Since 2011, Myanmar’s monks and nuns have responded to the po-
litical transition in ways that have fostered and supported the reform
and peace efforts, as well as driven conflict and bolstered exclusionary
attitudes that feed violence. Their mobilization in response to politi-
cal, social, and economic dynamics in the country has a great deal of
historical precedent. As in other Asian Buddhist contexts, in ancient
Burmese kingdoms there was a relationship of patronage between the
ruling monarchy and sangha (the monastic community). British co-
lonial rulers, however, sought to separate the political and religious
realms, refusing to appoint a head of the sangha, a duty that had typi-
cally been the responsibility of the king. Due to this absence of central
authority, many Buddhists claimed to see a moral decline in the mo-
nastic community. This perceived weakening of Buddhism, in concert
with Christian missionizing, fueled a Burmese nationalist and Bud-
dhist revival movement in the early twentieth century, spearheaded by
several prominent Buddhist monks