Mahanayake of Malwatte Chapter
Posted on February 17th, 2010
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1. Canada
OPEN LETTER
To The Mahanayaka of MalwatteƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Chapter
Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddharta SumangalaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Thera
Kandy, Sri Lanka
Venerable Sir:
Phew!…I just happen to read an announcement in the Daily Mirror which said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Prelates postpone Sangha Convention.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢
It was touch and goƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦that was lucky wasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t it?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Because you would have lit the embers of an emotional Kandy rebellion and the waters in the Kandy Lake wouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have been enough to dowse the anger of a section of the people who knew that you were wrong when you called for a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Mahasangha ConventionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to be convened at the Mahamaluwa, on the 18th February to pass a resolution on the latest political development.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What nonsense!
You know what Venerable Sir, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Robert Blake, Navi Pillai, Professor Phillip Ashton, The Dublin Tribunal Group and the like no doubt would have been disappointed with your chess move as they were hanging on to your saffron robe to ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ pick up one more reason to get Sri Lanka into the War Crimes Court. You almost took the Sri Lankan warriors minus Sarath Fonseka to the War Crimes Court.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If that had happened I would have been the first Buddhist who would have called you the most stupid Maha-na-Yakka.
When you demanded from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to release immediately the Retired Army Commander Sarath Fonseka from custody as you said that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-You donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t treat a war hero like thisƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, I knew you were sick that morning and wished someone would have seen that you had drunk every drop of the sanity ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”peyawaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that morning with the correct portion of tibboutu berries.
Venerable Sir, Sarath Fonseka wasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t arrested because he was sucking a popsicle contravening the army etiquette while speaking with Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the Opposition, but he wasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ arrested for violating the 57 (1) clause of the Army Act.
A ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-heroƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ you said of Sarath Fonseka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yes, you were absolutely right, but it was only to a certain extent, but he did have his row of chest medals tarred the vey moment he turned his back on his comrades and colleagues who fought shoulder to shoulder with him against the Tamil Tigers to wipe them out on May 18, 2009. He vowed to bring his own rank and file to the international War Crimes Court for carrying out his own orders as Army Commander. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-I am not going to save anyone who has committed war crimesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, he told a journalist. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ha! What vengeful arrogance.
I went on record in The Island on January 10, when I was quoted by Malinda Seneviratne in his essay, The conditions of disqualification; ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sarath Fonseka disqualified himself as a candidate to run the affairs of Sri Lanka when he turned his back and betrayed his armed forcesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ colleagues who fought shoulder to shoulder to save the island from dissection by the Tamil Tigers, and thus also insulted the brave who laid their lives for this cause.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ From that moment he wasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t worth a tuppence as an officer and a gentleman in my eye.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ So was it then, and so is it now, he isnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t worth a tuppence.
Venerable Sir, letƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s get one thing clear in your mind, no one, absolutely no one, hero or no hero, is above the law and they better live by the law of the land and that includes you too although draped in a BuddhaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s saffron robe.
You must be nuts wanting to provide Sarath Fonseka a security tent within the revered BuddhaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s robe that you have the privilege to cover yourself with, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ especially when this war hero of yours went around campaigning to become the next President of Sri Lanka warning his opponents that he will send them to Bogambara prison and even warned them to have peduru ready to sleep.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Venerable Sir, it is obvious that you are hopeless and naive in deciphering what is politically good for our sovereign island thus it is best for you to keep out of Sri Lankan politics.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Stop dividing the people andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ being the architect to create divisions among the Maha Sangha.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Stick to what you know and do best ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦. Preach to your devotees, Nammo Thassa Bhagvato ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ arahatho summa sambudhassa from now on.
By the way I am a Buddhist, perhaps not the most devout and the best Buddhist around the block, but I am a Buddhist nevertheless and I do love my Motherland dearly.
Sincerely,
Asoka Weerasinghe
February 17th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
No mincing of words here! Well said and by the way I am a Buddhist too.
February 17th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Hope someone can really diliver this letter to mhanayakas. I doubt they ever read lankaweb, then this kind of blunder would not have happenned in the first place.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
How can a Sinhalese abuse President Rajapakse who saved the motherland from terrorism. Fonseka was in the army even before the president came to power. What did he achive then? Mahinda is the Commander in Chief who gave were above all three defence chiefs. Let the President heal the nation. Let Fonseka go free, with a condition that he keeps his big mouth shut when he goes overseas. Let Danuka and his mother go free. You are a great man Mahinda so be generous and forgiving. We are all Sinhalese and first we are all one nation. Let every one in SriLanka be happy and live in peace and harmony. These issues are dividing the nation. You and Fonseka both worked hard to clear the country from terrorism.You appointed Fonseka when he had only 12 days to go before retirement. You provided all the resouces to fight the war. You gave the manpower to the forces and you withstood the strong western pressure to stop the war. Forgive Fonseka’s utterences about giving evidence in a war crimes tribunal in Geneva, or shooting the white flag waving terrorists. God Speed to you President and may the triple gem bless you,. do the right thing now and free Fonseka.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Chintha, I fully agree with you. Among cell phones, lap-tops, wide screen TV’s with broad band internet connections he must be having access to many worldly things. It is high time he should start reading Lankaweb.
This Rev. Mahanayaka should have enlightened himself with the facts without fictions before jumping to wrong conclusions. This so-called Sangha Convention would have created a schism among the Buddhist Monks if that had taken place. Buddha has preached, “Monks, be mindfulness all the time” They should cogitate, think deeply without trying to agitate against the law of the country or refrain from politics 100%, and meditiate to attain Nibbana.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Dear Asoka, you are doing a great job. I have told many things before and have no interest to add more to this saga. But I became curious when you said “If that had happened I would have been the first Buddhist who would have called you the most stupid Maha-na-Yakka.” From what I have come to know, the word Yakka was originally used to identify clever, strong, intelligent and skilled people who stood above others, and later sarcastically to those who pretend to be so. Though there are many experts on dead civilisations who conclude that the word “Yakka” disappeared, I have come across evidence that this word got evolved over time into something like Maha Yakka, enhancing its value, a natural Sinhala trend. If you apply the typical merger according to Sinhala way, this has become “nayakka” (mayakka where ‘m’ is replaced by ‘n’, a simplistic sound combination to complement other components added to this word during the later developments to represent many people with many capabilities. The current surnames that end with”-nayaka” can be considered as the current evolutionary representation of the original word yakka, used during one stage of the ancient times. Having said that, how much of Sinhala language is messed up by these alienated people is beyond my imagination. Even the word Sinhala is misunderstood and mutated by the poor understanding of an alien language from the Buddhist perspective in order to claim the ownership to that ethnic identity. Why did they change the Sinhala alphabet? If you go through Mahawansa, you will find the manifest change of language (tone, context etc. ) from first chapter to the last one reflecting the thinking behind inimical missionaries to local converts over time.
When you call them “Mahanayaka, it is more like calling Maha-maha-yakka. This word typifies the mistake of individuals who try to take someone else’s identity. There is a similar situation exposed by non-English individuals trying to claim English identity, an indicator that can be used to identify their roots. Based on Sinhala tradition, I would suggest to call them Giranayaka because it has a true meaning to their character though you may have better complements. You already said that you were going to call them Modanayaka. As priests belonging to whatever religion, they have being repeating the same thing over and over to the point that they know nothing except what they repeat. Is it similar to the situation with JVP? Recent events are a true reflection of their fate. As a Sinhalist, I must tell that I have little regard to believing other humans in whatever form or shape, and note that the best and appealing part of Buddhist ideology was derived from ancient Sinhala values apparently through the best of the knowledgeable persons who were hired to teach the newborn prince, who later claimed to be Buddha, a concept that existed in the ancient Hindu civilisation where there were a few others who also claimed to be Buddhas by their own right. Does it sound like recent claims to the title of prince Diyasena? In a world where we have a child born to a human woman who dared to call that he was the son of god, there is no limit to identity theft. Is anybody interested to call self as the god of gods or something like that? I wonder how many of us have lost our identities by ignorance like these Giranayakas. (Dear Nihal, were you happy with my previous clarification on another comment). I would like any alternative reflections to my comment please.
There is a remarkable change in current Buddhist thinking. It seems that they have ceased to claim ownership of Sinhala people. Any body knows why and how they have reached this level of understanding or who made them realise it?
February 18th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Who will vote for JVP responsible for thousands and thousands of Sinhala youth deaths in 1971? What democracy they are talking about now? Let Fonseka and Danuka and his mother inlaw go, in order to heal the nation. Put a bandage on Fonseka’s mouth for his own safety when setting him free, because he always puts his foot in his mouth. All hail the Lion of Srilanka, President Rajapakse, who tore the Tiger to pieces. Let all Tamils Sinhalese and Muslims live in peace and respect each other.