This article explores the backstory of a 1953 screenplay on the life of the Buddha conceived by the CIA as a psychological warfare strategy to draw Asian Buddhists away from the Communist orbit and into the Free World. Developed in collaboration with Ceylonese Buddhist scholar G. P. Malalasekera, Tathagata: The Wayfarer (hereafter, Wayfarer) is best read through the lens of the U.S. Campaign of Truth propaganda effort launched by Truman in 1950. I draw on declassified government documents and archives to highlight the screenplay's trajectory as a covert attempt by the U.S. government to work with Asian Buddhists to further U.S. foreign policy needs in Asia and to demonstrate a truth rarely recognized by scholars of religion and American culture: For the early Cold War American state, Buddhism was an object of foreign policy.
目次
Background 399 Peace Rhetoric, Soviet Style: The Soviet Peace Offensive 399 Peace Rhetoric, American Style: Campaign of Truth 401 Building with Blocs: The Committee for a Free Asia and the World Fellowship of Buddhists 402 World Peace, Buddhist Style: World Fellowship of Buddhists 404 Operation Wayfarer 407 Conclusion 414 Notes 417
