M.MAS 1/12/17 Yet, such an analysis needs to take into consideration that categories such as “Buddhist” and “Muslim” are not stable concepts, and the practices and norms that they contain not only vary across space, but across time.48 This is certainly the case with the tradition of cow protection. While it is true that avoiding the taking of life is a central Buddhist precept and some Buddhists in Myanmar avoid killing cows or eating beef due to the key role that cows play in agricultural life as work animals, there has never been a consistent or universal Buddhist tradition of protecting cows from slaughter. Prior to the current movement, which is difficult to date precisely but seems to have been revived recently, the most influential campaign to abstain from eating beef was led by the colonial-era monk Ledi Sayadaw, who argued that Buddhists should avoid eating beef also as a moral practice that would counter a presumed increase in beef consumption by the British. 49 Contemporary views on the subject in Myanmar diverge significantly,50 acting as a reminder that what counts as quintessentially “Buddhist” (or “Muslim”) not only changes over time, but is contested in particular moments as well. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that some conflicts may be centred on perceptions of the irreconcilability of religious practices, because ignoring the religious nature of such disputes would be to ignore the broader implications of state-sanctioned religious intolerance and discrimination. There has been clear evidence of state officials acting in a biased manner in, for example, awarding cattle slaughter licenses. Case studies 3 and 4 illustrate the way this can connect to individual moments that risk escalating violence. Such practices also appear to violate Article 34 of Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution, which provides the right to freely profess and practice one’s religion. Acknowledging the religious aspect of these disagreements also highlights what could be a more fundamental disagreement about religious values and practices; while these may appear irreconcilable, engaging openly and fairly with religious difference is a necessary component of a plural democratic society. Competing arguments Studying these cases helped us to see the multiple contests involved in the kinds of situations that, particularly when framed in religious terms, could escalate and expand into collective violence. Each of these cases, however, also contained individuals and groups seeking to respond and prevent violence. These efforts employed various arguments and ways of framing or re-framing the situation that undermined or directly opposed both the individual contest that appeared primed to escalate and, in some cases, the larger negative narrative regarding Muslims that was the central focus of M.MAS Working Paper 1:1. In particular, we think four competing arguments are worth highlighting, because they appear to have enabled the situations to be de-escalated and because they may have wider application. These seem to have been critical in the cases described above in reminding people of shared experiences or solidarities, in forcing people to confront and reconcile contradictory views, and in offering plausible accounts of the causes of and motivations behind inter-religious violence. First, consistent among all of the cases was the importance of highlighting the many devastating impacts of a riot. Those who attempted to defuse tensions emphasized that everyone would suffer if a dispute 48 While many have made this point, one of the most cogent recent versions of this argument specifically related to Buddhism in Myanmar and the role of scholars in studying it comes from Alicia Turner, who considers the constructed and contested nature of seemingly stable Buddhist concepts during the colonial period and in the present. See, Alicia Turner, “Myanmar: Contesting Conceptual Landscapes in the Politics of Buddhism,” Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, no. 19 (March 2016), http://kyotoreview.org/issue-19/myanmar-buddhism-conceptuallandscapes/; Alicia Turner, Saving Buddhism: The Impermanence of Religion in Colonial Burma (University of Hawaii Press, 2014). 49 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2013), 35–38. 50 Swe Win, “Protecting Cows - a Buddhist Tradition Revived?” 18/24