“Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka who himself was manhandled resulting in serious injury to him by the God- Father of the Underworld within the very precincts of the supreme legislature, was not preaching Budu-bana from the Tripitaka the other day at Temple Trees. He was singing hosannas in praise of a corrupt government which does not believe even in an iota of loving kindness towards humanity the Buddha spoke of.”______________________
(April 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Buddha’s philosophy is universal loving kindness towards humanity and all life on Earth.
‘Refrain from harming any life’ is the first of the five most basic promises all Buddhists make before images of the Buddha apart from the other four i.e. stealing, lying, indulging in wrongful sensual pleasures and consumption of alcohol.
Last full moon day the President was shown on TV making the same promises sitting before the JHU monk Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka, with a large gathering at his residence.
The JHU led by the Buddhist clergy was formed with the intention of catering to the Sinhala Buddhist majority and working towards their upliftment. Naturally this intention itself is contradictory to the very foundation of the Buddha’s noble teachings of universal loving kindness towards humanity without any kind of racial, religious or caste prejudices. Peace is a holistic process and is not limited to a particular community or religion. Conflict and violence are the foundation of today’s brutal war and terrorism accompanied by untold misery to all Sri Lankans irrespective of race or religion.
The beginning of all this could be traced to the extremist stand taken by politicians and the Buddhist clergy in asking for the abandoning of the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact signed by these two leaders 50 years ago.
In the conflict thus created in the Buddha’s land so far thousands of innocent young and old lives have perished. Many thousands have become widows, orphans and invalids. Billions upon billions worth of national assets and private property have been destroyed. Not only that, the sky rocketing cost of living has led to malnourishment among children in poverty stricken families.
The President says that the war is to eradicate terrorism and establish democracy in the country while the free media personnel are being murdered, slashed with razors and clubbed in broad daylight causing serious injury. Others are intimidated, arrested and detained without any charges being framed against them. Media establishments that expose anti-social activities of the government are set ablaze by underworld thugs with political backing.
Bribery, corruption, squandering and swindling of public funds goes on unchecked. The long arm of the law is silenced under powers vested in the President by an ineffective and flawed constitution.
No wonder the Buddha’s land has turned out to be a gold mine to those who stash away millions and millions earned by way of commissions and other numerous fraudulent deals in secret accounts abroad.
Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka who himself was manhandled resulting in serious injury to him by the God- Father of the Underworld within the very precincts of the supreme legislature, was not preaching Budu-bana from the Tripitaka the other day at Temple Trees. He was singing hosannas in praise of a corrupt government which does not believe even in an iota of loving kindness towards humanity the Buddha spoke of.
The promises they make before Buddha statues in front of cameras are purely for propaganda purposes. Their actions are really devilish and shameful for a country, which claims to have more than 2500 years of cultural heritage.
Even if a thousand more Buddhas are born in the world this type of Rusputin monks hiding behind the image of a noble and Universal Teacher shall be of no use to humanity.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
The writer has an anti-Buddhist attitude. It is due to lack of a Buddhist activism that all the Buddhist nations of Sri Lanka, Thailand, and South Korea have suffered a lot. Being an American born Tamil Buddhist myself, I know the necessity of a Buddhist-Hindu activism to defeat Christian crusading idea and Muslim Kilafat idea. Sri Lankan Buddhists themsleves especially including the writer this article constantly bring disaster to Sri Lanka. Buddhists' anti-monk attitude and passive approach are the biggest menace to Sri Lanka, not the monks. Thanks to their pragmatic approach, idealists like writer are outraged. What a disaster. As Anagarika Dharmapala said, 'Singhalese kalu suddas' continue to destroy the country, a colonial business that got stopped, as the British left Sri Lanka.
Raaj Sundaralingham
Washington DC
I appreciate what Mr.Sundaralingam is trying to do in order to protect Buddhism. But as a Buddhist who is trying to have a way of life as taught by Lord Buddha, I think Buddhism practised by many including some Srilankan monks is different from what Buddha taught. Buddha taught what is called “Akalika Dhamma”, (Dhamma which doesn’t change with time). But many monks try to modernise Buddha’s teachings, (specially Vinaya Pitaka) to justify the wrong doings, some of them not even keep five precepts. I believe the threat to Buddhism is not from outside, but from the non-practising monks who are full of” Kama Thanha”, using the robe to accumulate wealth by cheating the public. If you are a true Buddhist these monks and politicians cannot destroy your faith and wisdom. Devadatta destroyed himself but not Buddha’s teachings.
True Buddhist
UK
As a Tamil Buddhist myself I echo Mr. Sundaralingham's view. But I also do agree that not all monks make the right choices.Yet I disagree with 'True Buddhist' in that the Vinaya is not subject to change. The Dhamma is timeless, yes, yet the Vinaya is simply a set of rules for the monks. While the core rules should be maintained, I argue that sometimes rules have to be changed to keep with the time whilst keeping the 5-precepts in line. The Buddha even said that the lesser rules can be changed.If monks feel an urge to engage in social issues, they should not forget that they represent an ancient lineage that adheres to core ascetic values. I'm not sure of the true intentions of the monk in this article, but monks with common sense are sadly not well liked by those in authority in Sri Lanka (i.e the late Ven. G. Soma Thero).
True Buddhists will not lose their faith in light of social changes, but what happens when theistic religions come to the forefront of societies is that they IMPOSE rather than allow for changes to the dynamic of the culture. Buddhism is VERY different from such religions and is in my view the most tolerant religion in existence. In such a society many different beliefs and cultures are allowed to exist, but is rarely the case in other deeply religious societies.
Being from a christian background I have seen a fare share of denigration of other religions and subtle moves at conversions.
Well, small streams actually make th most noise.........
RR
Canada
As a Tamil Buddhist myself I echo Mr. Sundaralingham's view. But I also do agree that not all monks make the right choices.Yet I disagree with 'True Buddhist' in that the Vinaya is not subject to change. The Dhamma is timeless, yes, yet the Vinaya is simply a set of rules for the monks. While the core rules should be maintained, I argue that sometimes rules have to be changed to keep with the time whilst keeping the 5-precepts in line. The Buddha even said that the lesser rules can be changed.If monks feel an urge to engage in social issues, they should not forget that they represent an ancient lineage that adheres to core ascetic values. I'm not sure of the true intentions of the monk in this article, but monks with common sense are sadly not well liked by those in authority in Sri Lanka (i.e the late Ven. G. Soma Thero).
True Buddhists will not lose their faith in light of social changes, but what happens when theistic religions come to the forefront of societies is that they IMPOSE rather than allow for changes to the dynamic of the culture. Buddhism is VERY different from such religions and is in my view the most tolerant religion in existence. In such a society many different beliefs and cultures are allowed to exist, but is rarely the case in other deeply religious societies.
Being from a christian background I have seen a fare share of denigration of other religions and subtle moves at conversions.
Well, small streams actually make th most noise.........
RR
Canada
To start with the writer does not have the guts to identify himself by name. A nameless article is worthless. Still I like to make few comments about the article and some comments made afterwards by another so called true buddhist from UK. It is easy for many to criticise everyone for wrongdoings of few. This writer started the article to criticise a buddhist monk and then goes into attacking JHU and the government. The writer is so ill-informed that he is not even aware that the monk he is refering has left JHU long time ago and a supporter of the racist UNP. In a free society even monks have the right to express their views though the writer is not aware of it and that we have to respect the freedom of speech. As the Buddha said whatever one's does they will have to face it by themselves. Are we perfect to criticise others especially without facts and evidence that can be proved? So, if monks are doing the wrong things they will face it and why should we worry about it? The writer should concentrate on what he can do to the country and its people.
If monks do not come forward even at this late stage, there will be no more Sinhalese race nor buddhism for too long as has happenned in many countries in Asia. Probably the writer is one of those Christian or Muslim who is waiting to convert Sri Lanka also into non-Sinhalese Buddhist country. Buddhist monks have always througout our history helped to saved the country. So why not at this important time of the country? I would also like to remind the writer that except Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, Tamils and Muslims have Political extreme parties to protect their issues, so what is wrong to have a party who can bring issues that concerns Sinhalese and buddhists?
I also would like to inform the so called UK Buddhist that majority of the buddhist monks in Sri Lanka practise Buddha's teachings and like any other relegion there are people who do not practise what their teachers have taught. Please do not generalised and also it shows this person living in UK must be following a different path as I lived and practised Buddhism in UK for 15 years. As far as I know no monk has tried to change the Dhamma except applied different examples to understand dhamma and I can't see anything wrong in that. It is people like UK buddhist who is ready to generalised and blame all monks for everything that we need to be aware of as it is very clear they are trying to destroy Buddhism. I do not say there are bad monks like any other relegion, but please do not generalise and bring all monks buddhism into their petty arguments.
The author of this article has mixed up two different aspects of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhist culture, perhaps by ignorance.
There is Buddhism and there is Buddhist culture.
Buddhism is the philosophy preached by Buddha.
Buddhist Culture is somewhat influenced by Buddhism. It is quite possible this level of influence be less than 10%.
People can wear yellow robes and acts as Buddhists monks and do every imaginable corrupt acts Colombo politician does. They can go to war, intimidate people and run others life anyway they wish.
Why someone wants to judge a Sinhalese cultural monk according to Buddhism?
There is nothing wrong with Buddhism, nothing will. There are Sinhalese monks who try to practice true Buddhism and have no interest in politics rather how to achieve Buddhist wisdom within their mind.
Sinhalese Buddhist culture has severe problems like many other cultures since that has accommodated hypocrisy.
If you know what it is, why worry?
Acts of these so called star cultural monks shouldn't bother anyone.
In fact, I appreciate their service to the nation. When every one has given up serving Sinhalese, these monks are trying to stay true to their own people.
They may not be true to Buddhism, what is the big deal?
I don’t think the writer is Anti-Buddhist since he/she is complaining about the person so call Uduwe Dhammaloka and the JHU gentlemens. I have no reason to believe any of those JHU gentlemen are Buddhist monks since they decided to involved in the practice so call Politics, witch Buddha have rejected in the first place. If Politics and law making could bring happiness to the world, Buddha could have stay with his father and execute his executive presidency. But he gave up all his executive powers and decided be a monk. So any monk decided to use laws and punishment as the way to bring happiness to the people, then he is not a Buddhist monk. He can be an Islamic monk or a Christian monk, but not a Buddhist monk.
And I even don’t think writer knows anything about Buddhism to begin with. He talk about Sri Lanka is the Buddha land like Buddha own real estate. And then he talks about how the world will be after 1000 Buddhas born. So I think lack of understand of Buddhism made the writer to believe anyone wearing robe is a Buddhist monk. But that is a common mistake most of us make including our president when he invited Uduwe Dhammaloka to his place.
Now we have heard it all "I am a Tamil Buddhist"!!! Who is kidding ? Certainly the tone of the article does not tally with the concept.Trying to pull wool over our eyes.You will need to be much sharper than that.
Religion is the most oldest and profitable religion in the world.
There is no money in Buddhism. Therefore monks wanting to make a living out of preaching Buddhism has to incorporate rituals to those who come into the temple and incorporate polishing up the human ego. The monks have now become priests. Priests are no longer followers of what they preach. The perching is only for the listeners.
Most commercial temples in Sri Lanka are catering to egotistical Sinhalese. There are some who caters for those who want to get rid of ego. However these places are not money making and not in the daily news.
Sinhalese Buddhists are never taught the Buddhism the right way. What they want is to follow ritualistic Buddhism just like people follow Christianity.
Having said that I welcome the plight by JHU priests since they are more pro-Sinhalese than anyone you can see in the island. They understand the Sinhalese rights and privileges than anyone else. I hope they will not be as corrupt as out political leaders, not get too involved in indulging life luxuries and try to do a genuine service to the majority people on the Island.
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