Columns

It came as no surprise. What was surprising was the claim that the notoriously abrasive and physically pugnacious general secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Galagoda-aththe Gnanasara Thera was speaking on behalf of the nation and conducting himself as he did in the interests of its people.
Last week Most Ven Ittapane Dhammalankara thera, Mahanayake of the Kotte Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya, wrote to President Sirisena expressing what he called “some sentiment” with regard to the imprisonment of Gnanasara Thera on charges of contempt of court.

Gnanasara Thera

It was indeed a “sentiment” except that this sentiment proved to be more than a veiled justification of Gnanasara Thera’s execrable conduct over the years which ended with the leading public face of the BBS biting off more than he could spew. When and how Sri Lanka and its people gave Gnanasara Thera the right to represent them and do so in such a reprehensible manner, the Ven Dhammalankara fails to state and for obvious reasons. They would never condone such abhorrence performed in their name bringing disgrace to the country and its people.

Elected governments tolerated his uncivilised and un-Buddhistic behaviour giving rise to the commonly-held perception that he was being encouraged by those in power and that subsequent leaders did not have the political will and the moral courage to act against Gnanasara Thera.

The last bulwark left to defend democratic values such as freedom of expression and right of association against the monk’s rude and crude conduct was the judiciary. Gnanasara Thera probably thought he could undermine that institution, too, and cow it into subservience with his weaponised verbiage like he did to others untrammelled.

He relied on the Sri Lankan tradition of deference to and the sanctity of the saffron robe to protect him while he virtually ‘laid waste’ to government institutions, challenged political figures, invaded press conferences disrupting proceedings and threatening persons of other religions and even participating Buddhist monks.

One of the victims was Ven Watarekke Vijitha Thera who Gnanasara Thera threatened to disrobe in the presence of the media.
These are but some of the deleterious actions of Gnanasara Thera, a prominent member of the Kotte Sangha Sabha which the Ven. Dhammalankara says stood for the country “as well as for all communities and religions and highly values justice and fairness.”

Dhammalankara Thera might be addressed as the “Most Venerable”. But the content of his letter is hardly the most honourable. If a vulgar display of the kind of thuggery that can be expected from mobsters as happened in Aluthgama four years ago and elsewhere is how the values of justice and fairness are held aloft for the people of Sri Lanka and the world to see, then it is best our people seek such values elsewhere and not from those who constantly demean the teachings of the Buddha they have undertaken to follow dressed in a sacred saffron robe.

Ven. Dhammalankara Thera’s letter contains an implied criticism of the term of imprisonment handed down to Gnanasara Thera. The judiciary acted as it should. Everybody is equal before the law — or so we have been told — and the law must be respected. The decision to imprison him is now being contested in appeal.

What concerns me immediately is not his resort to the judicial system for which he has not shown much respect as his conduct at the Homagama courts clearly displayed, but the Most Ven. Dhammalankara Thera’s letter to the president. The Ven Dhammalankara claims he is addressing the president because it was a “responsibility” cast upon the Kotte chapter as Gnanasara Thera belonged to the Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Sangha Sabha.

If that is the only reason for addressing the President on the verdict of imprisonment, then the Most Venerable Thera’s explanation represents a weak defence of a monk who has disrespected the Buddha’s teachings and disgraced Buddhism.

The Ven Dhammalankara might be pardoned for speaking on behalf of a member of the Kotte Sangha Sabha. What is galling, however, is the Kotte mahanayake’s unsubstantiated assertion that Gnanasara Thera preaches his aggressive philosophy for the benefit of the country and the Sri Lankan people, a philosophy of hate, violence and incendiary rhetoric that is nowhere to be found in the moderate, peaceful and non-violent teachings of the Buddha.
It might be recalled that earlier this year a Buddhist monk-led mob attacked a safe house in Mount Lavinia for Rohingya refugees from Myanmar awaiting settlement in a third country.

Were these monks, probably taking a cue from the Gnanasara Thera-type practices of hate and violence, standing up for the Sri Lankan people who had no cause to feel threatened by a community that had fled persecution and terror in their own country?

Maybe the Most Venerable Dhammalankara could tell the Sri Lankan people who was responsible for sowing the seeds of hate that led to the killing of thousands of Rohingya people and the burning and looting of their villages?

Isn’t it the same philosophy of hate and violence that is now being propagated in the name of standing up for the nation and speaking on behalf of its people? The Ven Dhammalankara seeks to cloak such jingoistic babble dressed in religious garb thereby diminishing the sanctity of Buddhism that he and like-minded monks profess to follow.

It was just a couple of months ago that the Ven Venduruwe Upali Thera, Anunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, the repository of today’s radical and aggressive Buddhism, said in an anusasana at a dana at the residence of Gotabaya Rajapaksa: “Some people have described you as Hitler. Be a Hitler. Go with the military and take the leadership of this country.”

The flak that followed his exhortation to Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the Ven Upali Thera beat a quick retreat, stating that he had been misunderstood and his reference to Hitler was to bring to mind the forceful and prompt decision-making of the Nazi despot.

If instant and definitive action is what the Ven Upali Thera was insisting on, then he could have chosen other examples. But his decision to drag in the military made his intentions clear enough. Jack-booted authoritarianism is what seems to be advocated.

It would be enlightening for those like the Upali Thera to read what the military junta now ruling Thailand has done to several of the country’s leading monks and well known temples in the country such as Wat Dhammakaya.

In a lengthy article headlined “Thailand tackles its bad boy Buddhist monks”, a writer to the Asian Times said: “A defrocked Buddhist monk extradited from the United States recently received a 114-year prison sentence for fraud and money laundering, while police raided some of Thailand’s most sacred Buddhist temples in pursuit of wayward monks and officials allegedly involved in financial crimes.

Monk Wirapol Sukphol first attracted attention in 2013 when he appeared in a YouTube video flaunting wads of cash while cruising on a private jet. Accusations of sexual assault with an underage girl and other allegations resulted in his monastic name, Luang Pu Nenkham, being revoked and a warrant issued for his arrest.

After he escaped to California, he was extradited to Bangkok in 2017.
“This is the purge of a lifetime. Never have there been such high-profile arrests and so many prominent monks falling from grace,” said Yale University-educated constitutional law scholar Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang.

Thailand’s biggest-ever investigation and crackdown against corruption among officials and senior saffron-robed Buddhist monks comes amid widespread public dismay about some ascetics’ all-too-worldly behaviors and lavish lifestyles.

In May, an infamous, politically powerful abbot, Phra Buddha Issara, was also busted, defrocked and imprisoned. His alleged crimes ranged from forging the initials of Thailand’s queen and late king on fake Buddhist amulets, running a secret organisation, and stealing guns from police.
He gained notoriety as a fiery protest leader during the 2014 so-called “Bangkok Shutdown” strikes and occupations which crippled the elected government and paved the way for the military’s coup.”

Ven Dhammalankara is surely correct when he says that throughout Sri Lanka’s history there have been Bhikkhus who have spoken fearlessly in defence of Sri Lanka including its sovereignty.
But there is a way of doing so, not by depriving others the right of speech and of dissent and doing so by violence. In recent time the Most Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera showed the way with his sober and dignified approach to discussion and debate.

When those like Gnanasara Thera attempt to use verbal and physical power to force- feed the people with his views, one is reminded of the Buddha’s words to the Kalamas encouraging the spirit of free inquiry. As has been pointed out by scholars the spirit of the Kalama sutta signifies a teaching that is exempt from fanaticism, bigotry, dogmatism, and intolerance.

Perhaps it is time for some of our monks — thankfully most do not subscribe to such a philosophy — to revisit the virtuous and compassionate teachings of the Buddha and educate themselves to dutifully serve the country and its people.
As Shakespeare so aptly wrote in one of his sonnets “Loathsome canker lives in the sweetest bud.”