Editing Persecution (section)

===Buddhists===
{{Main|Persecution of Buddhists|Decline of Buddhism in India|Genocide of Indigenous peoples#Bangladesh|Chakma people|Jumma people|Four Buddhist Persecutions in China|Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution|Turkic settlement of the Tarim Basin|Haibutsu kishaku}}
{{Category see also|Persecution of Buddhists|Persecution by Buddhists}}

The persecution of Buddhists has been a widespread phenomenon throughout the [[history of Buddhism]], a phenomenon which is continuing today. As early as the 3rd century AD, Buddhists were persecuted by Kirder, the Zoroastrian high priest of the [[Sasanian Empire]]. {{Citation needed|date=October 2020|reason=Unsourced}}

Anti-Buddhist sentiment in [[History of China#Imperial China|Imperial China]] between the 5th and 10th century led to the ''[[Four Buddhist Persecutions in China]]'' of which the ''[[Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution]]'' of 845 was probably the most severe. However, Buddhism managed to survive in China, but it was greatly weakened. During the [[Northern Expedition]], in 1926 in [[Guangxi]], the [[Kuomintang]] Muslim General [[Bai Chongxi]] led his troops on a campaign to destroy Buddhist temples and smash idols, they turned the temples into schools and Kuomintang party headquarters.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCA9AAAAIAAJ&q=muslim |title=Region and nation: the Kwangsi clique in Chinese politics, 1925-1937 |author=Diana Lary |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=98 |isbn=978-0-521-20204-6 |access-date=2010-06-28}}</ref> During the [[Kuomintang Pacification of Qinghai]], the Muslim General Ma Bufang and his army wiped out many Tibetan Buddhists in the northeast and eastern Qinghai, and destroyed [[Tibetan Buddhist]] temples.<ref name="David S. G. Goodman 2004 72">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbkfQATHikQC&pg=PA72 |title=China's campaign to "Open up the West": national, provincial, and local perspectives|author=David S. G. Goodman |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=72 |isbn=978-0-521-61349-1 |access-date=2010-06-28}}</ref>

The [[Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent|Muslim invasion of the Indian subcontinent]] was the first great [[iconoclasm|iconoclastic]] invasion of the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>Levy, Robert I. Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990 1990.</ref> According to William Johnston, hundreds of Buddhist monasteries and shrines were destroyed, Buddhist texts were [[Book burning|burnt]] by the Muslim armies, monks and nuns were killed on the [[Indo-Gangetic Plain]] during the 12th and 13th centuries.<ref name="Johnston2000p335">{{cite book|author=William M. Johnston|title=Encyclopedia of Monasticism: A-L|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfC0TDkJJNgC&pg=PA335 |year=2000|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-57958-090-2 |pages=335 }}</ref> The Buddhist university of [[Nalanda]] was mistaken for a fort because of its walled campus. The Buddhist monks who had been slaughtered were mistaken for [[Brahmin]]s according to [[Minhaj-i-Siraj]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eraly |first=Abraham |date=April 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEoAwAAQBAJ&q=bakhtiyar+mistook+buddhist+fort&pg=PT508 |title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=9789351186588}}</ref> The walled town, the [[Odantapuri]] monastery, was also destroyed by his forces. Sumpa based his account on that of [[Śākyaśribhadra]] who was at [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] in 1200, states that the Buddhist university complexes of Odantapuri and [[Vikramashila|Vikramshila]] were also destroyed and the monks were massacred.<ref>A Comprehensive History Of India, Vol. 4, Part 1, pp. 600 & 601.</ref> Muslim forces attacked the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent many times.<ref>Historia Religionum: Handbook for the History of Religions By C. J. Bleeker, G. Widengren p. 381.</ref> Many places were destroyed and renamed. For example, Odantapuri's monasteries were destroyed in 1197 by [[Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji]] and the town was renamed.<ref>{{cite book |page=41 |title=Where the Buddha Walked |author=S. Muthiah}}</ref> Likewise, [[Vikramashila]] was destroyed by the forces of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji around 1200.<ref>Sanderson, Alexis. "The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, 23, pp. 89.</ref> The sacred [[Mahabodhi Temple]] was almost completely destroyed by the Muslim invaders.<ref>''The Maha-Bodhi'' by Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 8)</ref><ref>''The Maha-Bodhi'' by Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 205)</ref> Many Buddhist monks fled to [[Nepal]], Tibet, and [[South India]] to avoid the consequences of war.<ref>Islam at War: A History By Mark W. Walton, George F. Nafziger, Laurent W. Mbanda (p. 226)</ref> Tibetan pilgrim Chöjepal (1179-1264), who arrived in India in 1234,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Holy Land Reborn: Pilgrimage and the Tibetan Reinvention of Buddhist India |date=15 September 2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjzSpGf1eM0C&q=Ch%C3%B6jepal&pg=PA66 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226356501}}</ref> had to flee advancing Muslim troops multiple times, as they were sacking Buddhist sites.<ref>Roerich, G. 1959. Biography of Dharmasvamin (Chag lo tsa-ba Chos-rje-dpal): A Tibetan Monk Pilgrim. Patna: K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute. pp. 61–62, 64, 98.</ref>

In Japan, the [[haibutsu kishaku]] during the [[Meiji Restoration]] (starting in 1868) was an event which was triggered by the official policy of separation of [[Shinto]] and Buddhism (or [[shinbutsu bunri]]). This policy caused great destruction to [[Buddhism in Japan]], the destruction of Buddhist temples, images and texts took place on a large scale all over the country and Buddhist monks were forced to return to secular life.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020|reason=Unsourced}}

During the [[2012 Ramu violence]] in Bangladesh, a 25,000-strong Muslim mob set fire to at least five Buddhist temples and dozens of homes throughout the town and throughout the surrounding villages after they saw a picture of an allegedly desecrated [[Quran]], which they claimed had been posted on [[Facebook]] by Uttam Barua, a local Buddhist man.<ref>{{cite web |title=Protesters burn Bangladesh Buddhist temples |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/09/201293092057855387.html |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] |date=30 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Religious attacks lead to 300 arrests in Bangladesh |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-02/an_bangladesh-riots/4291778 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |date=2 October 2012 |language=en-AU}}</ref>