Maybe a good opportunity to fall out with the ME countries as well. All this is under the PTA and TID.

Buddha asked his followers to respect others and other religions. Nothing is wrong in writing a book against Buddhism. It will bring correction of wrong.

The "Buddhists" in SL are not real Buddhists.

The author must claim damages of U$15 million from the government for wrongful arrest.

My Muslim brothers issue death threats when someone says or writes anything critical of Islam. But they suddenly remmeber the Human Rights groups when one of us is held for insulting another religion.

Checkmating two fundamental religious organizations? Buddhism has never been and never will be a fundamentalist organization, but the Sri Lankan (Mahavanasa) version certainly is!

"It is not God that is worshipped but the group or authority that claims to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority not violation of integrity."

The Buddhist fundamentalists in SRI LANKA use religion as a tool of survival because their survival is threatened), while the reborn Muslims (fundamentalists and converts) use it as a tool to dictate terms to the world because they have enough and more to go around. One common factor is that both have been brainwashed during their tender age. The one under question is either pissed off with Buddhism for economic or some other reason. But the real Buddhism (not the SL version) should think twice about it.

Another patriotic issue to patriotic politics by a
patriotic group of true religionists.Open your mouth,
there's someone waiting to give you a free drive.In this wonderful paradise,nothing exists except the
police,army and the CID.And you don't hear anything
but communalism and bandysm.Every single aspect of day
today life is strained through the colander of ugly
communalism which enjoys the protection of the govt.

There are hundreds of converts who have authored books on their early life and the newly found life.Not everyone will read books except those interested on the sbject matter.But in a country where every single word nowadays has become a merchandise,you can twist the meanings and take the revenge so that others will never know the truth.

I am afraid that the comments by Kingsley show his deep misunderstanding of Buddhism and to quote him:-
'It is not God that is worshipped but the group or authority that claims to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority not violation of integrity.'
End of quote.

Dear Kingsley,
Buddhism disavows the existence of God and the concept of sin is not any part of Buddhism. Unfortunately commentators like you tend to foist Christian understanding and values on a religion that has a philosophy that explains in detail why suffering, death and sadness exist in the world.

The three Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in an all powerful Entity (God), Heaven (a state or place of eternal reward) and hell (a state or place of eternal damnation). Equating Buddhism in this way with these religions just shows how little you understand Buddhism. These concepts are not any part of Buddhism.

However there are Hinduistic aspects that have percolated into popular Buddhism (as distinct from real Theravada Buddhism) like the worship of the god Skanda (Murugan in Hinduism) at Kataragama. This is an historic overhang when Hinduism was the dominant religion prior to the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and most popular Buddhists are comfortable with this association. A real Theravada Buddhist however will desist from any such Hinduistic adjuncts.

- A traitor: a Sinhalese-Buddhist convert to Muslim
- Akon and the bikini clad babes
- Western and American pop culture
- America, Britain, the EU nations, Norway, and Down-Under
- The UN, IMF, and the World Bank
- The INGO’s and their acolytes
- The Pope, the Catholic church and other Christians
- Sarath Fonseka
- The entire opposition
- Tissanaiyagam and all the Tamils who over the centuries infiltrated Serendipity
- The opportunistic Muslim traders (more like raiders)
- The so called “free” press

“All of them, they are the filthiest scum of the world – who undermine the superior, wholesome and utterly puritan existence of us, the most generous and conscientious of all the people of the world, the Sinhalese Buddhists – the exclusive rightful owners to this blessed island, paradise on Earth, visited and blessed by the enlightened one himself, the Gautama Buddha” – The true inner workings of the mind of a genuine Sinhala Buddhist

The only compassionate thing another can do is to take a kind understanding as to the underlying reasons for this perverse view, perhaps one them: an immense fear of survival.

LOL! This Discover Islam Organization should go and tell its own LOONEY TUNE FOLLOWERS of ISLAM to stop FOAMING FROM THE MOUTH and declaring HOLY JIHAD everytime there is a book or cartoon or bad word said about their religion. This is IRONY at its finest!

And as for criticizing Buddhism... well I can guarantee you that if you Urinated on a Buddha Statue in this country you'd be in the Lock up too, so whether it be a book or not, the same effect and standard applies.

Maybe someone can publish the offending sections so we can judge for ourselves.

Good comment from Muzammil

Imagine what would have happenned if a Muslim converted to Buddhism writes a similar book in Bahrain or any other Muslim country. She/he would have been killed. This woman, who is probably a fifth wife of an Arab should read the books by Ayan Hirsi Ali first.

The Buddha is getting very angry. I saw his spirit when i meditated.
And he wants Sri Lanka to sink into the ocean. I asked him why he was so angry with Sri Lanka. He said they are insulting his name and he wants to have nothing to do with them.

Hi, Merlin Van Tweest!
I do appreciate your comments. Perhaps I am ignorant of some texts of Rev.Mahanama who twisted the real Theravada Buddhism into Sinhala Buddhist Theravada as opposed to other versions in other countries. I have the impression (and I have no reason to change it yet)that the monk was desperate to preserve Buddhism in Sri Lanka for the sake of Buddhism and therefore he HAD to alter some some original principles pf Buddha to suit the mindsets of the Lankans of yore, like Prophet Mohamed did to bring the Arabs under control.

It was good enough at that time but unfortunately they could not foresee that future generations in Islam and the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Mind you Merlin both have been brainwashed during tender age. Very difficult to get them thinking otherwise.

Did you know the face of the Buddha that is depicted as that of Buddha in Sri Lanka is really that of his wife because his spouse decreed it? Have you had a look at a statues of Buddha in Thailand, Japan, Burma, India, Taiwan and other countries? Why the deception? Were there a number of Buddhas other than the Gouthama Buddha as of now?

If it is of any interest to you, I was born a Hindu and I still am a Hindu despite my name. In Hinduism there used to be many divisions like "Saivam (of Siva", "Shaktham of Shakthi, Kaali, Paththini Ammal or whatever you call it","Vaishnavam - those who worshiped Vishnu or Krishna, "Ghanapthyam - of those who worshipped elephantine faced Ghanapthy", "Koumaram - of those who worshiped Kumaran or Murugan or Kandaswamy or Skandakumara as you would prefer to call it".

As a Hindu I now realize they were either Kings or Chieftains that had their respective followers who fought against each other for supremacy like Muslims and and Sinhala Buddhists. Eventually they realized the futility of waging such wars at the expense of the country and decided to bring all of them under one umbrella of Hinduism as a solution. That is why you see to day when you go to a Hindu temple of any prominent deity you find a place for all these deities as adjuncts, a fact conscientious Buddhist to have stuck on with.

I am not a propagandist for any religion, let alone Christians. Basically I am atheist.

As for the comments of my admired Devinda about urinating on statue I will let him to do night-wetting like any other JHU jokers!

When she wanted to ship those books authored by her she was asked by the Manager of Aramex Courier to produce a letter of no objection from the Ministry of Culture.

While she was requesting the Ministry for such letter the Manger informed the Police and they arrested her under the Prevention of Terrorist Act and Emergency regulations. Now she is held under detention without any charges.

The intent of this sister is very clear and she has not committed any crime against the state or any religion. She only wrote a book on why she has converted to Islam from Buddhism. If at all there is any reference to Buddha and it is not acceptable to the Ministry of Culture these books can be confiscated and appropriate civil action may be taken against her.

But holding her without charges under PTA and EC is absurd.

Dear Kingsley,
My intention was to elucidate rather than criticise. The Mahavansa is not in the similar vein to the Torah, Bible and Koran. The latter are ancient texts that adherents to the respective religions attach importance. Even though these texts have more than a modicum of folklore and inaccuracies and are held as literally the word of their deity the Supreme being, 'God'.

I tend to look at the Mahavansa as a historical document and not as a holy text. As most scholars admit, it is riddled with inaccuracies and folklore. (The very concept of a lion mating with a human to produce offspring is a genetic impossibility). However we use such texts to corroborate archaeological evidence to gain historical and sociological insight into earlier times. Most Sri Lankan Buddhists do not look to the Mahavansa in the same vein as the followers of the three Semetic religions regard their respective ‘holy’ scriptures.

The texts of the Torah, Bible and Koran are also instruction manuals used to control society in the absence of laws. The authors and interpreters of these texts utilised heaven or hell as a reward or punishment respectively to enforce these laws. In the 21st century such religions especially in western society have lost most of their adherents as we now have parliament to enact laws and a penal code to enforce it. The only exception is Islam that being the youngest of the Semetic religions has a political and legal system of its own.

The Hindu ‘Bhavad Gita’ and the Buddhist ‘Tripitaka’ texts are much more philosophical and give us an understanding of life, death and suffering. However there are also fundamental differences in these two religions too, an example is that Hindus believe in a soul (Athma) while Buddhists believe in the absence of a soul (Anathma). Unlike its Semetic counterparts Hinduism and Buddhism, are not prescriptive religions as such. In these two religions there are broad guidelines by which to conduct oneself for the betterment of the individual and society as a whole. It is based on the universal law of ‘Karma’, rather than the retributive concept of sin, or the reward or punishment of heaven and hell respectively.

Dear Merlin Van Tweest,

Thanks for your decent comments. My concern is, irrespective of the intended purpose of the religions, they are currently turned and twisted to take the innocent public for various rides. Ultimately the very religions come into question... the very guardians who claim to safeguard the religions use it for nefarious purposes. People like you should come forward to safeguard it from them rather than some occasional innocent violators.

Dear Sinhala People,

Please forget about religion,race why can't we behave like a normal human beings instead fighting, killing and with every thing. First be peace with yourself.

If we are the constitutional and secular democracy we claim to be, this woman should never have been incarcerated. If she had defamed Buddhism or whatever she should have been subject to the normal laws of the country. Her being arraigned this way has further
blackened Sri Lanka's name globally. To some of our officials in the airports, immigration, police and other sadistically imprisoning innocents has become habitual. When it was done to Tamils it looked almost natural to all other communities - and now????

ISS

Ms Van Tweest:

Sinhala Buddhists not only worship Skanda (Murugan)
but Ganesh,Paththini Amma and many others. Wanna know why? The more civilised among were all either Tamil Hindus except the Rakshakas, who remained animistic, until the sex-starved/debaucherous playboy delinquent Vijaya came ashore and took whatever was available to bed with him in that limited market.

So separating low-caste Tamils from S & E.India and Sinhalese here is like separating milk from water. The higher caste hindus in the Island and in neighbouring India had no need to look for new pastures. They were pretty high on the social scale. You there, Devinda?

ISS

Dear ISS,
Popular Buddhism as practised by some Sri Lankan Buddhists incorporates many of the deities and semi deities of Hinduism as you have stated, I used Skanda (Murugan) as an example due to the popularity of this deity with the popular Buddhists of Sri Lanka.

Historically Hinduism arrived in Sri Lanka far earlier than Buddhism and co-existed with the animistic religious beliefs of the indigenous races. Also it was not unusual for Sri Lankan Kings to marry Indian Princesses who, when they arrived in Sri Lanka adhered to their Hindu practices and worship.

Adjacent to many of the Dagobas constructed by the Sri Lankan kings are smaller Hindu temples that these kings built for their consorts. It is also said that the sari (the Indian female attire) arrived in Sri Lanka with the Indian Princesses and was adopted by the court. The national dress of Sri Lankan women to this day is the ‘Reddah- Hatte’ (a wrap and a blouse) while the sari is Indian. The ‘sari’ was adopted by the higher caste Sinhalese maybe through royal patronage, though the Kandyans wear it differently (the ‘Osariya’ version). It must be also noted that unlike Christianity and Islam that spawned wars and led to innumerable pogroms and genocide in medieval Europe and West Asia. Hinduism and Buddhism co-existed peacefully then, and even now there is mutual respect between them.

Dear Kingsley,
I do agree with your observation that in Sri Lanka politicians utilise religion as a political football to further their aims. I find this abhorrent as the spirit of the religion is violated for personal and political gain. The irony is that the beauty that is Buddhism could auger really well for the citizens of Sri Lanka today. As a person who is culturally a Christian (but in reality an Atheist) I have always been fascinated by the philosophical aspects of Hinduism and Buddhism. My foray into the philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism was serendipitous, as during my undergraduate days (many many years ago now) while reading Carl Jung it became apparent to me that Jung had borrowed many of his ideas from Hindu philosophy and attributed them as his own.

*** They were pretty high on the social scale. You there, Devinda? ***

Senguttavan,

Tell you what, .... when your Teenage Daughter is finished Shaking her A-Cups at an AKON Concert, then have her bring home a Low Caste Tea Picking Tamil as her Boyfriend to your Colombo 7 Home for your Approval... then tell me what you think...okie?

Merlin,

It is good to know of your academic background. I don't want you to think of me as pompous. But Buddhism was and is considered a sub-section of Sanatana dharma - another name for what is generally called Hinduism. I believe there is a concerted effort by the Govt of Bihar (or Orissa) to engage in large investments to preserve the Buddhist culture/religion/teachings there that includes the largest Buddha Statue in the world - financed by India, Thailand, Japan, China, Korea and others. In the post-Asoka days many versions of Buddhism found acceptance in different parts of India.
In Tamil-speaking S.India, great literary works like "Silapathigaram" the tales of Manimegalay and so on are evidence it had some following then. This gradually waned giving way to the stronger and ancient sanatana dharma.

If you will, Hinduism did not "arrive" here at the time you mention. It has been here much earlier in a very developed stage as the antique history of the much venerated Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Manthotam (near Mannar) establishes beyond any doubt. Sir Paul Peiris notes this could be as old as 4,000 years.

The Hetta-Redda is the dress of women in the South Western coast of Kerala, Konkan that seems to have found its way here. As to a "traditional" women's dress - without meaning any slight - scholars of the Kuveni period might be able to throw some slight - although if one accepts the historic reality the northern most point of the island and the Southern tip of India were joined by land before it went under the sea (9,000 years ago as I recall Prof Sudharshan Seneviratne - then things become clearer.

Like you, I feel this whole charade today is not bringing the country or any of us any good. As Carl Jung interestingly captured our times "Show me a sane man - and I'll cure him for you'

Look forward to reading and learning more from you

ISS

Ilaya Seran,
In my experience, as an individual, I helped out many
Tamils(Hindus&christians)on many vital occasions and
in many ways, even by going out of my way expecting
nothing in return and at times refusing rewards.How
and when?You'll need a page to describe.

Kingsly,
I don't agree with some of your phrases where you
sound lack of experience in coexistence with other
communities in good faith.But I do appreciate your
contribution and the comment.

Woman detained, is a sinhala,gave up budhism and embraced islam.She's written her experience of both
worlds.Her writings may be awsome for some and awkward
for others.The question is,what uproar is this book
going to cause?Every budhist monk knows that budhism
is not a religion.Once,on a televised interview,one
popular clergy explained in english,that budhism is not a religion and it's a philosophy.I asked a sinhala friend of mine if he watched this.And my next question was,why don't they say it in sinhala also?

I'm not going to get entangled in the dispute of who's better than whom.But the freedom of choice is in
question.Freedom of writing is in question. Intimidation is, increasingly becoming the order of
the day.Top ranks are nervous and irritated at every
single aspect of just ordinary incidents that don't
require high profile attention.It's not about which
community is affected.It's about encroachment of
people's freedom of expression guaranteed by golbal
recognition and accepted and included in our legal
system.

What's the message govt wants to send? And to whom?