By Senaka Weeraratna In the modern history of Sri Lanka no one stands taller than Anagarika Dharmapala. In a country that had witnessed the overthrow of its last king in 1815, seen successive waves of Portuguese, Dutch and British invasions sweeping away much of the traditional Buddhist culture of the country, the unsolicited entry of […]

Senaka Weeraratna If Japan did not enter the second world war in 1941 the whole of Asia would have have come under Western colonial domination. There was not an iota of thought in any western country in 1939 to give freedom to people in European colonies. The possibility of what happened to the native Americans, […]

Senaka Weeraratna There must be a total ban on Animal Sacrifice as it hurts the sentiments of a vast majority of people of this predominantly Buddhist country. No one in Sri Lanka has a Constitutional Right to kill an animal under the guise of freedom of religion. The State is the Guardian of all Animals […]

Senaka Weeraratna In the light of the growing problems with certain minority communities culminating in the Easter Sunday Massacre in 2019 that caused the death of 270 innocent men, women and children, and severe injuries to over 500 others, we have to ask ourselves whether the current social order we have today, based on ‘Multiculturalism’ […]

Senaka Weeraratna  The horrifying tragedy that is unfolding before our very eyes worldwide but particularly in India, and God fearing traditional Christian countries such as USA, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, U.K., Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and Sweden raises fundamental questions not only in respect to humanity’s capacity to combat the spread of […]

Senaka Weeraratna April 21, 2019 is destined to be marked as a date which will live in infamy. Paraphrasing President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he delivered the famous infamy speech on December 08, 1941 soon after the attack on Pearl Harbour by Japan,,  posterity may well designate  April 21, 2019 as the Blackest day and […]

Senaka Weeraratna I wish to respond to the article published on ‘ Lankaweb’ (April 06, 2021) under the caption ‘Was Portuguese proselytization ruthless as portrayed?’ byP.K. Balachandran, as I find the contents inaccurate, misleading and contrary to well established historical facts. The writer Balachandran relies on Sir James Emerson Tennent, Colonial Secretary from 1841 to […]

Senaka Weeraratna The then Prime Minister (D.S. Senanayake ) was invited to participate at the San Francisco Peace Treaty Conference in September 1951 after World War II to propose punitive provisions and the enforcement of arbitrary restrictions and embargoes for Japan. At the time DS was not in a position to attend that meeting and […]

Senaka Weeraratna There is so much publicity today in the Western Media of the vile nature of the Burmese (Myanmar) Army. Before the Army took power overthrowing the Govt. of Aung San Suu Kyi recently, the entire Western media was gunning for Aung San Suu Kyi branding her as a tyrant engaged in the persecution of Bengali Muslims who had infiltrated Myanmar illegally […]

Senaka Weeraratna Cuba is one of the most admired countries in the Global South. Cuba stood up for Sri Lanka at UNHRC, with a speech calling for defiance and resistance. These are the hallmark attributes of Cuba which have won global admiration.  Likewise, China, Pakistan, Venezuela, Philippines, Bolivia and altogether eleven countries backed Sri Lanka […]

Senaka Weeraratna (This is an edited version of a paper read out at a Public Seminar on the ‘ Kandyan Convention of 1815’ held at the University of Peradeniya, Arts Theatre, on March 09, 2019) The Kandyan Convention of 1815 (‘Ingrisy – Sinhale Givisuma’) must be examined in the context of British colonial policy seeking […]

Senaka Weeraratna On March 18, 2021 the British Parliament will be having a full-scale discussion on the Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with a view to holding the Govt. of Sri Lanka, its machinery, and senior officials accountable for alleged war crimes in the last days of the war against terrorism […]

Senaka Weeraratna Dr. Hans Wolfgang Schumann is a German Buddhist. He is a well known Buddhist scholar and chronicler of the history of Buddhism in Germany. Born on January 31, 1928, Dr. Hans Wolfgang Schumann died on June 26th, 2019 in Bonn. In a seminal article on the state of Buddhism in Germany, ‘ Buddhism […]

Senaka Weeraratna The Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is fundamentally an anti – Sri Lanka document. It is a biased and shameful report which is totally one sided. Not a semblance of fairness. One would not expect the Spanish Inquisition to return to the UN  in the 21st century with total […]

Senaka Weeraratna 1) German Dharmaduta Society – 50th Anniversary (1952 – 2002) Souvenir Please find the attachment with download link below https://we.tl/t-0ze3Lt748r 2) “The Prospects for the Growth of Buddhism in Germany and other Western Countries”, by Agganyani (Christa Bentenrieder) The Keynote address was delivered by Agganyani, Secretary General, Deutsche Buddhistische Union at the public meeting held […]

by Senaka Weeraratna Sri Lanka was a haven for Germans in the pre – war period as well as the immediate post – war period.  It was treated as the Mecca of Buddhism.  The intellectual space for exploration of Buddhism in Germany had already been created by the writings of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hermann Oldenberg, Karl Eugen Neumann, among others. But that […]

Senaka Weeraratna Britain was colonizing, enslaving Asian people before WW2. The British Empire ruled South Asia for 180 years. Though Japan lost WW2, however it was the consequence of Japan’s entry to war in December 1941 with its attack on Pearl Harbour that all S E Asian countries and  South Asian countries achieved their long hoped for […]

by Senaka Weeraratna Time to re – write our history books August 15 is the day Japan commemorates the war’s end. Soon it will be 70 years after that day in 1945 when two Atomic Bombs dropped from American planes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced Japan to surrender.  Japan lost to foes enjoying overwhelming superiority in both numbers […]

Senaka Weeraratna Sinhala Buddhists are the most demonized ethnic group in South Asia, despite their tolerance of other races and religions. The following is an account written by an Englishman named Campbell in 1932, on his trip to Australia from Ceylon, accompanying a group of about 500 (largely Sinhalese), on the ship SS Devonshire, in […]

Senaka Weeraratna The LLRC Report was tantamount to a Betrayal of the Victory achieved by the Security Forces on the battlefield after a huge sacrifice of life and limb by the heroic soldiers. About 30, 000 personnel from the security forces perished.   What was required and anticipated by the informed public from the LLRC were […]

by Senaka Weeraratna The making of Sri Lanka’s Constitution from the time of the Soulbury Commission (1944) has been an exercise that had completely ignored the Dharmic religious background and civilizational history of Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka is a nation state but is also an unique civilizational state with a set of Dharmic values the […]

Senaka Weeraratna This is one of the most favourite quotations of the celebrated 19th century Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.   It means that for as long as humans continue to be the ruthless destroyer of non – humans, the former will never know peace or harmony. For as long as humans massacre animals, they will also kill […]

By Senaka Weeraratna, Attorney at Law (Sri Lanka) Courtesy SOCIETY FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF HISTORICAL FACT Good Afternoon. Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. The title of my presentation is ‘Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western domination – Time to Express Asia`s Gratitude […]

Senaka Weeraratna The Rights of Human Beings (Human Rights) and the Rights of Sentient Beings (Siyalu Sathwayo) are two different concepts.  The Abrahamic religions place a heavy emphasis on Human Rights to the almost total exclusion of any moral attention being given to the rights and interests of other sentient beings. Buddhism, in contrast, together […]

Senaka Weeraratna We are all familiar with catchcries’ such as inter – faith dialogue and conferences and inter – ethnic peace talks and the like. This was being broadcast almost day and night as a panacea for all our mundane troubles ad nauseam, during the period of the previous Yahapalana Govt. Ever heard of Inter […]

Senaka Weeraratna The underlying basic premise of the Animal Rights movement is the regard for the sanctity of life. Sanctity of life of all living beings. This is highly regarded in Buddhism. Buddhism and Jainism (both Dharmic religions) see kinship with animals in the Sansaric journey.  One American Buddhist writer ( Norman Phelps) in his […]

Senaka Weeraratna The fundamental duty of all people living in Sri Lanka is to live in harmony with each other and particularly in harmony with the pre- dominant religious culture and beliefs and not hurt the moral sensitivities of the majority, which has made the biggest contribution throughout history to the building of the country […]

Senaka Weeraratna The moral obligation for all people living in Sri Lanka is to live in harmony with each other and particularly in harmony with the pre- dominant religious culture and beliefs and not hurt the moral sensitivities of the majority.  This requirement prevails in all Countries influenced by Abrahamic religions, especially in Islamic countries.  […]

Senaka Weeraratna The true test of a Sri Lankan is neither the waving of a Sri Lankan National flag nor the singing of the National Anthem nor the composing of Music for the YouTube such as ‘We are Sri Lanka’, but it is much more than that. It is the willingness to ensure that any […]

Senaka Weeraratna Founder Member on behalf of Justice for Animals and Nature We wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s decision to ban the slaughter of cattle. We thank the President Hon. Gotabhaya Rajapakse and the Prime Minister Hon. Mahinda Rajapakse for taking this courageous step, and the Government Parliamentary Group for endorsing this move. It is inspiring […]