{"id":90639,"date":"2019-06-21T16:50:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T23:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=90639"},"modified":"2019-06-21T16:50:03","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T23:50:03","slug":"poson-brings-hope-the-only-thing-stronger-than-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/06\/21\/poson-brings-hope-the-only-thing-stronger-than-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Poson Brings \u2018Hope, the Only Thing Stronger than Fear\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Buddhism aims at creating a\nsociety where the ruinous struggle for power is renounced; where calm and peace\nprevail away from conquest and defeat; where the persecution of the innocent is\nvehemently denounced; where one who conquers oneself is more respected than\nthose who conquer millions by military and economic warfare; where hatred is\nconquered by kindness, and evil by goodness; where enmity, jealousy, ill-will\nand greed do not infect men\u2019s minds; where compassion is the driving force of\naction; where all, including the least of living things, are treated with\nfairness, consideration and love; where life in peace and harmony, in a world\nof material contentment, is directed towards the highest and noblest aim, the\nrealization of the Ultimate Truth, Nirvana.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–\n         Walpola\nRahula Thera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is two thousand two hundred\nand fifty-five years since the official introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka.\nThe small mango-shaped island that is Sri Lanka lying at the southern tip of\nthe large land mass of the Indian subcontinent is the homeland of the majority\nSinhalese, which they share with the minorities in peace and harmony. It has\nbeen so from time immemorial. They have no other homeland. There is no other\nSinhala speaking nation in the world. The Sinhalese have a recorded history of\nover two thousand five hundred years, but their indigenous tribal ancestors had\nbeen living in the island for countless millennia before the time that recorded\nhistory began, that is, prior to the date of the alleged arrival of the\nlegendary prince Vijaya from North India. It was during the reign of King\nDevanampiya Tissa (250-210 BCE) that Arhant Mahinda Thera (285-205 BCE) came to\nthe island of Sihaladwipa (the island of the Sinhalese, now known as Sri Lanka)\nto establish the Buddhasasana there in the year 236 BCE. Subsequent to that,\nwhen Theri Sangamitta (281-202 BCE) arrived in the island in order to establish\nthe bhikkuni (female Sangha) order, she brought a sapling from the Bodhi Tree\nat Bodh Gaya (located in the northern Indian state of Bihar as that area is known\ntoday) under which the ascetic seeker prince Siddhartha Gothama attained\nEnlightenment. According to the ancient chronicles such as the Dipavamsa and\nthe Mahavamsa, the two missionaries were, respectively, the son and daughter of\nthe Maurya Emperor Ashoka of India (304-232 BCE). The official introduction of\nBuddhism under royal patronage marks the dawn of the great civilization that\nthe Sinhalese built as a Buddhist nation. Sri Lankans celebrated the coming of\nBuddhism to the country on the Poson Full Moon Poya Day which this year fell on\nJune 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The despatch of his own\nchildren by Emperor Ashoka as Buddhist missionaries to the country of the\nSinhalese points to the fact that they received special attention from him. The\narrival of the two royal Maurya siblings for the formal inauguration of the\nBuddhist dispensation with its symbiotic relationship with the secular state is\nhistorically well authenticated. Their legacy remains to this day. The late\nVen. Dr Walpola Rahula Thera described Arhant Mahinda Thera as \u2018the father of\nSinhalese literature\u2019 by virtue of the fact that he translated the Tripitaka\n(the \u2018Three Baskets\u2019 containing the Buddhist Scriptures) into Sinhala (\u2018the\nlanguage of the islanders\u2019 as he called it) and wrote a commentary on it in\nthat ancient form of Sinhala (source: Wikipedia). This, of course, suggests\nthat the Sinhala language already had adequate resources to receive and give\nexpression to the new religious ideology. Besides, it is known that Mahinda\nThera preached to them in their own language, that is, Sinhala. So, he had to\nhave studied the language before he undertook the mission. Scholars tell us\nthat the Buddha Dhamma had not been entirely unknown to at least some of the\npeople of the island by the time the missionaries came. Canadian Buddhist\nscholar Professor Suwanda Sugunasiri has established the fact that Mahinda\nThera was the  redactor of the oldest Buddhapuja (Offering to the Buddha)\nin the world in 247 BCE (Source: Wikipedia). The funerary stupa built at\nMihintale for Mahinda Thera who died at the age of eighty is a hallowed site\nthat Buddhist pilgrims visit in their thousands every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The humane approach that\nMahinda Thera adopted in weaning the islanders off their native superstitious\npractices such as animistic observances and veneration of dead ancestors by\nmodifying them to suit the Buddhist teaching was, no doubt, inspired by the\nsame compassion he had towards ordinary people in the predominantly Hindu\nsociety into which he was born. He was mindful of the emotional distress that\nthe people would have experienced if they were called upon to throw those time\nhonoured practices overboard suddenly. This compassionate attitude was implicit\nin his accommodation of puja (offerings) in the Buddhist ritual practice that\nwas mentioned above, although the Theravada doctrine that he represented\nexcluded that element found in Hinduism. The native practice of supplicating to\ndead relatives for protection was replaced with \u2018punyanumodana\u2019 or sharing of\nmerits with them. This is akin to the Buddha\u2019s giving a new meaning to the\nancient Vedic ritual of worshiping the six quarters of the earth and sky that\nthe young householder Singala of the city of Rajagaha was performing early one\nmorning, when the Buddha was passing by. Arhant Mahinda Thera\u2019s elder sister\nSangamitta Theri\u2019s bringing of the Bodhi sapling to Sri Lanka seems to be a\nconcession to the animism that the locals were familiar with.  The sacred\nsapling was received by the king with great reverence, conveyed in a procession\nand planted in the royal park of Mahameghavana at Anuradhapura the capital\ncity. It stands to this day, known as the Sri Maha Bodhi. The \u2018conversion\u2019 of\nthe island dwellers to Buddhism did not involve any use of force, violence or\nbloodshed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history of Buddhist Sri\nLanka is literally \u2018written in stone\u2019 throughout the island. Rock inscriptions\nrecording significant events relating to the Buddhist dispensation are found in\nevery part of the country. The land is strewn with ruins of mighty structures\nsuch as ancient viharas,  cheitiyas, palaces, and forts. Not all of these\nancient constructions have disappeared. For example, many of the great\nirrigation tanks and canals that the Sinhalese built beginning with the Abhaya\nWewa at Anuradhapura done under the patronage of King Pandukabhaya (437-367\nBCE) still serve the nation. The Poson festival that commemorates the beginning\nof this long stretch of glorious history assumed added significance this year\nbecause of the besieged conditions in which the Sinhalese had to celebrate it.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passage quoted above\n as the epigraph to this essay is the final paragraph of Chapter VIII\n\u2018What the Buddha Taught and the World Today\u2019 of the classic work containing the\nessentials of Buddhism titled WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT by the late Ven. Dr\nWalpola Rahula Thera (originally published by the Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd.,\nLondon and Bedford, England, in 1959). We may appreciate how deeply desirable\nthe Buddhist goal delineated there is to the world in general, and to Sri Lanka\nin particular, especially at the present juncture. The recently held Poson\nceremony must have brought this broad aim of Buddhism to the forefront of\n the celebrants\u2019 minds in a context where they are having a foretaste of\nthe very antithesis of the ideal society that Buddhism wants to create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As can be judged from media\nreports, Poson this year, celebrated across Sri Lanka on June 16, brought a new\nbreath of life for our beloved motherland made terminally ill by unpatriotic\npoliticians who represent the interests of external and internal forces\ninimical to her. One popular preacher monk advised that every Buddhist house be\nilluminated with a Vesak lantern, though Vesak is supposed to have been\nobserved a month ago. Presumably, the monk\u2019s request was because, on the past\ntwo occasions (i.e., this year and the last), Buddhists\u2019 premiere religious\ncelebration, the annual Vesak festival, could not be held the way it is\ntraditionally done due to uncertainties created by unsettling political\ndevelopments in the country. Bright illuminations are the norm for the duration\nof the Vesak week, light being an offering made to the Buddha. In the\nprevailing circumstances, a Vesak lamp in every Buddhist home on the Poson Poya\nmight be taken as a demonstration of righteous defiance of unjust pressure\nexerted on Buddhists for their alleged extremism, as much as an expression of\nundimmed religious piety. The mainstream and social media reported a few\nToranas (also usually associated with Vesak) being on display for public view.\nAnd there were some dansalas (alms halls) too. The country\u2019s security services\nwere able to reassure the Buddhist public to come out of the siege mentality\nthey were driven into by the mindless and faceless Islamic terror attacks on\nApril 21 and reassert their right to freedom of religious belief and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For at least one hundred years\nto date, the Sinhala majority of the country have been the target of unilateral\ncriticism on grounds of their alleged racist mentality and religious extremism.\nThis criticism is entirely baseless. Sinhalese are not and have never been\nracists (if racism means unfair treatment of people of a different race or\nunprovoked violence against them). Sinhalese Buddhists are not religious\nextremists, either. It is a fact that no one can claim that Buddhists are less\ntolerant towards people of other faiths than Christians or Muslims are. It is\nan established fact that no exclusively Sinhalese race-based or  Buddhism-\nbased political party has had any prospect of being popular among Sinhalese Buddhists.\nAt least that has been the case so far. Sinhalese politicians invariably talk\nabout the interests of the country \u2013 the land – first; they don\u2019t exclude the\nminorities when they talk about the national interest. Racist minority\npoliticians do not speak a word about the national interest or the country;\nthey only talk about \u2018the Tamil people\u2019, \u2018the Muslim people\u2019, etc. (Of course,\nnot all minority politicians behave this way.) The worst Sinhalese politicians\ndo not behave in that manner. Yet it is the Sinhalese who get branded as\nracists. Even some discredited Sinhalese politicians are quick to condemn\nco-ethnic opponents who are courageous enough to speak up for the Sinhalese\nBuddhists when their rights are violated as racists in an attempt to curry\nfavour with the minorities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past five centuries\nof European colonial hegemony in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese have suffered many\ninjustices at the hands of the ruling minorities (imperialists and their native\nlackeys). The situation hardly changed after independence. Although the\ncolonialists are not there in person, their wish is being carried out by their\nlocal agents. Every legitimate attempt that the majority community makes to\nsecure justice for all citizens and achieve progress as a single nation while\nconforming to the principles of humanity, equality, peace, and non-violence\ntaught in Buddhism and found in other religions as well is somehow frustrated\nby the few racist minority politicians who manage to get elected to parliament\nby hoodwinking the masses they claim to represent. They oppose anything that\ngoes against their narrow racist schemes, although it may be good for the whole\ncountry. But the ordinary minority Tamils and Muslims that these handful of\nracists draw upon as bloc-vote banks are, like the majority Sinhalese,\nnon-communalist, non-violent, peaceful people who want to live and let live\nminding their own business. The Poson that came after the April 21 watershed\nrekindles prospects for creating in Sri Lanka the sort of peaceful and\nharmonious society that Buddhism aims at. All the communities Sinhalese\nBuddhists, Tamil, Hindus, Muslims, Christians (a large proportion of Muslims\nand Christians are racially Sinhalese) have become targets for Islamic terror\nattacks.  The quranic \u2018People of the Book\u2019 \u2018Ahl al-Kitab\u2019 – Jews,\nChristians, etc – are perhaps in less danger from mortal Islamic terror; but\nBuddhists and Hindus will have no reprieve; it is time Sinhalese and Tamils\ntook serious note of this. Therefore, practically all Sri Lankans have a strong\nincentive now to unite against the common enemy, Islamic fundamentalism, in\nwhatever guise it comes. Buddhist monks and clerics of other religions are\ngetting together to provide the necessary spiritual leadership for intellectual\nengagement over the matter. The influence of the deep rooted Buddhist cultural\nheritage of the country is an important factor in this context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The quote in the title is\nfrom the late American thriller writer Robert Ludlum) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Buddhism aims at creating a society where the ruinous struggle for power is renounced; where calm and peace prevail away from conquest and defeat; where the persecution of the innocent is vehemently denounced; where one who conquers oneself is more respected than those who conquer millions by military and economic warfare; […]<\/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-90639","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\/90639","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=90639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}