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| Sunday, 7 March 2004 |
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The Bhikkhus in politics - 1 Breaching the wall of the sacred Sunday Essay by AJITH SAMARANAYAKE The influx of the Maha Sangha in strength into the field of electoral politics has generated a predictable debate although to anybody who had been watching recent developments this would not have come as any surprise. Two things come instantly to mind. One is that this is a new phenomenon quite different to the role occupied by the Sangha either in pre-colonial or contemporary times. The other is that this development is fraught with dangers for the national political debate. To take the second factor first the Sangha have so far occupied a sacrosanct unassailable position in national life. They have been viewed as elders in society detached from the pettiness which characterises much of life, possessed of spiritual strengths which make them transcend that pettiness to which the more worldly laymen are prone. It is from such an unassailable position that the Sangha's traditional role of advisers to ancient kings, guides and philosophers to the royal court, has stemmed. In such a context it would be unimaginable for any ordinary layman, however powerful or influential, to challenge the Sangha in debate on parochial let alone ecclesiastical matters. This naturally stultified and debilitated the national debate in recent times for it was becoming increasingly clear that the Maha Sangha was surpassing the limits of that traditional role and impinging more and more into newer areas of national life. Although this is the first time that they are entering the electoral fray they have been long indispensable as speakers on the political platform. The views of the more influential prelates such as the Mahanayakes of the four Nikayas are constantly sought by the political leadership and the mass media and no political leader can afford to dismiss their views however extremist or misguided they might be. The younger cohorts of bhikkhus, mostly attending the universities, form an inevitable part of the demonstrations of the more radical political parties, most notably the JVP. There were even instances of bhikkhus being murdered during the period of terror in the ugly 1980s. It was thus becoming increasingly clear that this new role of the Maha Sangha could not be reconciled with their traditional position in national life as wise and benevolent counsellors to the rulers of the day. Less could it be reconciled with their position as sacrosanct unassailable figures of the national pantheon. Now by entering the forthcoming General Election under the banner of the refurbished Jathika Hela Urumaya (Mr. Tilak Karunaratne having donated his party to the Maha Sangha in perhaps the greatest almsgiving of our times) the Sangha has with one fell stroke deprived itself of that immunity of being assailed in the national debate on a par with any other laymen or women in the political arena. No longer will they qualify for that compulsory dignity or obeisance to be forthcoming to them on the sheer merit of their being the clergy. While this can be a progressive development which can well advance the national debate it is to be seen whether this can be taken to its logical conclusion or its capacity tested to the full. For example can the views of the Sangha candidates in the electoral fray on economic or social matters, which are intrinsically alien to their traditional role as advisors and counsellors to national leaders be assailed or debunked by lay politicians and platform speakers without being accused of acts of indignity to the Maha Sangha or will we see the new phenomenon of the Maha Sangha belonging to the JHU being criticised only by fellow members of the Sangha from rival platforms? Needless to say this latter development will necessarily circumscribe the debate for the whole rationale of the Maha Sangha contesting the General Election and offering themselves as prospective MPs is to be treated as equal partners in politics on a par with the lay politicians of the day. There is also no intrinsic merit in the views held by bhikkhu politicians on matters such as globalisation, the tourist industry, popular entertainment and other issues which fall outside their traditional scope as spiritual counsellors merely because they stem from members of the Maha Sangha who have as a practice been heard by laymen and women on their knees. It will be clear therefore that by invading the political arena in their numbers the Maha Sangha has manifestly breached the Chinese wall which excluded it from the larger laity and which accorded them an exalted position in the affairs of the nation. By throwing themselves into the rough and tumble of the political fray as candidates they have exposed themselves to the unseemly aspects which are inseparable from electoral politics. The coming weeks will reveal how well equipped the bhikkhu candidates of the JHU will be to face up to the challenges of the brutish electoral fray and the battles within Parliament if they are elected to the legislature.We have described this development as a new phenomenon because again the present bhikkhus in politics are in breach of the age-old conventional code. The intervention of the Sangha in the affairs of the state and the nation has been codified in such a way so far that at the apex the prelates such as the Mahanayakes acted as advisors and counsellors to the state while lower down the pyramid the chief incumbents of the village temple played a leadership role within the community. In traditional society the temple was also the centre of education with the chief monk acting as the first tutor to the young. Although buddhism is an other worldly religion it has been transformed in our own times into a folk religion and the bhikkhus who sought to intervene in society have often derived their authority from the edict of the Buddha in His first sermon where He commanded the monks to roam far and wide among the people for their welfare and well-being (charatha bhikkhave charika, bahujana hithaya bahujana sukhaya). Again the bifurcation within the bhikkhu community between the aranyavasi (forest-dwelling) monks and the gramavasi (village-dwelling) monks has tilted decisively in favour of the latter and now by their intervention in electoral politics the JHU monks have given notice that they are ready to administer not merely the village but the nation and the state as well. The point, however, is that in so doing the bhikkhus are not merely deviating from their traditional role of advisors to those who wield power and are rather seeking a role within the power structure itself but also departing from the very tenets of Buddhism whose ultimate goal is that of transcending this quotidian wordly existence rather than making it a better place for people to dwell in. However it can be argued and with reason too that although the ultimate objective of the Buddhist is seeking Nibbana and thereby placing a full stop to the karmic cycle that Buddhism is possessed of a social doctrine as well which addresses questions of state, citizenship and polity as well as exemplified for example by the Kutadantha Sutta.Here the Buddha set forth the duty of a king towards his subjects and the obligations of the citizenry by the king and the royal court. On a different level, in the Singalovada Sutta the Buddha set forth guidelines towards how a layman could lead a fulfilled life both as a person as well as a Buddhist. Given such teachings of the Buddha it can well be argued that bhikkhus are fully entitled to intervene in society as elders and persons of wisdom and that a social role for them is not incompatible with the Buddha's teachings. This for example was the rationale for the first intervention by an organised body of bhikkhus in politics during the first General Election campaign in 1947 or what subsequently came to be known as the Vidyalankara Movement after the pirivena which provided that movement's centre and intellectual focus. But a closer examination of the thinking underpinning that movement and the present intervention of the JHU will show as we will seek to next week that the two are quite clearly at loggerheads. NEXT WEEK: The Vidyalankara Movement. |
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