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| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
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Conversions : Buddhists too should re-examine themselves Sunday Essay by Ajith Samaranayake
An old spectre is haunting Sri Lanka, a hoary genie is out of a long-forgotten bottle. Time was when 'Catholic Action' was the war cry on the lips of the more militant Sinhala Buddhists (during the 1950s and 1960s) when the newly-independent country was being churned up the forces of nationalist and religious zealotry. For long oppressed by the British Raj, the Sinhalese Buddhists, when they recovered their sense of identity, chose to turn against the Tamils and the Christians (the two being synonymous in some cases) rather than against the mimic men who had inherited the so-called Independence and were holding the menacing English 'kaduva' over the entirely Sinhala or Tamil-educated larger masses. The Tamils and the Christians (it was the Catholics who were singled out as the pet hate objects) it was argued had the lion's share of everything and particularly employment in the Government sector and this order of things had to be reversed so that the Sinhalese who constituted the majority could come into their own. It was a classic example of a warped sense of post-colonial nationalism. A particularly comic-sinister aspect of this crusade was the singling out of the nursing nuns for hostility. At that time there were Catholic nuns who were serving as nursing sisters in Government hospitals and there was general agreement that they were doing a thoroughly good job. But their critics contended that there was a hidden motive in their service and that their real aim was to convert hapless Buddhist patients to their religion. The outcome was that these nursing sisters were prohibited from engaging in their work in the hospitals. Now, 40 years after, the old spectre is stalking the land again. The name of the game this time round is Conversion and all the forces of righteousness ranging from the Buddha Sasana Minister to the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) have converged to banish the spectre through their mantras and ritual incantations. The Sinhala editorialists have waxed indignant and the tub-thumpers and rabble-rousers (forever on the look out for obscurantist crusades) have jumped the bandwagon with relish. Even as the Government has announced its intention of bringing in deterrent legislation, the JHU has rushed with its own Private Members' Bill announced by some sections of the press with fetching naivete as the first piece of legislation to be brought before the present Parliament as if a Private Members' Bill can carry the same weight and authority as Government-sponsored legislation. That crusade against Catholic Action had the long-term effect of dislodging the Tamils from their privileged position in the Government service since under the Official Languages Act, it became compulsory for Tamil Government servants to gain proficiency in Sinhala. This contributed to the sense of alienation of the Tamil people which has today snowballed into fulsome cries for a fully-fledged separate State. Similarly, the vocal campaign carried out by sections of the Maha Sangha today against the so-called conversions directed at the Buddhists and the proposed legislation against it have led to a sense of disquiet and anxiety among the Christians in our midst. Anglicised elite If during the 1950-60 period, there was some justification for the attacks against the Catholic Church, since then the church has admirably adjusted itself to the changing social, political and cultural realities of the time. The immediate post-Independence period was one in which the church acted basically as a buttress for the privileged anglicised elite which had succeeded the former colonial rulers. With its vast wealth and the support of the Vatican, the church was the bastion of class privilege and stood for all the backward and retrograde values of a conservative social order. But since then, two currents of change have transformed the face of the church. One is the political movement towards a Liberation Theology sprung from the church in Latin America which has made influential sections of the clergy identify themselves with the movements for radical, political and economic change in Third World countries such as Sri Lanka. The second has been the movement towards indigenous culture and ways of life and away from the outmoded anglicised manners and mores which has made the Catholic liturgy and music more in tune with the indigenous motifs of the Sri Lankan way of life. What those who have raised a storm over conversions do not know or appreciate is that the Catholic Church is as affected as the Buddhists by the activities of the fundamentalist groups who are in the thick of these conversions. For the main thrust of these fundamentalist groups on the fringes of orthodox Christianity is to convert people to their own brand of Christianity which has little to do with the way in which the established churches are organised. They engage in loud singing with upraised arms, speaking in tongues, faith healing and other such esoteric practices and have managed to attract some Christians who have become jaded with the strait-laced ways of the established church or are after more exotic thrills. Buddhism itself has not been without such experiences in the past. Old-timers will recall the Vinayawardhana Movement and the Thapasa Nikaya, which created a stir among Buddhists in the 1950s and early 1960s. The monks of the Thapasa Nikaya particularly proclaimed that with their ascetic ways, they were keen to take Buddhism back to its roots while the Vinayawardhana Movement was intent on purifying Buddhism and restoring it to its pristine status. It will be salutary therefore for those who are concerned with the present day conversions to see the activities of the Christian fundamentalist groups in a similar light and recognise that this is a challenge to the established Christian church rather than see such activities as the work of the church itself to deprive Buddhism of its adherents. Existing malaise If any fundamentalist religious groups are exploiting the poverty-stricken circumstances of Buddhists to convert them to other faiths, it should be quite obvious that they are only making use of an already existing malaise. There would have been a time when poor Buddhists would have been reconciled to their lot either attributing their straitened circumstances to karma or because they did not, in keeping with their ascetic conditioning hanker after the good things of life which were beyond their reach. But in the highly competitive consumerist society in which we live, such ascetic ideals are steadily on the retreat and even the remotest peasantry is being seduced by the commercials on television. In such a context, it is no cause for wonder that people, whether they are Buddhists or otherwise, should fall prey to the money bags dangled by mercenary elements, whether they are Christian fundamentalists or any other similar group. It is therefore opportune for Buddhists, both clerics as well as laity, to re-appraise what they have done for the less fortunate of their co-religionists. It is quite clear that in a context of widespread poverty, individual acts of philanthropy or benevolence are not adequate. There has to be an organised movement to address and attack the problems of rural poverty. For example, what have the richer temples in our midst done to alleviate the problem of poverty in the society surrounding them? Cannot the 'raja maha viharayas' with all their tracts of land donated by the ancient kings make a more positive contribution to improving the lot of the landless peasants. For two long have the temples expected the people to come to them and help in their upkeep. It is time that the ramparts separating the temple from the village are breached and the temple reaches out to the village. Tolerant view It is also time that Buddhists as a whole led by the Maha Sangha take a more tolerant view of other religions and conduct themselves with a greater degree of civic consciousness. Perhaps because Buddhism is a way of individual salvation, it has not bred a communitarian ethos, but in a society such as the present day social order a sense of community is imperative. While Buddhism has been conferred the foremost place by the Constitution no less, it is necessary that Buddhists should not flaunt this position in the face of other religionists. For example, there is this steadily increasing phenomenon of 'pirith' being broadcast through loudspeakers both morning and evening. On the road in which I live, this is being done by the Ven. Akmeemana Dayaratana Thera, Member of Parliament of the JHU. Pirith is among the most mellifluous music known to man, but when it is broadcast at 5.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily for a full hour in a mixed neighbourhood of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, it loses whatever sacred meaning it has and becomes another assault on the ear-drums of a people battered daily by the urban cacophony. These then are some of the other issues which flow from the current preoccupation with unethical conversions. Our obsession with conversions should not preclude us from giving our minds to these issues as well because if Buddhists become a more tolerant people mindful of the community round them and their obligations to their less fortunate fellowmen and women, that will needless to say lead to the all-round enrichment of society as a whole. |
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