Sacrilege
- Minister Allegedly Desecrated, Decapitated, And Urinated In Front Of Buddha Statue
By Nirmala Kannangara in Dambulla
Janaka Bandara Tennakoon
As intra-party fighting among candidates of the governing alliance intensified with days to go for the general election, senior Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and his son are being accused of vandalising a Buddha statue.
The Minister for Local Government and Provincial Councils and his supporters, including his son, Provincial Councillor Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon, are being accused of desecrating a Buddha statue in Elamalpotha in Dambulla on March 26 because the Buddhist shrine was opened at a ceremony attended by another candidate of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
A police complaint was lodged with the Galewela Police on March 26 by villagers in and around Elamalpotha.
In what appears to be more fall-out from intra-party fighting, UPFA Matale District candidate Lakshman Vasantha Perera said that the incident happened because he had participated at the opening of the Buddhist shrine. Vasantha Perera, opposition politicians and the Chief Incumbent of the Dambulla Rajamaha Viharaya, Inamaluwe Sri Sumangala Thero, are vociferous in their condemnation of the attackers.
The Chief Monk told The Sunday Leader that supporters of Tennakoon had urinated near the Buddhist shrine before they damaged the Samadhi Buddha statue.
“He chose to do this indecent act to get revenge against his fellow party candidate,” the monk said, adding that Tennakoon has a notorious reputation for carrying out assaults, intimidation and even murder.
“This aside, how could a sensible person, be they a Buddhist or a non-Buddhist, come down to such depths to urinate in front of the Buddhist shrine and then damage the statue of Lord Buddha?” Sri Sumangala Thero asked. “When there was evidence that Tennakoon too was involved at the attack, only a few were taken into custody and the next day they were released on bail without any charges.”
Chief Priest Sri Sumangala Thero, local politicians and villagers accuse Tennakoon of damaging the Buddha statue. They ask what people could expect from such a politician if elected to parliament.
“If the government could deny a visa for the US R&B singer Akon and could imprison Sri Lankan-born Malani Perera living in Bahrain for publishing two books allegedly offensive to Buddhism, why cannot the police take Tennakoon into custody for attacking a Buddhist shrine and damaging a Buddha statue?”
Lakshman Vasantha Perera asked. “These are double standards. People should teach such candidates a good lesson at the forthcoming election by not voting for them.”
The Thero also charged Tennakoon of assaulting a group of people deployed by him to paste posters of a religious ceremony to invoke blessings on the people.
“I organised a religious ceremony with the participation of 500 Buddhist monks last Friday,” said the Thero. “I deployed a group of people on Thursday in and around Dambulla to paste posters of the event. By mid-afternoon Tennakoon’s security and some STF officers had come and assaulted my people and stabbed one person, seriously wounding him. He is now at the Dambulla hospital.”
The Thero alleged that the police have failed to uphold justice, saying that the Police Department was the most corrupt institution in the country.
All attempts to contact Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon to get his side of the story failed. However, his wife told The Sunday Leader that the allegations were levelled against her husband and son because they are prominent politicians in the area.
“Both my husband and son are very popular in the Matale District, and those who make these allegations are jealous of them,” she said. “They are conducting a peaceful campaign in the district.”
Police Spokesperson SP Prashantha Jayakody told The Sunday Leader that he was not aware of any such complaints against Tennakoon.
Why Sundayleader can’t make same voice against AKON?
Why cant the govt. raise its voice against this?? instead of talking about a foreigner
@ Jonathan. i accept ur words. we have make our lanka, afterthat others.
sundayleader was the first news paper to report on the Akon story
Because Sunday Leader is a Local News paper not an international news channel. It sounds like you accept what minister did.
these thug MP’s should be thought a lesson..once they get into parliament they all forget the purpose of them being elected., and just work only for power and greed with their thuggery. we hardly could raise a voice even against corruption after they get elected..the only way we could talk to them is by vote..even knowing the election is around the corner this thuggery behavior is unbelievable..it’s up to us[.voters] to reject these thug politicians..CAST YOUR VOTE WISELY..
Repercussions! Repercussions! Remember the ball of wine, woman and song of leather at the ICC world cup promotion on Good Friday when the Christians all over the world mourn the death of Lord Jesus Christ’s and his crucifixion, this country celebrates. Events such as these aren’t planed overnight, where were the catholic/Christian ministers in the government to brief the dumb organizes of the unsuitability of such an event? Where can Christianity be respected when Buddhism isn’t. Want two third majorities to kill all religious faiths? Thou shall reap what you sow watch out citizens .
Actually, I might be the last person surprised with this. Most of the government ministers, just like their UNP counterparts years back, are THUGS ! Don’t give a sh*t abt Buddhism or Buddhists. They all, INCLUDING king Mahinda, would even CONVERT into Islam, Christianity or even Mormonism IF they can cling into power.
I still remember the way SLFP behaved in the parliament in 2004 when JHU decided to remain independent in the speakers vote. And Most Of those thugs are NOW adamant Mahinda supporters !!
Brainwashed Buddhist, like the ones here, are clapping that at last we have a good Buddhist ruler, WHEN its obvious this Buddhist ruler didn’t even send any of his kids to Buddhist ( or even Government in that case) schools !
Two of the biggest Gamblers have High posts in this government & people still talk abt Mahinda being a good Buddhist ! Oik ! Feel like throwing up.
As long as we have cardboard rulers like Mahinda expect more of these in the future.
Correction;
Brainwashed Buddhists, like Leela, are toasting with less than 20% alcohol that at last we have a good Buddhist ruler, WHEN its obvious this Buddhist ruler didn’t even send any of his kids to Buddhist ( or even Government in that case) schools !
How does going to a Buddhist school or not have any bearing on how Buddhist someone is? Silly argument.
Well Raj,
Real Buddhists in Sri Lanka never send their kids to Anglican Schools like St Thomas ! This fake one sent all of them !! Considering the fact that he is acting as a champion Buddhist now, only a cohort can see this as a silly argument. Brainwashed cohorts, I may say.
I would like Ayesh to explain how you describe a Buddhist. In my opinion, sending your children to a Buddhist school, going to temple and tying a pirith nula do not make one a Buddhist.
@Reader,
What is good Buddhist from Mahinda Chinthanaya,
1 One who piss infront(on?) Buddhist statues
2 One who desecrate Buddhist statues
3 One who intimidate & insult & kill Buddhist monks
4 One who have friends who are mass murderers of Buddhists
5 One who gives higher positions to gamblers who earned their money illegally.
6 One who who consider Mervin Silva as a friend
Are you happy now ??
But MR is called as a good buddist, what a Joke????
Thanks Ayesh for showing the world of your wisdom! Yes, I am happy that I don’t have to read your comments any more!
@Reader
So you are nothing to say !? Huh !!
As expected, Mahinda cohorts have everything BUT brains ! ha ha ha….
Ayesh, you have no idea about the Sri Lankan culture. In Sri Lanka, people don’t care the “official” religion of the school when they choose a school for their children. The just care the quality of the education.
And the most hilarious thing is that people categorize him as a “Buddhist ruler” and then accuse him not sending his children to an “Anglican school”. For us, he is not just a “Buddhist ruler”. He is a “Sri Lankan ruler”.
pls don’t teach me abt Sri Lankan culture.
A lot of BUDDHIST do care abt the school they want their kids to have education. Believe me, a Buddhist sending their kids to a purely Christian school is quite rare (unless of course they are not accepted by other schools this is not the case here)
And sending your kids to St Thomas to have EDUCATION is laughable in present days. As Namal putha proved, this would actually slim your chances of being an educated person.
Mahinda claimed to be a champion Buddhist. So people expect to him to set an example.
Marrying a (hardcore) Christian & sending kids to Anglican schools shows he just another hypocrite ! Ha ha ha …..
Ayesh, Don’t compare education level of St. Thomas with Namal putha’s behavior. Your thinking is very childish. Please think before you talk. At the same time can you get a census of how many Buddhist students are having their education at St. Joseph, St. Peters, St. Thomas, St. Bridget, Ladies College, Methodist, Holy Family, St. Joseph’s Nugegoda, etc? Can you also find out how many Christian students are there in Buddhist schools like, Vishaka, Sirimavo, Ananda etc? Those students do not have any religious flavours in the education they get at these schools. So why do you bother? Think before you talk please.
@Bludiff
You are missing the point here. I do not want to offend any thoras here, St Thomas is a good ANGLICAN school, though I have never heard any parent choosing it over other schools for their kids to have GOOD EDUCATION, NOWADAYS.
Remember We are talking about GREAT BUDDHIST Mahinda Rajapakses here.
No where I said ALL the Buddhist send their kids to Christian schools. There are some of them of course, BUT if you carefully studied MOST of them did so because they had no CHOICE ! Since we have a few number of good public schools and entrance competition for them is pretty hard, SOME parents have no choice but to turn up to Christians schools.
But, take Mahindas case. He was a powerful minister, and could have easily sent his kids to a good Public ( or Buddhist) school. He himself went a GREAT public/Buddhist school. But what he chose for kids ? The MOST extremist Anglican school in Sri Lanka.
Even GREAT Bandaranayke himself an old Thora did not send his son to St Thomas, instead he chose Royal !
Even minister WDJ Seneviratne made his son to quit St Thomas and had him in Royal !
Even Minister DM Jayaratne put his kid to Royal from another Anglican school.
What about our Buddhist her Mahinda ?!! Obviously he preferred St Thomas. His Sons, now acting like Buddhists(??!!), preferred Anglican Churches over Temples !
That’s why I say, Buddhist Mahinda is an oxymoron !
Is your gripe is about behavior or Christean’s in general. Because Somrama became a murderer can we point the finger at all Buddhist clergy. that would be foolish.
Marrying a (hardcore) Christian. So it’s about the Christean’s.
How many hardcore Buddhist drink alcohol on Poya day. Hummer me
Hud: You are absolutely right; the foremost Buddhists in the modern times, Anagarika Dharmapala was educated in a missionary school. Our first Prime Minister, D.S.Senanayake, a good Buddhist was educated at St. Thomas. I can name so many good Buddhist monks that were educated at Christian schools. ayesh wanted to pick on our President.
Whether President’s detractors like it or not he will take this country in a new direction like Dr. Mahatheir did to Malaysia few decades back. Dr.Mahatheir wrote a book named ‘Malay Dilemma’ long before he became Prime Minister. And it is his vision that he wrote in that book made what Malaysia is today.
‘Mahinda Chintana’ is a vision of the future Sri Lanka. In it, there is no place for separatists or their sympathizers, Christian Evangelists or their sympathizers, Anti Buddhist NGO dollar sharks or their sympathizers.
In short ‘Mahinda Chintana’ is the opposite of RanilW’s regaining Sri Lanka. It confirms the unitary status of Sri Lanka. It confirms freedom for everyone. But the NGO dollar sharks and their backers that promote freedom of the ass is in for a great shock.
D.S. Senanayake was sent to a christian school by HIS FATHER. But his father was not a ruler (King / President) in Sri Lanka. But Mahinda Rajapaksha is President of Sri Lanka and also he studied at Buddhist School (Ananda College) , but his ALL SONS were sent to catholic school because of his catholic culture of his family. His wife is still a catholic women. YOU SILLY LEELA, I’M SURE YOU A STUPID CHRISTIAN.
Sujeewa: Two of our prime Ministers, Mr. and Mrs.Bandaranayake send their daughters to St. Bishop, didn’t they.
I wasn’t wasn’t educated at a Christian school but a prominent Buddhist school. Though we are good Buddhist, we chose to send our children to OCS. And, whats wrong with that. I say; that is our personal choice. Same goes to Mr. Bakeer Markar. He was educated at Ananda. Does it mean he is not a good Muslim? I can give enough and more examples.
san: I accept there has been Christian influence on everyone that live in this country. But it is absolutely silly to suggest that all former Presidents were Christians or influenced by Christians.
Sugeewa: I forgot D.S Senanayake’s son Dudley was sent to St. Thomas as well. So you argument of ‘his father was not a ruler in Sri Lanka’ becomes void.
So did Mahathir had an ACCOUNTANT as his Central Bank Governor ?
So did Mahathir had all his relatives screwing public properties like the kith & kins of Mahinda ?
FYI, those Great Sinhalese had NO choice because they were SENT there by their dads !
Also at that time there were not many GOOD public schools. So few choices were there.
Also Also, these ANGLICAN schools had good educational track records THEN.
Now to MR,
Mahinda dad sent his Namal putha etc. to Anglican school, at a time we have GREAT public schools ! And those PUBLIC schools have completely outperformed these Anglican ones, not only in Education even in SPORTS !
Still Mahinda chose an Anglican school !!!!
Now lets take a real Buddhist as an example,
Ex-PM Bandaranayke had his son in Royal uniform rather than his own St Thomas one !
Why ?
SWRD Bandaranayke knew the value of Education, Mahinda does/did not
Bandaranayke being a good Buddhist disliked Anglican education, Mahinda being FAKE Buddhist doesn’t care this.
OH ! LEELA LEELA
HOW IGNORANT ART THOUGH? YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW THAT MAHTHIR IS NOT A MALAY BUT AN INDIAN MUSLIM AND THAT IS THE REASON THAT GUY IS INTELLIGENT, CUNNING AND DECEPTIVE
There you are Leela (Herold Leelawardene).
you are appeasing the Mother of all thugs,
Mahinda Rajapakse is an hypocrite who dont
practice what he preaches.
He is being pushed to act like a Bhuddhist for political reasons as we know him more than you, even the ministers know.
He is a ace boozer , Liar , & wo—–ser.
its your misconception or pretend not to know.
Sheriff: Within another 48 hours you will see the majority people in this country has bestowed our President with a two third majority in Parliament.
Sheriff; I would like it you would please propagate that my write-ups can be read in Lankaweb, thank you.
Yes Leela
Lankaweb Markets MR clan & the UPFA,
it doesnt accept dissent views. you are lucky with Sunday Leader all views are exepted,there
is a auto word filter which rejects filth & religious words in English.
Its accepting singhala filths.
Sheriff: You know that I never write filth in English or Sinhala. Word filter or any other filter thats their choice. If Leader doesn’t want views in opposition to their own, what can I do; Just withdraw. Then their unbiased, unafraid and unbowed is gone.
And those intolerant guys (I say terrorists), who cannot stand criticism and threaten us directly and indirectly can have a field day.
Mahinda chintana is for rajapakses to make money and deposit in foreign banks. What happened to the millons of tsunami money? al went to swell the bank balance of rajapakses
Leela.. I always thoroughly enjoy you articles and please do not get discouraged by these low life goons MH Sherrif , ayesh and sujeewa. From their comments it’s evident that they are just trolls and most readers just read their comments purely for the sake of entertainment. I request you to start your own blog and like me , there r 1000′s of others who would appreciate your regular contributions.
When there was a king who walked NAKED there were people praising that kings cloths !
May be there were a lot of S(Aus) those days !
Leela knows nothing abt Economy, Education, Nationalism or anything he writes in that case !
He is just like a muppet in a muppet show, moves along with the strings pulled by Mahinda.
And we have S(Aus) admiring those qualities !!
Gladly these S(Aus) are not in Sri Lanka anymore ! Ha ha ha…..
S(Aus): Thank you. I am very appreciative of your remarks on my comments.
Eventhough SL is a buddist country, Always Cristian influence was and is there. All the presidents except HE Premadasa were and are cristians or influenced by cristians. This is the true
Ayesh, there is a huge difference between the meninges of “Buddhist ” (Champion or not) and “Buddhist ruler”. Try to understand that.
Well…I have several questions?
(1) Do you suggest that Mahinda sent his son to St. Thomas because he wanted make him an Anglican? And you think that Mahinda is a fake Buddhist, a hypocrite, and foolish enough to reveal it to the world by sending his son to St. Thomas while doing so many things for the well being of the Buddhism (may be to mislead people according to your point, but most of the Sri Lankans, including Maha Sanga, think otherwise ).
(2) Do you thin that Mahinda is a secret Christian and he had no option other than sending his kids to a Christian school to save his Christianity?
(3) Do you think that a good (or “champion”) Buddhist should not marry a Christian (Hardcore or a normal)?
(4) As Mrs. Rajapakshe is still a Christian (a hardcore, according to you), would you consider her as a hypocrite if they decided to send their children to a Buddhist school?
(5) SWRD Bandaranayake sent his daughter to St Bridget’s Convent. You consider him as a good Buddhist!
Do you see something is wrong here? (Probably you may considering that sending daughters to Christian schools does not make someone a fake-Buddhist. Good point)
And He sent his son to Royal College setting a marvelous example! What a Buddhist college Royal is !
(6) What Namal has done to prove that St. Thomas education slims the chances of being an educated person (just for my knowledge)?
Most of your questions are actually silly in the sense that they only shows your lack of understanding of my statements here.
The Level of education & schools were quite different in 1940′s, 50′s or 60′s compare to what is today. Anglican schools, obviously started much earlier than others were considered better places, even for Buddhist/Hindus to have education.
EVEN with that some great Buddhist politicians have preferred PUBLIC/ Buddhist Schools instead of the Christian ones. Finding there names ? I leave it as a HW for u.
Okay okay now get back to ur questions,
1.1 Do you suggest that Mahinda sent his son to St. Thomas because he wanted make him an Anglican?
Why don’t u ask Mahinda this ? What ever is the intention does that CHANGE the fact that out of hundreds of other schools he chose an Anglican school ?
1.2 yes, I think Mahinda is a hypocrite, fake Buddhist BUT I do not think he is a fool. Fools are the people who follow him, just like your self here. AND we know the story that even when some king walked NAKED there were people praising his cloths !! So I am not surprised here.
(2) Do you thin that Mahinda is a secret Christian and he had no option other than sending his kids to a Christian school to save his Christianity?
Nope !
But from what I hear from my thora buddies I doubt the Religion of his kids.
He may have send them BECAUSE they were Christians ! And if you may know, it is lot easier to enter St Thomas IF u r a Christian.
(3) Do you think that a good (or “champion”) Buddhist should not marry a Christian (Hardcore or a normal)?
You can marry even an Alien, but if you are a GOOD Buddhist & Educate your wife & kids well, they will never be Christians anymore ! Mahindas wife did not become a Buddhist, BUT many others, like my grandma, did after they were enlighten by their Husbands.
(4) As Mrs. Rajapakses is still a Christian (a hardcore, according to you), would you consider her as a hypocrite if they decided to send their children to a Buddhist school?
No. Because Mahinda is a BUDDHIST and HAS his EDUCATION in one such school.
5.1 (5) SWRD Bandaranayke sent his daughter to St Bridget’s Convent. You consider him as a good Buddhist!
Do you see something is wrong here?
NOT AT ALL ! Sirimavo was an OLD GIRL there. Mahinda is NOT an OLD thora. See the difference ?
5.2 What a Buddhist college Royal is !
You have a reading problem here !! don’t you see I have used term. PUBLIC in my previous posts ?
WDJ Seneviratne, SB Dissanayake, DM Jayaratne and even Berty Dissanayaka all chose ROYAL for their kids, BUT not Mahinda ! wonder why ?!
(6) What Namal has done to prove that St. Thomas education slims the chances of being an educated person (just for my knowledge)?
This just shows ur are NOT in Sri Lanka, and has ZERO interest in our education.
Check out the A/L results of St Thomas in past few years, check out Namals result. And do a comparison with Royal,Ananda,Nalanda etc.
And now come and say A/L is bla bla… and should not take it as an index. Well, I have hear lot of simila bailas,esp from people who have fluffed A/Ls!
Missed one point,
Probably you may considering that sending daughters to Christian schools does not make someone a fake-Buddhist. Good point)
This alone doesnt make him FAKE. Mahinda is FAKE because A LOT OF OTHER things He does goes against Buddhism too.
Friends, there is a group of people in Sri Lanka who are try to convert a cow dung to cake when they want to eat.
In one front they criticize MR accusing he is a hardcore Buddhist ruler without any sense of other religions and cultures. In the other front they criticize him for not being “Buddhist-enough”. What we have to realize is that the goal of these people is not the well-being of other religions or Buddhism. Their ultimate target is removing MR from the leadership of the country to re-enforce their agenda.
I forgot to add this. People talk big about inter-religious harmony bla…bla….bla…Then become sick (mostly fake) when it comes to people like MR.
Mahinda him self take IMMENSE pride of being a good Buddhist AND his cohorts does the same !
So people expect him to set an example for other buddhists.
what we actually see is a TOTAL contrary !
Removing Mahinda IMMEDIATELY is the BEST thing can happen to MY country now. With that we may even have a chance to default those HIGH INTEREST loans, I d rather call BRIBES, given to him by some countries. And we have chance to minimize the effects of Hedging fiasco created by another Mahinda relative. And we have chance to cut down all the funding to Mihin Air, we have chance to CANCEL all those one-sided contracts sign by this Government… And a lot of things…..
BUDDHA DEVORCED HIS WIFE AND ABANDONED HIS CHILDREN. BUDDHA IS NOT A GOD TO WORSHIP.
And who said he is god ?!! Did we say that ?
Dear George
Who is the father of Jesus?. Is it Joseph or some Soldier?.
George, Yes.. Buddha is not a god to worship. He was a human, and offered other humans a great philosophy. It is other humans duty that understand it if they can, and follow his teachings if they think it is true . If you can’t, or if you think his teachings are wrong, you don’t want to bother. No one blames you. No one will come and say that you will be burned in the hell for no believing him. Still you are one of our family humans.
And, importantly, if you are a good person and doing good for others, no matter your “official” religion, you are in Buddha’s path. It is not necessary to be a Buddhist to get the benefits of being good.
Budda did not ask to worship him, neither the Jesus and Mohamed. I hope all of them told to worship a power beyond all the limits and who control the earth and univers. That is the one and only god.
sans: You got it wrong; Buddha never recognized or said that there is “a power beyond all the limit” nor did he asked us to worship such a power. What he did ask in essence is; treat his ‘Dhamma’ in reverence.
It is monotheists belief and practices that you are talking about.
Leela, Then why the heck do we find these good Buddhists going to devales and Hindu temples to worship God or a higher power (i.e.Muneswaram, Kataragama). Anyway are these Good Buddhists doing what Lord Buddha wanted them to do (go by his philosophy)
@ saro
Read “Kalama Sutraya”, you will find the answer there.
saro: When he was alive, Ven.Soma explained that good Buddhists should not go to ‘Dewala’ and ask favors from deities because as he said; it is not in line with Dhamma. He said; we give merits to deities at the end of each ‘bana’ and ‘dana’ but never ask favors. That is our tradition. It has changed with the influence of Hinduism.
I must say; at the time of Buddha there said to be 64 religious founders. Some those religions exists in India even today. Buddha never asked any of his followers not to go to them or listen to them. He himself had gone to them and discussed his belief with them.
Having said that, I accept, even in some of our prominent temples has various Devalas. Naturally our good Buddhists flock to them and ask favors in many forms from various deities. Human nature I suppose.
As for you last question; Buddha said; you are free to accept my Dhamma or reject it. That is why Buddhists are very tolerant. You can argue against Buddha or Dhamma, Buddhists do not get agitated. Have you ever heard any Buddhist telling you not to quote out of context if you happen to quote from Tripitaka.
no !!!! he was an ordinery Hindu :P
MUSMIL! YOU ARE RIGHT. BUDDHA IS A BRAHAMIN AND A HINDU FROM INDIA. BUDDHISM IS NOT A RELIGION IT IS A PHILOSOPHY. BUDDHA PREACHED NON-VIOLENCE LIKE THE GREAT MAHATHMA GANDHI. NO ONE WORSHIP GANDHI.
i guess the so called budhists in srilanka paractice something else ,,,as history tells us …
Do you have any proof that Buddha was a Brahmin & Hindu ?
Do you know who was called a Hindu 2500 years ago ?
And please mind your own business without telling us, Buddhist what to do. Philosophy or Religion, its none of your business. At least it is not a Dogma ! And not preached by someone whose own existence is in question !
There are Billions who worship Ghanhi and Buddhist philosophy. But ppl who worship God who is a fake are becoming less and less. Man created God. Not vice versa
AND LIKE SJVCHELVANAYAGAM
Some people do have a picture of Gandhi, alone with God Vishnu and Shai Babah. I have seen this in a few Tamil housesin Sri Lanka and in North Indian Hindu houses.
George you are far from internal happiness, because you don’t have a “Samma dhitti” or right vision.
Prince Siddhartha was born to awaken the world. Not to have a family. His farther made him get married as he was the heir to the throne. He was a human being. Buddha means “enlighten one”. Some one, who has seen his aura, did ask him, whether he is a “god or What?”. He said I am “awakened”. He thought us to have self confident, than to believe in an unknown god. Once he said “if you want to worship me worship your parents”. We don’t worship him; we meditate in front of his statue, thinking of his good qualities and pay respect for his teachings. George your great- great grand father would have been the food of crocodiles, if his parents didn’t get baptised. They knew there is no almighty god who created the universe. But they did not have a choice. There are god’s who enjoy good karma in heavenly worlds. But they also die like you and me (only difference is they live 1000 or more years).
All religions are EVIL and Kill people (who are not with them) on the name of THEIR GOD(Ghost)
You may be right Dilshan. Good ! Buddhism is not a religion. It is a philosophy and nobody(not even an animal) was killed in the process of spreading Buddhism. In fact Emperor Asoka(no compassion), stopped killing and became Dharma Soka (religious and compassionate)after listening to a little Buddhist Monks sermons. After listening to his son’s(Lord Buddha) sermons ,king Sudhdhodana released hundreds of goats and Cattle that were ready to be slaughtered.
This news item is wrong, baseless and unsubstatiated. The Sunday Leader is wrong. They will be proved wrong and you will all hear about it very soon. Dear journalists at Sunday Leader do get your facts write and relearn the ethics of journaism. The karmic law will prevail.
WOW. Sunday Leader to save Buddhism !
Sunder Leader does not want to save buddism, but to save the country.
Oh….when they started it? I didn’t know ! Thanks for informing.
Yes, soon Michael Hardy of the Sunday Leader will take up the duty to safeguard Buddhism in this country. He is just loitering in Sri Lanka with no real purpose.
These are the types of people who have governed Lanka for decades. Isn’t it surprising that there is so much corruption, mismanagement, wastage , bribery and lawlessness….
What can you expect from a govt. who appoint underworld king pins as ministers.
They are supposed to be ’servents of people’ but the are the true ’servents of evil’
What ever they do, the law will not touch them… This is how the country is run….
These criminals are simply want power to create mayham just as they wish and the decent citizen have to live in utter bafflement!!
They do not have ethics, respect, decency…….
And the governement gives ministerships to these inhumanes… It is time for the voters to say enough is enough….
Lanka deserves better…
DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO BOOT THEM OUT FOR EVER…. IF NOT YOU AND THE COUNTRY ARE LOOSERS!!!!
Without any party politics this type of mean and insulting acts must be condemned and voters should be wise enough to keep these bulls away from parliament
Why not, most of are voters are sooooo VICE the reason we have so many undesirables in parliament..Cant you see how wise our votes can be?
Dear Mr.George de Silva,
I think the Buddhism is a kind of Political Philosophy. India was divided during the Siddartha era and lord Buddha did an Unification of the country or I think an Ethnic-Reconciliation.in Buddha’s words he re-conciled the society. The same purpose in mind Buddha visited SriLanka too.The politicians of today are abcend minded with the true Buddhist Phylosophy.
People of Sri lanka, real sons and daughters of Srilanka who love the mother nation will teach a lesson on the coming election day. But still there are few who goes behind these ministers and MPs for their own benifits support all kinds of dirty works of them and government.
Sad to say that this act was actually done by another UPFA contestant with the blessings of the rogue monk (anybody in Dambulla will know this fact) who got famous for the Kandalama fiasco. This so-called MONK is a disgrace to Buddhism. He tried to get Minister Tennakoon involved in his dirty business work, and when it failed he started attacking the minister with various charges. Ask anybody in Aitken spence hotels, as to what the Monk did and continues to do in relation to Kandalama. Sunday leader – continue with your good work in trying to identify the real goons. But in this instance, you have got it wrong. also, please don’t jump into conclusions without proper evidence. Better if you can talk to the minister and also the person reported this incident to you (he has my name) and then you will understand how and why this happened. No sane person will attack a religous statue and that also in the wake of the election!!!
Sadly this is an act of another UPFA candidate contesting from the same district. He has got together with the so-called MONK who is a rogue with a robe. This is the monk who became famous after the Kandalama fiasco. Check with anybody working for aitken spence hotels, they will let you know as to what the monk tried doing and continues to do. Monk tried to get minister Tennakoon involved in his dirty games and when that did not happen started firing at him with all sorts of accusations. Sunday leader – continue to do your good investigations. But this time you got it totally wrong. For further information please contact the minister and also the person who gave you this story (he has my same name) – then you will understand what has happened. Can you believe that any sane person will do this to a statue and that also in the wake of an election?
WHO SAID BUDHISM IS A RELIGON? IT IS A PHILOSOPHY FROM A HINDU PRINCE. PEOPLE OF SRI LANKA WEREVERY INTEELECTUAL AND WERE NATURE WORSHIPPERS BEFORE ANY OF THESE RELIGONS CAME HERE
What philosophy?
Get scared and become a MONK….. is that a philosophy or just a cowardly act.
Get Mob and kill the Indigneous people…. is that the Pure Knowledge we need from those evil religions.
Buddhism or any religions are just pure EVIL. They Kill People (who doesn’t obey or follow them).
That is the TRUTH. Religions KILL.
Somebody diverted the subject? come to the subject and pass any message to public it is worthy rather than argue about religion. If anybody argue about religion they should first thought about whole work where the big market available then you judge which is religon where we can get solutio problems. Politics means Rulers Always close their EYE, MOUHT.
Leela, for one of the few people who didn’t string your argument in hate: I wonder why u said the following:
“Mahinda Chintana’ is a vision of the future Sri Lanka. In it, there is no place for separatists or their sympathizers, Christian Evangelists or their sympathizers, Anti Buddhist NGO dollar sharks or their sympathizers.”
Christian Evangelicals: Technically, there is no real distinction between Christians and Christian Evangelicals, anymore than there is a difference between for instance Muslims, and Muslims who believe that eating a goat is a religious observerence. in both cases, it is unpopular among people outside the reilgion, and they have good reason for it, but within the religion, there is also a logical, and at least faith based reason for it. Moving swiftly ahead,
The evangelical part is a part of the religion that people don’t like it becuase of
1. the crusaders broke the teaching of christ by not only killing the thousand odd soldiers in the areas they pillaged, but also gave thanks at a church and killed others
2. the missionaries arriving during colonisation made people identify christianity with colonisation (of course, christianity went to europe from the middle east, and arrived in india through thomas hardly fifty years after christ’s russurection (my POV) crucifixfiction.
3. a superiority complex, whihc is the exception and not the rule, that western missionaries brought, which the christian missionary movement was very well aware of and tried to wrok out from.
4. The percieved unethical conversions. Now, it must be certain that there are a few unscrupulous people exploiting people’s situations for sure. But, on a majority level, as someone who has attended an evangelical church for the past 9 years, having done work in maha oya, the east, and having worked with many people i have never once seen the church or never once ourselves tried to unethically convert people.
the evangelical church is neither the enemy of Sri Lanka, vandalists and disrespectors of Buddhism as we have been repeatedly and baselessly, vicously called, or, an attempt at overhtrowing the government.
Evangelical Christianity, is simply a faith in one person for forgiveness, and a practice of love. I myself am proud to be one, and it is the greatest identity i carry as a person.
I have seen evangelical christians debate other releigions, with exactly the same manner of respect and thought used by Buddhist priests on TV talks shown on Poya days. never have i seen anything otherwise.
Whether the NGOs are dollar sharks or not is different matter altogether, and to be honest is a difficult question, given the amount of bridges, and homes I see in the North and East that have their logos on them.
of course, this is equally matched by the efforts of the security forces of the area who do their utmost best to help people and hare the meagre resources they have with them. it is therefore clear that the way to see sri lanka is not to be exclsuive about who and what is sri lankan, but to understand the benefits of things we find uncomfortable to see, that often goes against our prejudices.
take care, with respect.
By the way, with regards to article itself, it is unfortunate in a way that the leader should publish the story without first checking whether it really happened. For me perosnally, as a Sri lankan, the bigger question is not whether Mahinda takes his religion seriosuly (and i think the points about where he sends his children to study is an indicator, but not a good one, becuase St. thomas is after all one of sri lanka’s best schools) the bigger question is why he tolerates and whether he tolerates people who do things like these at all, and if so, why people wait till someone goes to a temple to do this to see through it. o
Present day it has become the vogue for the followers of all religions to say they practice love and they are for peace.
So much so, you wrote about crusaders in a confusing way. I’ll tell you what Christian encyclopaedia describes crusades as; it says crusades are ‘wars’ that wage to save holy places from Muslims. How could ‘war’ be described as ‘peace’? Especially; if it is a war with other children of the same God. Even today, Christians haven’t given up: They are fighting wars against selected Muslims that they call terrorists. I don’t understand your (Christian) logic.
Now take Buddhism. Bertrand Russell remarked: “Of the great religions of history, I prefer Buddhism, especially in its earliest forms; because it has had the smallest element of persecution.” True, in the name of Buddha, no sacred place was reddened with the blood of innocent human being, no sincere thinker was burnt alive, and there was no merciless roasting of heretics.
Christianity is associated so much with war, hate and pillage, evangelists are often considered synonymous with the word ‘forceful proselytizers’. I need not elaborate what Franciscans and Dominicans had done to our forefathers. When I said there is no place for evangelists and their sympathisers, I meant yesteryear evangelists donned in a new garb. They made hay while sun shined for them between 2001-2004, when RanilW became the Prime Minister. We were UNP supporters. Read special write ups in ‘The Sunday Times’ during those years if you want to know what changes our mind. Ranil will never lead this country ever again.
“take care, with respect” what do you mean?
Leela stop your B… Sh.t logic, you’re a 01 – 10 garbage.You try to defend one fault with ten lies.Terrorism must be crushed with terrorism and peace with peace,now their is peace and should met with peace.Were the ltte christian crusades from the “Middle East”? using heavy armoury to terrorise the people for their cause and our forces won the battle using the five pancil ha!!.is that your dumb logic.With respect to Ranil your not worth one hair on his head cause when it comes to economics,good governance and honesty 20% of the elite knows about it,but the balance 80% is 100% dought><There may be people of your calibre who will be impressed by your cocky comments.
@Leelananda …oh banana..what he means is:- he means he cares for you even though he does not know you and he respects you even though he does not know you.
@ Ashan..Bless you brother, BUT don’t waste your time with leelananda, he will always bring you down to his low level. Think about it.
YOU CAN PISS & POOH IN FRONT OF BUDDHA STATUE, THAT IS IN MAHINDA CHINTANAYA. EVERY VILLAGE SHOULD HAVE A BUDDHA STATUE TO PEE THAT IS IN MAHINDA CHINTANAYA. BUDDHIST MONKS CANNOT FAST TO DEATH THAT IS IN MAHINDA CHINTANAYA. 100,000 BUDDAH STATUES TO BE INSTALLED IN THE COUNTRY BEFORE 2012 AND THAT IS ALSO IN THE MAHINDA CHINTANAYA.
The best part of the story is the THOTHTHA BABA role of SP Prashanta…..he would have been sleeping ……………..poor fellow.
Dheyo Shaki, Whats happening to this country???????????????
IT´S LIKE A SINKING SHIP ….SO LEAVE IT AS LONG AS YOU CAN ..LET THE THUGS,MURDERES,BEGGERS KEEP IT AND SHAG ON IT AS LONG AS THEY CAN …
Psycho,Leela,Dilshan can keep sri lanka for them selves …i mean for him self ,as you can see it´s just the same guy who posts his nonsence under different id´s .
Everything Dilshan write is opposite to that of mine and things I do not like. I say; that’s his right.
Read what they write all over this blog: I mean those that accuse us with all kinds of names and those that says they don’t have freedom to write; they threaten us and throw all kinds of brickbats on us.
I say; if they go in front of a mirror they could see real hypocrites.
What about me Leela, I am not you!!
It does not matter, read what are writing I think dilshan is a garbage. has to be discarded. I feel like not to mention him at all. Leela produces some good comments and he seems to be a good commentator.
Readers can google “Brian Seneviratne” and they will get to know who this guy is. He is a real rascal, whose Medical Practice crashed. Later he became an LTTE mecenary.
MR is a very weak leader. He gains his strength from his brothers and few back lickers close to him. He won’t be able to sleep without people like Mervin Silva. He is a leader who will seek help and protection from any source. It can be a Kovil, Church, Mosque, Bo Tree, Temple, Yantra Mantra or an Astrologer . His brain is saturated with greed for power and he has lost the sense of reality and justice. The day he loses his power will be like the end of the world for him.
Bernard: Vast majority of people have voted MR and re-elected him as the President of this country once again. And, they will again vote his party to power with a thumping majority again today. As far as we are concerned, that’s what matters.
President didn’t mince his words like RanilW or had nor brag like SF. If you like, you may read his mind in ‘the Strait Times’. You will not have any difficulty in understanding whats on card for people like you.
In order to assist the President in his endeavor to retain this country as a unitary state; to rule this country in accordance with ‘Dasaraja Dharmaya’; to look after and prosper Buddhism; to look-after our 2500 year old culture; to have freedom for anyone to follow any religion; to have real economic freedom; to keep the western ‘neo-imperialist hit men’ at bay; to keep anti-Buddhist dollar sharks (NGOs etc.) at bay; to have a balanced foreign policy; and etc, we should send nationalist minded people like, Weerawansa, Champika, Dinesh to the parliament. And you will see hordes of them there after tomorrow. And to help MR take this country to economic prosperity we should elect capable young people like Thilanga as well.
MR had not appointed Mervin to parliament. He has given the choice for people to decide. But I could visualize what is your reality and justice. Take it from me; it will not come through in a foreseeable future.
a comment from a person who most proberbly paid by the MR thugs …Just ignore this guy LEEELA .
Could you please elaborate how we gonna achieve economic properous with Cabaral heading CB & Casino dude heading BOI ? !
Could you please enlighten me, coz Mahinda Chinthanaya gave me brain aches when ever I read, what are the plans Mahinda has for our future? Here we are talking about a president who allocated more money to him self than the whole higher education !!
Could you please enlighten us how Mahinda gonna gain trust of all of Mother lankas son, when he has ONLY his sons in his mind ? And getting them elected seems to be his ONLY vision ?
Could you please enlighten us why we need another holiday after election, when we already have tons to enjoy ?? Do you know how much money we will lose because of this ? And what kind of message Mahinda wants to leave for Business community, or any community, with this ?
ayesh: I cannot defend each and every action and appointment made by the President for that is his prerogative. He may have political as well as other reasons for making such appointment. I do not know. See the man Ranil appointed as the secretary for the Defence Ministry, Austin Silva. He has become an apple carrier to bedridden LTTE cohorts. Didn’t he appoint Fonseka. In so far as he is concerned I am sure; it is the worst appointment he has ever made. I say that because he has appointed a man who would later try to stab him at the back. You see; it is not the dots but the larger picture that I look at.
In my opinion, what we need for a sustainable development is the infrastructure. The most important of it is the power. In my opinion; it is exorbitant cost and the shortage of power that had dampened our development for last two decades. No President had tackled it correctly since JRJ. Remember; President ChandricaK had asked investors to come with their own power generation units to open factories here. How naive she was? That was the time that Rev. Rayappu Joseph, and other LTTE agents had been calling the shots. Anyway, by end of this year power will not be a predicament for new and old manufacturing businesses.
Another problem had been high inflation, high interest rates and ever plummeting exchange rate. So much so, that UNP economic pundit had predicted in ‘Sirasa’ chat shows that our economy would collapse by the end of 2008. Though its less than a year since the war ended, ain’t we seeing essential markers are stabilizing to manageable levels. Who should get the credit; I don’t care. As far as I am com concerned, just like the war, the President has done the job.
The outcome is a plus for all of us. We can witness the confidence among both local and foreign investors. See the rise in stock exchange indexes. It is only last week that The Washington Times has predicted an all round rosy picture for Sri Lanka after the elections. Just wait till end of this year, you will see a boom setting in. I am sure no moderate Tamil will want to miss the bus.
One thing I like about Rajapakse is that he does not let the Western Robber Barons fool us. I mean; people like John Perkins may not be able to write Rajapakse name in their bullets. He is safe because he knows how to answer them back and associate them in arms length. He is safe means we are safe. Read the confessions of an ‘Economic Hit Man’ you will understand how lucky we are by not electing RanilW as President in 2005.
@Leela
We are NOT talking abt Ranil here. As I said somewhere Ranil did several mistakes & people punished him. He did not murder people like Karuna nor did not ran away from the Army like Gota.
High Inflation at control ?!! give me a break !
2008,2009 the whole world was experiencing DEFLATION ! oil prices went down, metal prices went down, commodities were going down ! BUT how was in Sri Lanka ? Did we have those benefits ? NO ! And Mahinda Chinthanaya is going to export even Eggs now ! Ohh, I wanna laugh ha ha ha….
FYI, please study how we, I mean Cabaral, calculate Inflation rate. There was an article here abt it. So read and If you still want to FOOL your self, go and do it.
Most of the Mahindas appointment are silly, costly & ETHICALLY wrong ! We cant have a Casino dude in BOI, can we ? A poor country like us cant afford $ 800 million hedging lost, can we ? BTW, arbitration has already begun and we are spending millions of bucks to lawyers already !!!
Mahinda was the financier minister when we had the LARGEST VAT SCAM ! what he did ? NOTHING. Did he punish the culprits ? NO well, he did promote some IR officers who were according to some responsible for these lapses…
Mahinda is an incompetent person. There are hundreds of examples for that. I can go on and bombard this page with those.
Even with that I am sure, brainwashed people, like Mahinda cohorts wont stop bootlicking him.
Mahinda NOT only begs to western countries, He Begs to anyone ! Before he took pride in sending our ladies to Midle Eastern Countries ! pls check what he said when he was the labour minister.
Mahinda is a friend of brutal nations which are far more dangerous than the west ! Myanmar, Iran are the countries that have no respect for human lives. No wonder our own Idi Amin does the same.
One day people will definitely realise they have been fooled by Mahinda & his family. Hope that day will NOT be too late
ayesh: I have written a write-up ‘Fifty reasons why RanilW led UNP would be trounced at this election’ in Lankaweb. If you have time please read it and make a comment there. Thank you.
And please dont make a joke of your self by calling people like Wimal a nationalist minded person ! He is a top notch LUNATIC and JERK.
I believe Only JERKS can vote for another JERK like wimal.
Well we may have a count for that by tomorrow.
Why is any one really surprised?? Ins’t this, for the most part, the hall mark behaviour of this low breed ethnic group
yepp!!! the modayas of the south.. pukethenna muthe kollo
I don’t think this is true. This was not done buy any politician of any party, in Sri Lanka, not even a Catholic or Muslim politician. If they did (you are bound to get caught) they will never win the election(zero votes).
I think Buddhist monks should not get involved in party politics. They should be guiding the governments, but not take sides.
God what kinda ppl are living in this small nation. i guess srilankans are the worst of all in this world. this country will ruin by itself very soon. i would love to see this happen soon from my country India.
Sorry Rahul, this does not reflect all Sri Lankans. This is only a small ignorant few young guys who think America is the heaven and there are no corruptions and bad things happening there. They wouldn’t even know about the American Bombing of Bagdad. Of course their are few politicians who think everything American or European is better than anything Eastern.
If you need a good picture please read Lankaweb and Ada Derana.
The following letter was written by an inteligent tamil gentleman.
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/03/30/buddhism-%E2%80%93-the-answer-for-eternal-peace/
This Budshism is Evil. These Buddhist Monks all over the so-called buddhist monks KILLED the Indigenous People and other non-buddhsit people to create the BUDDHIST ONLY countries.
This Evil Buddhism is originally from somewhere Mongolia or Nepal from that corner. This Evil Buddhism has nothing to do with our Eelam. This Evil has to GO.
Dilshan, Read my remarks for your previous statement. Where did you learn these things? If Buddhism is evil you would be already dead.
Dilshan, you seem to be one of the most ignorant persons I have ever come across. Remember there is no treatment for the accute ‘ignorance’ you have inheritted. Yet Buddhism may provide the answer to your illness. Please read at least some simple books about Budhism and its orgin.
I heard this man had won with a thumping majority. Surely the vote must have been rigged, any sane man can vote this dog of a man?
Janaka Bandara and Tiger Woods should come together. Tiger blames himself for deviating from Buddhist principles that led him to seek comfort in so many women. Janaka Bandara and his son find comfort in desecrating and urinating in front of a Buddhist statue. Three cheers to Dharmadvipa.
SRI LANKA IS NOT A BUDDHIST COUNTRY.IT HAS A LAWLESS AND VIOLENT GOVERNMENT.PEOPLE THERE ALSO SAME.
HAH ! HAH! HAH! MAMAI RAJAH MOKA KIWATH , WEST CANNOT ROB SRI LANKA , ONLY ME AND MY FAMILY CAN DO IT ! . I GOT MANGALA AND TIRANS HELP TO CAMPAIGN IN 2005 , JVP CARRIED ME TO THE STAGES , I WON AND SEE WHAT I DID TO ALL WHO MADE ME THE WINNER . MY ONLY ACHIEVEMENT TO ERADICATE TERRORISM WAS SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISHED BY GEN.SARATH , NOW HE IS IN PRISON ON MY VERDICT . THE MAJORITY HAVE VOTED FOR ME IN 2010 HAVING FAITH IN ME AND MAKING ME A KING SECOUND TO NONE AND IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS THEY WILL NOW HOW GREATFULL I AM !!!!!!! .