May 5, 2013 | Filed under: Colombo Telegraph,Opinion |
Darshanie Ratnawalli
I am the legitimate issue of a woman who unabashedly claims to admire the Bodu Bala Sena.
This affords me a critical perspective into the issue, without which
everyone is floundering like headless chickens. There may be other
people, whose mothers etc. harbor soft spots for the BBS. But
because
they are not me, they would either try to keep these mothers in the
closet or, in contradistinction, empathize with these soft spots;
whereas I…Well you shall see.
My mother represents the Sri Lankan equivalent of Middle America and,
as such, the demographic bloc that makes or breaks any movement
dependent on mass support for its success. In Middle America (SL), one
becomes a Buddhist by being a stakeholder of the Buddha Sāsana
(deliberately called henceforth, the Buddhist Church of Lanka) and by
emotionally aligning oneself with the age-old mission of fostering this
Sāsana on this soil for the allocated five thousand years. Once one has
fulfilled this basic requirement adherence to Buddhism proper becomes
peripheral and is largely left to personal discretion.
This is the context which empowers my mother to look pityingly at
anyone who’d urge her to shift her alignment and allegiance from the
Buddhist Church of Lanka, where the religion stands together with the
State and the people forming the famous ‘Loka- Sāsana’ axis,
to Buddhism (stand alone, nonaligned to any worldly axis). The pangs of
allegiance towards the BBS felt by Middle America (SL) would be
silenced only if and when voices genuinely identifying with the Buddhist
Church and its Mission are raised against the BBS. Spokespersons for
Buddhism not aligned with the Sāsana will not have the credibility and
be dismissed as naive.
A very good example is Rev. Galkande Dhammananda,
whose message of tolerance presented as two video clips on the web
became an instant hit in certain circles, with monks of his ilk hailed
as what this country needed in thousands. According to Prof. Sudarshan Senevitatna,
‘Rev. Dhammananda has been extremely concerned about the subversion of a
doctrine of peace for destructive parochial ends and is committed to
what he believes as re achievement of peace and understanding, a
sentiment that comes from his heart’. Well and good. The only problem is
Middle America (SL) will instantly spot the ‘missing ingredient’ in his
message. The missing ingredient is the Sāsana. Why is there an implicit
as well as an explicit absence of this entity in his message? Why does
an overwhelming concern for the Church (the Sāsana) fail to find
expression in his message? Perhaps the Rev.Dhammananda thinks that all
Churches are parochial institutions that subvert peaceful doctrines. But
the Sāsana is not a dirty secret nor is Middle America (SL) going to
disown it no matter how many protégées of Sudarshan Seneviratne do it.
Supposing another erudite monk came forward and put forth a parallel
message; A) frankly acknowledging the challenges encountered in the
present day by the Sāsana, with its inbuilt drives for maintaining a
certain brand identity for the country (These drives are by no means
criminal or unique to this Church, nor is this brand identity non
inclusive- being merely asymmetrically inclusive or differentially
incorporative); B) emphasizing the need to find modern and
non-regressive ways of countering these challenges, drawing on this
particular Church’s rich heritage of tolerance compared to all the other
Churches; C) stressing the critical need for Bhikkhus with the
intelligence, education and the exposure to the wider world to be at the
helm of these counter moves; D) admitting that the degenerate, debased
and degrading nature of the BBS movement reflects the overall
deterioration of the entire Sāsana; E) reiterating nevertheless that
live seeds of resurgence still exist.
If such a message could be put forth on behalf of the Buddhist Church
of Lanka, it will be heard. At the moment, with everyone mouthing
platitudes about Buddhism, BBS stands tall as the sole champion of the
Sāsana, heir to its legacy, executor of its mission and the focal point
by default, of Middle America (SL)’s allegiance.
Another toxic ingredient is the absence of true redemptive intent in
the current civil initiatives against the BBS. What The Hour demands of
these initiatives are clinical, secular perspectives (in contrast to the wet schmaltz aspired to by the Candle People)
that can spotlight and challenge all negative patterns in the fabric.
Every Buddhist archeological site in the North and the East obliterated
by a bulldozer, built upon or otherwise encroached into under the aegis
of uncouth, unscrupulous and unethical Muslim and Tamil politicians,
whose regional political clout earns them Government sanction, deserves a
candle. We need to searchlight the literal excrement dumped into the
Dighavapi site (the encroachment into this ancient archeological site
also consisted of building toilet complexes on it[1]
as well as the metaphorical excrement dumped by the BBS upon the Lankan
social fabric. Every ancient landmark such as Matota(Manthai)[2] and Kuragala targeted by obliterative agendas should be co-candled with every Muslim enterprise threatened. The psychical darkness[3] that begets all brands and hues of intolerance should be switched off equally.
*The article is reproduced courtesy of The Nation and I am @ http://ratnawalli.blogspot.com/ and rathnawalli@gmail.com
[1]
This titbit was shared by Dr. Nimal Perera, Deputy Director General,
Department of Archeology at a Royal Asiatic Society Sri Lanka lecture
(24th September, 2012) on ‘New discoveries from Deeghavapi and Nilagiri sites’.
[2]
Matota (Maha-Thittha) is an ancient port in Lanka and archeological
landmark, which is currently being effaced through the over enthusiastic
building activities conducted on behalf of the Tiruketiswaram temple.
[3]
Note the staggering degrees of ignorance (that can truly be called
illiterate and uncouth without prejudice) that characterize the two
opposing poles generating the present climate of tension. One pole
exemplified by Face Book hate speech groups hold fast to the belief that
underwear sold in Muslim owned clothing stores are lined with chemicals
that can cause sterility. The other pole includes journalists such as Dharishna Bastians and Latheef Farook
who recently wrote articles propagating the belief that the Sinhalese
Brahmi rock inscriptions(which are typical of garden variety cave
donations to the Monastic Buddhist Church of the 2nd century
BC Lanka, that are found all over the island except the northernmost
extreme, where there are no caves.) of the now famous Kuragala are
Arabic inscriptions. Farook actually went so as far to state that the
only evidence that Kuragala was a Buddhist monastery of the 2nd century
BC is a board placed by the Archaeological Department in 1972. Compare
this ‘native ignorance’ with the presentation by British Civil Servant, C.H.Collins in Journal R.A.S (Ceylon) Vol. XXXII, No 85 of 1932.
No comments:
Post a Comment