One of my uncles disappeared in Sri Lanka. None of my uncles disappeared in India. Now, do you see the difference? Peace be with you.

This not the first time some religious nut has assassinated a leader of a country over some issue (remember Gandhi?) and this will not be the last also. If it was a grand conspiracy by the Buddhists, will you say that killing of Gandhi was a conspiracy by the Hindus?

SWRD assassination best exemplifies Sangha State entanglement. Talduwe Somarama the monk who assassinated SWRD was allegedly drafted in to the conspiracy by Mapitigama Buddharakkitha of Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara. Reportedly Somarama reluctantly consented to assassinate the Prime Minister, “for the greater good of his country, race and religion”. The Prime Minister’s refusal to consent to a shipping business deal appears to be the real reason of the assassination. Bandaranaike referred to his unknown assassin “as a foolish man dressed in the robes of a monk”.

In the heat of the moment memory lapse can occur. So, this brief recall may help to refresh your memory.

As for Buddha’s acceptance of eating meat, I don’t think he ever said that. I thought he just accepted what ever food that was offered to him. Having said that, I do agree Buddhism (as any other religion) has its own contradictions and absurdities. But remember Buddha also said something very important. He said that “Do not accept what I say because I said it, but think and accept if you think what I say makes sense”. That is very important to me as it gives me room to think and accept what I think is right, and not because it is written in the sutras are recited million times by some priest.

The author lost me right from the first sentence of this write up:
“Even though [Sri Lanka] has all the four world-religions, it is unfortunate that political chauvinism and religious fundamentalism have often overtaken religious values such as respect for human life and human rights.”
Care to point out many countries that totally respect religious values over human rights? US, UK, India…???

The statement about “how much Buddhist priests are intertwined with violance..” needs to be substantiated. Do you know the total number of Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka and out of that how many are involved in politics? Granted, a number of them have been involved in these things, but it is correct to say that Buddhist priests as an single entity are involved?

It is same as say that all Catholic priests are paedophiles because many of them have been caught molesting kids- all over the world.

You talk about sitting sanga MPs in the government as if the government is dominated by elected Buddhist monks as MPs? Personally I don’t believe that Buddhist priests should be in political office, but to say that they can not indulge in politics is absurd. It is very fashionable to rant against Buddhist priests in social and political activism in Sri Lanka but no one utters a word when Burmese monks demonstrate against the military government in Burma or when Tibetan monks riot against Chinese. Shouldn’t they also be asked to go back to their respective temples and start meditating if Buddhist priests are not suppose to do that?

This sort of thing does not happen in Toronto, I agree, but look at the influence of Evangelical Christian church in US politics, or role of Islamic clerics in various Muslim countries. You will argue that there are no Christian priests in political positions in most of Western Governments – but they don’t have to be because their voices are very strongly heard in those governments. The reason that a party like JHU is in an influential position in Sri Lankan politics is because a section of the Buddhist population thinks that their concerns have not and are not being addressed through the mainstream parties. It is not because the Buddhist priest have a burning desire to enter politics and direct the country to be a pristine Buddhist theocracy.

Take for instance India. Indian governments have remained largely secular simply because one man’s (Nehru’s) vision. It also helps that Hinduism has no organized structure and a hierarchy of leaders. However, BJP is a very nationalistic party based on restoring the so called old “Hindu glory”, whatever that is, back to India. How long that India will remain secular is an open question.

The point that I am trying to make is, the article is silly. Why pick on Buddhism when what is being describe is common to all religions and pretty much every society?

“Educated men? Who are they in Sri lanka?

Dr Mervyn Silva and Weerawamsa are the two highly educated and cultured people that I know of.

How much intertwined has buddhist peiests become with violence? Never mind other religions, I refer to buddhism, the most compassionate of all religions as they say.

How can the sitting sanga MPs in government continue to do so, if they had a conscience? They rubber stamp their approval of the actions of Mervyn, Duminda, and all other violent perpetrators.

Does this sort of thing happen in Toronto Ranjan, and if not, why not??

You asked EELAM but ran away but Karuna,and Douglas are still in Sri lanka with the remaining Tamils. Lakshman Kadirgamar sacrificed his life for the nation.

Educated men? Who are they in Sri lanka? Are you telling those who supported a grade seven dropout Prabakaran are educated?

Jaffna educated population still dont know how to survive in Jaffna!

Are you joking?

Karuna, Douglas, Kadikamar all said to be tamils , they dont fall in to cattogory of educated men ….

the correction did not go through hence this post ,

Ms Janaka “But that Argument is old, outdated and not true any longer..”

if it was the position of Any Srilankan Government, Srilanka would have been paradise .

but sadly the truth is Mahinda is considering himself as re incarnation of Duttugamini and adding two chapters to the mahavamsa to revive it.

hence it is not outdated , it is actually being updated and revitalised.

Mr janaka , are prepared to take a challenge with me ,

will Mahinda or Gota would make a statement saying Mahavamsa is outdated should be abolished and not valid for modern society .

the worse thing is the said Mahavamsa is protected by constitution

ref CHAPTER II – BUDDHISM

Buddhism.

9. The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).
http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/Chapter_02_Amd.html

will you take the challenge next minute I will convert to theravada Bhudism ?

if it was the position of Any Srilankan Government, Srilanka would have been paradise .

but sadly the truth is Mahinda is considering himself as re incarnation of Duttugamini and adding two chapters to the mahavamsa to revive it.

hence it is not outdated , it is actually being updated and revitalised.

Mr janaka , are you prepared to take a challenge with me???/

will Mahinda or Gota or any mainstream political leader in Srilanka would make a statement saying Mahavamsa is outdated and not valid for modern society .

will you take this challenge ?

if it was the position of Any Srilankan Government, Srilanka would have been paradise .

but sadly the truth is Mahinda is considering himself as re incarnation of Duttugamini and adding two chapters to the mahavamsa to revive it.

hence it is not outdated , it is actually being updated and revitalised.

Mr janaka , are prepared to take a challenge with me ,

will Mahinda or Gota would make a statement saying Mahavamsa is outdated should be abolished and not valid for modern society .

the worse thing is the said Mahavamsa is protected by constitution

ref CHAPTER II – BUDDHISM

Buddhism.

9. The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).
http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/Chapter_02_Amd.html

will you take the challenge next minute I will convert to theravada Bhudism ?

Ranjan,

What does that tell you about organized religion? Not to reduce the culpability of Tamil nationalism for May 2009, but you cannot deny that Sri Lankan Buddhism was a powerful tool to control the Sinhala masses and spread ethnic hate. It’s best to explore spirituality through an open mind. Dogmatic boundaries set by organized religions only serve to hide certain absurdities within those religions. For example, the Buddha decreed that it was acceptable for Buddhists to eat meat as long as they didn’t slaughter the animal themselves. Within the context of compassion for animals, you are guilty by association and serving to contribute to the suffering of animals if you eat their meat. It’s absurd to suggest that someone who buys meat at the supermarket or takes an offering of meat isn’t incurring bad karma simply because they are physically far removed from the process.

“Pretty much everything that was said here about Buddhism can be said about any other religion.”

Therefore Buddhists have the license to misbehave ??????

“Its Sinhala, Muslim, Tamils (against the LTTE), bugher, malay who together as Lankans fought and beat the LTTE.”

May or may not be true.

To be fair lets include rest of the countries which worked against LTTE, India, China, Pakistan, Russia, UK, USA, France,Norway, 24 other countries and of course LTTE.

Would you be kind enough to let us know how many Tamil soldiers were serving in all three armed forces at the time of LTTE’s demise. How many Tamil soldiers had died while in service, fighting the LTTE? Could you name Tamil officers who have rose above the rank of captain in the army.

I am glad you have excluded Veddas from your list of people who fought against the LTTE. My people are not stupid enough to kill fellow human being although the island once belonged to my ancestors.

You say:

“The Lankan Muslims, Bughers, Tamils, against LTTE malays will still fight the to the end.”

That is a good idea, so one day we will get our ancestral island back from Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims Burghers and Malays.

Then my life is worth living, very encouraging.