A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Friday, June 23, 2017
Why The Mahanayake’s Statement Is A Disgrace?
“I think that hate is a feeling that can only exist where there is no understanding.” ― Tennessee Williams, Sweet Bird of Youth
Let
me not mince words. Our Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter, Ven
Warakagoda Shri Gnanarathana, made a statement to the media which was a
disgrace. I know, he does not like anyone disgracing monks or even
calling them by their names. He said so in this very statement while
objecting to our addressing Galagoda Atte Gnanasara simply as ‘Gnanasara.’ The Most Revd Mahanayake must realise one thing. The days of honouring anybody and everybody merely because they don a Sivura are fast dying. To deserve public respect one must earn it. Even
the Buddha advised his followers only to respect Arya Sanga or monks on
the Path. Gnanassara is far away from the path. He is in hell.
Besides,
doesn’t the Mahanayake understand that the public behaviour of bad
monks would harm our age-old Sasana and destroy its reputation? If the BBS monks
have total disregard about their bringing disgrace to the Sanga why on
earth should we genuflect before them and honour them? Honour them for
disgracing Buddhism and the Sanga? This is not merely illogical; it is
madness.
Didn’t Gnanasara have a history of alcoholism? Didn’t he, sometime ago, call the elderly monk, Ven Watareka Vijitha, a dog and a villain and address him as ‘yako.’? Our
government has been too benign to this rascal in yellow robes. Too
timid and too cowardly to act swiftly. Now, with the statement of the
Mahanayake, I wonder if President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would be having loose motions when
contemplating bringing Gnanasara to book. The Mahanayake made that
statement giving his brains a holiday. He was trapped in a conspiracy to
safeguard the dishonourable monk by lending his status to a status-zero
man.
To give Mahinda Rajapaksa credit, I remember how the latter wouldn’t give a damn when even all Mahanayakes condemned the jailing of our Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka. That was an occasion when I respected these Mahanayakes. The Mahanayakes subsequently
moved to form an all-sanga Council and issue a proclamation when they
received threats. They folded up. The same Sanga has no fear or shame
about defending Gnanasara. These are ironies of human behaviour.
The Court Charge
For
one thing, with regard to the current action being taken the government
has not done anything that a government shouldn’t be doing. Sri Lanka
had only one person constitutionally recognised as above the rule of law
and that was the President. After the 19th Amendment that is no
more-mercifully. Similarly, the monk Gnanasara cannot be allowed to muck
around and mug around as a law unto himself. He, like all other
religious personnel of all faiths must face court if charged with
legally offensive behaviour.
Gnanasara
has one charge pending in court and that is serious. He went into
hiding evading arrest, which is also both unethical and illegal. He was
ordered to be arrested by the Magistrate of an independent judiciary;
not by any politician in the government. He had entered a Magistrate’s
Court and (reportedly) verbally abused and threatened a woman who had
appeared to defend her lost husband over a Habeas Corpus application.
The husband was famed missing person Prageeth Ekneligoda,
who had gone missing like many other activists and journos under the
regime of the Rajapaksa’s. It was all legitimate business and Gnanasara
was allegedly acting in contempt of court. Nobody in a civilised and law
abiding social order can be permitted to obstruct Court and threaten
people.
What
offends our ethical sense is that in this particular case, it was a
woman grieving for her husband. Leave alone the law; where was the
monk’s Metta, Karuna, Upeksha and Upadana? Aren’t these the four noble
values or Brahma Viharas that the Buddha wanted his followers to
practice? Didn’t Gnanasara realise he was trampling on a vulnerable and
grieving woman?
Another
question: What was Gnanasara’s business in invading the court on a
matter like this? Was he acting as an agent of political
forces responsible for the dastardly treatment of Ekneligoda? There was
no Muslim involvement here at all. Then how come he went there?
A False Man in A False Robe