Features

Travesty of Buddhism in present day Sri Lanka

Published

2 years ago

2023/12/10

The term ‘travesty’ is defined as a false, absurd, or distorted representation of something. In this case ‘the something’ is the Teaching of the Buddha and practices and customs done and followed at present times, arising thereof. Thus the propagation of false beliefs; the emphasis given to rites and rituals which the Buddha did not approve of, and things done which are completely against what He taught.

Crux of three previous articles

Three recent articles in the Island papers and Sunday Times dealt with relevant issues to what the title of this article implies. A very succinct article by ‘Member of the Silent Majority’ was on “The distortion of Buddhism and the rise of meaningless rituals” in the Sunday Island of November 26. S/He dealt with Katina pinkamas which were said to be more carnivals than religious festivals now. This is not only true but dangerous to the continuation of Buddhism which stresses simplicity and giving or doing good selflessly with no competitiveness or showing-off underlying intention.

Dr Upul Wijayawardhana listed in the following Sunday Island newspaper other distortions, mostly committed by monks themselves, one in particular. He titled his article Who is distorting Buddhism? and wrote “The biggest distortion happening at the moment is the rewriting of Buddha’s existence, Bhikkhus’ claim Buddha was born in SL. It is a shame that these individuals are allowed to disregard … historical evidence. Mahanayaka Theros have taken no action to prevent the spread of gross distortions.”

Tuesday December 5 The Island carried the article: “Is the Buddha’s teaching lost on us?” by Geewananda Gunawardana PhD. Talking of rituals that have crept into our practice of the Buddha Dhamma he writes: “The glaring proof that the Teaching is lost on us is the moral bankruptcy of the nation that led to the equally horrific economic bankruptcy. Moral and ethical conduct is at the root of the Noble Path; however it appears that this has been fully and completely ignored at all levels of society.”

Abuse of Buddhism –1. in places of worship

I have written many times about the gross violation of Buddhist pilgrims’ rights in the two most sacred sites in Anuradhapura.

There is absolutely no quiet and serenity in the premises of the Sacred Bo Tree. These are the two prime essentials of this most sanctified place where pilgrims can sit quietly and pay homage and gratitude to the 2500 and more years old tree which was a sapling from the tree under which Siddhartha Gautama attained Buddhahood, brought over by Theri Sangahmitta. We go to this place for quiet reflection on the Truths revealed to us and being thankful to the Buddha.

Long ago we imbibed the aura of sacredness that envelopes the place, shattered now by commercialism and false religiousness. Kapuralas, waving peacock feathers, act as intermediaries for money paid them to bless people who seek intervention in having their wants fulfilled. All against true Buddhism. Buddha showed the way to true happiness; no help from Him or from symbols of Him to alleviate trivial problems. This commonly practiced ritual demonstrates ego and soliciting material benefits either from the Tree or from devas.

Commercialism of the chanting men, cheating of gullible people and encouraging false beliefs are all allowed and maybe even connived at by the monks in charge of this most sacred site. At regular intervals poojas in the vihara below are amplified over loud speakers, blasting whatever quiet there is.

An ostentatious new vihara ge has been constructed adjacent to the Swarnamali Stupa and in the evenings, the premises are gaudy with myriad electric bulbs a-blazing. Noise of course is ever present, with a loud speaker announcing money donations.

At the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, I fault the fact that local pilgrims are treated so badly compared to tourists by distancing the shoe keeping kiosks so far apart. No person with less mobility can worship here now. Inside, the slew of ‘pin petti’ is an eye sore. It gives the idea of money making; added to the assumption I make that tourists have to pay much to enter the Temple. The Cathedrals in London, for instance, are free for entering to all.

Even in Anuradhapura, no help is given the old, handicapped or less mobile. In the Sacred Bo Tree site cars have to be parked a good distance from the entrance. They are not allowed to come nearer the gate to drop a person off. Does security still have to be so tight? Not so. Making it difficult to worship seems to be thought to add to merit acquired. Long ago a wheelchair was available for a less able person to be wheeled from one site to the other. No longer this nod to the old.

In Kataragama is an ancient dagoba, the Kiri Vehera, dating from the reign of Kavan Tissa and Dutugemunu, I believe. But most Buddhist pilgrims head with great fervour bearing pooja vatti to the Kovil first. Veneration to the Kiri Vehera is an afterthought almost. I did not go into the kovil on family pilgrimages when I came to realize that the veneration of the Hindu Pantheon was not within Buddhism. I respected the veneration by others but did not do it myself. I was once rewarded by a monkey doing his business on me. The God teaching me a lesson?!

2. Ancient sites being sacrileged

Prez Premadasa having a stark white Buddha statue hoisted at the top of Mihintale sacred site after his Mihintale Gam Udawa; Prez Mahinda R and Gotabaya getting a stupa constructed among the ancient ones in Anuradhapura to confer merit on dead soldiers (I believe); the ostentatious Golden Temple built at the bottom of Dambulla rock temple are all sacrileges to me. Maybe these acts circumvented the rules governing heritage sites,

one example is that the rock caves at Dambulla are designated heritage sites, not the rock per se. But building new constructions on ancient sites is simply outrageous, now more than ever followed by lesser mortals sticking Buddha statues on top of hills, road junctions and in any free space, not terminated or forbidden because it is in the name/realm of Buddhism.

The latest abhorrent gimmick was robing the Aukana Buddha statue. No interference with ancient sites should be a rule strictly followed. Consider the cost of the material for that robe that covered the pristinely elegant statue of the Buddha with the folds of the robe so wonderfully carved in stone. What if a man or men climbing up to the top of the statue damaged a part of the statue which time and weather had eroded?

3. Members of the Sangha

Sri Lanka is proud to be home to excellent monks of the Theravada Sect, of local and foreign nationality, temple resident or forest dwelling, who observe the vinaya rules strictly and make clear the Teachings of the Buddha. Many are revered overseas too. For instance Ven Uda Eriyagama Dhammajiva Thera preaches alongside Bhikkhu Bodhi in New York State; local monk are invited to overseas countries to preach.

But, as being bad is easier than being good, for each praiseworthy monk there are many unworthies in yellow robes. Consider protests on streets, especially of university students. Many monks live lives of luxury and do not miss out on any pleasures. (I need not enumerate them). Heard and seen monks who support their families or ‘girl friends’ with pooja stuff given them.

A bad example of being loose mouthed, egotistic, material minded and claiming to have achieved higher mental states was written about recently in the print press. This agri-monk claims arahantship while proclaiming sacrilegious, totally unacceptable comments on the Sacred Tooth Relic and even about Bodhisatva Siddhartha Gautama while on his way to enlightenment.

Then this monk goes before the Kandy Mahanayake Theras and probably a Sabha and seeks forgiveness and is given it, for the second or third time of gross transgression. Consider in contrast what happened to Preacher Jerome Fernando and that hapless singer whose injurious remarks about the Buddha could easily have been treated with a reprimand.

Another travesty committed by over jealous persons has resulted in the demise of the white cloth covered, straight backed chair on which bhikkhus sat to deliver sermons. Pragna TV Channel shows all sorts of gruesomely designed and elaborately crafted thrones for preaching monks. So against simplicity implicit in Buddhism.

Responsible for maintaining the sanctity of Buddhism

There exists the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs which is a Cabinet Ministry responsible for the country’s de facto state religion -Theravada Buddhism. Its duties given short below, cover much ground through overseeing: general welfare of Buddhist clergy; Buddhist education; development of temples as community and spiritual centres; maintenance of selected places of Buddhist worship as tourist sites; propagation of Buddhist philosophy; maintaining the nature of the Buddhist state.

PHEW!! Do they fulfill all or many or even a few of the above duties? If so we need not write these articles.

The Most Ven Malwatte and Asgiriya Mahanayake Theros have the responsibility of keeping the Bhikkhu Sangha pure, chaste and with no blemishes accruing to any Bhikkhus. I leave it at that.

The conclusion is that segments of the public who are followers of true, unadulterated Theravada Buddhism are the ones who see obvious faults in Buddhist matters as they are now. Additionally, it looks as if they are the ones who try correcting matters. The only way open to them is to write to the media drawing attention to misdeeds and shortcomings, and suggest, nay plead, for correction, protection and elimination of abuses to the Teacher, His Teaching and its interpretation; and to Buddhist sites.

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Features

Proactive peacemaking becomes a paramount need

Published

18 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wasting wars: Some war-displaced people in Lebanon. BBC

It may be some time before the full impact of food inflation is felt in the West. Until such time the world would continue to keep itself in suspense over whether the Trump administration is in earnest when it seeks to convey the impression that it is backing a negotiated solution in West Asia.

As is usually the case, consumer stress would be one of the final determinants of political change. To the degree to which the average US consumer somehow ‘muddles through’ and puts the food on the table, to the same extent would the Republican sections of the US public in particular be tolerant of the Trump administration’s inconsistent handling of the West Asian war and the main issues stemming from it. That is, there would be no grave popular disaffection and a demand for political change in the short term.

However, the indications are that the Trump administration’s support base is suffering some erosion in the wake of the current economic crisis. While reports indicate that Democratic sections are firming-up their opposition to the political centre, Republican support for Trump is also showing signs of waning, we are given to understand.

The above developments are probably why Trump is on record as having given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘dressing down’ recently on his seeming intransigence on the question of giving negotiations a chance in West Asia. The show of displeasure could be really aimed by Trump at containing the impatience of the American public.

However, the current ground situation in the Middle East, particularly the uncontained bloodshed, is likely to impress on the thinking sections of the world that more than temporary political change is needed in West Asia and the US.

A well thought out political solution that addresses all the contentious issues at the heart of the Middle East conflict is what enlightened opinion would demand, and very rightly. Right now, the ‘peace efforts’ initiated by the Trump administration give the impression of being piecemeal solutions at best.

There have been, of course, numerous initiatives in the past aimed at bringing permanent peace to the Middle East. These failed mainly because they did not address in full the root causes of the conflict.

At bottom the Middle East conflict is mainly about race and religious hate bred by socio-economic and material inequalities. For instance, if the Palestinian people were not displaced and deprived of land occupied by them at the time of the founding of the Israeli state, ethnic enmities would not have grown to the current unmanageable proportions.

When addressing the above questions, though, it must be remembered that the Israelis too were a displaced people who were entitled to land and a state of their own in the Middle East. Basically, out of these seemingly irreconcilable and conflicting demands have grown the Middle East imbroglio.

Middle East peace is considerably about reconciling these demands and arriving at a solution that would ensure the creation of two states that would opt for peaceful co-existence thereafter.

As long as the US does not see the need for a non-partisan solution that addresses the needs of both ethnicities and religions and goes all-out, as it were, to have it implemented, the Middle East would continue to bleed.

However, staunching the blood flow through the creation of two states would be only half the job done, though a very important part of it. More pernicious, pervasive and difficult to remedy are the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatreds that have been unleashed over the decades.

However, if substantial, long-lasting peace is to be fostered in the region the latter ‘demons’ would need to be exorcised from the hearts and minds of the communities concerned. No doubt an uphill task but one that must be undertaken by those who wish the region well.

The UN would need to put its ‘best foot forward’ in such undertakings but it is time that it dawned on the international community and other caring quarters that Middle East peace, and all other such uphill challenges, require proactive peacemaking on the part of all civilized sections for their effective management. That is, public involvement in peacemaking too is a must.

Since hatreds are harboured in the human consciousness the enmities embedded in the latter need to be managed and defused judiciously alongside other undertakings in a peace process. In the case of West Asia, such enmities could be even spread globe-wide besides being multi-dimensional. For instance, it ought to be thought-provoking that Iran is insistent on a peace initiative that would also include Lebanon.

Besides security considerations it is also ethnic and religious affiliations that account for Iran making this demand. For instance, the Shias are a numerically important religious community in Lebanon and they provide a significant number of Hizbollah fighters, who are in a vital sense carrying out a ‘proxy war’ for Iran. It also needs to be factored in that Iran is a Shia-majority country.

Thus trans-border religious affiliations could add to the complexities and enormity of ethno-religious conflicts. However, the task of managing centuries-long enmities needs to be launched and prodded on with by peacemakers since a downing of arms alone would not guarantee substantive peace.

It is not realized sufficiently that the process of ending hatreds begins with mutual apologies by antagonists to a conflict for the harm inflicted on each other. This would be anathema in some ears but there is no getting away from the requirement. It is the vital first step to permanent peace anywhere.

In fact there could be no reconciliation worth speaking of without such mutual apologies. It is a point worth re-iterating in these times when even the government of Sri Lanka is voicing the need for national reconciliation. Well, without the words, ‘I am sorry’, there could be no permanent end to enmities – they would do well to remember.

The above requirements may not go down very well with governments, but they resonate in the hearts and minds of most people, since they are inheritors of religious traditions of some kind.

This is a principal reason why peacemaking works well when publics too are involved in them. The effectiveness of such campaigns increases several fold when they have a Mahatma Gandhi or a Jawaharlal Nehru at their helm. A strong proactive involvement by the public in peace could lead to the emergence of such leaders at some point in these campaigns.

Features

Dialog Brings Sri Lanka’s Largest Digital Vesak Experience to Matara

Published

18 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

From left to right: Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, and Lasantha Theverapperuma experience the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered VR tours.

Official Digital Partner of the 2026 ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s #1 connectivity provider, collaborated with the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to bring one of Sri Lanka’s largest and most technologically advanced Vesak experiences to the ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone. The three-day celebration, in Matara attracted more than hundred thousand visitors, who engaged with a series of innovative digital activities powered by Dialog 5G Ultra, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, digital pandols and a Data Dansala. The opening ceremony was attended by Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development and Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, along with distinguished guests and Dialog’s senior management.

One of the key attractions at the venue was the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered Virtual Reality (VR) experience, which attracted more than 35,000 participants. The activation enabled devotees to virtually visit and pay homage to sacred Buddhist sites, including the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in India and the Atamasthana in Anuradhapura, directly from the Vesak zone in Matara.

Visitors receive complimentary mobile data through Dialog’s QR-powered Data Dansala.

Dialog also conducted an AI Digital Vesak Greeting Card Competition from 21 May to 01 June 2026, attracting numerous entries from across the country. The shortlisted designs were showcased across 20 large LED screens throughout the venue and across Matara City, and were also made available for download via mobile devices. Further, through the use of AI, traditional Jathaka Katha were reimagined in a digital format, demonstrating how technology can be used to preserve and enhance cultural and religious heritage. Together, these initiatives blended traditional Vesak celebrations with emerging technologies, offering visitors a unique and immersive way to engage with Vesak traditions.

Extending the spirit of Vesak through connectivity, Dialog conducted a special Data Dansala powered by its QR Reload platform, enabling visitors to receive complimentary mobile data by scanning QR codes placed across the venue. In addition to the Matara National Vesak Zone, similar Data Dansala activations were also conducted at the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones in Colombo.Visitors also had the opportunity to create personalised Vesak-themed digital photos through an AI Photo Booth, generating AI-enhanced portraits using their own photographs and adding a contemporary digital element to the Vesak celebrations.

Visitors watch AI-generated Jathaka Katha

Commenting on the initiative, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, said, “The 2026 Dakshina Prabha Vesak Festival marked the first time AI-powered digital innovations were incorporated into a National Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka. Presenting Buddhist stories and teachings through technology created a new and engaging way for visitors to connect with these traditions. We thank Dialog for supporting this initiative and for working closely with us to bring our vision to life. Their contribution played an important role in making this first-of-its-kind event a reality.”

Lasantha Theverapperuma, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We thank the Government of Sri Lanka for the opportunity to support the 2026 Dakshina Prabha National Vesak Festival and for embracing technology as part of this year’s celebrations. As the Official Digital Partner, we were privileged to contribute through our Dialog 5G Ultra and AI capabilities, creating new ways for visitors to engage with Vesak traditions while preserving their cultural significance for future generations.”

Beyond supporting the National Vesak Zone in Matara, Dialog also enhanced the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones through a range of digital activations during the Vesak season. The company additionally continued its sustainability initiatives, including the Thirasara Aloka Poojawa, which illuminated rural places of worship through solar-powered lighting solutions.

Features

Beauty, elegance and talent…for women

Published

18 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Universal Woman is an international pageant focused on “beauty, elegance, and talent” for women, positioning itself as a platform to shape global ambassadors. The 2026 edition will be held in Cambodia, and Sri Lanka will be there, as well.

According to reports coming my way, contestants, at the international event, will work with industry trailblazers, under international standards.

Sri Lankan supermodel, runway and pageant trainer Chulpadmendra Kumarapathirana, is the National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026.

With over two decades in the industry, Chula was crowned Miss Sri Lanka 2006, and has since shaped the next generation of titleholders through her Colombo-based Chulpadmendra Catwalk Studio, widely regarded as one of the country’s leading modelling academies.

The team behind Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026

A former host of Derana Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World 2008 and a judge for Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2025, Chula now serves as National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026, leading the franchise’s search for Sri Lanka’s delegate to the international final in Cambodia.

Applications for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 are being taken, via WhatsApp: 077 659 4994, says Chula.

The judging panel for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 includes Senaka De Silva, Pageant Aesthetic Advisor & Chairperson of the Judging Panel, Angela Seneviratne, Caroline Jurie, Rozelle Plunkett, and Suraj Mapa.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 officially began its journey with a first round of auditions, held in Colombo, marking the start of an exciting new chapter in Sri Lanka’s pageant industry.

Launching the first round of auditions

The platform aims to empower women while selecting an intelligent, confident, and inspiring representative to compete at the Universal Woman International Pageant 2026 in Cambodia, this September.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka now moves forward with the vision of creating one of the country’s most prestigious and empowering pageants while preparing to crown a queen who will proudly represent Sri Lanka on the international stage.