Clean up the Augean Stables

By Rajitha Ratwatte
fromoutsidethepearl@gmail.com

My writings seem to be gaining some momentum. A few weeks ago, the Editor had kindly made a reference to a description I had made of our politicians’ past and present, and last week a fellow columnist, using my name as an expletive (no reference to if I was man or beast), had insinuated that I write what I write from the safety and security of Aotearoa. Thereby establishing that she cannot write what she would really like to write due to living in the Pearl and possibly stirring the wrath of the rulers and attracting the consequences thereof. Before that the Editor had received a letter from Aotearoa complaining about the coverage, I gave to a function held on behalf of a politician over here. Not polite enough and rather damaging to the egos of those on the periphery of this blossoming political career.

I am dismayed that my writings (if you don’t mind me calling them such; they have been called much worse) are construed to be aimed at our politicians. What I say is aimed at the very fabric of the society that we live in. The fact that it is that society with their sycophantic and hysterical behaviour that nurtures, grows, and allows this scum to flourish, is well established. Any damage caused to the egos of politicians is purely collateral damage and should be treated as such. They were in the way and definitely not the prime reason or target. May I also add, and this may be a compliment to the age of the dear lady fellow columnists, that I have been writing these things and signing my name at the bottom from the time I lived in the Pearl and during some really scary regimes, in the times of suicide bombers and white vans, not to mention tyre pyres. Probably even before she could read and possibly from before she even assumed this life (was born!) in our beloved Pearl!

To get back to the matter at hand. It is impossible as a former Basnayake Nilame (lay trustee), albeit of an obscure pitisara devale (rural temple), to allow the crass and disgusting behaviour of a thug dressed in a yellow piece of cloth that covered his bulging waist, who was purported to be a member of the Buddhist clergy and which was all over the internet, go without comment. This person was verbally abusing a purported squatter on land belonging to the temple. It does not come as a shock, for during the five-year term of office I held and associated with those gentlemen mostly with inflated egos and an inexplicable need to display themselves on the streets of Kandy (Nilames’), I saw and observed much worse. It is not appropriate to disclose those “secrets” and certainly not in a public newspaper. It moved me to write earlier and ask for a Sangha Sanshodanaya and even to volunteer to help activate it.

One occurrence that may stir the memories of those who care, is a protest meeting that was supposed to be held in Kandy in the Maha Maluwa in front of the Maligawa. It was called for by the Mahanayaka Thero of the Nikaya that is situated on the shores of the Kandy Lake. This venerable gentleman was once lying in the cancer ward of the Kurunagala hospital with terminal cancer and not expected to live. But he did and slight deafness seemed to be the only apparent ill effect when I knew him. It was detrimental to politicians who were used to whispering nonsense in the ear of his predecessors as they now had to bellow at the top of their voices and of course this allowed others to hear, and it made these people rather uncomfortable. I used to enjoy such audiences immensely, and I am certain I saw a gleam of mirth in the eyes of the venerable monk, on occasion, as well! The response to this call for the gathering of the Sangha and lay supporters was stopped in its tracks by the then executive, with a simple threat. The threat was to remove certain temples from the diocese of this Maha Nayaka and his karaka sabhawa. This would result in the income and of course the power base of that temple being reduced dramatically. The karaka sabhawa was having nothing to do with that and therein lies the crux of the matter. I have heard many people ask why the head priests do nothing, for behaviour such as this and dare I say much worse, has happened and been filmed many times before. The reason why nothing happens is that the Maha Nayaka Theros’ are just figureheads (remember there was one appointed when he was in his nineties) and it is the Karaka Sabhawa that runs the Nikaya or sect. The Karaka Sabhawa is nothing but a glorified board of directors running a multimillion-rupee corporation with huge assets and lots of “employees”. Unfortunately, these directors have no real-life experience except for that gleaned in the uncouth and sometimes brutal environs of the local universities they studied in! As for the Seelaya (religious ethics), they are supposed to practice in accordance with the Vinaya ( self-discipline), it only exists in theory. One wonders if the true calling of the Nilames’ wasn’t to, as laymen, help run these temples and leave the priests and monks to practice their calling? That role too has now been corrupted beyond recognition.

Now for those of you who are girding your loins to attack this person who is trying to undermine their great religion, firstly let me point out that Buddhism is a philosophy and not a religion. My association with devout members of ALL the other religions practiced in the Pearl show me hardly any difference in the practice of those religions either, by the priests and clergy. It is not only Buddhism that needs a clean-up, but all religions practiced in the Pearl. They are mostly controlled by sacrilegious people pretending to be priests. They all need a clean-up. Contrary to popular belief, (and the view of the foreign Minister) the Pearl is all we can speak for and we are not the center of the universe and therefore cannot comment on religious practices in the rest of the world!

The guidelines for such a clean-up or Sanshodhanaya I believe is the term (I am open to correction) is written in Buddhist history and such things have been done, even in the time of the Lord Buddha.

What we need is strong unwavering leadership. A politician will lose votes and never win again if they do such things, seems to be the consensus of opinion. I beg to differ. I call upon SIR (and I hope I am not using this word as an expletive!) to commence a clean-up of all religions and their practice in this our beloved ex-Pearl of the Indian Ocean. If this is done together with solving our out-of-control Human-Elephant Conflict, SIR (popular name for incumbent president) will not only win the next election he will get as many terms as he requires to get this work done. Furthermore, this seems to be the last card left in Sir’s hand and what the people expected, when he was originally voted in with such a large majority.

Our people are beginning to realise that they need discipline in all walks of life and we no longer look to politicians. The Police force is a write-off. If we don’t even have the clergy to turn to what will our children do?

Furthermore, it will be a more than a useful distraction from the immediate problem of lack of vaccines (due to a monumental mess up of the original vaccination plan) and the debate as to who gets possibly substandard vaccines, to the future economic woes that the Pearl will definitely face due to the Pandemic, the activities of Cubby and his cohorts and the shenanigans in Geneva.