{"id":90225,"date":"2019-06-11T17:02:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T00:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90225"},"modified":"2019-06-11T17:02:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T00:02:23","slug":"baila-epa-cassandra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/06\/11\/baila-epa-cassandra\/","title":{"rendered":"BAILA EPA, Cassandra!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Cassandra ends her piece \u2018Cry the\nBeloved Country\u2019 (The Island\/June 7, 2019) with an ominous note contained in\nthese words, where she refers to herself in the third person, as she usually\ndoes in her weekly column to give her writing a dramatic touch:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly Cassandra has lost hope in the government after seeing\ngood in it for so very long. She is tired. Hence she jotted down her weekly\nramblings, some with worth, early in the week, to take a rest. Much more will\nhappen until Friday comes along. Take care of yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She foresees trouble which, she\nseems to hope, will provide her a convenient  excuse to continue with her\nramblings. \u2018Ramblings\u2019 can be rendered as \u2018baila\u2019 in Sinhalese colloquial\nparlance. That is what Ven. Galaboda-aththe Gnanasara Thera, the controversial\nmonk who  heads the Bodu Bala Sena organization, in his first meeting with\nthe media after his release from prison, demanded those in authority to stop,\nconcerning growing Islamic extremism in Sri Lanka including Wahhabist\nterrorism. It is primarily his concerted activism targeting Islamic extremism\nbeginning with his agitation against halal certification in 2013  that\nearned him the undeserved notoriety that dogs him constantly wherever he is or\ngoes, or whatever he does or says in spite of the absolute righteousness of his\ncause. Cassandra\u2019s apprehensions may have at least partly resulted from her\nunquestioning acceptance of the bad reputation that detractors uncritically\nassociate with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his first media briefing as a\nfree person again, he said bluntly, Baila epa! Talk no more rambling\nnonsense!\u201d He spoke words to the effect Let\u2019s get down to brass tacks.\nPoliticians of the government and the opposition cannot, or have no actual\ncommitment to, address this issue with earnestness and without hypocrisy. Let\nus, the clergy of the nation belonging to all faiths, the Buddhist monks being\nthe majority among them, handle the problem in a nonpolitical nonviolent way\nthrough our spiritual leadership and through dialogue\u201d. The problem that the\nmonk is talking about is the same Islamist extremism that the late Alawi\nMoulana, a veteran trade union leader and SLFP stalwart, and a past governor of\nthe western province, warned Sri Lankans against, as early as 2007, as making\ninroads into the diverse but peaceful religious fabric of the country with the\nhelp of Saudi money. It is the Sri Lankan face of the global Islamic extremism\nthat is threatening the whole secular democratic world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, the awkward\nShakespeare adaptation in the subtitle (\u2018let slipped are the Dogs of Hate\u2019)\n is entirely inappropriate in this context because Ven. Gnanasara\u2019s coming\nout of jail is not at all likely to lead to communal hate inspired Sinhala\nMuslim clashes that are eagerly wished for by those who want to fish in troubled\nwaters (I am sure Cassandra is informed enough to understand who I mean). Mark\nAntony the Roman general, after the assassination of his friend Julius Caesar,\nin the Shakespeare play that bears the latter\u2019s name, contemplates avenging the\nmurder by fomenting violent civil strife, confusion, mischief and chaos in\nRome; he even invokes Caesar\u2019s spirit, that, he imagines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shall in these confines with a monarch\u2019s voice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cry Havoc!\u201d and let slip the dogs of war,\u201d…….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026…    .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Gnanasara never raised his\nvoice for such a wicked purpose, as a riotous rabble rouser would have done. He\ndid so only to awaken the political authorities and the Ven. Mahanayake Theras\nwho were indifferent to his early warnings  and pleas about the worsening\ndanger of religious extremism for their own selfish reasons. It is only the\nsatanic propaganda that turned him into a hate figure, particularly in the\nbiased media eyes. It can be seriously suspected that money plays a central\nrole in it. Otherwise, how could the true situation in this regard be\nmisrepresented in the press in the distorted manner it usually is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fear that the release of Ven.\nGnanasara Thera from prison would cause a conflagration of racial or religious\nconflict because of the alleged devilry on his part is entirely misplaced. His\nroughneck-like conduct when demonstrating his \u2018righteous anger\u2019 at the failure\nof politicians successively in power and the leading Buddhist clergy to address\nthe chronic problem of Christian and Islamic fundamentalist religious invasion\nof SrI Lanka\u2019s Buddhist cultural space must now be consigned to the past. (The\nidea of righteous anger is, however, alien to the Buddhist teaching). This\ncultural infringement (i.e., fundamentalist religious intrusion) is sometimes\ndone by virulently aggressive methods (e.g., forced conversion of,\nparticularly, helpless impoverished Buddhists and Hindus in remote rural areas\nthrough blandishments, or by causing ritual desecration of their religious\nsymbols at their own hands, such as trampling on Buddha statuettes, something\nrevealed in the public media during the pre-Yahapalana years, as I remember).\nReligious subversion is sometimes done in more sophisticated ways in urban\nareas, something difficult to criticize or condemn without arousing opposition\nboth among the proselytizers and the potential proselytes. For example, there\nis the case of a Christian Father who preaches well on ethical matters that are\nsuperficially identical between Christianity and Buddhism. He, having\nmesmerized a mixed crowd by the manner of his preaching, suddenly exclaims\n\u2018Jesus is the SupremeTruth\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, no two religions agree\ntotally in terms of their metaphysics, nor in terms of their ethical\nprinciples. The differences between Theravada Buddhism preached\/practiced in\nSri Lanka and Catholicism professed by the majority of Sri Lanka\u2019s Christians\nare unbridgeable, as the first is based on the idea of Causality, and the\nsecond on Creationism. To ignore these differences is hypocrisy. The audiences\nin these programs consist not only of Christians, but Buddhists, Hindus, and\nprobably others as well. Even Buddhist monks are sometimes present on the stage\nwith this Catholic Father. If the Buddhists in the audience and the monks on\nthe stage have an iota of brains, they should realize that what the preacher is\nimplying is that Buddhists and others who are not Christians are spiritually\ndeluded, and that his intolerant, totalitarian assertion is not consonant with\nhis purported desire to generate goodwill among diverse religious communities.\nNo Buddhists will quarrel with Catholics or Muslims about their beliefs; nor\nwill they oppose conversion through conviction. But, they will object to them\ntrying to convert Buddhists by unethical means including force or deception. (\nIf a courageous monk or layperson, hearing the proselytizing Father\u2019s assertion\nof his personal religious belief or conviction, had raised objections, they\u2019d\nhave been roundly condemned on all sides. Of course, what is \u2018unethical\u2019 in a multicultural\ncontext is problematic. So, it is best to avoid such situations in the interest\nof religious harmony among the people.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Gnanasara Thera\u2019s is an\nunimaginably worse predicament than that hypothetical monk\u2019s or lay Buddhist\u2019s.\nWhat he exposed and challenged were infinitely greater and much more public and\neven violent instances of fundamentalist aggression. He endeavoured to do this\nin the calm and composed way characteristic of a Buddhist monk, without\nexpecting any reward (\u2018nissaranadyashayen\u2019  as he puts it); he has no\npolitical or other materialistic ambitions. For many years he tried to alert\nthe lay Buddhist leaders (politicians in power and those out of power) to the\ndanger. They (those of both the present and previous governments) didn\u2019t listen\nto him, while pretending to do so, because they thought that if they took any\ndecisive action against the handful of powerful communalists among minority\npoliticians responsible for questionable acts such as alleged anti-Buddhist\nsubversion, illegal felling of trees in the state forest reserve in Wilpattuwa,\nsettling foreign illicit immigrants  there, encroaching on and even\nvandalizing historic Buddhist places of worship in the North and East, and so\non, they would lose the support of the mainstream Christian and Muslim\ncommunities, which being minorities, naturally tend to form themselves into\n\u2018block vote\u2019 bastions at the instance of opportunistic politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The polity consisting of the\nmajority community (Sinhalese) cannot behave like this. It is always divided\ninto rival parties, and at parliamentary elections, under the existing\nelectoral system, it is extremely rare that a major party is able  form a\nviable government without the assistance of one or more minority parties, a situation\nwhere the latter become kingmakers despite the insignificance of their\nnumerical strength. The slightest movement towards redressing the balance in\nfavour of the disadvantaged majority Sinhalese in any anomalous situation would\ninvariably earn the label racist or extremist or chauvinist for the individual\nSinhalese or the group behind that initiative. So, the Sinhalese (Buddhists,\nparticularly) get criticised and condemned as racists, tribalists, etc., while\nin reality being victims of the racism, fanaticism, and extremism of others.\nThis applies to Ven. Gnanasara as well in the performance of the duty that has\nhistorically devolved on him as a Buddhist monk.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Gnanasara Thera approached\nthe Ven. Mahanayakes in Kandy and pleaded with them beseechingly, not once, but\nseveral times, and explained to them this problem with video evidence of\noutrageous Buddhism-bashing speeches of Wahhabist fanatics, to no avail. Once\nthe monk led a large procession of well behaved young activists (more than 2000\nstrong) from Getambe to the Sri Dalada Maligawa, and then they proceeded to the\nMalwatu Vihara, the monastery of the Ven. Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter.\nThe Mahanayake, at first, very unfairly, refused him an audience. Later, having\nfound that they were not ready to leave without seeing him, he allowed Ven.\nGnanasara and a few of his companions to come before him. Nothing resulted from\nthat meeting also.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBS leader wants the Maha\nSangha to assume their historic role as moral leaders without stooping to\npolitics, and is determined to resolve the Islamic extremist problem through\nrational dialogue with the participation of the clergy of other religious\ngroups (which is what he always wanted to do from 2013 onwards, because even\ngroups of traditional Muslims, he claims, approached him and pleaded with him\nto rescue them from Wahhabist and Salabist extremism). Unlike him  the UNP\nnational list MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera is engaged in a one man\npolitical show (an ostensible crusade against Islamist extremists, though it\nis) which, unless he is decent enough to call off in time, and join with the\nmainstream Sangha who are being galvanized into action cued by the activism of\nVen. Gnanasara and help form a united Sanga community that speaks with one voice\non matters that come within their purview, is bound to undermine emerging unity\namong the clergy of different religions in the face of ISIS terror. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impression among political\nanalysts  Ven. Ratana is a typical politician and a pragmatic political strategist\n(Pragmatism is amoral, or rather immoral). That he is clever at dissembling was\nevident to the less gullible onlookers during his fake \u2018fast unto death\u2019 before\nthe Sri Dalada Maligawa. It is obvious that he was not alone in staging the\nshow. The Ven. Mahanayake Theras severely criticised him after the event. He\nhad approached them before and told them about his intention, but cunningly he\ndid not reveal the venue to them. Had they been told beforehand that he was\ngoing to have his fast in the hallowed precincts of the Maligawa, they would\nnot have permitted him to do so; that would have been a serious setback for\nhim. But now he is being exposed in an even more damaging manner, as he should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of Ven. Gnanasara\u2019s\nexertions, unprecedented prospects of different religious communities standing\nup to the common enemy of murderous religious extremism are brightening. It is\nonly now that we are witnessing the first stirrings of a spring in the Sangha\nSasana, that is potentially freed from abominable Nikaya divisions, which are\nbased on caste in stark contradiction of the compassionate Buddha\u2019s teaching.\nVen. Gnanasara has made the largest contribution to this most positive\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island Cassandra ends her piece \u2018Cry the Beloved Country\u2019 (The Island\/June 7, 2019) with an ominous note contained in these words, where she refers to herself in the third person, as she usually does in her weekly column to give her writing a dramatic touch: Honestly Cassandra has lost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90225","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=90225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}