While the Burmese government’s actions in the wake of the cyclone are rooted in its ties to the Buddhist religion, they threaten to destabilize the unique triangular relationship between the government, the people and the monks.
Buddhism is central to Burma, and perhaps 80 percent of the country’s 48 million people are practicing Buddhists in the Theravada tradition. The sangha, or monastic community, comprises 400,000 monks and nuns, equal in size to the armed forces. In Burmese history, the monks served as intermediaries between the kings and the peasantry.
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