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ASGIRIYA MAHANAYAKA SAYS UNP
CANNOT COME BACK TO POWER AND BUDDHIST MONKS ISSUE A SEPARATE PUBLIC
ADMONITION AGAINST RANIL WICKREMESINGHE IN COLOMBO
(By Walter Jayawardhana)
The most Venerable Udugama Ratanapala Sri Budhdharakkhitha Mahanyaka
Thero of the Asgiriya Chapter of the Siamese sect said in Kandy due
to the the practice of insulting religious concepts of the country by
the Leader of Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe , the United National
Party (UNP) could never come to power in Sri Lanka once again.
The Most Venerable Asgiriya Mahanayaka Thero’s blunt statement
and the public admonition of a “Sangha Angna” issued separately
following a sathyagraha of Buddhist monks at the Viharamaha Devi Park
in Colombo indicate that Wickremesinghe has aroused a hornets nest by
his repeated statements dragging Buddhist concepts in a “derogatory”
manner during the past few days.
The Asgiriya Mahanayaka Thero , very restraint usually in his comments,
made the bold statement when a delegation of the ministerial association
visited the the Mahanayaka Thero yesterday at the Asgiri Maha Vihara
in Kandy.
“ Distorting the stanzas of the Buddhist panchaseela and insulting
religious concepts by the Opposition leader should be totally rejected,”
said the usually conservative Mahanayaka thero, in his statements ,
speaking before the Association of Secretaries. Panchaseela are the
five precepts lay Buddhists remind themselves to follow in the primary
recitation of stanzas at a religious ceremony. It starts with the line
Buddham Saranam Gatchami ( I take the refuge in the Buddha)
This was an obvious reference to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent
statement uttered at the public rally of the joint meeting of the United
National Party and the People’s Wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
led by Mangala Samaraweera at Anuradhapura.
At this meeting in ridicule of the editors of the Sinhalese language
newspapers, the Lankadeepa, the Divaina and the Lakbima whom he called
“good Buddhists” Wickremesinghe said , “chant early in
the morning ,
Mahinda Saranam Gatchami (I take the refuge in Mahinda) Basil Saranam
Gatchami ( I take the refuge in Basil ) and Gothabhaya Saranam Gatchami
( I take the refuge in Gothabhaya ) . He said those “good Buddhists”
also chant the company of the brothers do not kill, do not lie, do not
steal, do not engage in immoral sexual conduct and do not imbibe themselves
in intoxicants.
The stanza Wickremesinghe mentioned was a distortion of the pali stanza
which the Sri Lanka Buddhists repeat before any religious ceremony.
Instead of Buddha, Dharma (His preachings) and the higer disciples called
sangha or arahants Wickremesinghe had replaced the names of the President
Mahinda Rajapaksa and his two brothers who are in important political
positions in the country whom he sarcastically calls the “Company
of Brothers!”
About a week ago Wickremesinghe also was critical of a Buddhist monk
of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, a political party, and said he wants to
travel the “Noble Eight fold path” - the highest way any Buddhist
should take to reach Nirvana, by a Mercedes Benz!
Dragging religious concepts to criticize Wickremesinghe’s political
opponents and his reference to the ‘noble eight fold path’
which many Buddhist monks thought was very insensitive drew the displeasure
of the Mahanayaka Thero of the Malwatte chapter , the Most Venerable
Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala of the same Siamese sect. The two chapters
Malwatte and Asgiriya control majority of Buddhist temples in the island
nation and wield immense influence among the majority of Sri Lankans
who are Buddhists.
Meanwhile hundreds of Bhikkus who marched under a banner condemning
the “insults of Ranil Wickremesinghe” from the New Town Hall
Colombo to the Vihara Maha Devi Park, performed a “sathyagraha”
against what they called “anti-Buddhist activities” of the
United National Party leader and issued an “official collective
admonition of the sangha” by an organization called Tri Nikayika
Sangha Sammelenaya. The organization consists of the other two sects
, apart from Siamese sect, namely the Ramanna and Amarapura.
The Asgiriya Mahanayaka Thero speaking to the ministerial secretarial
delegation meanwhile said just because Ranil Wickremesinghe wants power
he must not insult religious concepts of the country. He said all people
of the country would reject this position of Ranil Wickremesinghe.
He said due to this not only the UNP cannot come to power in the country,
after Wickremesinghe there is no suitable leader who could takeover
the leadership of the party.
He said it was correct for Karu Jayasuriya, the leader of the democratic
wing of the party to leave and join the government.
The collective admonition of the Sangha at the Colombo sathyagraha was
read by a senior monk, Venerable pandit Rekewa Jinaratana, the Adhikarana
Sangha Nayaka of the North Western Province.
Venerable Jinaratana said “UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has
chosen to take forward the notorious path selected by ancient enemies
of Buddhism to destroy it in this country. He is uniting all anti-Buddhist
forces within and without the country using his lowly friends. We declare
to all Buddhist monks that all measures should be taken to protect Buddhism
from him.”
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