I am penning or rather typing what I feel as a Sinhaleese Buddhist living in Sri Lanka in what is supposed to be the day before the holiest day on our calendar. However, unfortunately I do not feel any of the holiness or even a tingling of spirituality.
What is wrong with the country?? What is wrong with the spiritual state of its citizens??
Is Wesak all about danslas and pandals and atapattam?
From my viewpoint as a Sinhala Buddhist educated at a Sinhala Buddhist school, I should not be asking these questions. The system is devised so that people will unquestioningly follow their faith and not be upstarts like moi. That sucks, as we all know no system is perfect and once in a while there comes a guy who will question and when his questions are not answered he will revolt and when he revolts he will be killed!
As we have witnessed during the last four decades of this county, the mindset of the people is fixed as if they are brainwashed. Any revolution will instantly be quelled. Do not ask questions because they will not answered. Live within the system and if you can't migrate!
That is what we as the youth of the country are being told. There is no hope for change. No hope of any Barrak Obamas being born in this country... no every ruler is the same forget about creating change all they just want to feed off the system for what its worth.
In recent times Sri Lanka has become ultra conservative, I suppose Sri Lanka was never liberal but it was also never ultra conservative we prided oursleves on being more liberal that our South Asain peers. Albeit perhaps the relative liberalism was derived from our faith but alas today our religion is being used as the very tool of conservatism.
The very religion that has thousands for liberals enrolling into its faith in Hollywood is being preached by our beloved monks as a path to a ultra conservative government.
That's funny because when the Buddha himself created this greatest religion he did it to circumvent the ruling class politics of the time, the politics that kept millions of lower castes enslaved within a corrupt system.
But what's happening today in Sri Lanka the same religion, the same faith is being shamelessly distorted by a handful of rogue monks and politicians for their political aspirations.
Since the day democracy was bestowed upon this land by the Brits, the threefold cause of the LAND, THE RACE and THE FAITH have overtaken all rationale political thinking and has been the death knell of the country.
In 1956 when the Banda- Chelva pact came in to being political forces played THE Land, The Race and the Faith card and effectively ruined what would have been an opportunity to prevent almost three decades of bloodshed.
Through out the country's contemporary history this card has been played over and over, and each time any chance we have had for a solution have disappeared. One wonders why? Why in this land where he all adhere to perhaps the most genteel religion ever preached and perhaps the most enlightening philosophy ever taught to man?
Its high time that we started identifying the priorities of our religion and our priorities as humans and act accordingly, there is still time for redemption.
nice bro! thumbs up..Bandatath..i was not a die hard religious guy nyway..heh..
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