nor other dependants', says Dr Mills.

Monks are dependent on people who give alms and support them financially. They suffer when the larger community becomes too poor to keep up such donations, as is the case in Myanmar.

Activists there say the wealthy junta has tried to co-opt the monasteries by giving huge donations. When monks refused such alms, they have been arrested and their monasteries raided.

While the politicisation of Buddhism may have its roots in the fight for social justice, how do monks avoid being corrupted by power when they get it?

It is a tension which exists in all religions, not just Buddhism, as 'any religion, if it exists in the world, must accommodate the world', says Professor Elliot Sperling, a Tibet expert from the University of Indiana, Bloomington.

'Christianity has a strong monastic tradition too, but that did not stop the different churches from cooperating with and becoming a part of the power structures in various states,' he adds.

In line with Buddhist teachings, politically active monks must be peace-loving, not be motivated by hatred or violence, and be free of worldly cares.

In practice, that can be quite a tall order, Dr Mills acknowledges.

He recalls attending a talk by the Dalai Lama 'when someone asked him what they should do to have the kind of serene existence that he had'.

The Tibetan leader's response was to laugh, says Dr Mills.

'He replied that one of the items of business he had to deal with that morning was the fact that the Tibetan government-in-exile was all of a sudden $4 million in debt. If they would like that element of his serene existence, they were welcome to it,' he said.

clare@sph.com.sg