Monday, February 18, 2013

On overcoming the delusional religious movement in Sri Lanka


It is with profound sadness that I read about the deplorable demonstration by a group of fanatic Sri Lankans calling for a Halal boycott. There are many news and blog sites that provide the details: BBC report, the DBSJeyaraj blog, the Daily Mirror site and the Mirror site.

This ethno-religious movement has been steadily building momentum, spreading its hatred and its delusional viewpoints via Facebook and other channels. And quite disgracefully, a substantial section of the so-called (ignorant?) Sinhala Buddhist population in this country blindly believe and passionately follow the spurious statements uttered by these fanatics.

I have personally witnessed supposedly devout Sinhala Buddhists becoming agitated and needlessly upset by the fear-mongering claims of this movement. One such absurd claim is that the Sinhala Buddhist population in Sri Lanka is declining rapidly due to the rise in other religions.

My personal view is that if there is such a decline of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, it should be directly attributable to the highly dubious form of Buddhist philosophy and practices of urban Sri Lanka today. This brand of Buddhism is primarly led by Buddhist priests whose rhetoric completely contradicts the doctrine preached by the Buddha.

For example, consider the Cula Hatthipadopama Sutta (the "shorter discourse on the simile of the elephant's footprint"), Majjhima Nikaya 27 (Source: Thanissaro Bikkhu's translation). This Sutta is historically significant to Sri Lankan Buddhists, since it is the sermon that was repeated by Arhant Mahinda to King Devanampiyatissa on a Poson Poya day, thereby leading to the dawn of  the Buddhist era in this country.

The following excerpt from this Sutta refers to the virtues of a monk who has renounced household life with conviction in the Buddha and faith in the Dhamma:

"Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord.

Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing and pleasing to people at large."

Are we privileged to witness this type of virtuous behavior by the monks at the forefront of the fanatical "Bodu Bala Sena" movement?

Unfortunately almost all major religions in the world today appear to be saddled with pockets of extremism. The danger is when these isolated, delusional protagonists are able to rally others to multiply in numbers. In this instance in Sri Lanka, they are doing so by igniting flames of hatred among gullible people by purportedly being the self-appointed defenders of Buddhism!

Let's wholeheartedly reject such false views which are driven by ignorance and blind passion.

Instead, let's join hands in unity by practicing Metta, Karuna, Muditha and Upekkha - as portrayed by the four cornerstone Bo-leaves in our Sri Lankan national flag. These practices alone, can lead our nation to peace and toward prosperity!

11 comments:

WildRose/SnowDrop said...

A great post to read..appreciate your valued point! Thanks!

Prasad said...

It is nice to see you back to blogging Shahani and it also shows the issue that you have discussed is something that we cannot ignore. Also it is nice to see you are putting some effort to spread a message of non-violence and pluralism, which is actually the need of the day.

At the risk of sounding not-so-nice, I have to say few things which might easily be misunderstood if read in a hurry, but I will say them anyway. As a person non-aligned with any ethnic or religious identity, I think I am better positioned to make such comments.

The "religion" has always been a problem than a solution, in this day and age. The problem is that we often fail to understand (or refuse to understand) the nature of "organized and institutionalized religion". We always refer to the term "religion" as another term for the collection set of ethics, moral-principles and a philosophy about human life. This may be the dictionary definition of religion, but when we speak of matters such as the one at hand this is NOT what we meant by the word "religion". The definition of the term 'religion' as applicable to this scenario is IMO a simply "group identity" that often works as a political camp. The so called core-principles of religion is only of superficial importance to such a political group. We first have stop kidding ourselves and understand how an organized and institutionalized religion operates and what it stands for.

Religiosity and spirituality at a personal level is no one else’s business but oneself's, and no one should question or bother you regarding the private beliefs you hold or lack of it. If religion is such an innocent personal belief system, then none of the matters that we talk about here arises. The religion on the contrary is actually a political device.

What I see happening today in Sri Lanka is that there is a clash of these group identities. We cannot also ignore the fact that the two sides currently at war are the two sides of the same coin. The institutionalized Buddhism in Sri Lanka is no different from Institutionalized Islam. Both systems try to subjugate their followers and and dominate the socio-economic landscape as much as they can.

We have been cutting too much slack for these ancient and oppressive structures called organized/institutionalized religion, and we have been letting these monsters grow by giving them veneration, all the resources, tax exemptions and on top of that immunity from criticism. Moreover in Sri Lanka we have been feeding not one, but many, such competing institutionalized religions.

Lately the Buddhist institution saw that Islamic institution is growing fast and also making considerable income using this so called "Halal" certification. And it is not a surprise that they enter in to all out war to claim their market-share when certain tipping point is reached in other side's market-share.

Damith Senanayake said...

Well said, indeed madam. :) Although, there is a rationale behind the fact that 'halal' is a business farce, (as I am sure, Prasad will agree) it has been made abundantly clear that the religious or rather racial hype is motivated by little if not nothing more than business jealousy and principle ignorance of one's religion!

Harean Hettiarachchi said...

Well said. Even as a non-Buddhist, I have considered Buddhism an inalienable part of my culture and identity. I have always been drawn to its values and philosophy, and am still proud I learnt meditation in my Catholic Boy's school.

It's dispiriting to see the hate spewed in the name of Buddhism by what is a small group of people. It's worsened by the knowledge that these ideas have found fertile soil in a wider group of people whom I would never have thought could become so casually racist.

I feel that Sri Lanka's historical struggles against class have been subverted to become ethnic conflicts. This latest campaign against the Muslim community is rooted in economic insecurity. But in Sri Lanka, its safer to go after a minority than to wage a class war.

I am glad therefore that our Buddhist friends are making their voices heard. That they are outraged that their identity is being used to justify some very ugly and un-Buddhist words and actions.

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