Persecution of Buddhists

• 1. Sasanian Monasteries Destroyed

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  In the third century, the Sasanian Empire overran Bactria and began to reshape the religious landscape of Central Asia. Although early rulers tolerated Buddhism, a shift occurred when Kartir, the Zoroastrian mowbadān-mowbad, took control of state policy in the second half of that same century. He ordered the destruction of several Buddhist monasteries located in what is now Afghanistan. This campaign targeted the amalgam of Buddhism and Zoroastrianism known as Buddha-Mazda, which Kartir viewed as heresy. Despite this violence, Buddhism recovered quickly after his death. The two Buddhas of Bamiyan were erected during this period under Sasanian rule, standing as monuments to a faith that faced intermittent but severe pressure from imperial authorities.

• 2. Hephthalite And Hunnic Campaigns

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  Central Asian Buddhism weakened significantly following the invasion of the Hephthalites around 440 CE. These forces conquered Sogdia and Gandhara before pushing into the Indo-Gangetic Plain. King Mihirakula ruled starting in 515 and actively suppressed Buddhism by destroying monasteries as far away as modern-day Allahabad. His son later reversed this policy, allowing some recovery. Chinese scholars traveling through the region between the fifth and eighth centuries documented the decline of the Buddhist Sangha in northwestern India. Xuanzang wrote that numerous monasteries had been reduced to ruins by the Huns. The Hun ruler Mihirakula continued to suppress Buddhism by destroying monasteries as far away as Prayagraj, leaving a trail of destruction across the northwest.

• 3. Islamic Conquest Of South Asia

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  The systematic dismantling of major centers like Nalanda and Vikramshila began with Arab and Turkic invasions from the eighth to twelfth centuries. Qutb-ud-din Aybak left defenseless territories that were the heart of Buddhist India in 1193. One of his generals, Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji, invaded Magadha and destroyed the Buddhist shrines at Nalanda, Vikramasila, and Odantapuri. This campaign caused the practice of Buddhism in East India to decline sharply. Many monks who escaped the massacre fled to Nepal, Tibet, and South India. Tamerlane also destroyed Buddhist establishments and raided areas where Buddhism had flourished. Mughal rulers like Aurangzeb later destroyed temples and replaced them with mosques, contributing to the long-term decline of the religion in the subcontinent.

• 4. Karakhanid Jihad Against Khotan

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  A specific historical campaign ended the independent Buddhist state of Khotan through forced conversion and temple destruction around 1006 CE. The Islamic attacks started by the Turkic Karakhanid Satok Bughra Khan led to a war between Islamic Kashgar and Buddhist Khotan. Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered Khotan, ending its existence as an independent state. The war was described as a Muslim Jihad by Professor Takao Moriyasu. A poem written by Mahmud al-Kashgari on the conquest stated that they tore down idol-temples and shat on the Buddha's head. Idols were subjected to desecration when the country was conquered. Dunhuang's Cave 17 may have been sealed after caretakers heard that Khotan's buildings were razed. The Tażkirah literature describes battles where blood flowed like the Oxus river and heads littered the battlefield like stones until the infidels were defeated.

• 5. Communist State Atheism Campaigns

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  The eradication of religious practice under Khmer Rouge, Chinese Cultural Revolution, and Soviet policies across East and Southeast Asia marked a new era of persecution. The Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979 destroyed a third of Cambodia's monasteries and massacred 25,000 monks. Pol Pot believed Buddhism was a decadent affectation and sought to eliminate its mark on the nation. In China, Red Guards vandalized temples, statues, and sutras during the Cultural Revolution due to antireligious campaigns. Over 6,000 Buddhist monasteries in Tibet were ransacked and destroyed, mainly during this period. In Mongolia, Khorloogiin Choibalsan declared 17,000 monks to be enemies of the state and deported them to Siberian labor camps where many perished. Almost all of Mongolia's over 700 Buddhist monasteries were looted or destroyed before revolutionary democratization in 1990.

• 6. Modern Ethnic And Religious Conflicts

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  Contemporary violence against Buddhists in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand involves military regimes and insurgent groups. Between 1980 and 1995, the Bangladesh Army and Muslim settlers committed at least 13 major massacres against indigenous Buddhist people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Kaukhali Massacre on the 25th of March 1980, saw an estimated 300 Chakma and Marma Buddhists killed. The Barkal Massacre on the 31st of May 1984, resulted in more than 400 deaths. Tensions flared into violent clashes in Meiktila, Mandalay Division in 2013 after a gold shop owner assaulted a Buddhist customer. A local monk was attacked with a sword and burnt alive, causing the situation to explode. In Thailand, civil war has led to cases of Buddhist civilians being beheaded by Muslim insurgents in Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani.