{"id":89429,"date":"2019-05-27T23:47:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T05:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89429"},"modified":"2019-05-27T16:24:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T23:24:08","slug":"what-people-say-and-what-they-really-mean-a-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/27\/what-people-say-and-what-they-really-mean-a-response\/","title":{"rendered":"What people say and what they really mean \u2013 A response"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laksiri Warnakula\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The article in the\nopinion column of the Island on 25th Saturday by Prof. A. N. U. Ekanayaka is\nvery thought-provoking and it delivers a resounding blow to all those, who\nespouse the identity of Sri Lanka as a ‘Sinhala Buddhist Nation’ with callous\ndisregard to its broader implications and meaning and to some others, who\nbehave in such a disgusting and shameful  manner that has nothing to do\nwith the Dhamma or Buddhism, which the Buddha preached, and subject our beloved\nnation instead to anger, criticism, ridicule and sarcasm from all and sundry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nHowever, my sincere intention in this brief\nletter is to somewhat soften the blow, if you may, caused by the professor\u2019s\narticle, notwithstanding the fact that it paints a painfully true picture of\nthe status quo in the country that has been there for many decades now and\nprovide some justification as to why almost all Sinhalese, both Buddhists and\nChristians alike like to say that ours is a ‘Sinhala Buddhist\nNation’.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nNow think about all those ancient structures\nthat we see today. They have been built by the ancient Sinhalayas to pay homage\nto Buddha and his Philisophy the Dhamma. The nations\u2019 vast irrigation networks\nand other water bodies are also the work of the ancient Sinhalayas. All those\nBuddhist Dagabas and other monuments exuding beauty and reverence that one\nfinds in Anuradhapura, Pollonnaruwa, Dambadeniya etc. are the fruits of blood\nand sweat that must have flown in plenty as those Sinhalayas laboured under a\nfierce sun and perhaps even the watchful eyes of whip-wielding soldiers of the\nkings. A vast of number of temples, and statues of Buddha carved out of rock is\nspread across the whole landscape of the country in a manner that probably has\nno rival in the whole world, when land size is taken into account. And I\nhaven\u2019t even said anything about Sigiriya yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nOur ancients fought off many invasions from the South of\nIndia and it is said that they suffered horribly during periods, when the\nnation or some parts of it became occupied by those invaders. Then we\nhave the skirmishes, battles and other armed rebellions, which our ancients\nfought against the colonialists, even when faced with canon fire, bayonets and\nmuskets and many laid down their lives in the struggles leading to the\nindependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, all those\nSinhalese mostly young, who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our little\nisland undivided, for the present and its future generations. Many have been\nmaimed and crippled in the struggle for life. Even though all the nationalities\ncontributed to the victory, it was the majority, who suffered most, whichever\nthe way one looks at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 
\nAnd please take note that I do feel for the\nyouth, who fought on the other side and suffered horribly too, along with their\nkith kin. They probably took part in it, not because they wanted it but the\nprevailing circumstances coupled with the forced conscription left nothing else\nfor them to choose from other than perhaps face the wrath of the top command.\nThen the socio-economic changes that turned from bad to worse subsequent to\n83-July saw an exponential growth in their cadres, which according to some\npolitical analysts happened right under the noses of some Sinhalese\npoliticians, even with the blessings from some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The echoes from\nthe past never die and they still reverberate amongst those marvels of art,\narchitecture and engineering. The unseen bonds between those ancients, who\nfought for this land, built, laboured and toiled on it and the present day\ndescendants of them will never break too. And a sweeping generalization lumping\nboth groups, one openly brandishing sanctimonious and intimidating attitudes\nclaiming sole ownership of both the land and the Buddhism in the country with\nthe other, which is disciplined, moralistic and fair-minded, who are also\nconscious of what real Buddhism is and following it to their best ability, in\nmy opinion is not right. Even though, I am reluctant to say that it is quite\npossible that the former is bigger in number and even gaining more ground\ntoo, steadfastly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\nwrapping up, I must say that the learned professor has without mincing his\nwords says where our present-day society stands and how it operates. The\nparagraphs fifth, sixth and seventh in particular are quite painful to read\nthough what they say is very true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\nthe above article of him, which this letter is responding to, be an eye opener\nto all, who want this land, a land of genuine \u2018Buddhists and Sinhalayas\u2019 and\nnot an imitation and imitating kind that smacks of sham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Laksiri Warnakula\u00a0\u00a0 The article in the opinion column of the Island on 25th Saturday by Prof. A. N. U. Ekanayaka is very thought-provoking and it delivers a resounding blow to all those, who espouse the identity of Sri Lanka as a ‘Sinhala Buddhist Nation’ with callous disregard to its broader implications and meaning and to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-laksiri-warnakula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89429","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=89429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}