The BPU saga

The Buddhist and Pali University (BPU) was established to give an opportunity for the young Buddhist monks to engage in tertiary education and obtain a degree to enhance their contribution towards educating the common people to obtain a better knowledge of the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha. However, when they enter the university, they are a different kettle of fish. Most of these Buddhist monk undergraduates are no different to the riffraff who resort to ragging and other violent activities in the state universities.

From the inception of the BPU and for some time the academic activities continued without a problem. At present, the student monks at the BPU had stopped shaving their heads and faces and seem to be following film and teledrama stars, cricketers and even some ministers and MPs. They resort to the same thuggery and behaviour as some of the undergraduates of the state universities smoking and drinking and even resorting to the use of narcotic drugs. The unkempt look and the violent activities of these monk undergraduates prompted a leading prelate to compare them to the Taliban of Afghanistan.

The Mahapadya or Vice-Chancellor of the BPU should be a person of acceptable academic qualification to be respected by the student monks and should be able to maintain strict discipline as was done by those in this position earlier. In case the student monks do not behave in a proper manner, this university should be closed, and all student monks sent to the Buddha Sravaka University in Anuradhapura. The premise of the BPU thereafter could be utilised for another state university under the University Grants Commission umbrella to accommodate the demand for tertiary education by lay students.

HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE