|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 7 November 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Reinvigorating the Sasana Sunday Essay by Ajith Samaranayake
After the first sudden volcanic eruptions and bitter contentious battles, after the wave of arson and religious intolerance are we on the road back to sanity? We refer to the convulsions which have rocked Sri Lanka from the fag-end of last year when fears of a concerted campaign of conversion by some Christian fundamentalist sects sparked off an unprecedented wave of resentment and anger among sections of the Buddhists which led to attacks and acts of arson directed against not merely these sects but also the mainstream Churches in some instances. Compounded by the unexpected death of the charismatic Ven. Gangodawila Soma and exploited by a variety of political and religious groups of dubious origin this phenomenon culminated in the emergence of the Jathika Hela Urumaya which saw Buddhist monks contesting and winning parliamentary elections for the first time. But exhausted perhaps by all those indignant heroics and even perhaps somewhat ashamed, Buddhist society seems to be returning to its senses. Part of the reason certainly is the amateurish and maladroit manner in which the bhikkhus of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) have conducted themselves in Parliament and the clumsy way in which they have fallen prey to both major political parties. Certainly they have not been able to achieve anything significant apart from splitting the party in an ironic imitation of lay politics although there has been no lack of media attention and exposure for even their most trivial activities. In spite of these aberrations life goes on pretty much as usual for the generality of the Maha Sangha in the country. This was nowhere more strikingly demonstrated than in the orderly succession which followed the death of the Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter recently. In quick succession Ven. Thibbotuwawe Sumangala Thera was elected Mahanayake unanimously and Ven. Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thera elected Anunayake by a majority vote. So even while sections of the Sangha are entering Parliament there has been a complete change of guard as it were in one of the most influential centres of the Sangha establishment without any unexpected twists and turns or heartburn. Illustrious teacher At the age of 60 Ven. Sumangala is the youngest to be elected as a Mahanayake. Ven. Vijithasiri is at 56 even younger and between them can be expected to bring to bear on the Malwatte chapter and by extension the Maha Sangha at large a new outlook in consonance with the rapidly changing realities of our times. What is more the new Anunayake Thera is among the most educated prelates of our times. He completed his preliminary ecclesiastical education at the Vidyalankara Pirivena, Peliyagoda with the BA and MA degrees from Peradeniya University and has been an illustrious teacher in several leading schools in Kandy. I remember once escorting him from Kingswood College, Kandy for the 'sanghika dana' in memory of my father where the previous day too he had delivered the sermon. It is customary for big wigs to call on the Mahanayake on his election but the Ven. Sumangala has been spectacularly fortunate in receiving obeisance from the most unlikely quarters. SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem (who himself is from Alawatugoda off Kandy), TULF leader V. Anandasangaree who is at odds with his party and parliamentarians R. Sampanthan and Suresh Premachandran who represent the orthodox wing of the TULF have all called on the new Mahanayake. This last visit caused an unprecedented uproar in Kandy with a crowd almost storming the placid Malwatte Vihara and even lying down in front of the MPs' cars in protest against the Mahanayake giving ear to those who in the eyes of the protestors were seeking the division of the country. The new Mahanayake has said that he is even prepared to intervene in any solution of the National Question but his most significant intervention has been in the establishment of a trust to help the poor in response to the alleged campaign of proselytisation by Christian fundamentalists. He has made the most valid point that there is little point in belly-aching over the issue or bashing the Christians if Buddhists themselves do not do anything constructive to put matters right. At a first meeting the Mahanayake has been able to mobilise funds from known philanthropists but what is important is that this campaign should not merely be a means for such philanthropists to establish themselves in the public eye but be a positive contribution towards improving the lot of the large sections of the poor. Tortuous sermons As the chief incumbent of the historic Ridi Vihara the Mahanayake already has experience in such work and it is good to see an eminent Buddhist prelate coming to grips with the question of rural poverty without merely delivering tortuous sermons. The Buddha himself after all gave food to a starving man before delivering a sermon to him. Kandy itself might be an oasis but the surrounding villages still bear the scars of the oppression to which they were subjected by the British on account of the two rebellions of 1818 and 1848 against colonial rule. It is of course a historical paradox that British colonialism had to be the instrument of ushering in the era of modernisation in Ceylonese history but it also ensured the immiseration of the Kandyan rural poor who were deprived of their land through the notorious Wastelands Ordinance. Colonialism also ensured the decimation of paddy cultivation and hence of the country's self sufficiency in food. In a tribute to T. B. Ilangaratne, Sri Lanka's best known home-grown socialist hailing from the same countryside, Hector Abhayawardhana, the country's most eminent Marxist theoretician, captures the situation succinctly. He writes: In the course of a pamphlet, written in 1994, entitled T. B. Ilangaratne ha 1956 en pasu deshapalanaya pilibanda kaleena vigrahayak, Professor Vishwa Warnapala of Peradeniya University mentions that Ilangaratne was born in an extremely beautiful area of the hill country, but he laments that the Hatharaliyadde scenery could not conceal the reality of a village economic structure that was collapsing under the pressures of an expanding plantation economy. Apparently, not much probing was required for the eye to take in the landlessness and the grinding poverty that the people of hill-country villages were forced to submit to under imperialist rule. This was a contrast that was too blatant for a sensitive person to ignore. Its complexity was enhanced by the intrusion of a third factor, the social reality of a feudal order which had sent powerful roots throughout the entire countryside. Already struck down by poverty, the individual in the village was also tormented by social oppression. Rural poverty We do not know how Ilangaratne, as a young man, worked out his own personal equation with the tri-cornered reality that he experienced: imperialist state, company-owned plantation, and feudal aristocracy. What we do know is that he opposed all three of them. This is borne out by the course of his political career. While addressing himself to the question of rural poverty the Mahanayake should also bring his mind to bear on the problems besetting the younger bhikkhus. The eminence and the affluence of the grand prelates of the Sangha hierarchy and of the bhikkhu parliamentarians in their luxury vehicles masks the helplessness and poverty of young monks and particularly those who are studying in the universities. Their lot is the same as that of any average university student. Huddled in rooms in some city temple they lead a hand to mouth existence about which nobody wants to talk sweeping this aside like some dirty little secret. It will be salutary if the Mahanayake addresses himself to the whole question of ordaining young bhikkhus, the criteria governing such procedure and any plans to maintain and sustain them during their period of education. The new Anunayake Thera having for long been the Warden of the Sangharaja Pirivena, the Malwatte Chapter's centre of learning, can give his Mahanayake valuable support in such an endeavour including the whole project of imparting to younger monks a modern scientific education parallel to the classical Buddhist teaching of their inheritance. In a recent public speech the Mahanayake Thera had also touched on the funds of the Dalada Maligawa and the best use to which they can be put. The Dalada Maligawa as the country's palladium in which the Tooth Relic of the Buddha is deposited is both a sacred symbol as well as an emblem of the isolation of the faith. Mired still in feudal practice and ritual and surrounded by the grandeur of the Kandyan nobility it does not touch the life of the generality of the Buddhist public even while it evokes their unequivocal veneration. With an election for the post of Diyawadana Nilame due next year it is opportune that the new Mahanayake Thera in consultation with his counterpart in Asgiriya takes up the question of a more relevant role for the Dalada Maligawa in the affairs of Kandy in particular and the country in general. From the point of view of the other nationalities in Sri Lanka for too long has Buddhism and the Maha Sangha been treated as the bulwarks of a majoritarian ethos and a retrograde influence standing in the path of justice to other nationalities. Needless to say such a spirit rebels against the whole essence of what the Buddha upheld. If the new Mahanayake continuous in the manner in which he has started there is every hope of a new movement capable of reinvigorating society. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
