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By Charles Perera

Buddhism is a way of life to understand the reality of self. The understanding of that reality changes the attitude to life, and instead of thinking of life as short lived and within that short time one should make merry and enjoy life, it makes one think of life as having a purpose. This understanding that pain and suffering invariably follow pleasure and joy, makes one see them as emotions inseparably bound together.

This realisation is confirmed in following the teachings of the Buddha which explains, that the idea of a “ self” that enjoys and makes merry is a myth. In “self ”one sees two entities- the mind and matter. The matter dissolves and disappears, while the mind that remains is the entity that changes, and extends beyond life to another, and yet another and so on in a cycle of births and deaths which is the Samsara. Therefore, in “self” it is the mind that is pivotal, it is the mind that suffers and it is the mind that enjoys. Therefore, as a means to overcome suffering, mind has to be taken care of, to produce wholesome thoughts, which will make acts by body, and words conducive to give good results, useful to oneself as much as to others, in this life and lives after.

This may eventually lead to identifying what is good and bad in the irreality of conventional life, and lead to renunciation to lead life according to the teachings of the Buddha. This would be going forth from home to homeless life of a monk, which is called the pabbajja. Once a
pabbajja- a Samanera who has donned the yellow robe of a monk, he severs all connection with lay life. He follows 227 rules of discipline of the Order of Sangha and he dedicates himself to learning the teachings of the Buddha, committing to memory the discourses, teaching the Dhamma to the lay people, and meditating in between.

That is the life of one who has gone forth from home to homeless life of a monk. A life that is midway between a life of sensual lust and a life of self torment. Now, the times have changed and those who have gone forth from home find themselves living in more comfort than in the life from which they had gone forth. The 227 rules of discipline is arbitrarily modified or mitigated. Some of the pabbajjas are reduced to being more like the laity in yellow robes, taking over the activities of the lay disciples, and distancing themselves from the holy life of monks.

However, some of the activities of the laity, that had lately been encroached upon by the Bikkhus seems justifiable in a society which consists of the believers and non-believers, generous and the miserly, kind and the cruel, we cannot always expect respect to religious piety, and depend on the guarantee protection to Buddhism from lay politicians, whether they be Buddhists or non-Buddhist. In recent times there had been an avalanche of anti-Buddhist propaganda not only from the non Buddhists within, but also from foreign Christian activists, governments, and NGOs, no doubt primarily due to the unprecedented propagation of the teachings of the Compassionate Buddha through out the world.

Buddhism is facing much opposition in a very subtle way from many quarters within Sri Lanka, in some instances even led by Ministers of the government . The governments after governments had kept a muted indifference to these activities, for mere political leverage. In Digavapi Digamadulla in Ampara District, where the Buddha had visited, and meditated where the Chetiya now stands, many remains of ancient monasteries and ancient places of worship had been raised to the ground using tractors, to make habitations. In Anuradhapura several pilgrims were murdered by the terrorists in the precincts of the Sacred Bo tree.

The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy was blasted by a bomb placed by the terrorists. Many remains of ancient Buddhist Temples and buildings in the Northa and East have been disfigured and desecrated by the terrorists.

Large numbers of Buddhist villagers are being converted to Christianity, tempting them with money and gifts, profiting from their state of poverty, by foreigners fronting as NGOs. The government had been powerless against these monstrosities.

Under such circumstances who are better equipped to take up the cause of the Buddhism to defend and protect it from enemies far and near and leave it intact for future generation for the next 2500 years, other than the Maha Sangha. That is one reason why we have to welcome the advent of the Bikkhus into Politics. They have no political axe to grind other than bring to the notice of the people the discrimination against Buddhism perpetrated by known and unknown hands, and force the government to officially intervene to protect Buddhism, which teaches pacifism and has never resorted to conversion in any form during its long history. In view of the tremendous work they have to accomplish, they cannot be accused as reverting to doing the work of the laity breaking away from the vows of going forth-pabbajja.

Because the Buddhist monks are the guardians of the Dhamma, they are the representatives of the Order of the Sangha, beginning from Venerable Sariputta and Venerable Mahamoggallana, the two great disciples of the Buddha. It is the Maha Sangha who brought to us the word of the Buddha , some having sacrificed their lives , others risking their lives, enemy Kings, through ill health, eating leaves and roots during great famines, and still watchful that no harm comes to these great teachings. Therefore, they have the right to become politicians themselves in the last resort, to speak from the benches of august assemblies in the defence of Buddhism, and save the teaching from unbelievers, foreign agents, and terrorists.

Therefore we should hail the monks of JHU, who have risen to the occasion today to defend Buddhism, Buddhists, this Country made sacred by the several visits of the Compassionate Buddha, and to keep Sri Lanka undivided, free from terrorism, and all forms of racism, and build much needed tolerance.

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