Ven Gnanasaara Thera cautioned against his mannerisms and speech:

BBS should preserve Buddhism - Ven. Kirama Wimalajothi Thera

By Manjula Fernando

Ven. Kirama Wimalajothi thera. Pic: Chinthaka Kumarasinghe

Director and President of the Bodu Bala Sena(BBS) - notwithstanding his decision to leave the BBS, defended the actions of BBS adding that developments in Sri Lanka of late necessitated such an organ to ensure Buddhism will be preserved for future generations.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer the Ven. Thera refuted allegations that the BBS received state patronage or financial backing from countries like Norway. He added the branding on Sri Lanka as a nationalist Buddhist state by the West came about strongly after the defeat of LTTE terrorism, long before the BBS was formed, about four years ago.

Q: What were the pioneering objectives of the Bodu Bala Sena ?

A: About four years ago, Ven. Gnanasaara and several other Bhikkhus and two laymen came to my temple, and invited me to be a leader of a particular organisation called the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Force) which they were planning to form.

I have never held any position in an association in Sri Lanka before then. At the time I was very concerned about the fate of Buddhists and Buddhism in Sri Lanka. There were various so- called Buddhist movements and bogus Bhikkhus desecrating our religion and confusing our devotees.

Some Bhikkhus who had ordained after retirement or with just two or three years of ordination, were professing that they had attained Buddha-hood. According to some a Maithriya Buddha was already there in Sri Lanka. A particular Bhikku authored books claiming that Buddha was born, attained enlightenment and passed away in Sri Lanka. People believed this nonsense.

There were certain Bhikkhus who made house- to- house calls trying to sell Rs.5000 and Rs.3000 worth tickets. Residents who had been bad mouthed for declining assistance complained to us. These actions distorted Buddhist teachings.

I did not know where to go and how to address this issue. It wasn't clear if these were planned by some unethical non governmental organisation to tarnish the image of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and outcast Bhikkhus but the need for a mechanism that could act against wrongdoers was badly felt.

Buddhism which is the sowing ground of the Sasana has already been contaminated by weeds. When the offer came to me to lead the BBS, I said I would accept to be one of the leaders. I felt that we needed to preserve Buddhism in Sri Lanka for future generations, like the way our forefathers did.

We stopped and disrobed more than 30 bogus bhikkhus who collected donations from houses in Colombo and the suburbs. Some of these bogus Bhikkhus were in fact married men with children. It was their weekend job and it earned them Rs. 15,000 to 20,000 per week.

We exposed organisations engaged in unethical conversions. Extreme Christian organisations, over 200 such groups were operating all over the country, registered as NGOs and converting low income Buddhist families.

When the BBS was formed everyone came to us with complaints. The BBS is not working for someone else, we are not an extremist group.

Our sole aim was to protect the Buddha Sasana from evil sources.

After about a year, traditional Sri Lankan Muslim elders met with the BBS leaders. They said "You are working against unethical conversions by Christians but there are a lot of extreme Muslim forces in the country. They send our children to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia by force, for training in fundamentalist practises. Members of extreme Islamic organisations are present in Sri Lanka". They wanted the BBS to speak on these developments as well.

Q: Do you feel that the Bodu Bala Sena is now deviating from its pious objectives?

A: We did a lot of work for the protection of Buddhism. We enlightened Bhikkhus and the village folk of the looming danger.

When the BBS goes to a village, about 25,000 people gather up to give ear to what our members have to say. Why? Because they have issues and there was no place or person to turn to.

When the people turned to the police, the police refrains from taking action citing numerous reasons including threats to religious harmony.

Members of Parliament, except for people like Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, are hesitant to intervene. People were frustrated and worried, hence they embraced the BBS.

I was involved in propagating the Dhamma overseas as well as translating Buddhist scripts and publishing Dhamma books. That work was interrupted due to my dedication to BBS activities. I played an active part at the outset, but later things that I did not approve of began to happen.

For the last six months I was not actively involved in their activities. I learned about the Beruwala and Aluthgama incidents on TV.

Q: There is this widespread allegation that BBS has done more damage to the Sri Lankan Buddhist image than any other religion. The action of the BBS made the international community speak of Buddhist extremism not Islamic fundamentalism?

A: Unfortunately, this has been happening during the last four to five years, even before the BBS was formed. When the Government came to power it was branded as a nationalist government by the Western media. After the war on terrorism ended, the attacks intensified. Nothing good about Sri Lanka or the Government was reported. Sri Lanka was branded as a Sinhala Buddhist extremist state which killed thousands of innocent Hindu's.

Q:What is your personal opinion about the incidents in Beruwala ?

A: I feel the real story about the incident did not get reported. Before the riot and the damage to property took place, a Bhikkhu and his driver was manhandled by three Muslim youth. It happened on Poson Poya day. The Bhikkhu was returning from a Buddhist sermon in another temple in a van.

The international and local media reported only one side of the story. The incident should also be blamed on the delayed action by the police. When the driver and the Bhikkhu attempted to lodge a complaint after the incident, the police was slow to respond citing religious harmony.

Due to this a rally was organised by the Buddhist temples in the area to which BBS was also invited, Ven. Gnanasaara Thera delivered a heated speech at the rally and when they travelled in a procession to the temple where the bhikkhu in question was staying, there was a provocation by the Muslim on lookers.

The white clad elderly women and other younger women who joined in the Buddhist procession also came under attack. As you know the rest is history.

Q: Do you subscribe to the BBS allegation that Buddhism is under threat and no one takes notice of this situation?

A: Unfortunately, unlike other faiths in Sri Lanka, Buddhism and the Bhikkhus are widely divided. We have no central body to oversee Buddhist affairs, there is no leader to receive complaints of wrong doing. If a Bhikkhu was attacked or subject to verbal abuse, he has no proper place to lodge a complaint and be content that his case will be followed up. That weakness is there. This is the reason many unethical conversion centres have sprouted all over the country.

Q: What are you proposing, a state institution or a religious body ?

A: The Ministry of Buddhist Affairs is another government office. So the people there work for a salary. They don't have the inclination to protect Buddhism. Some politicians even go to the extent of professing that this is not a Buddhist country. A 2500 years of documented history claims Sri Lanka as a Buddhist state. Throughout the country you see only the ancient ruins of Buddhist temples. There are no ruins of other religions that date back to the time of Buddhist history except for a very few Hindu temples.

Sri Lanka is widely called a multi-religious country. What do you mean by multi religious? There are no such states in the world. Islamic countries are known as Islamic republics.

Christian countries have higher priests to advice the leaders in government and they face no ambiguity of a state religion. In Thailand there is a highly empowered Sangha Raja and a religious police force to disrobe bhikkus who violate the Buddhist order.

In Sri Lanka we need a similar system to protect Buddhism.

Although we have many Maha Nayake theras, we still fear for the future of Buddhism in the country, which we protected for over 2500 years.

Q: What have you got to say about the allegation that the BBS enjoys state patronage and it is shielded by the Defence Secretary ?

A: I must state this very clearly, they have never endorsed or supported BBS in any way other than meeting us on one or two occasions to call for restraint from the BBS and the Secretary Ven.Galagodaatthe Ganassara thera. The President asked the BBS not to engage in anything that will cause divisions among the communities and religions.

Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa once summoned the BBS leaders and the Jamiyyathul Ulama representatives for a discussion to talk about the Halaal issue. He listened to both parties and promised for action to address the issue.

As for the widely circulated picture of the Defence Secretary with some BBS Bhikkhus, which went viral and also got planted in the website of the US Embassy in Colombo, he was invited to that particular event by me.

We opened a meditation centre in Pilana, Galle. The building was donated by a German national to promote Buddhism.

His request was to use it as a meditation centre and a training centre for Dhamma school teachers and Buddhist samaneras. The edifice was built on a five acre land owned by the foreign philanthropist spending a huge sum. The buildings encapsulated our traditional architecture.

The German national came to meet me with some Bhikkhus and requested us to take over the centre. It was his wish to invite the President for the opening ceremony.

Since the President's itinerary was full, we invited the Defence Secretary. I was the BBS leader then, therefore the members of the group were also present. Some Muslim leaders and certain opposition members publicly accused the Government and the Defence Secretary for fathering the BBS. It's my duty to put the record straight. I feel I should have done this before.

Q: Do you have reservations of the conduct of Ven.Gnanasara thera?

A: I did advise him on a number of occasions. I cautioned him on his mannerism and harsh words. They are of the opinion that this is the way to grab the people's attention.

I don't believe in that. That is one reason why I decided to leave the BBS and focus more on my writing.

Q: Do you think you or anyone will be able to convince the BBS Secretary to change his rough behaviour which is contrary to the teachings of the Buddha?

A: A large section of Buddhist devotees as well as chief Bhikkhus have told me that what is taking place now concerning the BBS is not acceptable.

I have been silent and was not involved actively with the BBS for the past several months. I will not resign now because I have to face the inquiries on the Aluthgama incidents.

When it happened I was part of the BBS. Today(June 2) Ven.Gnanassara thera was summoned by the CID and tomorrow they may summon me. Therefore I cannot leave just yet. Once all this is things settled I want to focus more on my Dhamma propagation and documentation work. I have also plans to set up a university to train 'mind ordained Bhikkus', not just physically ordained, who are fluent in English and Pali languages.

Q: There is another allegation that foreign governments are financing the BBS to sow seeds of hatred and destabilise the country?

A: According to my knowledge the Government, any member of the government or any foreign government or group have not funded the BBS as such.

Before the BBS was formed, some of its pioneers had made a trip to Norway. Their objective had been to set up an NGO to help Tamil displaced people.

That was before the BBS was formed and before I joined it. Other than that, I have no knowledge of any foreign support. In the past I have released some funds for BBS activities.

Q: The controversial issue of the US visa?

A: The BBS was issued US visas to travel to a number of cities in the US, Los Angeles, Washington and New York on the invitation of Sri Lankan Buddhist groups and temples. Ven.Gnasaara thera was to conduct special poojas in those cities. Although he is blamed for speaking loud, he is also famous for his beautiful sermons. A five year multiple visa was issued and he made the trip sometime ago. I am not aware if he was planning to visit the US again.