R Chandrasoma

In a learned article on Buddhism (published recently in your Journal) Prof N A de S Amarasekara speaks highly of the rejection of ‘transcendentalism’ and the more overt forms of ‘sacerdotalism’ in the Theravada Buddhism of contemporary Sri Lanka. Unfortunately public displays and the ‘parading’ of  piety in what can be called ‘religious theatrics’ are also dominant features of religious practice in this country.

Historically, the Buddha and the state of ‘Buddhahood’ became enveloped in a distorting mysticism that made them in many ways close to the mythology of the Saviour God and Redeemer of the Monotheistic Faiths. ‘Karmic Merit’ became a quantised and transferable meliorative force that acted across generations.  Apart from a brief period in our history when Mahayana fancies dominated Buddhist religious thinking in Sri Lanka, as a nation (supposedly) we have largely retained the purity of the Theravada metaphysical tradition that sees the individual and his personal moral crusade as the centrepiece of  the samsaric struggle to be truly liberated. However, there is a difference between ‘declaring’ and ‘doing’ – that which is the major source of error and corruption in our country – in both Politics and Religion.

Let us take first a monstrous error – the idea of  ‘transactions’ or ‘Merit Transfers’  with third parties as benevolent ‘intermediaries’ – this is a strange and alien intrusion into a religion that affirms the primacy of personal effort in the pursuit of those beliefs and practices that symbolise true fidelity to the liberating creed. Indeed. ‘praying for the amelioration of the Sins of Others’ through ‘Temple Services’ such as Poojas is at the heart of Buddhist Practice in this country. There is no need to add that this is a monstrous perversion of the Original Buddhism.

This is the cardinal error.  It cannot be denied, however,  that in this day and age there are other very evident threats to the supposed (and admirable) loyalty to the ideals and practices of  the Original Buddhism  – both in Sri Lanka and beyond. –  threats which can be succinctly referred to as the Three P’s – Priests, Poojas and Prayers. As a consequence, Sri Lankan Buddhism has lost its metaphysical bearings and its ethico-religious puritanism  It has become the ‘group practice’ of a a socio-geographic collective that strives speciously to be the authentic survivours of a long-lost and historically-endangered creed   Let us speak of Priests first.

As Officiants or ‘ Intermediaries’ in the personal quest to achieve moral transcendence there cannot be two opinions – the Monk is a dedicated seeker himself and has no critical role to play  as an ‘officiant’ or advisor in a religious struggle of any kind. He is simply an ‘exemplar’ and cannot ‘play God’ . Indeed he is supported by the laity as an exemplar – not as a player with a mission to show the way to poor sinners. The fact that Buddhism today in Sri Lanka is doninated by priests is the principal cause of the rise of a ‘state religion’ that meretriciously claims a historical purity and primacy. In this  questionable varient of Buddhism the ‘pooja’ plays the primal role – where ‘offerings to the Gods’ and ‘Temple Services’ constitute the principal means of ‘securing benefactions’  – as opposed to ‘seeing the light’- as an aid to that ultimate emancipation which is the ‘summum bonum’ of the Buddhist Pilgiim.

On Prayer. let us start with a definition  – the concept of prayer is closely related to that of surrender and supplication. – a more powerful being is humbly entreated to help a sinner. This stance has no strict meaning in Buddhism. The Buddha is a Teacher – not a forgiver of sins. It follows ‘a fortiori’ that prayer and worship in Buddhism are mere fashions  as against true spirituality – which by its very nature is without symbols and gestures.  In  contemporary Sri Lanka  public displays and priestly theatrics take centre-stage in the practice of religion. All this arises from the delusion that a ‘saint’ must broadcast his ‘saintliness’ if it is to be authentic – a ‘truism’ well-understood by politicians who lose no opportunity to broadcast their devotion to any and every God.