CHIANG MAI, Thailand — In the days following Myanmar’s Feb. 1 coup, social media abounded with scenes of angry protesters and brutal security forces. Among them were pictures of Buddhist monks, often standing silently with candles or marching with placards denouncing the military.
But monks have played a far less prominent part in the events of 2021 than in previous anti-military protests, when they were often in the front lines, reflecting their deeply ingrained role in the lives of Myanmar’s people and their sympathy with popular opposition to the army, which has clung to power for most of the past six decades.
Monks were key participants in the tumultuous anti-regime uprising of 1988, for example, and were among the leaders of the 2007 “Saffron Revolution,” so named for the color of their robes. Although Buddhist clergy are directed to shun involvement in worldly affairs, their…
