SEVEN NOTES ON

RE-READING BUDDHISM IN SRI LANKA

Note 1 The Extra-ordinary Norm in India Note 2 The Liberation and Good Life Models of Buddhism Note 3 Three Yanas Note 4 Approaches to effective criticism of Buddhist dogma Note 5 Kandyan Buddhism Note 6 Saving Buddhism from Buddhists Note 7 Words and Reality

FIRST NOTE

Re-reading Buddhism

THE EXTRA-ORDINARY NORM IN INDIA

key ideas in bold type

TH

Every society has its orthodoxies and alternative traditions: those systems of belief that underpin the security and cohesion of the group and those which feed and direct the creative aspirations of societys true individuals. The two rarely get along and the price of non conformity can be heavy indeed.

Acarya Sangarakshitha Alternative traditions 1986 Windhorse Glasgow.

What Franklin Edgerton called the extraordinary norm in Indian tradition is of sramanic or non Brahmanic origin. The great doctrines concerning yoga, dhyana, karma, moksha, and samsara seem to have been the legacy of munis or sramanas ascetic sages. These great ideas were the distinguishing features of sramana thought which was perfected in early Jainism and Buddhism. In the older Upanishads these ideas appear only as intruders in the framework of Brahmana thought.

L.M. Joshi aspects of Buddhism in Indian History BPS 1973 p 16.

It is useful to bear in mind that Buddhism values silence over thoughts and words and that it places a premium on actual experience over mere descriptions of it or what we may call abstractions.

We need to go back to pre- hindu and pre-aryan indigenous culture of India to trace the origins of the ascetic or sramana tradition that Siddhartha followed. A close affinity with nature and its regenerative (feminine) qualities informed the earliest experiences of self knowledge or spirituality for tribal men and women in India. (The word India is used very broadly here to include the whole of South Asia.)

There is evidence that this knowledge had reached a fairly advanced scientific stage when the Aryans for the first time started incorporating it in their Vedas. Some of the Sri Vidya Tantric Practices and worship are found in the Rig and Artha Vedas.1

An ascetic is one who practices strict self denial in seeking the truth. On this path a growing realization of selflessness or egolessness informs his/her way of life and convictions. The rules of conduct that traditionally governed his surroundings, residence, observance of uposatha, sojourn in a fixed place in the rainy season, the alms round etc had been established prior to the Buddhas time as indeed was dhyana or meditation.

Brahmanism simply appropriated the idea of God for worldly purposes to create an ordered society which was hierarchical and patriarchal. The idea of karma for example used cleverly to justify ordering in terms of caste. The language and rituals were all chosen to exclude the non Aryan caste shudras who were both despised and feared.

In other words this was the male principle of control or the ethic of justice. I will now extract a passage from another essay to show how this male system of control is translated across time and space to facilitate the domination (and exploitation) of man by man.

Banks notes that Kantian and utilitarian moralities are based on a system of individual rights and duties, emphasising abstract moral principles, impartiality and rationality.2 They reinforce the separation of individuals, hierarchy, social contracts and individual freedom. The ethic of care stresses caring as the core value based on human inter-dependence and gives greater premium to responsibilities, relationships, cooperation and communication. The ethic of justice which is sometimes referred to as a male-oriented system of morality3 is the dominant mode of thinking not only in the UK but in the Common Law world generally. But its limitations in addressing social issues and the effectiveness of the ethic of care have been recognised, more specifically in the incorporation of restorative justice models into the juvenile court process. 4

1 2 3

Santiago, J.R. 1999. Mandala: The Mystical Diagram of Hinduism. Delhi: Book Faith India,

Id. Id. 4 A striking example of the fusion of both systems is the CRC which employs a rights discourse in setting out a holistic and care based agenda for action.

The essential characteristic of Brahmanism is external power and this is generally secured through superior knowledge couched in an alien language. The modern professional is a typical Brahmin.

Brahmanism in India was resisted by the internal power of the sramana. This resistance took different forms and religious movements and it employed different languages and a variety of communication strategies. Jainism, Buddhism, the Tamil devotional cult, and Bakthi movement all embodied the same egalitarian ideals that belong essentially to the sramana tradition.

To teach effectively you must care enough that the listener should understand and benefit from the teaching. The sramanas cared enough. They had compassion and the skill that applies compassion with a keen situational sense. In Gandhi we saw the dramatic flowering of the sramana tradition in the 20th century world of politics.

The 3 yanas of Buddhism Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana had distinct periods in which they flowered in India. In the first 500 years the elders worked in their secluded monasteries to systematize the doctrine and weave it into an ordered and coherent whole in the form of the three baskets or the tripitaka.

This scholastic tendency and attachment to the Buddhas teachings that naturally developed was firmly arrested by Nagarjuna who re-stated the doctrine on the foundations of non attachment and emptiness. He taught the principle of non-dwelling that the true disciple of the Buddha who lives in the present moment avoids dwelling on the middle path as well.

He founded the Mahayana school which emphasized the bodhisattva ideal as opposed to the Arahat ideal. On principle the Arahat has also realized egolessness and this distinction is wrong. The real distinction is between the pacceka Buddha and Bodhisatva. The former attains to a bodhi which is higher than the Arahat but lower than samma sambuddha as he does not teach.

The Mahayana is divided into Paramitayana and Tantrayana.

In the former the Bodhisatva who is dedicated to saving all sentient beings works tirelessly to fulfill the ten paramitas or perfections. In the latter which is also known as the Vajrayana the way of the indestructible, vajra standing for diamond progress is faster

as the basic method is one of meditation in action whereby the whole life is dedicated to meditative activity or what we may call Buddha activity.

Buddha activity is selfless and spontaneous. We can see this type of activity in certain actions of Gandhi.

When required, he could not only dramatize himself but also dramatize an issue quite powerfully. When others called meetings of protest against the Rowlatt Bills, Gandhi called a hartal, a religious strike non cooperation and silence. When others walked out of the Assembly as a gesture of defiance, Gandhi walked sixty miles to the sea at Dandi to make illicit salt.5

Conventional understanding of these actions is that Gandhi was a genius or a popular psychologist, that these were deliberately thought out actions.6 A close study of the relevant Indian spiritual tradition teaches us otherwise. These were simply spontaneous acts of a selfless and compassionate human being properly located outside the realm of conventional thought. He was simply following his heart.

Academic distinctions between the three Buddhist paths are resolved and rendered irrelevant through meditation in action. As Gandhi demonstrated, sometimes we help ourselves through study, silence, self absorption, self discipline and restraint (Hinayana); sometimes we help others through active service, communication, understanding and empathetic action (Mahayana); and finally we abandon all ideas of self and others because these are just ideas, imagined by us, and surrender ourselves completely to the situation and become one with it, as Krishna advised Arjuna in the Gita. (Vajrayana)

Whilst Hinduism retained its freshness and dynamism as a living faith in India Buddhism in Sri Lanka became entangled in the Sinhala Buddhist state building project as the sangha became one pillar of ancient Thunsinhale next to the king and the self-sufficient village.

There is a horrifying fact that is little known about the last Sangharaja of Kandy the Ven. Welivita Sri Saranankara. He was privy to the plot to kill his benefactor King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe in order to put a Siamese Prince on the throne. The plot was discovered and Saranankara was banished, and then recalled and pardoned five years later. The details are found in Lorna Devarajas book on the Kandyan Kingdom p 120. I know this sounds fantastic but our priests have been too entangled in palace politics from the very beginning. Then of course history has repeated when in 1959 Somarama killed SWRD. They were the pioneers of political assassination in the 20th century.

Spear, Percival. 1965. A History of India volume Two: From the sixteenth century to the twentieth century. New Delhi: Penguin, 199. 6 Id

No independent sramana tradition was developed up to the pioneering work of Kadawadduwe Jinawamsa Thero who established the Sri Kalyanai sect in the 1950s. At least we know very little or nothing of our sramana traditions of the past. It is the scholars who dominate our spiritual or should I say religious landscape.

The Buddhist church degenerated from a narrow emphasis on learning to a local form of Brahmanism. (Pl see Sangarakshitha in Buddhism in context) The insistence on caste exclusivity by the Siam Nikaya the successors to Maha Viharaya is further proof that this aspect of Aryan society has been replicated under Sri lankan skies. The opposition to Bhikkuni ordination within the Theravada is another indication of their patriarchal and anti Buddhist roots.

The Buddhist church in Sri Lanka has generally shut out the two latter waves of teaching on the basis that the Theravada textual tradition embodies the accurate version of what the Buddha taught, that it is unnecessary to look at other traditions and that in any event there is little doctrinal inconsistency as to the fundamental principles. The Vajrayana exponents on the other hand have taken the view that these three vehicles represent a graduated and ascending spiritual path Hinayana being the foundation as the disciplined self, Mahayana being the social extension by cultivating the perfections or parami through walking the path of awakening as a bodhisattva and Vajrayana being the final stage of perfection where the self has ceased to exist and only selfless action or non-action remains. They have also pointed out that ultimately there is only one yana the Buddhayana and that each vehicle is a style of teaching the Buddha adopted to suit the personality and spiritual development of his disciples. One clear implication of Brahmanism is that it stands against egalitarianism as it stands for continued exploitation of the peasantry. It would also follow that those monks of Sri lanka who followed the sramana tradition as individuals would have fostered better communication and a true spirit of brotherhood with their lay supporters. For example Ven Nanavira (the British wartime officer who came to Ceylon with Ven Nanamoli and became pupils of Nanatiloka Mahathera) spent a long period in Bundala and recounted in writing the generosity and unfailing consistency of the poor villagers who supported him. This is a tentative hypothesis which can be tested by research. The human being and freedom are the two key principles with all isms being enabling frameworks. The key achievement of the sramana tradition in India appears to be orderly and gradual progress balancing the extreme abuses of the Brahmin tradition. The sramana tradition has also succeeded in extending the maternal principle of compassion to the public sphere. It is not a tradition that can be institutionalized.

Indeed institutionalization kills the essence of this tradition which is obedience to the pattern of rise and fall. It arises as a movement and then falls in accordance with the law of nature. We saw this phenomenon in the disintegration of Asokas empire. Institutions on the other hand can go on indefinitely. In the process they come to embody values which are diametrically opposed to the values they are supposed to espouse. When all the world comes to recognize good as good it becomes evil.
Thomas Merton

SS August 2008

SECOND NOTE

The Liberation and Good Life models of Buddhism

The Buddha established the sangha in order that both men and women would in noble companionship progress towards nirvana or liberation. Monks and Nuns treading this path would then be able to guide laymen in the same direction.

Pursuit of liberation being a commitment of a very high order a second model of sangha grew alongside the primary liberation model.

What motivated the sangha to deviate from the liberation model?

Over-enthusiastic lay support was one. Monastic life became a materially comfortable option for people from different walks of life. The other fatal attraction was political influence.

Every political ideology requires some form of spiritual backing in the same way that the early Indian kings assumed divine status through the intercession of Brahmins who were the closest to God.

The establishment of Buddhism in Ceylon was closely linked to the imperial mission of Asoka. Rambukwelle states that the sovereignty of Thunsinhale was established through the work of 3 kings -

Pandukabhaya who defined the villages and thereby gave rise to the self sufficient village the first component of our ancient sovereignty; Devanampiyatissa who established Buddhism through royal patronage and gave rise to the second component the Sangha, distinguished from the sangha of the lower case established by the Buddha; and Dutugemunu who provided heroic symbolism to the chief among village chiefs the Gamani.

Dutugemunu and his brother Saddhatissa were among the most over-enthusiastic lay supporters of the Sangha.

The mission of this Sangha incorporated a worldly ideal preservation of the sinhala Buddhist state in order that the true doctrine may endure for its allotted lifespan.

This was a clear deviation. In terms of the doctrine established by the Buddha the life of the sasana was vinaya the rules established for both the monks and nuns.

Vinayo sasanassa ayo

This did not include an insecure pre-occupation with the stability and maintenance of a peculiar form of political power.

This insecurity deepened during the Brahmanatissa famine which ravaged the whole country during the tumultuous period of King Walagamba. People were even forced to kill the monks they venerated to stay alive. As the oral tradition depended on the transmission of the whole of the tripitaka stored in the memory of the monks a real threat was posed to the preservation of the Buddhas teachings.

Consequently a decision was taken to reduce the entire tripitaka to writing. This was initially reduced in writing to sinhala or hela language a language widely understood by all.

With the conversion of the oral to a written tradition a class of monks was created to preserve and maintain the knowledge of the canon. At a very significant debate that occurred either before or after the codification between the monks who championed learning and the sutta pitakaya the ganthadura and the monks who followed the way of meditation and the vinaya pitakaya the pamsukulika (rag robe wearers) a strange question was posed one that was never posed before.

What was the foundation of the sasana? Learning or practice?

The more articulate ganthadura monks won the day and they came to dominate the Sangha ever since.

This was the second deviation that was institutionalized by the Sangha.

In the 5th century AD when Buddhaghosa translated this canon into pali the sinhala original was not preserved. Why?

Of course the paths of scholarship and meditation were pursued together in those days when the Sangha had not completely lost sight of the liberation model.

Walpola Rahula Mahathera relates an interesting episode about the humility, freedom of discussion and broadmindedness that prevailed between Buddhist Monks in the days of the Mahavihara during the Anuradhapura Period roughly ranging from 500 BC to 1000 AD.

To be humble and not be proud of ones learning was regarded as a sign of great scholarship. The celebrated scholar Dhammarakkhita Thera of Tuladhara pabbata in Rohana, after teaching Tipitaka Chulabhaya Thera from the Mahavihara, sat down on a mat at the feet of his pupil and begged of him to give him a topic of meditation.

Why Sir, cried the pupil, havent I studied under you? What can I say that you dont know?

But my friend, said the teacher, the path of realization is quite a different thing. Tipitaka Chulabhaya was a sotapanna at the time. The teacher is reported to have attained arahantship on the topic of meditation given by his pupil.

[p297 History of Buddhism in Ceylon]

Nevertheless the vanavasi monk who meditated in the forest was not considered either important or useful to society.

A possibility is that these monks had rich relationships with the poor who supported them away from urban centres whilst the scholar monks became popular with the elite.

The good life model encouraged people to acquire merit or pin; to follow the 5 precepts so that they would have a good life in this birth and the next through their sojourn in samsara which was expected to be very long. Hence the aspiration to be born in the time of maitri Buddha.

The monks having given up the more arduous path of meditation and vinaya advised the lay people in these terms.

It should be noted that a life of observance of vinaya is essentially a meditative life. These two aspects are bound together. The decline of vinaya is a direct result of the decline of meditation in Sri Lanka.

It should be noted however that the monks who followed the path of vinaya and meditation did not break away from any sect and form their own sect. Instead they generally remained in their own sects and followed their individual paths to liberation.

Consequently vanavasi monks can be found in all the major nikayas in the country today. This non-confrontational and peaceful approach is in line with the dhamma.

One exception in the 1950s was the creation of the Sri Kalyani Yogasrama Sansthava which was dedicated to the re-establishment of a way of monastic life in accordance with the vinaya. It constitutes an example of successful reform of the sangha in recent times. That this is not public knowledge is another aspect of the nature of the work of meditation and the pursuit of liberation.

It is in a very important sense the silent way.

We can find examples of both models in every major Buddhist tradition Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. The Buddhist tradition is broad enough to include both models as people should be supported to progress gradually on the spiritual path.

To me what distinguishes both Mahayana and Vajrayana from Theravada Buddhism in Ceylon is this.

There is a true path laid down by the Buddha and there are numerous sidetracks along the way. Scholarship, politics, the practice of medicine, astrology and various other occupations can all be fetters to which the disciple can get attached due to egoistic reasons.

This makes it imperative for any religious tradition to develop counter-measures that ensure that sidetracks do not masquerade as the true path. These counter measures have grown due to the teachings and examples of enlightened meditation masters.

Effective counter measures are evident in both the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions which possess strong and advanced meditative traditions. They are absent in our own Sri Lankan tradition. The existence of the pali canon is a particularly weak counter measure without a meditative tradition.

The true path in Sri Lanka is considerably over laid and over grown. One only needs to look at the number of items found gathered under the expanded definition of Buddha sasana in the last Buddhist Commission Report. Only the loud speakers seem to be missing!

Very few Sri Lankans are aware of other traditions. What the majority know has been propagated by vested interests who want to perpetuate the notion of the supremacy of orthodox Theravada Buddhism.

What is needed is a critical exploration of other traditions leading towards a holistic understanding of the current directions that Buddhism is taking the world over.

As Buddhism progresses the world over as a critical, meditative, creative, dynamic yet peaceful approach to life, Sri Lankans who continue to be dominated by a fairly narrow devotional and intellectual traditional version of Buddhism are in serious danger of being left behind.

SS August 2008

TWO SEPARATIONS

There are two separations that weakened Buddhism in Sri Lanka and both were the result of attempts to ensure the purity of the Buddhas message. There is no doubt that Sri Lanka has preserved this purity in letters by codifying the three baskets in the First Century BC. However maintaining the purity of Buddhas message in spirit, in life and as a

way of life is more difficult and we as a nation have failed in this regard. Other nations that received the dharma long after us have done this more effectively, the Thais, Japanese and Tibetans for example.

What were the two great separations?

Textual Buddhism which became the reigning orthodoxy in Sri Lanka was vigorously separated from pre Mahindian spiritual practice in Lanka and pre- Buddhist spirituality in India.

There is no doubt that Prince Siddhartha was born into a living spiritual environment nourished by the Upanishads, Yoga and Samkhya schools and also Jainism. Buddha was a flower that drew nourishment from this spiritual environment, even though he went onto identify with greater clarity the three marks of existence anicca, dukkha and anatta and his own version of the middle path to end all suffering.

It is also overlooked that the Buddha himself visited this island thrice and this would have undoubtedly left a lasting influence.

When the Sinhalese plucked this great flower and preserved it for posterity in written form the spiritual environment in lanka prior to the exaggerated advent of Arahant Mahinda as well as the pre-Buddhist spiritual environment that prevailed in India were rejected. Buddhism was white and those two environments were black. This literary style of presentation in the Mahavamsa has continued to shape attitudes and Buddhist egos generation after generation right up to the present day.

We now continue to worship a dead flower without receiving and using the nourishment of these two living environments. Is there any trace of our own native spirituality left behind in some unaffected simplicity, a reality without a powerful name? Spirituality is alive in India in some of their everyday practices like vegetarianism and yoga. Gandhi provided a living demonstration of applied Buddhism for those who cared to see. Yet we find it difficult to relate to him because he was a Hindu and not a Buddhist. It is on record that Anagarika Dharmapala wept when he refused to accept the Buddhist label.

Much later another Indian, J. Krishnamurthi and local monk, Ven Walpola Rahula had the following discussion:

WR: But there is hardly any difference between your teaching and the Buddhas, it is just that you say the same thing in a way that is fascinating for Man today, and for tomorrows Man. And now I would like to know what you think about all this.

K: May I ask sir, with due respect, why you compare?

WR: This is because when I read your books as a Buddhist scholar, as one who has studied Buddhist texts, I always see that it is the same thing.

K: Yes sir, but if I may ask, what is the necessity of comparing?

WR: There is no necessity.

October 2010

THIRD NOTE

THREE YANAS Theravada and Mahayana are two sides of the same coin. First we examine the self and then we examine others. And finally we throw the coin away. Of course we must not cling to emptiness either. Non attachment and not having fixed views and positions is a logical necessity in a world characterised by anicca, dukkha and anatta. The self, others and emptiness are three fundamental realities that we deal with in the practice and they are all stamped with the three signata. The path being full of side tracks and deviations one of the key determinants of an enduring tradition is the presence of correctives and these will normally come in the form of enlightened practitioners who embody the spirit of the practice. Between the Buddha and now there are two monumental figures that come to my own mind and they are Nagarjuna and Bodhidharma. These two names are not very familiar to Sri Lankan theravadins. All that we are left between the Buddha and today is the founding patriarch Arahant Mahinda and a pretty bulky set of writings called the tripitaka. Of course any form of practice irrespective of the country it is pursued in will yield results so long as there is a balance between intellect and intuition study and practice. As the Buddha said:
I do not say you can attain purity by views, traditions, morality or conventions, nor will you attain purity without these. But by using them for abandonment rather than as positions to hold on to, you will come to be at peace without the need to be anything. [Emphasis added]

All this can seem somewhat theoretical in a country that seems to retain polytheism as its enduring centre of religious consciousness. Irrespective of formal affiliation most Sri Lankans believe or have a healthy respect for all kinds of Gods and powers and forms of life that are beyond our limited sensual realm. Has Hinduism triumphed in this sense and become the religion of Sri Lanka as well in a real sense? Is there a continuity of this broad polytheistic constellation notwithstanding the strong institutional and reformist agendas that push macro ideas about one God (Christianity), one teacher (Buddhism) and one Islamic God (Wahabbism)? Is popular religion in Sri Lanka simply this underlying and implicit and sometimes regressive polytheistic pull?

http://video.dailymirror.lk/videos/778/seeking-divine-help-for-sf

A NOTE ON TANTRA Mahayana texts refer to sutrayana and tantrayana. In sutrayana there is a meeting of life with truth. But in dualistic fashion the two are kept strictly separate. Another analogy is of course samsara and nirvana. They are mutually opposed and exclusive domains. Tantra means a thread or continuity. The meeting between life and truth that takes place through learning is taken as a static point. But tantra being the path of experience takes the disciple back to life armed with truth. Through this process the disciple becomes truth and unifies in his or her own person both life and truth. Samsara and Nirvana are not opposed but unified through pure perception. Thus we could say that Sutrayana is the journey from life to truth and that Tantrayana is the journey from truth to life or the application of truth to life.

FOURTH NOTE

APPROACHES TO EFFECTIVE CRITICISM OF BUDDHIST DOGMA In the journey of a Buddhist born as a Buddhist in this country nominal creed comes first and this may in time ripen into a dominant conviction. The nominal creed includes many beliefs and many practices that are not strictly Buddhist but they are part of the natural adulteration that takes place through the inter-mingling of the faith with popular practice and sometimes with political religion. In criticizing these false beliefs and practices there are certain approaches that seem ill-advised. When we look at the whole survival mentality of Buddhists that began during the British occupation and continued thereafter with the struggles against the English speaking elites and finally with Tamils it is very clear that the Buddhist leadership has now mastered the art of confrontation and disputation in short politics has become second nature to them. As such all challenges that emanate from various quarters are pre-identified and disposed of in a very professional and political way. Some of the strongest responses are given to arguments based on western norms. These norms, according to popular thinking are only an institutional lie to cover up the desires of the westernised elite to continue their domination of the masses. This is especially so when those western concepts are presented as universal norms that shut out criticism and discussion instead of opening the doors to a dialogue. In fact even some of the new engaged Buddhist approaches that come closest to the spirit of Buddhism can be attacked as new fangled machinations of the Dalai Lama and other westerners who have arrogated the dhamma that priceless gem of which the highest guardian is the Sinhala Buddhist to themselves. When the texts are the ultimate touch stone of spiritual authenticity any attempt to set up other sources attract immediate suspicion, if not resentment. All these aspects leave a number of approaches intact for the effective criticism of Buddhist dogma. First and foremost is our personal example. A life that is lived with wisdom and compassion cannot be rivalled by any verbal approach. It also gives credibility to the voice which is then used for the purpose of advocacy. Another approach is to avoid direct confrontation and seek a closer level of interaction with the offending Buddhists. This gives a better insight into their behaviour and places you in a stronger position by removing the whole confrontational environment. Another idea is to emphasize the positives rather than the negatives. Silence is of course another time honoured practice as by giving attention to something bad you may serve to keep it alive. Finally one of the most effective ways of challenging Buddhist dogma is to set up the dominant conviction of Buddhists as a clear alternative. For example: It is the nominal creed here that Buddhists are the majority (being 70%) of the population. Now the Buddha said very clearly that one is not born a Brahmin but can only become one through right action. Here we use the substance of Buddhism to expose the fallacy of form. This approach is well taken by Ven Walpola Rahula in his Sinhala book satyodaya the dawn of truth. Many false beliefs are well criticized and exposed using the powerful logic of the Buddhas own teachings. More recently Manuka Wijesinghe has taken the same approach in Theravada Man

There is no doubt that the Kalama Sutta must be revived and be fully utilized in reviving our critical tradition. On of the key aspects of this sutta is the need for a benevolent state of mind when deciding philosophical issues. Strong value systems or their derivative practices can be attacked from outside but they almost always fail to make an impression because arguments proceed on the basis of two value systems at a superficial level without ever realizing the common core of universality that lies beneath both. On the other hand where the participants have depth a rich dialogue can take place between different value systems and cultures without the risk of offending and misunderstanding. SELF IS THE BEST CRITIC To criticize a Buddhist you must be a better Buddhist; to criticize a Christian you must be a better Christian; to criticize a professional you must be a better professional. Others can complain and comment but effective criticism that is targeted towards behaviour change requires knowledge. For criticism to be useful and constructive this must be superior knowledge. Unless you stand in the shoes of a person you really cannot know all the considerations and influences and motivations running through his mind. A fellow human being who has also experienced similar conditions may share the same knowledge to some extent and thus be able to point out certain things. But even here you may really not be in a position to help. But if you are neither able to stand in his shoes nor able to know his situation through your own experience then you are a stranger with nothing to stand on. The self is therefore the best critic. The further away from the self you go criticism becomes less sensitive, relevant and accurate. In fact it becomes a monologue leading to a reduction of social skills and finally violence mental, verbal and even physical. So criticism in modern times is free for all but effective criticism calls for a great deal of restraint and judgement.

FIFTH NOTE

KANDYAN BUDDHISM

We seek to explore the sources of legitimacy in Sri Lanka starting with the three pillars on which the sovereignty of ancient Lanka were based; The King, a Self sufficient village and the Sangha. Only the Sangha has remained and this is a vital source of legitimacy to

the forces that monopolize violence (politicians) and money (private sector) that have emerged from the British Period. There is no longer an independent public sector. The behaviour of the Kandyan Nobles in the last phase of the Kandyan Kingdom and the behaviour our middle classes ever since have established a legacy of dishonesty, disunity, parochialism and disgrace. To this we must add the martial qualities of the Sinhalese and a propensity for violence displayed time and again since the emergence of Sitawaka Rajasinghe. He was by no means the last lion in this sense. The decline of the Buddhist establishment, which by the way was never a separate source of power like the Church in Europe has matched this descent to tribal violence un-tempered by restraint, compassion or reason. Cricket has probably diverted some of this violent energy into a peaceful pastime and thereby provided a budding new source of legitimacy as well. But legitimacy as a whole has been lost, and what is lost must again be reclaimed. For this purpose the ultimate source Buddhism must be subject to new interpretations, and the illegitimate severed from the legitimate to serve the spiritual needs of what is going to become one of the youngest new nations of the world that will emerge from a dead past which has had such a strong grip on our present. In this note we seek to move away from the loose description Sinhala Buddhism towards a more specific and historically grounded set of ideas to pin point the negative, insecure and backward looking structural orientation within it as Kandyan Buddhism

Buddhism in Sri Lanka was revived by a king for the last time in the reign of Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe 1747-82. The work of Kirthi Sri was essentially revivalist and he together with the last Sangaraja, Ven. Welivita Sri Saranankara consolidated the form which the conventional Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka would take for another 250 years and more.

It is a working hypothesis for this argument that the revivals initiated by Olcott and Dharmapala during the British Period remained within the parameters of what I would refer to as Kandyan Buddhism. Both were laymen who collaborated with the monks and as found by Anne Blackburn in Locations of Buddhism (the biography of Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala) monastic practice and projects in the late 19th century showed a great deal of stability and continuity with the past. This residue of the cultural revival that took place in the 18th century is staunchly conservative and it asserts an exclusive Buddhist authenticity backed powerfully by the palladium of Buddhist Kingship the Temple of the Tooth of the Buddha, the colourful Esala Perahera and the two Mahanayakes of the Siam Nikaya who claim direct succession to the ancient centre of Theravada Orthodoxy the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura. This is a form of imitative Buddhism that has exhausted all possibilities for change, growth and development. It revels in a state of glorified stagnation. At the same time it has a pre-occupation with survival that excludes growth and change. Kandyan Buddhism emerged as an assertion of indigenous identity against the Dutch. It continued to provide the ideological foundation for Buddhist assertiveness against the Christian Missionaries and finally against Tamil separatism. The last dramatic gesture of its power was a fast unto death launched by Ven. Omalpe Sobitha of the JHU against the Post Tsunami Operational and Management Structure (PTOMS) considered by the Chandrika Cumaranatunga Government before the Dalada Maligawa in 2005. The heads of the Three Nikayas threatened a form of ex-communication of the President if the proposed structure was implemented to share power with the LTTE. Kandyan Buddhism continues to look up to Buddhist Kingship and Kingly favours for its preservation and perpetuation. In the absence of such a persona it has secured itself through Constitutional provision in Article 9. The first time this provision appeared was in the Brownrigg Proclamation of 1818. Kirthi Sri survived an assassination attempt hatched within Malwatte Viharaya by the deputy Sangaraja and his brother with the full knowledge of Ven Saranankara himself. 200 years later the Prime Minister who under-estimated the emotive force of Kandyan Buddhism paid for his mistakes with his life. Kirthi Sri handled this force with non violence even forgiving the Sangaraja and his deputy 5 years later. SWRDs democratic methods were no match for Kandyan Buddhism. In 2010 the attempt of Kandyan Buddhists to resist the remanding of General Fonseka met with gross violence from a new type of President drawing his mandate more from the reunification of the country than from the vote of the people. 2010 was perhaps the darkest hour yet for Kandyan Buddhism. But though suppressed and battered into submission their ideology remains critical for any ruler of Sri Lanka until such time that the Buddhists themselves are educated in self belief and self reliance. Three other features of Sinhala Buddhism (all of which are external power bases) were historically inherited by the Kandyans who also placed their own stamp on them. These three features had already brought the monastic Buddhist practice very close to Brahmanism in ancient India and these were, 1. Caste and land ownership

2. Active involvement in politics 3. Reliance on rituals and learning as the basis of religious practice; what Michael Carrithers referred to as ceremonial and literary specialists. Kandyan Buddhism is thus synomymous with Political Buddhism as opposed to Spiritual Buddhism and it includes those elements that give it temporal power (caste identity and land ownership) and spiritual pretensions (the role of ceremonial and literary specialists).

SIXTH NOTE

SAVING BUDDHISM FROM BUDDHISTS

BUDDHA ATOP BAHIRAWAKANDA in Kandy to proclaim a dharma higher than Kandyan Buddhism, the alternative sasana of a people who lost touch with their roots.

BUDDHA AT BALANGODA the sacred abode of a true sramana, Balangoda Ananda Maitriya Mahathera

BUDDHA AT KURUNEGALA Placing a giant Buddha statue on a commanding height is a modern phenomenon and a rare sign of creativity within Buddhist worship in Sri Lanka. Building a Buddha statue is considered a great investment of merit because countless people will gaze upon the Prince of Peace and generate a serene mind and noble thoughts for many years and even centuries to come. It is therefore a store of merit that will keep accumulating for those responsible for erecting the statue. Merit making can of course be yet another form of worldly attachment, a type of spiritual materialism where the habit of acquisition turns towards spiritual possessions. Be that as it may placing Buddha above everything else is novel and a matter for contemplation. The question is, can it save Buddhism from Buddhists? The idea that Buddhists are the biggest enemies of Buddhism in Sri Lanka requires some consideration. The noble triple gem was not bestowed on us to register it and perpetuate its identity in any form for 5000 years. It was given to be used to attain liberation in this life itself. Authenticity therefore lies in use and liberation rather than in mere identity or mere conformity with tradition. Our fate is that we are stuck with identity and tradition, unable to move forward. To say, This is Buddha no one else can match him This is the dharma the highest truth This is the sangha they are the most noble order

can at the beginners level be the defining article of Buddhist faith. But this devotion can also turn into a form of arrogance and exclusiveness. It is the dharma that unites the triple gem and as we internalize the dharma all separations vanish to be replaced by a boundless love and respect for all living beings. We are required as Buddhists to share the Buddhas vision and walk his path. This is the purest form of devotion. When the substance is found all forms become secondary. They are simply movables that can be used as well as abused. Are we required as Buddhists to worship the Bo tree or sit at its root and meditate?

SEVENTH NOTE

Spirituality forms the core of every human society. Peaceful co-existence (from the highest and most enlightened levels like in Bhutan or Ladakh and Sweden for example to the lowest levels like in violent Central American and African countries) is made possible by this inner core. Fellow feeling and compassion makes life possible even though sometimes things are hard.

What is the spirit?

We refer to the body, mind, shadow and spirit.

The spirit is that which is independent of body and mind. It may use the body and mind but goes beyond.

The shadow is dependent on and in fact enslaved to body and mind.

The shadow is our conditioning and sub-conscious negativities that hide the beast within. The spirit is what pulls that beast out and tames it and leads us towards freedom.

Both the shadow and spirit are the darker and lighter sides of the mind. They are locked in perpetual battle until they are both integrated through love and wisdom.

They say that the Buddha mind is ALL minds a mind that has experienced and seen through all states of mind.

Like Buddha or Dhamma God is just a word that describes an experience that liberates. This is an experience that simply cannot be put into words (like any other experience).

The precision and clarity of the dhamma may not be matched and in this sense Buddha was a great teacher. But in a multi-dimensional world evolved to different degrees in terms of spiritual growth we are not interested in a ranking or comparison exercise. That is to go the way of the ego.

There is however an important aspect of Buddha that the theoretically perfect Theravada Buddhism has almost completely ignored. In Sri Lanka in particular the Buddhas words and those pali stanzas are authority just as much as vedic quotations were authority in 19th century India. We hear what the Buddha said. This is the title of the famous introduction to Buddhism written by Ven Walpola Rahula.

We are also interested in helping people not merely to gather converts but to genuinely assist with appropriate words, gestures and actions that promote wisdom and compassion. We need to learn how the Buddha taught and what skilful means he adopted to create situations in which his words would be understood by his listeners. This is an aspect that Mahayana has given far more attention to.

Our emotional tendency to prefer or give precedence to some words over others is simply an example of the Lord of speech (one facet of ego) dominating our mind set.

The Buddha himself said to abandon everything and feel and experience reality directly. This is meditation.

This reality has never been the exclusive preserve of any religion

If at all it has been the preserve of truth seekers who have in some form or other applied the framework of Seela Samadhi and Prajna in order to witness the void and what happens within the void.

September 2011