Senaka Weeraratna Justice for Animals and Nature welcomes the grant of Cabinet Approval for the long-awaited Animal Welfare Bill initially drafted by the Law Commission of Sri Lanka and handed over to the then President Mahinda Rajapakse for enactment in May 2006. It has taken more than 15 years for the Govt. to reach the […]

Senaka Weeraratna Buddhism in Germany by William Peiris focuses on the contribution made by the German scholars towards the spread of Buddhism in Germany in particular, and the West in general. The Book narrates the manner in which Buddhism was spread in Germany, who gave leadership in promoting Buddhism and the manner of reception and […]

Senaka Weeraratna Vice – President Justice for Animals and Nature A man preaches peace. He is world renown as ‘Prince of Peace’. Yet, ironically his birthday anniversary is celebrated worldwide with unlimited bloodshed of defenseless animals. Turkeys, cattle, pigs, goats, lambs, rabbits, and bird kinds such as ducks, hens, roosters, fowls are all lined up […]

Senaka Weeraratna I was very sad to hear of the passing of Douglas Wickremeratne in London on December 01, 2021. He was in touch with me regularly by forwarding posts until the last and I used to reciprocate.  He has a huge claim for the gratitude of Sri Lanka and its patriotic people for the […]

Senaka Weeraratna I am very sad to hear of the passing of Douglas Wickremeratne. He was in touch with me by forwarding posts until the last. I used to reciprocate.  He has a huge claim for gratitude of Sri Lanka and it’s patriotic people for the stand he took in 1983 when he alone stood […]

By Senaka Weeraratna BY SPUR WEB TEAM · MARCH 18, 2019 (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 (‘Ingrisy – Sinhale Givisuma’) must be examined in the context of […]

Senaka Weeraratna The Japanese Govt. was totally committed to the liberation of India from British occupation. Japan launched the Imphal and Kohima operation together with the support of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army in March 1944 to demonstrate to Indian people that it was prepared to sacrifice the precious lives of […]

Senaka Weeraratna Christianity is the defining characteristic of Europe. The European Union is a set of countries bonded by Christian culture, heritage, and values. It is Christianity that gives the collective identity of Europe. Islam is the defining characteristic of 57 countries that call themselves Islamic countries and thereby have acquired membership of the Organization […]

Senaka Weeraratna There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained […]

Senaka Weeraratna The situation of the Press is far worse today It is totally anti-national and anti – Buddhist. A content analysis of the Political Columns of any English language mainstream newspaper will reveal this stark truth.  The Govt. has the mandate to establish a Commission of Inquiry like what Mrs. Bandaranaike did in 1963, to investigate and report […]

Senaka Weeraratna In November 1968 Sepala Amarasuriya took an initiative to form a Buddhist Youth Forum and invited a number of his classmates, school friends, and friends outside these two circles to join the Forum. The Office bearers were: Anusasaka or Patron: Ven. Piyadassi Thera of the Vajiraramaya President : Hiranthi JayasuriyaVice President: Tilak GunawardanaJoint […]

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 […]