Buddhist Priest and the Law – from the Sublime to the Ridicule

“The Buddhist Priests are required to follow the 227 Vinaya rules. If they are found to have breached the Vinaya rules, they should be punished in terms of those rule, by the Buddhist hierarchy. If they have committed a serious offence in breach of the law of the land, they should be judged by the civil authorities, in addition to punishment under the Vinaya rules.”

by Charles.S.Perera

(September 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) During the rein of the Kings in Sri Lanka, the offenders were brought before the King, to be judged for the offences for which he had been accused. His Majesty the King was the sole authority.

Now it is different. We have accepted a British style democracy, with the separation of powers that go with it. Therefore the judiciary is separate and independent of the Executive and the Legislature. When the Court is in session the Judge is the sole authority . The people seeking justice accept the independence of justice and the authority of the judge.

The manifestation of the acceptance of the judicial authority is the deference shown to the judge by standing up when he enters the Court. All those who are present in the Court are equal before Justice, whatever the Social or Official status of a person. It is not a respect shown to the person of the judge, but to his Office.

Outside the Court the judge is an ordinary lay person. If the Judge is a Buddhist, he will pay respect to a Buddhist Priest, as any other lay person. He may even go on his knees to ask the blessings of a Buddhist Priest. It is not for that matter that a Buddhist Priest present in the Court should not get up to respect the independent authority of the judge and his judgement.

If the Buddhist Priest seeks exception in view of his religious position, the Court is not the place where he should be present. If a Buddhist Priest has committed a criminal act, in terms of the Criminal Law, in the eye of justice he is a person who has been accused of committing a criminal act, nothing else. As such he has forfeited his right to be treated as a Buddhist Priest. And so he will be an accused person before the Court of Law, or a defendant in a civil case.

Under these circumstances it was amusing to read , that four Buddhist Organisations are proposing a manifestation against the Chief Justice to ask the President of Sri Lanka to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to Probe the Chief Justice, for insulting Buddhism in the Supreme Court, and to look into 100 of his previous court rulings. In other words the Associations want the judge to be judged !

The writer is neither a Catholic , nor an agnostic seeking to smear the sublimity of the Venerated Buddhist Priests. On the other hand he holds the Buddhist Priesthood in utmost veneration. But he is sad to see the Buddhist Priests falling from the sublime to the ridicule.

The four associations: Conversion Observation Centre, Buddhist National Movement, Soma Thera Chinthana Foundation and Bodubala Sena, contemplating a public awareness campaign against the Chief Justice, will not be doing a service to Buddhism. It is far better for them first to understand what actually is the greater menace to the Buddha Sasana. Is it the Chief Justice, affirming his independent authority in his Court, or the Buddhist Priests over stepping the bounds of their religious claim to respect and veneration ?

We should know to separate the secular from the religious . Judiciary is a civil or secular authority that is independent of the executive, and the legislature. A Priests should not commit any offence that may place him at the mercy of the judicial authority. Therefore, these four association should see in this matter between the Priests and the Judiciary who stands to be blamed.

The Buddhist Priests are required to follow the 227 Vinaya rules. If they are found to have breached the Vinaya rules, they should be punished in terms of those rule, by the Buddhist hierarchy. If they have committed a serious offence in breach of the law of the land, they should be judged by the civil authorities, in addition to punishment under the Vinaya rules.

The Buddhist Priests have no right to ask for separate Courts to judge them for civil or criminal offences they may commit. The Society cannot be changed to suit the Buddhist Priests. It is the Buddhist Priest aware of the threat to their dignity, who should avoid acts that would result in the intervention of the state authorities in the course of their maintaining peace and order in the secular society.

The four Association: Conversion Observation Centre, Buddhist National Movement, Soma Thera Chinthana Foundation and Bodubala Sena, who have taken up the defence of the Buddhist Priests against the Chief Justice, if they proceed with the proposed action would only be adding insult to injury.

It may be more useful for these Associations to read the Buddhist Commission Report to see whether any part of it could be implemented even at this late stage, to re-establish the loss of respect, and to ensure continued veneration of the Buddhist Priesthood. They may instead of making a public manifestation, request the President to appoint a commission of inquire in to the possibility of re-establishing the Pirivena System of education to the Buddhist Monks, and make recommendations to reform the Buddhasasana so that we may never again see a Buddhist Priests in a Court of Law in Sri Lanka.

The peril the Buddhism in Sri Lank is facing to day comes from the Buddhist Priest getting involved in worldly affairs like an ordinary "householder". And the primary cause of this phenomenon is the abandoning of the Pirivena System of Education to Buddhist Priests.

The present trend of the Buddhist Priests giving up their true vocation to become worldly monks is a danger for the continued existence of the Venerated Order of the Sangha. Therefore it is time the public is made aware of the necessity to intervene to demand appropriate authorities to change the present situation with regard to the deterioration of the discipline of the Buddhists Monks, and take appropriate action to punish the Buddhist Priests who behaves like lay men, under the Vinaya rules.

It is true that a Buddhist Priest should not get up, bow down, shake hands, make salutations by putting the palms of hands together, or kissing the Pope's ring to show their respect. But a Buddhist Priest not being worldly should not be present in a Court of Law. If he happened to be in a Court of Law, then he should respect the customs and practices of the Court, if not suffer the indignity of being punished by the Judge. - Sri Lanka Guardian