Sinhalabuddhism in Sri Lanka
http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/sinhalabuddhism-in-sri-lanka/
“A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion.
Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they
consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move
against him, believing that he has the gods on his side” Aristotle
If Lord Buddha were here now
there is one thing he would do- ban Sinhalabuddhism in Sri Lanka! - With
apologies to Mark Twain.
As a Sri Lankan and a Buddhist by faith I take it upon
myself, as others have not the right, to define the significant differences
between the philosophy of Buddhism as per the teachings of Lord Buddha and what
is practiced by the majority in this country under the umbrella of Buddhism.
This I do, not to wear my religion on my sleeve but to explain to my fellow
multi religious Sri Lankans and others who may be in a confused state regarding
the current goings-on in this country by the name of Buddhism.
To start with the majority
of Buddhists in this country who label themselves ‘Buddhists’ are those who
were born to Buddhist families. Therefore they did not become Buddhists through
an understanding and conviction of the Buddhist doctrine but were simply born
Buddhists.
Buddhism in its pure form is
too deep and complex a philosophy to be understood by the average and
undisciplined mind; its teachings, therefore, are greatly misunderstood and
misinterpreted by ‘born Buddhists’. Hence a majority of those Sri Lankans who
label themselves ‘Buddhists’ and practice it as a religion do so with their own
perception of the doctrine.
Therefore what is practiced
by most Sri Lankans under the Umbrella of Buddhism is a conjured up blend of
ritualism and symbolism that bears no resemblance or relation whatsoever to the
philosophy of the Buddha.
For instance Lord Buddha
never asked his followers to go to temple on Full Moon (Poya) days or any other
day for that matter and offer flowers stolen from a neighbour’s garden and
deposit them in front of a clay or stone statue perceived to be his image. He
never told his followers that by doing so a great load of merit would be
bestowed on them.
Lord Buddha never asked his
followers to pour pots of water on the ‘Bo tree’ (Bodhi Puja) thereby
encouraging it to rot and die. He never told his followers that by doing so a
great load of merit would be bestowed on them, deliver them from their misery
of a ‘bad period’ resulting in ill health, loss of employment, wealth etc.
Also Lord Buddha never asked
his followers to invite home Buddhist monks to lunch (offer alms) in order to
transfer merit to dead people so that they will go straight to heaven. He never
told his followers that by doing so even rapists, murderers, child molesters et al will be born as angels in heaven
or attain nirvana, courtesy almsgivings.
Therefore as illustrated
above, ‘Buddhism’ as practiced by most Sri Lankans is a theory that satisfies
the simple minded uneducated and unenlightened majority of a ‘need’, whatever
it may be.
The root cause of this
phenomenon is that Buddhism has no God to appeal to in times of crisis like in
other faiths. The average human being needs a supernatural power to look to
when faced with a crisis, so the first instinct of a Sri Lankan ‘Buddhist’ is
to run to the temple, pile flowers in front of statues, pour gallons of water
on the Bodhi tree, visit the Hindu Kovil and break coconuts and even run to a
Church and plead with Jesus, Virgin Mary and Saints, etc.,
All these above-mentioned
and more rituals are performed in the fervent hope that one be released from
suffering or to gain merit (Pin) in
order to acquire more and more materially.
Therefore the Buddhist theory of ‘Karma’ (cause and effect) the fundamental doctrine in Buddhism has no place in Sri
Lankan ‘Buddhism’ for it offers no divine salvation in times of need.
This is not to say that
there aren’t any Sri Lankans both amongst the Buddhist clergy and the laity who
follow Buddhism as it should, but the majority unfortunately, politicians
included, observe the other- Sri Lankan Buddhism.
According to Sri Lanka’s political
history it was the late SWRD Bandaranaike who threw scruples to the wind and
propagated the concept of ‘Sinhalabuddhism’ much to the detriment of Sri Lanka
as we now know. Recognising the fragility and weaknesses of the Sinhalese who
were mainly ‘Buddhists’ which made up the majority vote base, he himself a born
and buried at death Anglican Christian, became a pro tem ‘Buddhist’ for political mileage and created a mass
hysteria under the banner ‘Sinhalabuddhist’ the curse of which has today become
the root of all ills plaguing this nation. As ‘Karma’ (cause and effect) would
have it Bandaranaike was gunned down by none other but a pistol-toting
Sinhalabuddhist in saffron robes.
This demonic concept of a
‘Sinhalabuddhist’ introduced by the late SWRD Bandaranaike was to become sine qua non for future politicians of
Sri Lanka especially in his SLFP to garner votes at elections. The UNP regarded
more as a bourgeoisie party practiced ‘Sinhalabuddhism’ more subtly. The late JR Jayewardene portrayed
himself as a prima facie Buddhist as
per the Dhamma and therefore never openly encouraged ‘Sinhalabuddhism.’
His successor however, the late Ranasinghe Premadasa turned
Sinhalabuddhism into a form of
art. Not satisfied only with what ‘Sinhalabuddhism’ afforded him, Premadasa
went on to embrace Hinduism as well. With this he set the trend for subsequent
politicians to pray to Hindu Gods at various Hindu temples in Sri Lanka and
India for more and more of whatever they desired.
So here we are today in
‘Sinhalabuddhist’ Sri Lanka reductio ad
absurdum thanks to the myopic and selfish politicians of a bygone era. We
are now nothing but a decadent nation of murderers, rapists, child molesters,
rogues et al, with an Idiocracy for a
government mostly made up of ‘Sinhalabuddhists’ and a ‘Sinhalabuddhist’ ruler
who reportedly assures that “the government, while ensuring religious freedom
for all communities by enhancing interreligious harmony and tolerance, is
always duty bound to safeguard and foster Buddhism”. I believe what he meant was
“safeguard and foster Sinhalabuddhism”.
Today in the name of
Sinhalabuddhism, the revered saffron robe donned by disciples of Lord Buddha
has been turned by some into a uniform of bigots of ‘Sinhalabuddhism’ who
propagate intolerance, cruelty and disrespect of other religions; the very
opposite of Buddhism as per the Dhamma.
As a lay-student of the
world renowned most Venerable Piyadassi Maha Thera I consider myself privileged
to have had such an eminent Guru of the Buddhist order. Rev. Piyadassi as I
referred to him had been a close friend of my family for generations with whom
we had frequent interaction. Here was a Buddhist monk who would insist that we
sit with him at table and have lunch along with him while I as a curious
teenager bombarded him with questions on Buddhism which he answered patiently
and clearly. This type of interaction with such teachers is what is required
today.
With Rev. Piyadassi’s demise
in 1998, in my eyes at the time, he left shoes too big to be filled. But now I
know better. For there are many Buddhist prelates and monks of his caliber out
there who are worthy of being revered and worshipped as the true messengers of
Lord Buddha’s philosophy and they are those who can guide Sri Lanka’s future
Buddhist generations on the correct path.
If Sri Lanka’s incumbent
President sincerely wishes to safeguard and foster Buddhism in its pristine
form then it is his bounden duty to disband all those ‘Sinhalabuddhist’ bigots
in saffron robes and either rehabilitate them or put them away for good
preferable behind bars, so as to ensure they will never sully our nation or the
Dhamma again.
Furthermore, the President
must also take it upon himself to bring forth a system whereby our
impressionable younger and future generations of Buddhists are taught the
Dhamma by intelligent and educated Buddhist prelates as opposed to those
stick-in the-mud Buddhist monks who by no stretch of one’s imagination are
pristine models of Buddhism to do the job.
Further it would augur well if the incumbent
President was sincere when he reportedly assured “religious freedom for all
communities by enhancing interreligious harmony and tolerance” to consider
introducing the subject of
Comparative Religion to all schools.
The primary
benefit of this would be to afford our children at a very early age to acquire
a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophy of different religions
practiced in Sri Lanka.A child who
has undertaken such a course of study will undoubtedly have a much deeper
understanding of human beliefs and practices and therefore be more tolerant of
each other and not feel threatened by the religion of the other.
This would ideally lead to a
finally peaceful Sri Lanka where all ethnic groups and religions could live
together in harmony as Sri Lankans under the undivided umbrella of Sri Lanka!
The question is, are our
politicians selfless enough to take up such a challenge?
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