{"id":51242,"date":"2016-01-19T20:27:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T02:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=51242"},"modified":"2016-01-19T13:23:12","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T20:23:12","slug":"educating-ms-rumpay-sera-singhe-on-the-uniqueness-of-sinhala-buddhism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/01\/19\/educating-ms-rumpay-sera-singhe-on-the-uniqueness-of-sinhala-buddhism\/","title":{"rendered":"Educating Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe on the uniqueness of Sinhala-Buddhism"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Without any reservations I must concede that the Buddhist clowns must be reined in, as stated by Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe (a.k.a, Sharmini Serasinghe). In this survey of her version of Buddhism, I wish to state that I am ready to join her campaign this minute if the reining in of Buddhist clowns begins with her. Of course, it is not going to be an easy task because reining in the clowns of her type will be as difficult as removing the layers of paint from her face. By the look of it, she might have to buy the facial cleaners of an entire cosmetic store to get the multi-layers of paint above her neck removed to reveal her thick skin, warts and all.<\/p>\n

The plastic look on her face extends to her arguments too. She excoriates other Buddhists who do not follow the ascetic standards she prescribes for their daily conduct. But why hasn\u2019t she applied the identical Buddhist standards to determine her own conduct? The severity of her judgmental standards set for other Buddhists calls for critical evaluation because the validity of her commitments to Buddhist principles can be judged only by her practices and not by her censorious preaching. In taking a cynical view of the Buddhists in general she places herself\u00a0 on the side of those holier-than-thou arahats<\/strong><\/em> who adheres strictly to the pristine values of Buddhism. She even boasted once that she quit Vishaka College because she found the Buddhism in it somewhat distasteful to her exalted\u00a0 standards. She claimed that she discovered her paradisical liberation only after she joined a non-Buddhist school.<\/p>\n

She also appears from time to time in the media columns posing as the sath bhasa parameswara, tripitaka wageeswara and vinaya-arakshaka<\/strong><\/em> Anunanayake, of course, loaded with tons of cosmetics plastered all over her face.\u00a0 And her primary mission seems to be to ride on her Buddhistic broomstick stuck between her legs, aiming\u00a0 to clean up the Buddhist world. Her titty-lating anti-Sinhala-Buddhist screams make it amply clear that she never fails to get a kick out of her\u00a0 missionary position. Applying un-Buddhistic cosmetics \u2013 tons of it —\u00a0 seems to be her way of getting\u00a0 rid of her Freudian\u00a0 frustrations.<\/p>\n

Reading her sermons on Buddhism one would think that she is on the verge of attaining nirvana, leaving the yellow-robed and other lay clowns\u201d to spend the rest of their time in the depths of a burning and beastly narakadiya<\/strong><\/em>. She reminds me of J. R.Jayewardene who proclaimed that\u00a0 he plans to attain nirvana in this life, even though it was his practice to gulp down one or two shots of whiskey a day before dinner. She has raised a series of questions more to pour scorn on the Buddhists than to put them on the straight and the narrow. As a lapsed Buddhist who is not so pure as Ms. Rumpay-Sera-singhe I too wish to ask her a few questions to understand what makes a punctilious Buddhist like her run from her mirror to body shops where she hopes to buy her cosmetic nirvana at a price.<\/p>\n

My initial questions are based on basic Buddhist principles. Since she demands almost an ascetic code of conduct from other Buddhists who, according to her, should only meditate in the nearest jungle to find the ultimate liberation can she explain how her jewellery decking her kunu kaya\u201d <\/strong><\/em>(rotten\u00a0 body) would\u00a0 help her to attain nirvana? In posing as a Buddhist purist, condemning others as clowns\u201d, isn\u2019t she ego-tripping to boost her self-esteem sagging in her ageing breast? Doesn\u2019t she know\u00a0 the story of Buddha auctioning the corpse of the highest paid tart of his time with no one buying her dolled up kunu kaya\u201d <\/strong><\/em>even when the\u00a0 price came down to zero?\u00a0 As a Buddhist committed to its highest principles does she believe that painting her face is the shortest cut to nirvana? Since she believes that giving dana<\/strong><\/em> and helping the sangha are practices that will not help the Buddhists to find their way to nirvana does she believe, as a pure Buddhist, that getting dolled up and\u00a0 partifying at the first opportunity when an invite comes her way is the better way to nirvana? Will she agree with me that painting\u00a0 her face will certainly\u00a0 boost her ego but not improve her mind? What will all her prettyfying with expensive cosmetics do to improve her knowledge or practice of Buddhism? Shouldn\u2019t she spend her time and money she wastes on prettyfying her Plain Jane looks to help the needy? Is she buying up all the latest make-up available because she is afraid to look at the mirror without her cosmetics? And when she goes to bed at night does she like Marilyn Munroe wear only Chanel 9 to make her kunu kaya<\/strong><\/em> smell good?<\/p>\n

Make no mistake. I am not being personal in raising these seemingly personal questions. To the readers who are not familiar with the Theravada Buddhist philosophical tradition of Sri Lanka it may sound as if I am being personal. But Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe will know that I am only applying the basic principles of Buddhism, which is\u00a0 derived from\u00a0 sa-ra noo kunu kayak aragena kumata though sapa vindin-nay\u201d <\/strong><\/em>and also kumana natum keli kavata sinahada\u201d etc. <\/strong><\/em>These lines are from the best exposition of existential Buddhism. My questions stem from the basic Buddhist doctrine. No hard feelings, please note. She can\u2019t\u00a0 take it amiss\u00a0 because I am following her own footsteps\u00a0 in applying Buddhist principles to\u00a0 her as strictly as does to other Buddhists.<\/p>\n

In fact she confirms this when she contends that indestructible Buddhism is lodged fixedly in the mind of Buddhist devotees and the state need not step in, with constitutional and legal guarantees, to defend Buddhism. This implies that the other clowns who claims to be Buddhists must follow her example and reach her level of supreme serenity\u00a0 that lifts her mind to the highest state of Buddhist enlightenment without any external aid. If her argument is that Buddhism doesn\u2019t need external aid why is she, as Buddhist, painting her face so much, knowing\u00a0 that it is a worthless exercise that does not help her to be a better Buddhist? In which sutra is it that stated that a pure usapaka ammandi<\/strong><\/em> like Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe must doll herself to deliver her sermons on Buddhism? Her entire thesis is devoted to condemning the cosmetics of Buddhist practices followed by the bhikkus, dayakayas<\/strong><\/em> and lay community. Shouldn\u2019t she, therefore, set the example by eschewing\u00a0 cosmetics and pursue Buddhism in the most simplistic mode. Instead she paints her face so much\u00a0 that she needs only a few more coloured strokes like a black moustache, blood red patches on her cheeks, some green spots here and there on her face and a dunce cap to transform her image into a circus clown.<\/p>\n

The fact is that she has nothing original to say except to parrot the routine of what others have said many time before. She pontificates as if she is the last word on what has gone wrong with Buddhism without realising that she is merely repeating what the anti-Sri Lankan propagandists have been saying at all levels \u2013 i.e., from Buddhism Betrayed?<\/strong><\/em> S. J. Tambiah to his supplicants in NGOs like Radhika Coomaraswamy and Jehan (Pacha) Perera etc. Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe, of course, would know that she was connected, once upon a time,\u00a0 to a descendant of\u00a0 the Anagarika Dharmapala family. It is possible that the divorce from that connection could have caused some antagonistic fixations in her mind against Buddhism. At least, it cannot\u00a0 cannot be overruled. But I must concede that this is mere speculation.<\/p>\n

What is important\u00a0 is to evaluate her hysterical assertions about Buddhism and its relationship to the state. Is she finger-pointing for the good of\u00a0 Buddhism, or to\u00a0 use it as a political tool to denigrate and weaken Buddhism as a cultural force that shaped the nation down the ages? If she has nothing original and\/or substantial to say to the Buddhists why doesn\u2019t she do it in front of her mirror instead of\u00a0 braying in public? Why is she picking only on the Buddhists? What about the other religionists? How faithful are the other mainstream religionists to the founding principles of Christianity, Islam or Hinduism?<\/p>\n

To her all those who defend Article 9 of the Constitution \u2013 a legal provision that has come down from the 1815 Convention \u2013 are clowns. She thinks she is not a clown because she is for the removal of Article 9 which states, inter alia, \u2026\u2026..it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana\u2026\u2026<\/em>\u201d But if you read her article, particularly the questions she raise to condemn Buddhism as practised in Sri Lanka, she exposes herself as Devidatta\u2019s weird offshoot living in cuckoo land.<\/p>\n

Let me begin with one of her key questions though I am not quite sure whether the essence of my reply will sink through the impenetrable layers of paint\u00a0 in her thick head. Assuming the pompous pose of\u00a0 an Amazonian intellectual she asks: Might I also ask, what in heaven\u2019s name is so supreme\u201d about the Sinhalese people? What have we, the Sinhalese achieved, others have not, to entertain such pride\u201d? I challenge all those out there, who keep chanting, I\u2019m proud to call myself a Sinhala-Buddhist\u201d, to give me a valid answer to my questions, as so far, I have not.\u201d<\/p>\n

If\u00a0 Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe knew anything about the nation\u2019s history she should know that of all the migrants who made Sri Lanka their home only the Sinhala-Buddhist turned out to be the supreme creative force that tamed the wilderness and transformed the land\u00a0 into a civilised and welcoming culture for other migrants to co-exist as equals with dignity and respect. This nation today consists of\u00a0 the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslim and Burgher migrants. But the ubiquitous foundation stones, the overarching ideology, the monumental art and architecture, the engineering feats of the hydraulic society, the sweat and the blood that built\u00a0 the life-giving tanks and the inspiring temples were contributed by the Sinhala-Buddhists.<\/p>\n

Of all the migrants it was only the Sinhala-Buddhists who gave the world a new language, new culture and a new civilisation. Other migrants invariably were stuck in the ideological baggage with which they landed and were quite content to live inside their narrow boxes. Arnold Toynbee, the great historian, in his magisterial study of\u00a0 human\u00a0 civilisations, mentions\u00a0 only the Sinhala-Buddhists as a pioneering community that responded successfully to the challenges faced by the early settlers. It is the supreme achievements of the Sinhala-Buddhists that make them stand above the other migrants who were mere by-standers, lending an occasional\u00a0 hand to the mainstream culture that moulded the nation. When the great savant Ananda Coomaraswamy\u00a0 wrote on Sri Lanka he lauded the exquisite treasures of Medieval Sinhala Art <\/strong><\/em>and pleaded for\u00a0 its preservation. When the leading German Indologist researched the Eastern contributions to culture he focussed essentially on the Mahavamsa<\/strong><\/em>, the unbroken record of Sinhala-Buddhist\u00a0 history. When the founding members of the Royal Asiatic Society explored from the 18th century the past of Sri Lanka they concentrated on Sinhala-Buddhist history mainly because there was nothing else that was outstanding on the same scale. The list of historic achievements of the Sinhala-Buddhists is longer than any of Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe\u2019s beauticians can imagine to improve her Plain Jane looks.<\/p>\n

Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe challenged the Sinhalese to prove that they have something which others don\u2019t have to be proud of. I have provided incontrovertible evidence to confirm the superior contributions made by the Sinhala people just not to the nation but to the global culture. In giving\u00a0 the world a unique language, culture and civilisation the Sinhalese have proved their creative power and their unique capacity to lift themselves up to great heights as a civilising force. It was a humane civilising culture which gave a protective hand for the other minorities to grow together without aggressive claims to a superiority which they do not\u00a0 possess.<\/p>\n

The protective shade given to minorities by the Sinhala-Buddhists goes way back into historical\u00a0 times. Instead of wiping out minority cultures it accommodated and integrated other cultures into its mainstream unlike in some other cultures. In India, for instance, Buddhism was wiped out by the dominant culture of hostile Hindus. In Indonesia Buddhism was erased by the rising forces of Islam. So was it in the Maldives. On the contrary, the Buddhist kings of Sri Lanka gave protection to the Hindus, Christians and Muslims. It is these unique contributions that has placed the Sinhala seal of superiority over the rest. The minorities, on the other hand, turned round and bit the hand that fed them to thrive. As revealed by the\u00a0 historian Dr. G. C. Mendis the records of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British do not show communal conflicts with the Sinhalese until the 20 the century when the minorities reacted violently claiming power and privileges that\u00a0 disturbed peaceful co-existence in historic times. So taking into considerations the overall factors, which community does Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe think should be rated as superior contributors to civilised co-existence in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society?<\/p>\n

In the light\u00a0 of\u00a0 the answers given above it\u00a0 is Ms. Raumpy Sera-singhe\u2019s turn to provide her evidence to prove that\u00a0 the Sinhalese are not superior to the others in making their lasting contributions to\u00a0 the glory of\u00a0 the nation. The minorities have thrived because the Sinhalese opened\u00a0 the doors for them to achieve their goals. It\u00a0 is the aggressive demands far exceeding their contributions to the preservation of peace and prosperity that has worsened\u00a0 the inter-ethnic relations of the nations. For instance, if the aggressive Tamils of the North did\u00a0 not go\u00a0 down the path of\u00a0 the violent Vadukoddai Resolution their history and that of the nation\u00a0 would\u00a0 have been different.<\/p>\n

Now\u00a0 I\u00a0 await Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe\u2019s response so that the readers can judge the credibility of this Bunkum-wathie. If she can I will send her box of Elizbeth Arden\u2019s or Max Factor\u2019s cosmetics,whichever she likes,\u00a0 to make her look better.<\/p>\n

Her inability to see clearly may be due to the cosmetics that cloud her vision. Perhaps, if she could bring down her arching eyebrows from outer space to their original location and if she can remove her artificial eye-lashes and look at the world more realistically through her natural attributes, she has a good chance of overcoming her chronic myopia. Perhaps, she will also agree with me that there is no place for cosmetics\u00a0 in Buddhism. They are used to distort reality. It\u00a0 gives a false self-image and make the users of cosmetic\u00a0 believe that they are greater than what they really are in life.<\/p>\n

I know it\u00a0 is too late to teach new tricks to an old female canine but Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe must realise that both foreign and local academics, with far superior knowledge than what is contained in her peanut brain, have tried to do what she has done \u2013 denigrate the Sinhala-Buddhists \u2013 on a more sophisticated level and failed. Misguided pundits\u00a0 like Kapferer, Gombrich, S. J. Tambiah, his academic stooge, H. L. Seneviratne, etc., etc. who were engaged in this business of denigrating Sinhala-Buddhists have been ripped\u00a0 into shreds by Dr. Susantha Goonatilake in his brilliant survey. titled Anthropologizing\u00a0 Sri Lanka, An Eurocentric Misadvanture. <\/strong><\/em>(Indiana University Press).\u00a0 If she\u00a0 has nothing better\u00a0 to do than repeat\u00a0 what more knowledgeable pundits have failed to do shouldn\u2019t she start a new hobby like putting the hair back into the\u00a0 places where she has removed them?<\/p>\n

There are also other aspects of her anti-Sinhala-Buddhist article that needs further scrutiny. I shall deal with them after I read her reply proving that she is a Satya-wathie and not a Bunkum-wathie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Without any reservations I must concede that the Buddhist clowns must be reined in, as stated by Ms. Rumpay Sera-singhe (a.k.a, Sharmini Serasinghe). In this survey of her version of Buddhism, I wish to state that I am ready to join her campaign this minute if the reining in of Buddhist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}