{"id":91092,"date":"2019-07-05T15:12:14","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T22:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=91092"},"modified":"2019-07-05T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T22:12:14","slug":"first-stirrings-of-a-sinhala-buddhist-spring-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/05\/first-stirrings-of-a-sinhala-buddhist-spring-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"First Stirrings of a Sinhala Buddhist Spring – II"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Rohana R. Wasala<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The polity consisting of the\nmajority community (Sinhalese) cannot behave like this. In any country, it is\nnormal for the majority community to be unconsciously undermined by a false\nsense of security vis-a-vis the minorities, whereas the latter feel a bit too\nparanoid with or without reason. The Sinhalese voting public are always divided\ninto rival parties, and at parliamentary elections, under the existing\nelectoral system, it is extremely rare that a major party is able to  form\na viable government without the assistance of one or more minority parties, a\nsituation where the latter become kingmakers despite the insignificance of\ntheir numerical strength. The slightest movement towards redressing the balance\nin favour of the disadvantaged majority Sinhalese in any anomalous situation\nwould invariably earn the label racist or extremist or chauvinist for the\nindividual Sinhalese or the group behind that initiative. So, the Sinhalese\n(Buddhists, particularly) get criticised and condemned as racists, tribalists,\netc., while in reality being victims of the racism, fanaticism, and extremism\nof others. This applies to Ven. Gnanasara as well in the performance of the\nduty that has historically devolved on him as a Buddhist monk.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Gnanasara Thera\napproached the Ven. Mahanayakes in Kandy and pleaded with them beseechingly,\nnot once, but several times, and explained to them this problem with video\nevidence of outrageous Buddhism-bashing speeches of Wahhabist fanatics, to no\navail. Once the monk led a large procession of well behaved young activists\n(more than 2000 strong) from Getambe to the Sri Dalada Maligawa, and then they\nproceeded to the Malwatu Vihara, the monastery of the Ven. Mahanayake of the\nMalwatte Chapter. The Mahanayake, at first, very unfairly, refused him an\naudience. Later, having found that they were not ready to leave without seeing\nhim, he allowed Ven. Gnanasara and a few of his companions to come before him.\nNothing resulted from that meeting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBS leader wants the Maha\nSangha to play their historic role as Buddhist monks 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 groups\n(which is what he always wanted to do from 2013 onwards, because even groups of\ntraditional Muslims, he claims with evidence, approached him and pleaded with\nhim to rescue them from Wahhabist and Salabist extremism). Unlike him  the\nUNP national list MP Ven. Athuraliye Ratana Thera is engaged in a one man\npolitical show (an ostensible crusade against Islamist extremists, though it\nis). Unless he is decent enough to call it off in time, and join with the\nmainstream Sangha who are being galvanized into action in response to the\nwatershed of April 21 Easter Sunday terrorist bombings, Ven. Ratana\u2019s maverick\nintervention is bound to undermine the emerging unity among the clergy of\ndifferent religions in the face of ISIS terror.  The activism of Buddhist\norganizations including the Ven. Gnanasara Thera\u2019s BBS facilitated this\nawakening among the Buddhist clergy and now it can help form a united Sanga\ncommunity that speaks with one voice on matters that come within their purview.\nBut Hon MP Ven. Ratana, most probably, wants to edge out the leaders of that\nmovement and assume control of it, with a view to playing an important role in\nthe corresponding political power structure that will evolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, Ven. Ratana seems to be\ntrying to play a two-in-one function combining both those roles. However, the\nrole traditionally assigned to the Maha Sangha has been above that of the king\nor, in modern times, the government. The ruler assigns a higher seat to the\nmonk and pays him obeisance. The monks didn\u2019t dabble in policy making or in\ngoverning, but advised the ruler on how to rule in the righteous way according\nto the Dasa Raja Dharma or the Ten Duties of the King. The question of a\nproblematic religion state relationship did not arise. Buddhism is not a\npolitical religion. The only politics it advocates is democracy. The Maha\nSangha or the Community (of Monks) is a perfectly democratic social entity. In\nthe modern world it is considered essential to keep religion and state separate\nfrom each other in order to ensure secular democratic rule. So every secular\ndemocracy should be regarded as consistent with Buddhist principles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The principle of secularism\nin governance is not a bad thing, and Buddhism is quite comfortable with it.\nSecularism in government simply means keeping religion and state separate from\neach other so that the former does not dictate government policies; yet it does\nnot prevent religious institutions from offering ethical guidance to the rulers\nand the citizens at large. The Sinhala translation of the term \u2018secular\u2019 as\n\u2018anaagamika\u2019 is bound to be misleading because of its inherent ambiguity, for\n\u2018anaagamika\u2019 can mean \u2018irreligious\u2019, \u2018areligious\u2019 { i.e., without religion} or\neven \u2018of a different religion\u2019. Probably, most ordinary citizens remain unaware\nof the real meaning of \u2018secular\u2019 in this context, which is \u2018areligious\u2019 as\nsuggested above, not anti-religion, or irreligious in the sense of immoral.\nHonoring the practical conventional definition of Buddhism as a religion (in\nessence it is not), we might say that it is a religion that is most compatible\nwith secular democracy, like Hinduism in India, definitely more so than\nChristianity. If America and Britain with their white Christian majorities are\nrecognized as exemplary secular democracies, while being priding themselves on\nbeing Christian nations, why can\u2019t Sri Lanka with its conspicuous Sinhalese\nBuddhist cultural identity be allowed to enjoy similar recognition as a\nBuddhist nation    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Ratana cannot provide the\npolitical leadership that the country needs, nor can he provide any spiritual\nleadership either, because of his attempted dabbling in statecraft and\npriestcraft simultaneously. Common to both is \u2018craft\u2019, but what one can achieve\nby craft doesn\u2019t endure. A Buddhist monk is not likely to make a good president\nor prime minister. The impression among political analysts is that  Ven.\nRatana is a typical politician and a pragmatic political strategist (Pragmatism\nis amoral, or rather immoral, but it is part and parcel of realpolitik.) That\nhe is clever at dissembling was evident to the less gullible onlookers during\nhis fake \u2018fast unto death\u2019 before the Sri Dalada Maligawa (He took care not to\ndie by drinking water, as the Catholic priest who joined the fast probably\ninadvertently revealed). 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 beforehand and told them about his intention, but cunningly\nhe did not reveal the venue to them. Had they been told that he was going to\nhave his fast in the hallowed precincts of the Maligawa, they would not have\npermitted him to do so; that would have been a serious setback for him. It is\ndoubtful whether his later exploit of forcibly entering the alleged Sharia\nUniversity campus currently under construction in Baticaloa for inspection as\nan MP will serve a useful purpose. His actions will only serve to unnecessarily\npoliticize this deadly issue. <\/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\n\n\n

The monks do not relish the\nidea of establishing a Buddhist theocracy, which is, in any case, \ninconceivable, considering the spirit of absolute democracy that characterizes\nthe Maha Sangha. Buddha praised the system of government followed by the\nLicchavis of Vesali of his time, who were his relations, being of a martial\nrace like himself: it was a form of republican system of government by common\nconsent, an ancient version of what we call democracy today. However, the\nmonks\u2019 staying above mundane politics doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t have\nanything to do with secular politics (or how the country is run). Buddhist\nmonks in the majority Buddhist Sri Lanka have been the custodians of the\ncountry\u2019s Buddhist cultural heritage for two thousand two hundred and fifty-five\nyears according to written records. By the way, which other country in the\nworld can boast of such a long unbroken singular religious tradition? Shouldn\u2019t\nthe United Nations Organization make special recognition of this fact in the\nname of human civilization, which is currently being threatened with\nannihilation by murderous religious extremism? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the influence of its humane\nspiritual values, Buddhism ensures, not only the peaceful coexistence of the\nvarious communities who live there, but also the unhindered enjoyment and\nprotection of their freedom of belief, including especially their religious\nbeliefs and observances, except the alleged divine right of believers of any\nreligion to kill or persecute those who don\u2019t share their beliefs, or to discriminate\nagainst them. What Ven. Gnansara proposes to the Maha Sangha is that they unite\nand provide the necessary moral guidance for the rulers to rule the country\nrighteously, whatever political ideologies they subscribe to. This does not\ninvolve any violation of secular democracy in governance. He says that the Sri\nLankan society to day is sick in every way. To heal the society, the Maha\nSangha must unite. He quotes the Buddha\u2019s teaching: \u2018sukho sanghassa samaggi\u2019\n\u2018Happy is harmony among the Sangha\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Gnanasara Thera predicts\nthat when the Maha Sangha are united, the politicians and the people will fall\nin line, and a suitable lay political leadership will emerge. Ven. Ratana\u2019s\nintervention in his capacity as an MP monk will produce some limited positive\nresults in the immediate context, but in the long run, it will be\ncounterproductive. He is only doing more of what he did in the past. And we all\nknow what he did has led to. His involvement will be an obstacle to the\nemergence of a lay political leader that the whole country approves of as being\ncapable of fixing not only the problem of Wahhabist incursion, but also the\ninfinitely greater issue of external interference in the country\u2019s domestic\naffairs that, in the first place, as the media reveal, inflicted it on\nour  nation under the Yahapalanaya. It is good to note that Ven. Ratana is\nstill not contrite enough about the pioneering role he played in calling down\nthat visitation on a resurgent Sri Lanka at the end of 2014.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The D-Day for epoch-making\nSangha unity to usher in a new spring will be July 7, 2019 in Kandy in the\nvicinity of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, where a massive rally of Buddhist monks\nand lay Buddhists will be held that day for the proclamation of a Dasa Panatha\nor Ten Commandments of righteous governance based on Buddhist principles drawn\nby erudite monks in consultation with experts in other\nfields.        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Rohana R. Wasala The polity consisting of the majority community (Sinhalese) cannot behave like this. In any country, it is normal for the majority community to be unconsciously undermined by a false sense of security vis-a-vis the minorities, whereas the latter feel a bit too paranoid with or without reason. The Sinhalese voting public […]<\/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-91092","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\/91092","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=91092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}