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| Sunday, 23 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Book reviews Insight into criminal justice in the Buddhist tradition Crime and Punishment in the Buddhist Tradition by Aditha Dissanayke Did Buddha who preached Mettha, Muditha, Karuna to all living beings preach criminals should be punished? I asked myself as I held Dr. Nandasena Ratnapala's 'Crime and Punishment in the Buddhist tradition' in my hands. As if voicing my thoughts, on the back-cover I read the following line-up of questions. "How is Justice conceived by the Buddha? .... What is the nature of Buddhist Jurisprudence? Is there a Buddhist theory of Penology? What are the criteria and dimensions used in defining Crime? How was punishment and rehabilitation conceived in Buddhist law and theories of punishment?" There are no easy answers. For, as stated in the introduction, even though there are laws made primarily for the regulation of the life of Buddhist monks and Bikkunis called Buddhist Ecclesiastical Law there are no particular laws specifically made for the benefit of the laity. But, says the writer " If one examines the basis on which the entire corpus of law established for the monks and nuns and also the laws made for the laity found scattered in the Buddhist Tradition, insights useful in the formulation of a code of law for the laymen and laywomen could be developed". This is so, because Buddhism was not meant only for the monks or those who have renounced the laylife. It was also meant for Bikkunis or nuns and laymen and laywomen known as Upasakas and Upasikas. The latter had their own laws and customs, which could easily be modified and adjusted to suit the Fundamentals of Buddhist Law. This could easily be done because the laws for the monks too had its basis on Sila or morality; abstention from killing, stealing, wrongful sexual behaviour, lying and taking intoxicants. Sexual celibacy for monks, for example, could appear as sexual restraint in the case of laymen. "Buddhist tradition (also) relates how various teachings were promulgated for different types of people at different times. When a certain busy businessman stated that he could not follow the deep teachings of the Buddha, but requested something light and practical, the Buddha taught him four principles conducive to his own development - both material and spiritual. The simple principles of carefully earning his wealth, protecting it, the choice of good friends and associates, the non-indulgence in acts that brings him to social destruction made it possible for him to live a good life in this world." Back to my question. Did Buddha preach punishment? No. He never enunciated laws to lay down punishments on wrongdoers. The way He treated prostitution, which was accepted as an institution by the society of His era provides the best evidence. Instead of punishing the prostitutes or those who go to them, He enumerated the harmful consequences that would result when one frequents a prostitute, and so, used education as the best treatment for social crimes. Thus the laws promulgated in the Buddhist tradition focusing on education as the best antidote to social crime are enunciated with a practical point of view. In face of practical problems the laws are allowed to be changed and be adopted to suit new conditions. "The Buddha himself has given the authority to change any law or percept other than the major ones...this flexibility of Buddhist law teaches us that laws are made for the human beings and not vice versa." Buddhist law as evident in the tradition also accepts human weaknesses. "All sorts of human depravities are recorded as being committed by monks. Yet these weaknesses are considered as human and not as unnatural things. Homosexuality for example was practised by monks. That was an offence against sexual celibacy they have imposed upon themselves. When two novices were reported as having had homosexual relationships other than a verbal admonition no other punishment appeared to have been instituted. This attitude towards human weakness is part and parcel of Buddhist philosophy according to which one reaches perfection, gradually, little by little, going from one stage to another". 'Crime and Punishment in the Buddhist Tradition', therefore, which highlights those features in the Buddhist tradition that are valuable and relevant to modern criminology and criminal justice, as well as providing an insight which would help us answer our own modern problems in criminology and criminal justice would be of immense use to criminologists and sociologists as well as to the ordinary reader curious to know, if the concepts and practices pertaining to crime in the Buddhist tradition have an affinity with modern concepts and practices dealing with crime, be it as serious as killing a human being or the minor offence of indulging in "intoxicants that lead to heedlessness of the mind". Second thoughts on everyday life Second Thoughts With the nation getting ready for another election, with the editorials of newspapers calling for the candidates to instill discipline among their followers ("As far as both principal contenders are concerned they are not freshers. They are widely known. There is no need to display their image at every nook and corner". The Sunday Observer, October 09), it is with interest that one turns to the chapter titled "Pre Election Creativity" in Prof. Sunanda Mahendra's new publication, 'Second Thoughts'. In this article, written on March 19, 2004, Prof. Mahendra gives the following advice to the candidates. "As I was walking in a certain park I suddenly picked up a mini hand bill, a rectangular piece of paper which was meant to remind the voter about a certain candidate, giving the number, the party and above all his face. On the other side of the hand bill I saw a series of important emergency telephone numbers of hospitals, fire brigades, police etc. I thought this was a clever little piece of creativity. So then "think tanks" or creative "think tanks" are needed for campaigns of this calibre. So be creative and utilize creative thinking to build a better tomorrow". 'Second Thoughts' is a compilation of Prof. Mahendra's newspaper column in the Daily News featuring human interest stories, reflections on art, cultural and literary communications and other allied subject areas. What Prof. Mahendra says in his Preface "I selected as far as possible a style that is more narrative than commentarial...I wanted to be as free as possible in my expression giving vent to liberal thinking", is proven true on every page. Here is how he begins "The Good-hearted Postman". "Something funny happened today" said my wife, as I was relaxing at my place of work. I wanted to stay a day, taking leave off to attend to some writing assignments..." It is easy to hear the Professor's voice speaking from the page, for, he writes the way he speaks in everyday life. Where it would have been natural to write "she said with a smile" the Professor writes "she said smilingly", where one would write "he shook his head and said no..." the professor writes "He nodded his head and said, No.." , where one would have written " I watch it (tv) without knowing I'm doing so while eating" the professor writes '"I unknowingly see it while partaking of a meal". These strange twists in the language make the articles more interesting than it would have done otherwise. Through glimpses of events in ordinary life; going to a private hospital for a blood test ("Why don't you go for a blood test?" reminded my wife) to buying a loaf of bread with the expiry date scratched off, to not paying telephone bills, the Professor either conveys a subtle moral lesson through his articles, or highlights a social issue that needs to be addressed. He also makes digs at academia. "The young writer wanted to know whether the novel he had written is of some significant literary value. "To whom should I show it" he asked. "to get an expert opinion". "Inevitably the most suited would be a good literary critic". I responded "But from where can I find one of them' he asked rather smilingly. "Why if you go to a university, you will find plenty." I said. "I don't think so" said the young writer. "How do you know?" "I once went to a university. But most of those lecturers who teach literature, say that they have no time to read books. Others pointed out some grammatical errors, and that was all"... (p.119) Let these brief thoughts on 'Second Thoughts' suffice. For, to use the Professor's own dictum "It is desirable, to remain as silent as possible, to observe as much as possible, and to say as little as necessary." (p 92) - Aditha R. K. Narayan's stories in Sinhala R.K.Narayange Katha by Indrani Pathirana Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Narayanswami would be a stranger amidst us because we all know him as R. K. Narayan. A writer who does not belong to Kerala, or India, but to the whole world. He needs no introduction. Nor do the characters in his stories. People all over the world know more about Malgudi than about any other village in India. To the Sri Lankan reader, Chandrika Wijesundara needs no introduction either. She has introduced several international works to the Sinhala readers, which includes a previous translation of Narayan. In her new book Chandrika has selected several of Narayan's stories, which would be as close to us in Sri Lanka, as it would be to his people in South India. Narayan's great and unique writing ability and his characters are so close to us, perhaps because we in Sri Lanka share the same life and culture as the people in Kerala. We look so much alike in our appearance, in our dress, in our food habits and our thinking. It is Chandrika's ability to retell Narayan in her own way, using our own words, that makes us feel we are reading stories written by a Sri Lankan about a Sri Lankan village. Had Narayan lived in Sri Lanka and written his stories in sinhala, one feels this is how he would have written them too. In addition to the fifteen stories she has also translated the articles by C. V. Narasimhan to the Frontline and Kushwant Singh to The Week, soon after Narayan's departure from our world. These two articles describe Narayan and his life as only Kushwant or Narasimhan could do. This is a period in our literature when we find many translations of the world's great and not so great writers and among such works, this translation of R. K. Narayan's stories by Chandrika Wijesundara will stand out as having done justice to Narayan. Splendour of biodiversity in Sri Lanka The launching ceremony of three books by Prof. Tissa R. Herat was held in the Auditorium of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Polgolla recently. The chief guest of the ceremony was an eminent person in the field of the flora of Sri Lanka, Prof. M. D. Dassanayake, (Professor Emeritus), University of Peradeniya, attended by a large gathering. Professor Herat has served as a consultant and team leader in many important environmental related projects in Sri Lanka such as Muthurajawela, Samanalawewa etc. At present he is the senior lecturer in charge of courses such as biodiversity & conservation, development vs. environment, biology, natural resources of Sri Lanka and systematics in biology. The first book which was presented to the chief guest Prof. Dassanayake is titled 'Endemic flowering plants part I, A checklist & an index to a revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon'. This list aims to give an enumeration of the endemic flowering plants recorded in Sri Lanka to date. The book records a total of 1025 endemic flowering plants species distributed within 98 families and 353 Genera. It is observed that 163 species (i.e. 15.9% of the total number of endemics) are rare and another 86 species (i.e. 8.3%) are threatened or on the verge of extinction. This publication is divided into five sections. In section I the endemic plant species are listed under each family both arranged in alphabetical order. On the other hand in section II the species concerned are listed in alphabetical order followed by the family each species belong to. According to the literature the common names or the vernacular names available of some of the endemic plant species are listed in section III. Within this section, first the common names are listed in alphabetical order with their respective species names and then the species names in alphabetical order with their respective common names. The following times of ca. 315 species concerned are recorded to be known. Such species are tabulated in 'Section IV flowering times of species', in alphabetical order and the times of flowering indicated. In section V the status of plants in the order of families are summarised and tabulated for easy reference. Further the species listed in the sections, reference has been given to the volume number and the page number as they appear in 'A revised handbook to the Flora of Ceylon'. The second book presented to his wife Mallika titled 'Tentative keys to the families & genera of pteridophytes of Sri Lanka' is meant for undergraduates, students, teachers and laymen interested in identifying ferns of Sri Lanka. After the work of Beddome (1892) no detailed fern flora have been attempted except for work of Manton and Sledge (1954), check lists of Abeywickrema (1978), Sledge (1982) and studies on selected families and genera. As such this work could be considered as the most recent work in the field of ferns. The third book presented to Dr. Jayantha Rathnesekara, Dean Faculty of Applied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka is titled 'An illustrated guide to the fern flora of Knuckles conservation area, Sri Lanka. A total of ten fern allies and a total of 110 true fern species have been collected and recorded to be present within the KCA. In this report these groupings are dealt under three main headings as 'Group I fern allies', Group II a. true ferns (Homosporus)' and 'Group II b. true ferns (Heterosporus). In addition a list of endemic and/or threatened species are listed in Annex II. For the purpose of easy reference the families, the genera and the species are arranged in alphabetical order not taking into consideration the evolutionary advancement of the taxa concerned. The keys to the families, genera, species, descriptions and the illustrations of each taxon provided are meant for quick and easy identification of the species concerned. For the keys and the descriptions provided an attempt has been made to keep them simple as possible avoiding the use of scientific terminology so that this book could be used even by laymen. Whenever known the common names or the vernacular names and additional notes regarding species have been provided. Tissa Ranjit Herat who is at present the Professor of Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, is an old boy of Trinity College, Kandy. After completing his University career, in biological sciences at the University of Colombo, in 1967 he was recruited as a field assistant to the flora of Ceylon project conducted by the Smithsonian Institute, U.S.A. While working with many experts in the field of plant systematics he gained a thorough basic background and knowledge of field work, which inspired him to pursue higher studies and research in the fields of systematics/biodiversity. In 1969 Tissa R. Herat was invited by Professor William L. Theobald, an expert who came to Sri Lanka as a Smithsonian consultant from Occidental College, California, U.S.A., to work towards a M.Sc. degree under his supervision. During the period he pursued his M.Sc. at Occidental College, the scientific paper Herat presented at the all Southern California Universities won the second best award. After completing his M.Sc. in 1971 he entered the University of Hawaii, U.S.A. and was awarded the Ph.D. degree in the year 1979. Professor Herat whose biographical portrait appears in the premier edition of the contemporary who's who by the American Biographical Institute, U.S.A. was nominated for the prestigious title 'Man of the year 2002' by the International Board of Research of the same institute for the overall accomplishments and contributions to society. He has contributed very much by holding many responsible positions in Sri Lanka and abroad. Professor Herat was the first Head of the Botany Division of the Open University of Sri Lanka (1988-1996) and the first Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science, Rajarata University (1996-1998). As the Head of the Botany division and Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences Professor Herat, have no doubt undertaken a significant initial active role in the establishment and development of educational and administrative structure as seen today. Along with the administrative responsibilities and writing course material for the Open University he did not fail to supervise many post Graduate Degree Students leading to their Masters Degrees. The books are now available for sale at the photocopy shop, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Polgolla. For further information contact - Tel: 081-2494282 or 081-4471337. E-mail: [email protected] . |
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