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The Robe and the Sword: How Buddhist Extremism Is Shaping Modern Asia
Claiming that Buddhism is under threat from Islam, radical monks like Ashin Wirathu, better known as the Buddhist Bin Laden, are fomenting hate and encouraging deadly attacks on Muslims in countries across the region. The Myanmar junta’s calculated embrace of Wirathu is a reflection of the tectonic shift taking place among the followers of a religion famous for their embrace of non-violence, further emboldening Wirathu’s hundreds of thousands of supporters. As a result, increasing conflict, extremism, and reprisals spread quickly throughout the region, forcing persecuted minorities to flee to neighboring countries to avoid persecution.
In The Robe and the Sword, journalist Sonia Faleiro investigates the rise and consequences of Buddhist extremism, focusing on the three countries where nationalist Buddhists are the most active, powerful, and violent—Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. This is an urgent and comprehensive account of a rapidly growing extremist movement with hugely disruptive potential around the world.
In The Robe and the Sword, journalist Sonia Faleiro investigates the rise and consequences of Buddhist extremism, focusing on the three countries where nationalist Buddhists are the most active, powerful, and violent—Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. This is an urgent and comprehensive account of a rapidly growing extremist movement with hugely disruptive potential around the world.
- GenresBuddhism
160 pages, Paperback
Published November 11, 2025
5 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Sonia Faleiro
11 books179 followersSonia Faleiro is the author of Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay's Dance Bars and a novella, The Girl. Her new book, The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing will be published in 2021.
The New York Times hailed Beautiful Thing as ‘an intimate and valuable piece of reportage that will break your heart several times over.’ The book was an Observer, Guardian, and Economist Book of the Year, Time Out Subcontinental Book of the Year, CNN Mumbai Book of the Year, and The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year, 2011. It has been published worldwide and translated into several languages.
She is the co-founder of Deca, a global cooperative of award-winning journalists. Her writing has received support from the Pulitzer Centre and The Investigative Fund, and appears in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Harper's, Granta, 1843, The California Sunday Magazine, and MIT Technology Review.
She lives in London and is represented by The Wylie Agency.
The New York Times hailed Beautiful Thing as ‘an intimate and valuable piece of reportage that will break your heart several times over.’ The book was an Observer, Guardian, and Economist Book of the Year, Time Out Subcontinental Book of the Year, CNN Mumbai Book of the Year, and The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year, 2011. It has been published worldwide and translated into several languages.
She is the co-founder of Deca, a global cooperative of award-winning journalists. Her writing has received support from the Pulitzer Centre and The Investigative Fund, and appears in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Harper's, Granta, 1843, The California Sunday Magazine, and MIT Technology Review.
She lives in London and is represented by The Wylie Agency.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 23, 2025
Sonia Faleiro is an Indian journalist and writer; her 2025 book The Robe and the Sword is an exploration of extreme Buddhist groups across Southeast Asia, notably in countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, that have targeted attacks toward their Muslim neighbors. This was an interesting read covering a topic I've only heard about briefly (largely from Sarah Wynn-Williams in her Facebook memoir Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, where she talks about a dangerous solo work trip to Myanmar in the wake of partially-Facebook-enabled religious violence in the country).
My takeaway is that extremism and radicalism is endemic to virtually all religions, and doesn't represent the views of the vast majority of adherents.
Further reading: religion and geopolitical conflict
Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet's Memoir of China's Genocide by Tahir Hamut Izgil
Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
My statistics:
Book 348 for 2025
Book 2274 cumulatively
My takeaway is that extremism and radicalism is endemic to virtually all religions, and doesn't represent the views of the vast majority of adherents.
Further reading: religion and geopolitical conflict
Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet's Memoir of China's Genocide by Tahir Hamut Izgil
Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
My statistics:
Book 348 for 2025
Book 2274 cumulatively
July 5, 2025
Book Review: The Robe and the Sword by Sonia Faleiro
Rating: 4.8/5
Sonia Faleiro’s The Robe and the Sword is a groundbreaking and unsettling exposé that shatters the myth of Buddhism as an inherently pacifist tradition, revealing its weaponization by nationalist movements across Asia. As a reader drawn to investigative journalism and religious studies, I was both captivated and horrified by Faleiro’s meticulous reporting and her ability to humanize extremists, survivors, and reformers alike.
Strengths & Emotional Resonance
Faleiro’s narrative prowess transforms complex geopolitical and religious dynamics into a gripping, character-driven exploration. Her portraits of figures like Sri Lanka’s Gnanasara and Myanmar’s Wirathu—monks who incited genocide—are chilling in their intimacy, exposing how colonial trauma and economic despair warp spiritual teachings. The chapters on dissident monks resisting extremism (particularly in Thailand) offer a counterbalance of hope, underscoring Buddhism’s capacity for self-correction.
The book’s global lens is its greatest strength. Faleiro deftly connects dots between Sri Lanka’s anti-Muslim riots, Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis, and Thailand’s militarized clergy, proving that Buddhist extremism is not isolated but a transnational contagion. Her prose is razor-sharp yet empathetic, especially when detailing refugee testimonies. I found myself pausing to absorb the weight of passages that held questions that haunted me long after I had read them.
Constructive Criticism
While exceptional, the book could deepen its impact with:
-More grassroots perspectives: Greater inclusion of lay Buddhist voices (beyond clergy and activists) to show how extremism permeates everyday life.
-Theoretical framing: A concise primer on Buddhist political theology (e.g., concepts like “dhammaraja”) to contextualize doctrinal distortions.
-Solutions-oriented analysis: Though Faleiro hints at resistance movements, a dedicated chapter on counter-extremism strategies would elevate its urgency.
Why This Book Matters
Faleiro—award-winning author of The Good Girls—brings her signature blend of rigor and storytelling to this urgent topic. By exposing how sacred symbols are hijacked for violence, she challenges Orientalist stereotypes of Buddhism while sounding an alarm for global solidarity. The endorsements from scholars like Thant Myint-U underscore its scholarly heft.
Thank you to the publisher, Columbia Global Reports, and Edelweiss for the advance copy. The Robe and the Sword is not just a book; it’s a call to witness—a vital intervention in debates about religion, power, and identity in our fractured world.
Final Verdict:
Originality: 5/5 (Pioneering work on a neglected crisis.)
Research: 4.9/5 (Impeccable fieldwork; could bolster theory.)
Emotional Impact: 5/5 (Alternates between outrage and admiration.)
Accessibility: 4.7/5 (Journalistic flair balances academic depth.)
A must-read for anyone studying religious extremism, Southeast Asian politics, or the dark intersections of faith and power. 🌏📖
Rating: 4.8/5
Sonia Faleiro’s The Robe and the Sword is a groundbreaking and unsettling exposé that shatters the myth of Buddhism as an inherently pacifist tradition, revealing its weaponization by nationalist movements across Asia. As a reader drawn to investigative journalism and religious studies, I was both captivated and horrified by Faleiro’s meticulous reporting and her ability to humanize extremists, survivors, and reformers alike.
Strengths & Emotional Resonance
Faleiro’s narrative prowess transforms complex geopolitical and religious dynamics into a gripping, character-driven exploration. Her portraits of figures like Sri Lanka’s Gnanasara and Myanmar’s Wirathu—monks who incited genocide—are chilling in their intimacy, exposing how colonial trauma and economic despair warp spiritual teachings. The chapters on dissident monks resisting extremism (particularly in Thailand) offer a counterbalance of hope, underscoring Buddhism’s capacity for self-correction.
The book’s global lens is its greatest strength. Faleiro deftly connects dots between Sri Lanka’s anti-Muslim riots, Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis, and Thailand’s militarized clergy, proving that Buddhist extremism is not isolated but a transnational contagion. Her prose is razor-sharp yet empathetic, especially when detailing refugee testimonies. I found myself pausing to absorb the weight of passages that held questions that haunted me long after I had read them.
Constructive Criticism
While exceptional, the book could deepen its impact with:
-More grassroots perspectives: Greater inclusion of lay Buddhist voices (beyond clergy and activists) to show how extremism permeates everyday life.
-Theoretical framing: A concise primer on Buddhist political theology (e.g., concepts like “dhammaraja”) to contextualize doctrinal distortions.
-Solutions-oriented analysis: Though Faleiro hints at resistance movements, a dedicated chapter on counter-extremism strategies would elevate its urgency.
Why This Book Matters
Faleiro—award-winning author of The Good Girls—brings her signature blend of rigor and storytelling to this urgent topic. By exposing how sacred symbols are hijacked for violence, she challenges Orientalist stereotypes of Buddhism while sounding an alarm for global solidarity. The endorsements from scholars like Thant Myint-U underscore its scholarly heft.
Thank you to the publisher, Columbia Global Reports, and Edelweiss for the advance copy. The Robe and the Sword is not just a book; it’s a call to witness—a vital intervention in debates about religion, power, and identity in our fractured world.
Final Verdict:
Originality: 5/5 (Pioneering work on a neglected crisis.)
Research: 4.9/5 (Impeccable fieldwork; could bolster theory.)
Emotional Impact: 5/5 (Alternates between outrage and admiration.)
Accessibility: 4.7/5 (Journalistic flair balances academic depth.)
A must-read for anyone studying religious extremism, Southeast Asian politics, or the dark intersections of faith and power. 🌏📖
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews