40 Matthew J. Walton and Susan Hayward Buddhists in Myanmar, and an increasing number have asserted that the violent and exclusionary actions allegedly in defense of the sasana are antithetical to core Buddhist values. As an example, a Buddhist monk involved in interfaith peacebuilding work in Mandalay, when asked about the defense of the sasana, responded: “In my opinion, you don’t have to protect the religion. It will protect itself. It’s been strong enough to survive for nearly three thousand years. Defense of the sasana means you follow the practice and you give right direction to the people. That’s all it means. Acting like [969 monks do] does not protect our religion, it only invites enemies.”43 Indeed, the efforts of the 969 movement and MaBaTha have actually created a threat against Buddhism in Myanmar that did not previously exist. US State Department officials recently confirmed in an interview with one of the authors that Al Qaeda and other violent The 969 movement and MaBaTha Islamist groups have used recent attacks against Myanmar’s Mushave actually created a threat lims to recruit Muslims to their against Buddhism in Myanmar cause.44 A number of militant that did not previously exist Islamist groups in the region have issued statements warning of attacks on their home governments and the Myanmar government in defense of the Rohingya and Muslims generally (Agence France Presse 2012). Likely to that end, in February 2014, two men on a motorcycle shot at Rakhine politicians visiting Malaysia (Mahtani and Fernandez 2014). In the Cakavatti Sutta, the Buddha himself predicted that the sasana would disappear five thousand years after his death (making the current moment the halfway point), preceded by a period of moral degeneration and societal collapse, and leading to the arrival of the next Buddha (named Maitreya) who will revitalize the teachings. Reminders of this prediction can put into perspective any anxiety about Buddhism’s supposed imminent extinction; one might find solace in reminders that the Buddha himself predicted this as part of the nature of impermanence. To try to struggle against the inevitable extinction of things that are inherently impermanent will only increase suffering and anxiety. Indeed, the increased threat of violence against the Buddhist community from outside Muslim groups, the increase in suffering among both Muslims