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| Sunday, 20 July 2003 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
'Bodhi worship' and 'Mauryan appendage' I was disheartened to read an article titled 'Mauryan Society introduced Bodhi Worship to Sri Lanka' by Professor Rohanadeera that appeared in the Sunday Observer of June 15. It conveys to the reader a highly erroneous opinion by Buddhists of their Sacred Tree. Right from the days of the 'Sunday School' we have been made to understand that Buddhists do not 'worship' anybody or anything. Buddhism is a rational and atheistic teaching and a philosophy. Hence, it is a faith in which devotion (which inspires worship) is unknown. Buddha Himself 'showed the way' when he stood for a week meditating in front of a bodhi tree after attaining Omniscience as a token of gratitude for having given Him shelter during the final long hours of His spiritual exertions. So do we, in pursuance of that example, make salutations to the members of the 'Bodhi family' with the same sense of gratitude for having enacted an essential role in the great victory of our incomparable teacher. The professor makes us understand that he has done a 'careful study of source material' in order to impress us, as it appears, a highly subjective and bizarre point of view. It may only be hoped that the learned professor included the Edicts of Asoka into his list of 'source material' that he studied them, 'carefully', and if he really did so, he would have had the opportunity of comprehending the actual trend of the Emperor's contemporary thought. He could then have prevented himself from arriving at such baseless conclusions. The learned professor, in the course of his studies of source material inclusive of 'Sri Lankan chronicles' and 'the chronicle' (which he did not name) has not evidently come across the Dipavamsa, and read particularly its 18th chapter. If he did, he would not have mentioned that the Venerable Sanghamitta Therani arrived in Sri Lanka with 'a group of 11 nuns'. Even so, he appears to be proud and satisfied in the contentions that the Mauryans introduced Bodhi worship to Sri Lanka, and secondly but more significantly, that the King Devanampiya Tissa's Tambapanni was less of an independent and sovereign kingdom, and more of 'an appendage of the Mauryan Empire' that lay subservient to 'the vigilance and patronage' of its Emperor. 'O tempora, O mores'! M. Gunavijaya, I am an aged pensioner who has been living at premises No. 161 Templer Road, Mt. Lavinia for well over four decades. My dwelling is located prominently at the junction of Templer Road and Soysa Mawatha. Throughout my tenure of occupation I have kept my house and garden in particular in a trim and in peak condition by deploying a permanent employee. As many are aware a gigantic project of tremendous magnitude was successfully completed in this area by a foreign company costing billions of rupees, involving deep excavation of earth and installing beneath an efficient and a proper underground drainage system for rain water. The occupants of many houses in this area will bear eloquent testimony to the tremendous hardships and havoc they had to combat owing to the acute flooding menace which recurred over several decades. After its completion the contractors did a tidy and a marvellous job by repairing and tarring all roads, drains and parapet walls. The site now looks unbelievably picturesque. All these good deeds have been very unfortunately marred by the failure, pathetic and utter thoughtlessness of the unscrupulous irresponsible authorities of the CEB area office, Dehiwela. The CEB has neglected totally a number of requests made by me to rectify a vital exercise which need immediate remedial measures for a period of well over 1 1/2 years. I have made several complaints over the telephone and in writing. Concurrently with the completion of the massive project the authorities of the CEB were compelled to replace the old electricity concrete posts. They have quite wisely replaced all existing posts with more strong, rigid and taller posts. The new rigid post which was erected at a vital point at the junction almost adjoining the right boundary fence of my premises was damaged and broken beyond repair on February 26, when an incompetent lorry driver knocked it breaking the rigid post into pieces. Immediately after this accident a sudden very high voltage erupted in the vicinity causing an enormous amount of damage to electrical appliances, costing a colossal loss to several CEB subscribers in the area. I doubt whether the assessment of the damage caused to subscribers was made by the lazy employees of CEB. Within a couple of days authorities of the CEB area office, Dehiwela replaced the broken rigid post as a priority and restored normal electricity. The post was erected on a rainy day. I watched and monitored this exercise with keen interest. The workmen erected the particular post by simply inserting it into the muddy earth. As this is a very heavy structure a concrete base is very essential and vital. Although they promised to come and concrete the base upto the time of writing they have failed to complete this important task. This post without the concrete base is now tilting towards my garden area. The high-tension wires of the new post are now supported by the disused old smaller concrete post which the CEB officials have failed to remove. The debris of the post damaged in this unfortunate accident is scattered around the area of the new post. When this post was damaged some concrete parts have fallen on 'Soysa Mawatha' sign-post which got crushed to pieces. A new sign - board too is yet to be installed by the relevant authorities. The site in question looks extremely ugly despite the surrounding area being very picturesque. This view has been worsened with the formation of weeds within the debris of the broken post. I feel very ashamed of this site when visitors who visit me comprise mainly of foreigners. The dire necessity to concrete the new post could be proved if one views and scrutinizers the concrete base of the damaged post which is clearly exposed within the debris. It is also pertinent to mention that rain water collects at various points of the exposed concrete parts of the post which has become an ideal breeding place for mosquitoes. My repeated requests to the authorities of the CEB area office, Dehiwela over the phone and in writing have fallen on deaf ears. I have even sent a registered letter on 16th September 2002 to the Electrical Engineer explaining the above for his kind attention. I regret very much as I have not heard from him nor received an acknowledgement. A very pathetic state of affairs indeed. L.B. Warnasooriya, Natural disasters and man made disasters Natural disasters and man made disasters, were very much in the news lately. Natural disasters are inevitable unlike man made diasters. The havoc caused by man made disasters, let alone natural disasters, cannot be estimated in words. Those who were victims of such disasters, and affected by them, are the ones who are worst affected in facing such eventualities. If one were to gauge the damage and destruction caused, and the trauma experienced by these unfortunate folk, only those affected will know. Natural disasters apart, man made disasters are the result of peoples' selfishness. Sand mining, illicit felling of trees, all stemming from corruption and greed lead to disasters. When people destroy fauna and flora (they are natural resources of a country) he is going against nature and its laws. The existence of flora and fauna only, causes the rain so necessary for humans and all other creations. When these are destroyed as a result of man's callousness what follows is a short fall in rain, causing drought. Today with the advent of science and technology man has risen to great heights, and made vast strides in those fields. Has he realised that going beyond his capabilities, he has brought about dissension and strife, that leads to destruction and anarchy. Man's advancement gives him the power, to explore outer space and find out for himself, what exists not only in space, but also undersea. Here in Sri Lanka, weather patterns have changed as a result of human interference with nature. The monsoons are never on time during their specific periods, resulting in drought, when there should be rain, and incessant rains and floods, when it should not be. Let us hope that better sense prevails and the situation will change for the better and people will act with more responsibility to serve the land and prevent further destruction. Ayesha Yusuf, A series of advertisements offering both children and adults, expert tuition in specialized fields in art, appeared in the Sunday Observer recently. The courses are offered and are conducted by a reputable female teacher. The prominently placed advertisements are cleverly designed to attract those interested in creative activities in a wide range of subjects specified under each art course to be covered in classes ranging from two to three months. The course fee was not stated. Enrolments are currently in progress for many of these and the art classes for "kids and adults". When I enrolled myself for the "adult Art Class" a sum of Rs. 8000 inclusive of the cost of materials, was charged from me stating it to be the full fee for 12 lessons. A "Paper Receipt" on an A4 sheet, termed "Invoice" without even a serial number, was issued to me acknowledging the full amount paid and balance payable shown as nil. Subsequent to enrolment and before commencement of classes, contrary to the contracted sum, a further Rs. 7000 was arbitrarily demanded from me. I was not willing to pay this additional amount and hence informed her that I wished to withdraw my enrolment. My request was refused and I was informed that the Rs. 8000 paid by me could be refunded only if I brought in another student (willing to pay Rs. 15000 ). I had to therefore attend the classes to get some return for the Rs. 8000 already paid by me. At the end of the 5th lesson the demand for the additional sum was renewed despite my informing her that I would not be able to complete the course and would have to forego five classes, as I was going abroad, and reminding her that in any case I am entitled to attend the full course of 12 lessons as per the contract without any further payment. Attendance at these classes became a nasty and unpleasant experience for me as I was selectively excluded from the so called tuition given to the class. I was made to feel unwelcome and treated as an offender for not paying the additional sum which in effect was sought to be extracted for the five classes I had to forego, and even though the payment already made by me was sufficient to cover 7 lessons attended, even on the basis of a Rs. 15000 charge. The classes I attended revealed that the expert tuition promised, by the so called 'Expert' was only elementary kids fare amounting to little more than the manufacturers instructions of material such as paints and pastels used in each medium. The quality of tuition offered in the adult class did not justify the high fees charged where the cost of each "lesson" works out to Rs. 1250 per session per week. I am certain that many of the others in my class like me, who joined expecting a high standard of instructions are also disappointed with the standard and the course content, and consider the fees paid, a waste of money. The absence of any regulatory body to control the activities of such persons who profess to be professionals, pose as experts and benefactors of society, but who are really out to make easy money at will, in the shortest possible time, results in many hapless victims exploited by them who fall prey to their tactics. I hope the Consumer Protection Unit would take note of these types of advertisements and protect consumers. Art class victim We notice a tendency in the media to "expose" Buddhist monks. Even the slightest transgression is pounced upon and turned into a news item. Rogues who purposely don the Buddhist garb to indulge in nefarious activities - one wonders how much they are paid to bring the religion into disrepute - are branded, if not as "Buddhist" monks, then as "men in Buddhist robes." The opposite is true of other religious orders, especially Christian. Here, the culprits are referred to as "priests" and it is left to our imagination to decide the colour of their robe - yellow, black and white or plain white! We keep hearing of any number of escapades within holy orders, but almost all of this, if not Buddhist, is hushed up in the media, unless, of course, it is much too juicy to be discreetly tucked away. Recently we heard of a charismatic "priest" whose ardour in gathering female members for his flock sometimes oversteps the bounds. It appears even the police had to be called into oust him from his office, but he refused to budge. If his robe had only been yellow, how many episodes of the drama would have appeared in the newspapers? It behoves all Buddhists to be aware of this media propensity for Buddhism-bashing and take action against it! FAIR PLAY. Do the Human Rights commission of Sri Lanka the Centre for Policy Alternatives and other so called human rights protectors know that in ancient Sri Lanka (Ceylon) a young woman with a valuable precious stone could walk from Dondra in the South of Ceylon to Point Pedro in the North safely without being molested or waylaid and robbed? The death penalty was in force in Ceylon at that time. Today not even a haggard old woman could go a few feet out of home without being molested or robbed of a few cents in her possession. At present a debate is going on in Parliament as to the re-introduction of the death penalty. Its main argument is that imposition of the death penalty violates the human rights of the individual. Who are these people whom they are going to protect? The IRCC (Island Re-convicted Criminals) the Army deserters, who it is said now number over 60,000. Among the main offenders who commit many crimes including rape (which is rampant perhaps than in any other part of the world) underworld gangs are these criminals whom the so called Human Right activists going to protect. What is the criteria for their backing? i.e. to protect the perpetrators of violence and not the victims. They do not speak a word for the victims against the criminals. Are the lives and human rights of the victims not valuable by their standard? The HRC as a law abiding organisation with the so called educated people among them are mainly lawyers. V.K.B. Ramanayake, |
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