An open letter to Bhikkhu Kirama Wimalajothi and Mr Dilanthe Withanage (Bodu Bala Sena)
you yourselves have accepted that there will be those for you, those against you, and those that question you. However, despite being Buddhists you have been quick to brand those who challenge or question your speech and acts as enemies of Sri Lanka and Buddhism, and if they happen to be Sinhala Buddhists you brand them as traitors. We live in hope that there are still those who practice the true Buddhism within your organizations that respects the core teachings of the Dhamma, about metta (compassion), khanthi (patience), the willingness to accept one's mistakes and correct oneself, and that they will change your approach.
Today we see what is happening in Burma, and even you Sirs would be hard pressed to deny that the precursors to the violence in Burma, namely
1. openly denigrating people of the Islamic faith publicly and via social media
2. openly asking Buddhists not to purchase from shops owned by Muslims,
3. openly asking Buddhists not to trade with Muslims
4. insulting Buddhists who are in relationships with Muslims
5. attacking Muslim shops and places of worship
6. attacking those who speak out
are the same we see in Sri Lanka today. Good Sirs, these precursors are the same we saw back in the 1950s and early 1980s. If allowed to go unchecked by the leaders of Buddhism in Sri Lankan, it will soon lead to long term communal violence, thereby forever harming the image of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, as a peaceful religion, forever damaging the image of the Sri Lankan Bhikkhu as a maker of peace, not to mention the death of thousands of innocent lives.
You Sirs will deny that you were involved in any acts of violence, however Sirs the evidence is that these acts happened after members of your organization came forward to whip up the racial sentiments especially within the impressionable young Sinhalese. This maybe arguably justified, but Sirs you did so at the expense of a minority, which is wrong. You roused the young impressionable Sinhalese not by calling to their good conscious, not by the Buddha's message of metta, karuna, muditha and upekkha, but by portraying a minority that has lived, worked and died side by side the Sinhalese for over a thousand years as the enemy. True there have been certain Islamic extremist elements within Sri Lanka, but this Sirs is not how the Buddha would have approached the problem to find a solution. Sirs, all the recent violence happened after the fact that your Bhikkhus spoke out, therefore one must conclude that these acts of violence happened due to the fact. You Sirs confirmed this during the rally in Kandy, where you said that "Halal is what unified the Sinhalese". Also in Kandy, you thanked some young Sinhalese for their efforts in facebook to promote your message. However, if one were to visit the Facebook pages such as the "Sinhala Buddhist", the "International Council Buddhists Sri Lanka", etc which support you and have tens of thousands of "likes" from young Sinhalese, one will notice that instead of posts promoting the Dhamma or noble Sinhala traditions, these pages are mostly anti-Islamic pages, with comments filled with foul and hateful words.
One of the greatest gifts a Buddhist offers is the "Abhaya Dàna" – the gift of freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless beings[1]. This is why Buddhists practice the pancha sila, it is founded and enveloped in metta. Yet, good Sirs, your organization is now perverting our young Sinhala Buddhists. If you are unaware of this, we urge you to take time to pause and reflect.
All formations are impermanent, even the formation called "the Sinhalese". Only those who have at least attained to the stage of Sotapatti are certain of escape from Samsara. To be unbound from the rounds of Samasara is why people follow the Dhamma and place their faith in the Buddha. Teach them the Dhamma leading to Unbinding (Nibbindati), do not fill their hearts with hate and lead them to the hells. Till you do Sir, we Buddhists, we Sinhala Buddhists, will continue to question you, for we eagerly look forward for the day when we can close this Facebook page.
Yours in the service of the Buddha Sasana
with metta,
the Admins of BQBBS.
Extract from :
Buddhists Questioning Bodu Bala Sena Page
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