{"id":20187,"date":"2013-04-16T23:03:12","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T03:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=20187"},"modified":"2013-04-16T23:08:04","modified_gmt":"2013-04-17T03:08:04","slug":"bbsutter-balderdash-carried-out-by-a-bunch-of-idiots-in-the-name-of-the-sinhala-race-has-got-to-stop-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=20187","title":{"rendered":"BBS: Utter Balderdash Carried out by a Bunch of IDIOTS in the Name of the Sinhala Race has Got to Stop Right Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

R. A. Ratwatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"BBS041613\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BBS seem to be the most important letters of the alphabet today, in Sri Lanka. Before I express my opinion on what is going on let me establish my credentials. I am a very proud Sinhala Buddhist of up- country origin. I have served a full five year term as a Basnayake Nilame, looking after the historic Maha Vishnu Devalaya at Lankatilleke in Pilimatalawe.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I also come from a family that has carried out tasks of this nature over generations. I am laying emphasis on this point as I will need it later in my argument and also to point out that I have personally spent more of my funds and those of my friends on contributing to the upkeep of the religious traditions of this country than the BBS collective has probably done!<\/p>\n

This is not to say that money is everything but to lay emphasis that one has to earn the right to speak, as was the case before the advent of the Internet and anonymity, giving rise to the non-use of credentials. By funds of my friends I mean both national and non-national friends and above all friends of all religions and faiths. I am proud to have Christians of both major denominations as my dear friends and a Muslim or two who I would consider brothers.<\/p>\n

This utter balderdash that is being carried out by a bunch of IDIOTS in the name of the Sinhala race and the noble doctrine of the Enlightened One, the Buddha, has got to stop right now!<\/p>\n

The tragic part of this cancer that is ravaging our land being allowed to get out of control lies more than partly with the temple trustees and the Nilames who have taken office recently. I come from a family that has a proud tradition of providing leadership to the Buddhist religious fraternity of this land. A Nilame was a layman in charge of running the worldly affairs of a temple. Worldly affairs because a true Buddhist monk living in accordance with the Vinaya cannot and will not, get involved in such affairs.<\/p>\n

The Nilames originating from the stock I refer to did not profess to be vegetarians and teetotalers; they did not wear white kapati suits at every occasion they were laymen. They lived normal lay lives and their function was to bring a lay perspective to the running of the affairs of the temple. In other words, common sense as well as realism, tempered with a realistic sense of values was what they inculcated into the system of temple administration. They were people with character and personality and they had associated with the priests of their areas since birth and had been unofficially \u2018selected\u2019 from large families by the elders of the family and the priests themselves.<\/p>\n

What I am trying to say here is that there was mutual respect among the lay trustee and the priest concerned and advice was given and taken freely. It was not a question of simply trying to please the priest in order to be re-elected at the next election as is the case today. Today we have some priests ordering laymen around and trying to “run” the Buddha Sasanaya on the lines of what they think is a profit making and “successful” business venture.<\/p>\n

What is really needed is a sansodhanaya of the sasanaya or a cleaning- up. I can assure you now that no political party could make that happen. What can happen, however, is for the Buddha Sasana Ministry to have a re-look at the Basnayake Nilame and indeed the Diyawadana Nilame office and those that occupy it. Select your candidates carefully and do away with the ridiculous election system that is now in place. Appoint a Nilame for a minimum of 10 years and do so after all credentials are checked by a panel of peers. Oh, I know politicization is a risk and indeed would probably be the reality but that is the case now too and any even slight change could only be an improvement.<\/p>\n

We need rational, realistic and educated leadership for the Sasanaya going forward. In the name of Lord Vishnu the designated protector of Buddhism in this land I beg for it!<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By R. A. Ratwatte BBS seem to be the most important letters of the alphabet today, in Sri Lanka. Before I express my opinion on what is going on let me establish my credentials. I am a very proud Sinhala Buddhist of up- country origin. I have served a full five year term as a …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘BBS: Utter Balderdash Carried out by a Bunch of IDIOTS in the Name of the Sinhala Race has Got to Stop Right Now!’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20191,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20187\/revisions\/20191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}