Government bill attempts to rewrite Vinaya Pitaka of Buddhist Tripitaka and can prohibit chanting Ratana Sutta (The Jewel Discourse)too
Posted on January 14th, 2016

Compiled By Upasaka

The government Sri Lanka yesterday presented a historic bill seeking the approval of Parliament to bring about new laws governing the life of every Theravada bhikkhu (monk) and bhikkhuni (nun) in Sri Lanka revising 2600 year old Vinaya pitaka, the first division of the Tripitaka. The Bill can even prohibit chanting Ratana Sutta (The Jewel Discourse) by Theravada bhikkhus  (Buddhist monks) because this can easily be classified as act of occultism.

The Vinaya Pitaka, the first division of the Tipitaka, is the textual framework upon which the monastic community (Sangha) is built. It includes not only the rules governing the life of every Theravada bhikkhu (monk) and bhikkhuni (nun), but also a host of procedures and conventions of etiquette that support harmonious relations, both among the monastics themselves, and between the monastics and their lay supporters, upon whom they depend for all their material needs.

It is this unbroken lineage of bhikkhu (monk) and bhikkhuni (nun) who have consistently upheld and protected the rules of the Vinaya for almost 2,600 years that we find ourselves today with the luxury of receiving the priceless teachings of Dhamma. Were it not for the Vinaya, and for those who continue to keep it alive to this day, there would be no Buddhism.

It helps to keep in mind that the name the Buddha gave to the spiritual path he taught was “Dhamma-vinaya” — the Doctrine (Dhamma) and Discipline (Vinaya) — suggesting an integrated body of wisdom and ethical training. The Vinaya is thus an indispensable facet and foundation of all the Buddha’s teachings, inseparable from the Dhamma, and worthy of study by all followers — lay and ordained, alike.

Despite all these rules of the Vinaya that kept Buddhism flourishing for almost 2,600 years throughout Asia, now Sri Lankan so called Yahapalanaya government with bunch of homosexuals and non-Buddhists  majority in the government attempt to rewrite vinaya pitake to suit their own goal to control the conduct of bhikkhus in Sri Lanka and punish those who did not abide by the new laws. (very similar to what has happened in Vietnam during American occupation)

The Bill titled Theravadi Bhikku Kathikawath (Registration) seeks to “provide for the formulation and registration of Kathikawath in relation to Nikaya or Chapters of Theravadi Bhikkhus in Sri Lanka to provide for every bhikkhu to act in compliance with the provisions of the Registered Kathikawath of the Nikaya or Chapter which relates to such bhikku, to impose punishment on bhikkus who act in violation of the provisions of any Registered Kathikawath and for the matters connected therewith or incidental hitherto.”

This is completely contradict the The Suttavibhanga of vinaya pitaka that contains the basic training rules for bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, along with the “origin story” for each one. These rules are summarized in the Patimokkha, and amount to 227 rules for the bhikkhus, 311 for the bhikkhunis. The Patimokkkha rules are grouped as follows:

  • Parajika: rules entailing expulsion from the Sangha (Defeat) (4 for bhikkhus8 for bhikkhunis)
  • Sanghadisesa: rules entailing an initial and subsequent meeting of the Sangha (13,17)
  • Aniyata (indefinite) rules (2, 0)
  • Nissaggiya pacittiya: rules entailing forfeiture and confession (3030)
  • Pacittiya: rules entailing confession (92166)
  • Patidesaniya: rules entailing acknowledgement (48)
  • Sekhiya: rules of training (7575)
  • Adhikarana samatha: rules for settling disputes (77)

The controversial bill was presented by Chief Government Whip and Parliament Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka.

The bill seeks to set up a code of conduct and discipline which would enable Mahanayake theras to punish a bhikkus who engage in or carry out occult practices or similar activities and giving publicity to such activities; involve in trade or business activities; obtain driving licences and drive vehicles, engage in any employment in the public or private sector other than in the fields of education, social services and religious affairs and engage in activities unsuitable for a bhikku in a manner contrary to bhikku vinaya in public places.

Buddhism is full of features that suggestive of occultism, if occultism is defined as belief in the existence of secret, mysterious, or supernatural agencies.

So chanting Pirith specially the Ratana Sutta (The Jewel Discourse)itself can be interpreted as an occult practice because purpose of chanting is to help evil spirits to be exorcised, the pestilence subside by the supernatural force of dhamma,and this has been practiced throughout the history

The first occasion for this discourse, in brief, according to the commentary, is as follows (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.2.01.piya.html )

The city of Vesali was afflicted by a famine, causing death, especially to the poor folk. Due to the presence of decaying corpses the evil spirits began to haunt the city; this was followed by a pestilence. Plagued by these three fears of famine, non-human beings and pestilence, the citizens sought the help of the Buddha who was then living at Rajagaha.

Followed by a large number of monks including the Venerable Ananda, his attendant disciple, the Buddha came to the city of Vesali. With the arrival of the Master, there were torrential rains which swept away the putrefying corpses. The atmosphere became purified, the city was clean.

Thereupon the Buddha delivered this Jewel Discourse (Ratana sutta[1]) to the Venerable Ananda, and gave him instructions as to how he should tour the city with the Licchavi citizens reciting the discourse as a mark of protection to the people of Vesali. The Venerable Ananda followed the instructions, and sprinkled the sanctified water from the Buddha’s own alms bowl. As a consequence the evil spirits were exorcised, the pestilence subsided. Thereafter the Venerable Ananda returned with the citizens of Vesali to the Public hall where the Buddha and his disciples had assembled awaiting his arrival. There the Buddha recited the same Jewel Discourse to the gathering:

In Buddhism Loka” or the world” denotes the 3 spheres of existence comprising the whole universe,i.e 1. The sensuous world (kama-loka)or the world of five senses

2.The fine material world (rupa-loka) corresponding to the 4 fine-materrial absortions (jhana 1-4)

3 The immaterial world (arupa-loka) corresonding to the 4 immaterial absorptions (jhana 5-8)

The sensuous world comprises the hells 9niraya) the animal kingdom (tiracchana-yoni), the ghost realm9peta-loka) the demon world (asura nikaya0 the human world (manussa-loka) and so on.

So, Bhikkus who violate aforementioned provisions with chant Ratana Sutta or explain sensuous world comprises of ghost-realm (peta-loka) or the demon world (asura nikaya) will be punished with temporary or permanent expulsion from the residing temple, temporary or permanent removal from the office of Viharadhipathy, expulsion from the studentship, expulsion from the relevant Nikaya or chapter and cancellation of the bhikku registration, the bill says.

The whole monastic community (Sangha)in Sri Lanka can be wiped out with this bill. That is the Yahapalanaya intention.

5 Responses to “Government bill attempts to rewrite Vinaya Pitaka of Buddhist Tripitaka and can prohibit chanting Ratana Sutta (The Jewel Discourse)too”

  1. Christie Says:

    What we need is the demolition of all Kovils built after the arrival of Indian colonial parasites in the island in 1792.

  2. Christie Says:

    Dear Upasaka,
    Number of Budhists in India are being harassed and are converted back to Hinduism since BJP Modi came to power.

    BJP (RSS) is doing the same to Muslims and Christians in India and in Indian colonies like Guyana and Mauritius.

    Look at the number of so called local Buddhists and their leaders who worship Kataragama Kali, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Gana and other Hindu gods.

  3. Lorenzo Says:

    Maru Sira is scared of occultism. MR is a STRONG believer in occultism. Maru Sira fears MR using occultism to kill him.

    Devils, demons and other evil spirits should be tamed and sent after this govt. ministers including the president.

    By the merit of STOPPING these sinners from destroying Buddhism, those devils, demons and evil spirits will attain nirvana.

    As a fomer defence minister once said, we should team up even with Lucifer to defeat Tamil terrorists.

  4. Caesar Says:

    Appaya and Ponil and their clans should withdraw all atrocities to Sinhale and Buddhism!

    Resulting consequences will be very painful to them!

  5. NeelaMahaYoda Says:

    හිමිවරුන්ට නීති දාන පනත සංස්‌කෘතියට ගැසූ පහරක්‌ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ කියයි

    සමන් ගමගේ දිවයින

    රජය මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබූ සංඝාධිකරණ පනත මගින් සෘජුවම පහර වදින්නේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය සංස්‌කෘතික අනන්‍යතාවට බව හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ‘දිවයින’ට ඊයේ (13 දා) පැවැසීය.

    ථෙරවාදී භික්‍ෂු කතිකාවක්‌ ලියාපදිංචි කිරීම සඳහා වන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධව ‘දිවයින’ කළ විමසුමකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් මේ බව සඳහන් කළ හෙතෙම ආණ්‌ඩුව මේ සිදුකර ඇත්තේ සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනයේ පැවැත්මට ගැටලුවක්‌ මතු කරමින් සංස්‌කෘතික වශයෙන් ප්‍රහාරයක්‌ එල්ල කිරීම බවයි.

    ඉකුත් කාලයේ විනය නීති ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට එය නීතිගත විය යුතුයි කියල මතවාදයක්‌ ගොඩ නැගුනා. නමුත් සමහර නිකායන් එයට විරුද්ධ වුණා.

    භික්‍ෂුන් පාලනය කළ යුත්තේ භික්‍ෂුන් විසින්මයි. භික්‍ෂුවකගේ සිවුර ගලවා භික්‍ෂුත්වයෙන් ඉවත් කරන්න නීතියට බැහැ.

    චිරාත් කාලයක සිට අපේ ගැමියන් ප්‍රතිකාරයක්‌ ගන්න ගියේ පන්සලේ වෙද හාමුදුරුවන් වෙතට. හඳහන බලා ගත්තේ, සිංහල අවුරුද්දට නැකත් හදලා දුන්නේ. පන්සලේ හාමුදුරුවෝ. උන්වහන්සේ ඒවාට මුදල් අය කළේ නැහැ. ගැමියා කැමැත්තෙන් දුන් දෙයක්‌ පමණයි භාර ගත්තේ. ඉතිහාසයේ සිටම රටට අභියෝගයක්‌ පැමිණි විට මුලින්ම හඬ නැඟුවේ මහා සංඝරත්නය. ඒ නිසා මේ සම්බන්ධව ෙත්‍රෙනිකායික මහා නාහිමිවරුන් එකතුව තීරණයක්‌ ගත යුතුයි යෑයි ද මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පැවැසීය.

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