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| Sunday, 23 May 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Crisis in the Sangha, answer is Vinaya by Dr. Keerthi Jayasekera A news item in an English morning daily of 23.2.2004 states, "Bhikkhu in Politics: Mahanayakes fear a grave calamity - The Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters of the Siyam Maha Nikaya yesterday in a joint statement said they did not approve of the decision by a section of the Buddhist Monks to contest the forthcoming General Elections. This is a grave calamity to the Buddha sangha......" Are the fears expressed by the Mahanayake justified? If so on what grounds? Has a Buddhist monk a role to play in society? If so what is that role? What are the duties and obligations of the Sangha towards the society which supports and sustains them throughout their life on earth? What did the Buddha preach about the duties of a monk to the society? In the light of the present crisis in the Buddhist Sangha, answers to the above have to be found without much delay. This is what the Buddha says: A monk should always remember that the Buddha had told them that they owe four kinds of duties or obligations to laymen who support them, namely he (the monk) restrains you from doing wrong; he enjoins you to do what is right; He informs you of what you had not heard before; He reveals to you the way to heaven (the goal) - Singalovada Sutta. The monastic life which the Buddha recommended at the inception of his order itself, was one of self-discipline, living according to the doctrine, with the sole intention of attaining the final goal of deliverance. For 20 long years in the 45-year long ministry of the Buddha, there were no formal rules and regulations for the community of monks. However as time passed by, the order began to increase, and the same devotion and the earnestness of early monks with regard to spiritual development were not present in the monks who later joined the order. Rules of discipline Lapses on their part became noticeable and then the Buddha had to intervene and promulgate rules, regulations and injunctions, to prevent the deterioration of the Order. It is the collection of all these rules of discipline that Arahath Upali recited and explained one by one to the 500 Arahaths who took part in the first council which was held three months after the passing away of the Buddha. Thus evolved the Vinaya Pitaka of the Tripitaka. Over the past few decades the secular interest in the Sangha at the cost of Spiritual perfection has reached such a high proportion that, a set of politically motivated monks has formed a political party known as Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU); its object being to save the Sinhala race, Buddhism and the country as a whole, by securing political power. This single move by a set of monks has divided the entire Sangha community. JHU monks say that they will establish a Dharma Rajya or Dharma Kingdom, where the government will be based on Dasa Raja Dharma. The Buddha has preached the Dasa Raja Dharma or ten wholesome qualities that a ruler should cultivate and possess to be practised in an ethically perfect society. During the 45 year long ministry of the Buddha. He trod, preached, and lived in the Kingdom of Kosala ruled by King Pasenadi and the Kingdom of Magada ruled by Seniya Bimbisara and Ajasatta, his son, and to a lesser degree in the republics of Mallas, Lichchavis, Sakyans etc. Lord Buddha had the most profound impact on Pasenadi of Kosala and Bimbisara and his son Ajasatta of Magada. Despite this fact, during the very life time of the Buddha nowhere to be found was a Dharma Rajya or a King who ruled with Dasa Raja Dharma. In Sri Lanka the separatist war has halted due to a MOU. Lord Buddha in Attadanda Sutta points out, only a man of wisdom who has no envy for others could uproot this tragedy, the cause of war. In the event of an outbreak of war, or if caught up in the cross fire between the infighting in the LTTE, how does the JHU monks propose to face up to this reality? How do they hope to bring it to an end? What will be their defence policy? What is the economic package that the monks can offer to the lay society? I thought up to now it is the other way around, the laity offering the Sangha. Turning the pages of Mahavamsa, one does not come across a single instance where a Buddhist monk subjecting him to the 227 rules of Vinaya (Disciplinary rules governing the conduct of a Buddhist monk) has ever ascended the throne and ruled this country. On the contrary there is Ariththa, the nephew of King Devanampiyatissa who was his prime minister, giving up the worldly life and entering the Buddhist Sangha. It was this same Mahaariththa who recited the Vinaya rules at the Thuparama Council held by Arahath Mahinda in Anuradhapura, over 2000 years ago, thus helping to establish Buddhism in this country. As time passed by, instances of indiscipline in the Sangha community were to be noted. Mahavamsa states: "King Kanirajanu Tissa (31-34 A.D.) reigned three years in the city, when he had slain his brother. He decided the lawsuit concerning the uposatha-house in the (Vihara) named after cetiya, but sixty bhikkhus who were involved in the crime of high treason did the king order the cetiya-pabbata, and he commended these evildoers to be flung in to the caves called Kanira". During the rule of King Gothabhaya (253-266 A.D.): "Purifying the doctrine by suppression of heresy he (King Gothabhaya) seized bhikkhus dwelling in the Abhayagiri (Vihara), sixty in number, who had turned to the Vetulya-doctrine and were like a thorn in the doctrine of the Buddha, and when he had excommunicated them, he banished them to the further coast". It is to be noted with interest in the Mahavamsa, a monk named Dhatusena residing where his uncle was the head priest, disrobed, waged war, united the country and ruled the country thereafter as King Dhatusena. Theraputtabhaya, a Buddhist monk, disrobed and joined King Dutugemunu's Army and became one of the 10 famous generals who fought the war with King Elara, in Anuradhapura. Upon victory he left the King's Army and reordained himself and as the story goes, became an Arahat in the end. Kandyan period In the Kandyan period, following the death of King Wimaladharmasooriya of Kandy, his cousin, (some say stepbrother), who was at that time the chief priest at the Sri Pada Temple, disrobed and married the King's widow, Donacathirina and ascended the Throne as King Senarath and ruled the country thereafter. Coming closer to our times, there was Rev. Kalalelle Anandasagara who once taught Buddhism at Maliyadeva College and Ananda College, disrobed and became Mr. Sagara Palansooriya and contested the 1956 general elections in an honourable manner, and was elected to Parliament. The election of Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike as the Prime Minister in 1956, ushered in the era of the common man in Sri Lanka. Among those who influenced Mr. Bandaranaike was Rev. Mapitigama Buddharakkita the chief incumbent of the Kelaniya Temple. He in turn assumed the role of a Kingmaker. As time passed by and when Mr. Bandaranaike did not accede to the political ambitions and commercial interests of Rev. Buddharakkita, a conspiracy got under way to eliminate the PM for over. The main actor in this high drama was Rev. Thalduwe Somarama. On that fateful day he walked up to the Rosmead Place residence of the PM and after a brief conversation, pulled out a revolver and shot the Prime Minister at point blank range. The PM who was wounded seriously was rushed to the General Hospital, Colombo and emergency surgery was done. Some time thereafter, the PM succumbed to his injuries. As the news spread of the death of the PM, the wrath of the people was directed against Buddhist monks. On that fateful day, I as a 17-year-old school boy attending Ananda College, stood on the pavement in Maradana and watched with horror the violence aimed at the Buddhist monks on sight. At the Bandaranaike assassination trial Thalduwe Somarama was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Prior to execution, Somarama changed his faith to Christianity and was baptised as Peter. Mapitigama Buddharakkita, the mastermind behind this crime, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and died of a heart attack following a long spell of hard labour. Scholar monk Among those who influenced Mrs. Bandaranaike to take to politics was Rev. Henpitagedara Gnanaseeha, a scholar monk of no mean repute. He was accused of planning a coup to overthrow the government, and had to spend a few years in Welikada Prison. According to the Theravada Vinaya, a member of the Sangha committing an offence can be charged formally before a Sangha Court. Vinaya Text has laid down a specific procedure to be followed in the Sangha Courts. The philosophy behind the punishment of a monk guilty of a Vinaya Rule is corrective and never retributive. At the first Buddhist council, Vinaya was described as the very life of the Sasana. Perhaps the time has come to hold a Buddhist Sangayana among the Theravada Buddhist countries to review Vinaya rules in the light of a fast changing world scenario. The most comprehensive account of the subject of the True Dhamma's disappearance is to be found in Manorathapurani, the commentary on Anguththara Nikaya by that great Buddhist scholar Buddhaghosa. The five kinds of disappearances listed are as follows. 1. Disappearance of attainment. To the man in the street, the Relics and the Scriptures seem to be still intact. However, on the other three phenomena, a process of change has begun to gather momentum with each passing day. Do the Mahanayakes, Anunayakas, Adhikarana Sangha Nayakas and the other members of the Sangha also see it the same way? If so, what do they propose to do to remedy the situation? If not, how do they see it? The Buddhists of Sri Lanka in particular and the Theravada countries in general will not like to see the disappearance of the True Dhamma as prophesied by Buddhaghosa. The writer is a Doctor of Medicine, MA (Buddhist Studies) and a Retired Lt. Colonel, Sri Lanka Army |
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