{"id":67283,"date":"2017-06-25T00:53:55","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T06:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=67283"},"modified":"2017-06-24T16:44:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-24T23:44:16","slug":"neo-colonialist-seneviratne-posing-as-a-buddhist-revolutionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/06\/25\/neo-colonialist-seneviratne-posing-as-a-buddhist-revolutionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Neo-colonialist Seneviratne posing as a Buddhist revolutionary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Regurgitating the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist propaganda, first\u00a0 injected into the political mainstream by G. G. Ponnambalam, in 1939 at Navalapitiya,\u00a0 has been the forte of the one-eyed theoretician, H. L. Seneviratne. (HLS). He\u00a0 has made a career out of his\u00a0 Sinhala-Buddhist World View\u201d, to use his fanciful lingo, which is nothing\u00a0 but another derogatory term for Ponnambalam\u2019s Mahavamsa mentality\u201d. The primary task of an academic, in addition to teaching, is to conduct objective research in\u00a0 order to shine a light on hidden \/ unknown\u00a0 aspects for societies to find a way out of crises in which they are stuck. But there isn\u2019t single bit of empirical evidence or insight in\u00a0 his latest anti-Sinhala-Buddhist article, published in two parts in Colombo Telegraph, <\/strong><\/em>that throws any new light into the Sri Lankan past or the future. However, he comes\u00a0 out with an idea which he considers to be revolutionary. He is telling the Sangha that the time\u00a0 has come to stage a revolution to reverse the historical forces of 1956\u201d and replace it with the pristine principles of pure Buddhism. Obviously, this Professori can\u2019t be from this planet. Even a Bambalawatte school boy would dismiss another Sangha Revolution\u201d as a fiddle-faddle fantasy that could sprout only in a vacuous head floating in the Andromeda clouds.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0 is virtually asking the Sangha to take over and dismantle the society that Sinhala-Buddhist culture had built over the centuries and revitalise it with the Philosophical ethics of Buddhism. On the surface of\u00a0 it there seems to be some merit in it. But how realistic is it? Not only Buddhists, all religionists in various parts of the world yearn to restore the pristine\u00a0 purity of their religions. Various millenarian\u00a0 movements have arisen in Europe and the East to take their societies back to the so-called golden age\u201d when everything was so pure and ethical, as imagined\u00a0 by the reformists. So the available historical evidence, both at home and abroad, confirm that HLS\u2019s theories are not only pie-in-the-sky shibboleth but also old as Sri Pada. He\u00a0 has nothing new to say for anyone to find their way out from the current plight This is the fundamental flaw in HLS\u2019s articles and books. He is either rehashing anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism first launched by Ponnamabalam in the\u00a0 thirties, or trying to create Yellow Revolutions\u201d and take the nation back to that lotus-eating land which never existed except in his pipe dreams.<\/p>\n

He says : In Sri Lanka, it is unfortunately the worldview of Sinhala Cultural Buddhism that has overwhelmingly taken hold over the society, to the near exclusion of Philosophical Buddhism. Our challenge therefore is to try and imbue the society with the universalist ethicality of Philosophical Buddhism, and its ethos of urbanity, civility and modernity; and, I am calling upon the more educated and dynamic sections of the sa\u1e45gha<\/em> to accept that challenge, and give leadership to a social movement for meeting it.\u201d I don\u2019t think even\u00a0 Buddha during his time managed to imbue the society with the universalist ethicality of Philosophical Buddhism, and its ethos of urbanity, civility and modernity.\u201d So HLS is just whistling in the wind when he calls on the dynamic wing\u00a0 of the sangha to\u00a0 reform the Sinhala-Buddhist\u00a0 civilisation to\u00a0 suit his fancies. If Buddha couldn\u2019t do it how does he think that some modern day monks could do the impossible?<\/p>\n

Take the example of Buddha himself. After he attained Enlightenment, Buddha, contrary to popular belief, did\u00a0 not\u00a0 retire\u00a0 into the forests to meditate, cut off from society. He spent the better part of his life moving with\u00a0 kings, courtiers, merchants, intellectuals\u00a0 of the day, other religionists, ordinary folk and,\u00a0 on one occasion,\u00a0 he even auctioned\u00a0 the corpse of a prostitute, doing a zen-type of demonstration to show the way out of worldly illusions and suffering. It is, indeed, fair to ask how much of the ethics of Buddhist philosophy was Buddha able to inculcate into his society? To imbue the society with the universalist ethicality of Philosophical Buddhism\u201d is a big ask which only a super human being\u00a0 may be \u2013 I\u00a0 repeat, may be\u201d \u2013 able to\u00a0 achieve in some distant time, far, far away from\u00a0 our time in\u00a0 some\u00a0 utopian\u00a0 land. I don\u2019t think even Christ can change society even if he comes the Second Time. If he couldn\u2019t do it the first time, as the Son\u00a0 of God \u2013 a divine force who sacrificed his life to save mankind — I can\u2019t\u00a0 see how he can\u00a0 do it the second\u00a0 time. And I say this not to belittle Him\u00a0 but seriously, questioning\u00a0 the ability of any worldly \/ divine force to change the everlasting and unalterable\u00a0 clash of dialectics which are at the core of history, moving\u00a0 across the open-ended time and space providing erratic history to\u00a0 choose many options. Let alone the lay society driven by secular\u00a0 forces, how many sangha societies have been imbued with the universalist ethicality of Philosophical Buddhism\u201d? So when HLS talks\u00a0 of imbue(ing) the society with the universalist ethicality of Philosophical Buddhism\u201d he is talking\u00a0 through\u00a0 his hat.<\/p>\n

Even if he relies on his Western models of philosopher-kings\u201d (Plato) he will not be able to\u00a0 find a\u00a0 fitting example\u00a0 to\u00a0 justify his claim to take Sri Lanka back to his ideal state. In fact, Bertram Russell blamed Plato\u00a0 for breeding fascist dictators with\u00a0 his notion of philosopher-kings\u201d who assumed that they knew what was best for society. He condemned the Platonic concept\u00a0 of philosopher-king\u201d for producing Hitlers and Mussolinis \u2013 the all-knowing philosophers\u201d with power to prescribe recipes for their ideals which turn out to\u00a0 be nightmares for their\u00a0 victims.<\/p>\n

But why go that far when we can test\u00a0 the theories of HLS with the living examples? Let\u2019s take the case of Sobitha Thero, the ideal moral model that would be considered by him as a fit and\u00a0 proper agent to lead his proposed Sangha rebellion\u201d. The Thero\u2019s political agenda was, I\u00a0 believe, to enthrone the best tenets of ethical Buddhism. The venassa<\/strong><\/em>\u201d (difference) that was proposed by the Thera was to return to the\u00a0 pure Buddhistic principles. His ethical leadership, which was marketed as an alternative to the devalued Rajapakse regime, became the dynamic Buddhist force that invigorated the Yahapalanaya movement to reach its peak in January 8, 2015.\u00a0 HLS also adds that Ranil wrote a book on Buddhism preaching political bana<\/strong><\/em>\u201d that would transform society and bring it in line with Buddhist\u00a0 ideals. In the end, only Arjuna Mahendran and his\u00a0 son-in-law, managed to attain the political nirvana promised in Ranil\u2019s bana<\/strong><\/em>. In\u00a0 his article HLS admits that the movement\u00a0 led by Sobitha Thero has been a failure. So why is HLS floating the\u00a0 idea of\u00a0 another Sangha revolution\u201d which is most likely to\u00a0 end\u00a0 up in the lottery funds of the Foreign Ministry?<\/p>\n

If he has any common sense he would\u00a0 know that his\u00a0 proposed Yellow Revolution\u201d is never going\u00a0 to take off the ground. It is going\u00a0 to be like the revolution that was promised by the local Marxist. It never came\u00a0 in the\u00a0 form they expected. What came out of their Marxist theories was a gang of fascist criminals dressed up in fake Marxist-Leninist clothes. To\u00a0 this day the rag-tag remnants of the JVP philosopher-kings\u201d, some of\u00a0 whom are\u00a0 domiciled in bourgeois havens abroad, pose as defenders of human rights and champions of the oppressed working class and minorities, glossing over their criminal operations that violated the basic tenets in the UN Charter.<\/p>\n

It was, of course, the most bizarre revolution in the history of Marxism. Marx predicted that the workers will be in the vanguard of the revolution. But the\u00a0 lumpen\u00a0 Marxists in the JVP led a bunch of schoolboys who were assigned to capture Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaiake, dead or alive. And, the climax of the JVP revolution came when the leaders abandoned the boys and fled, seeking refuge under a bed in a Buddhist temple in Panadura. Ain\u2019t it hilarious that our misguided revolutionaries find\u00a0 refuge ultimately in Buddhist temples which they had earlier condemned as evil obstructionists to progress and communal harmony? HLS too follows this line. He, of course, is\u00a0 hoping for a direct Revolt in the Temple. He condemns\u00a0 the Sinhala-Buddhists as the main\u00a0 cause for\u00a0 the failure of good\u00a0 governance since 1956\u201d and then, in the same breath, he urges the dynamic monks to lead a revolution against the rest of the Sinhala-Buddhists. There is, no doubt, an urgent\u00a0 need for change, radical change. But are the Buddhist monks the vehicle for that change?<\/p>\n

In\u00a0 his proposed revolution HLS wants the Sangha to be\u00a0 in the vanguard. And then what? Can he guarantee that it won\u2019t end up like Champika Ranawake\u2019s Buddhist revolution\u201d that is progressively going to\u00a0 pieces? In any case, how many Buddhist revolutions does he want? Also how many Buddhist monks can\u00a0 he corral to overturn the biggest Buddhist revolution of 1956\u201d? In all this there isn\u2019t a shred of\u00a0 evidence to\u00a0 prove that\u00a0 our Professori is capable of producing\u00a0 viable, rational, or even a moral proposal to save the day. As far as it is visible, HLS\u2019s latest theoretical concoction is as inane as his plastic smile that spreads right across his face, from ear to ear, as if he is posing for an ad designed to sell\u00a0 toothpaste.<\/p>\n

Besides, reading through his text one finds an irreconcilable\u00a0 contradiction. HLS who is seeking a Sangha\u00a0 revolution to restore Buddhist ethics is, in the same breath, harking back to the colonial past as the idyllic haven which was destroyed by the Sinhala-Buddhist Revolution of 1956\u201d. He\u00a0 is indeed horrified that 1956\u201d had occurred, overthrowing the English-speaking elite left behind\u00a0 by the colonial masters. They were the entrenched elite in the private, public and social sectors protecting, preserving\u00a0 and perpetuating the colonial legacy to the last hole in golf. Apparently, the task he sets in his proposed revolution now is for the Sangha to take\u00a0 the nation back\u00a0 to\u00a0 the pre-1956\u201d era.<\/p>\n

The task of all Afro-Asian nationalist leaders in the post-colonial period was to adjust the historical imbalances that deprived the oppressed indigenes their rightful place in history. But this inevitable historical trend has put HLS into a catatonic state. Why? Because he believes that the old colonial order had served the nation better than anything that came after 1956\u201d \u2013 his bete noir. According to his judgement, anything tainted with Sinhala-Buddhism has ruined the nation. His alternative is to return\u00a0 to neo-colonialism which would take us back\u00a0 to the good old days\u201d of the British when everything was to his colonial taste. In\u00a0 essence, his argument\u00a0 boils down to simply this : the English-speaking minority (6%), who wielded power through the English medium (the kaduwa<\/strong><\/em>), had done a good job of work and their rule should have been perpetuated even though such a rule would have forced the vast mass of the people who had lost their heritage and their\u00a0 bearings to endure the indignities of colonialism and its alien culture for a lengthy period in the\u00a0 post-independent era governed\u00a0 by pukka brown\u00a0 sahibs.<\/p>\n

He is shedding buckets\u00a0 of tears,\u00a0 crying\u00a0 that post-1956 forces had removed the\u00a0 right\u00a0 of appeal to the Privy Council, not\u00a0 kept English as the third language as in Singapore, removed Section 29 of the Soulbury Constitution, not\u00a0 adhered to colonial\u00a0 type\u00a0 of law and\u00a0 order which\u00a0 would have continued to serve the colonial\u00a0 interest at all costs\u00a0 etc. All this\u00a0 is music\u00a0 to\u00a0 the ears of those who continue\u00a0 to believe that there would have been salvation if we continued to live in the British colonial hot house, without releasing the grass root forces that were moving\u00a0 subterraneously from the 19th century and surfaced ineluctably in 1956\u201d.\u00a0 The seismic movement of 1956\u201d threw the English-speaking brown sahibs off balance. It was a period of transition. The old world was dying and\u00a0 the new world was struggling\u00a0 to be born.<\/p>\n

The primary task in this period\u00a0 of transition was to restore the just claims of the people whose rightful place in history was robbed by the colonial\u00a0 masters. The inequities and injustices of imperialism had to be adjusted. The victims\u00a0 of\u00a0 colonial history had a right to regain their lost heritage and place. Though late, voices are raised now in the ex-colonies by the victims of colonialism demanding\u00a0 compensation. But HLS, who came from the village, is hailing\u00a0 the colonial masters who burnt their homes, destroyed their crops, massacred all those\u00a0 above 18, denied their basic dignities and whipped\u00a0 his ancestors into line as white\u00a0 messiahs sent to save the native Sri Lankans. HLS refuses\u00a0 to accept that the\u00a0 villagers who had to bear the burden of imperialism for nearly five centuries, had a right to reclaim their history, their language and their\u00a0 religion.<\/p>\n

The task of managing\u00a0 the\u00a0 period of transition between two worlds fell on the shoulders of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. The entire Westernised elite\u00a0 in all communities, together with the English-speaking Vellala elite\u00a0 in the\u00a0 public service and professions ganged up against Bandaranaike. It\u00a0 is\u00a0 the power of the Westernised English-speaking elite that resisted the historic forces led by Bandaranaike. They demonised\u00a0 him. HLS continues to blame the\u00a0 post-Bandaranaike period as if all history began with\u00a0 Bandaranaike. He argues that everything went wrong after the advent of Bandaranaike.\u00a0 Condemning the\u00a0 post-Bandaranaike period he\u00a0 yearns for the pre-Bandaranaike norms maintained by the colonial masters. His cultural\u00a0 cringe to be a white man makes him another coconut\u201d \u2013 brown outside white inside. The post-Bandaranaike period is\u00a0 so repugnant\u00a0 to\u00a0 him that if he had H. G. Well\u2019s Time Machine he would not hesitate to take a quick ride, back in time, to the pre-Bandaranaike period and lock himself inside it to live in it forever.<\/p>\n

He is\u00a0 disappointed that history has failed to fulfil his wishes. He is against open-ended history advancing on its own terms, leaving the ideological weirdos to stew in\u00a0 their own theoretical juices. His mission on earth is to root out Sinhala-Buddhist World View\u201d, through a revolution\u00a0 led by the\u00a0 Sangha, Then \u2013 Hey Presto! \u2013 Sri Lanka could solve all its problems, including Bond scandal, corruption, inefficiencies, ethnic issues, constitutional problems, foreign exchange, unemployment, floods, droughts, mountains of garbage, you name it. Pah!<\/p>\n

Theorising without taking\u00a0 into consideration the ground realities only makes him a hollow man with his headpiece filled with straw which even the mad cows won\u2019t eat.<\/p>\n

(To be continued)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H.L.D. Mahindapala Regurgitating the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist propaganda, first\u00a0 injected into the political mainstream by G. G. Ponnambalam, in 1939 at Navalapitiya,\u00a0 has been the forte of the one-eyed theoretician, H. L. Seneviratne. (HLS). He\u00a0 has made a career out of his\u00a0 Sinhala-Buddhist World View\u201d, to use his fanciful lingo, which is nothing\u00a0 but another derogatory term […]<\/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-67283","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\/67283","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=67283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}