“Sri Lanka is the major centre of Theravada Buddhism. Those who are masquerading as faithful followers of Buddhism and as Buddhist monks are trying to distort the basic teachings of Buddhism. The Government must intervene swiftly to thwart the planned conspiracy to destroy pure Theravada Buddhism,” the Maha Sangha stressed adding there was a need of an initiative to defeat the heretics academically.
These heretics have been systematically insulting the monks who are engaged in the task of protecting the Buddha Sasana and the Tripitaka. The Maha Sangha expressed regret over these happenings and highlighted the importance of paying immediate attention to these acts of manipulation that are being carried out through social media networks.
The need to regulate places that are maintained as centres of faith and disease treatment was also discussed.
“Protecting and preserving the Tripitaka means defending our Buddhist heritage and culture,” the Maha Sangha stressed and said the need to expedite the drafting of the Tripitaka Conservation Act, pointing out that declaring the Tripitaka as a World Heritage Site alone would not ensure
No matter how many with “Dr.” or “Prof.” in front of their names, that does not matter. Does any of them have attained even the Sotapanna stage? If you ask them, they will admit that they do not.
The Buddha advised us to make Dhamma our teacher in his absence.
- But now a bunch of people are trying to take over Dhamma! Just because they belong to Sangha does not matter much. As I mentioned earlier, Devadatta belonged to Sangha and he had more credentials. He was at least able to perform supernormal actions (before he injured the Buddha) and win over Prince Ajasattu. But even then the Buddha did not “ban” Devadatta.
Because they are not allowed to say it, this is vinaya
The us here is the Sangha or a mendicant not lay people
It’s part of sangha’s duty to protect the dhamma, it’s their interest
No he was expelled by the sangha if I am not mistaken.
I think Sri Lanka sangha is more liberal compared to myanmar or Thai sangha which still don’t allow nun ordination
Now we lay people take refuge not only on buddha bro but on dhamma and sangha
We need to understand that it’s sangha that preserve the dhamma through oral tradition for hundred of years before it’s written
Furthermore buddha said the best gift is one given not only to himself but to sangha
All stream entry venerate the sangha
Sn12.41
They have experiential confidence in the Saṅgha: ‘The Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples is practicing the way that’s good, direct, methodical, and proper. It consists of the four pairs, the eight individuals. This is the Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples that is worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods, worthy of hospitality, worthy of a religious donation, worthy of greeting with joined palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world.’
Recollection of sangha is part of 6 recollections at that time their mind is not full of hate,greed and ignorance
An11.11
Furthermore, you should recollect the Saṅgha: ‘The Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples is practicing the way that’s good, direct, methodical, and proper. It consists of the four pairs, the eight individuals. This is the Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples that is worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods, worthy of hospitality, worthy of a religious donation, worthy of greeting with joined palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world.’ When a noble disciple recollects the Saṅgha their mind is not full of greed, hate, and delusion. …
The buddha task the sangha to preserve the teaching see below
An5.155
These five things lead to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching. What five?It’s when the mendicants memorize the teaching,statements, songs, discussions, verses, inspired exclamations, legends, stories of past lives, amazing stories, and classifications. This is the first thing that leads to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching.
Furthermore, the mendicants explain the teaching in detail to others as they learned and memorized it. This is the second thing …
Furthermore, the mendicants make others recite the teaching in detail as they learned and memorized it. This is the third thing …
Furthermore, the mendicants recite the teaching in detail as they learned and memorized it. This is the fourth thing …
Furthermore, the mendicants think about and consider the teaching in their hearts, examining it with their minds as they learned and memorized it. This is the fifth thing that leads to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching.
These five things lead to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching.”
While the teaching vanish due to badness of sangha not badness of lay people
An5.155
“Mendicants, these five things lead to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching.What five?It’s when the mendicants don’t memorize the teaching,statements, songs, discussions, verses, inspired exclamations, legends, stories of past lives, amazing stories, and classifications. This is the first thing that leads to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching.
Furthermore, the mendicants don’t explain the teaching in detail to others as they learned and memorized it. This is the second thing …
Furthermore, the mendicants don’t make others recite the teaching in detail as they learned and memorized it. This is the third thing …
Furthermore, the mendicants don’t recite the teaching in detail as they learned and memorized it. This is the fourth thing …
Furthermore, the mendicants don’t think about and consider the teaching in their hearts, examining it with their minds as they learned and memorized it. This is the fifth thing that leads to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching.
These five things lead to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching.
So sangha has huge responsibility and also authority regarding preservation of dhamma
Please quote the relevant verse from the Vinaya Pitaka.
On the other hand, the Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta (DN 16) says, “Katamo ca so, ānanda, dhammādāso dhammapariyāyo, yena samannāgato ariyasāvako ākaṅkhamāno attanāva attānaṃ byākareyya: ‘khīṇanirayomhi khīṇatiracchānayoni khīṇapettivisayo khīṇāpāyaduggativinipāto, sotāpannohamasmi avinipātadhammo niyato sambodhiparāyaṇo’ti.”
Translation: "So Ānanda, I will teach you the explanation of the Dhamma called ‘the mirror of the teaching’. A noble disciple who has this may declare of themselves: ‘I’ve finished with rebirth in hell, the animal realm, and the ghost realm. I’ve finished with all places of loss, bad places, the underworld. I am a stream-enterer! I’m not liable to be reborn in the underworld, and am bound for awakening.’
The other replies are of the same caliber. Just your ideas. Please substantiate with quotes from the Tipitaka (and it is not Tripitaka, that is Sanskrit.)
- Also, do you know that the Buddha banned translating Tipitaka to Sanskrit? It is ironic that the name of the proposed bill has the Sanskrit word, Tripitaka. That says a lot about the level of understanding of the “committee.”
OK, on this I think you are “confidently incorrect”. Tripitaka is Sinhala as well as Sanskrit. So considering that the bill is in Sri Lanka, there is nothing wrong with the name being in Sinhala.
That’s easy. Pc 8.
‘If a monk truthfully tells a person who is not fully ordained of a superhuman quality, he commits an offense entailing confession.’”
“Yo pana bhikkhu anupasampannassa uttarimanussadhammaṁ āroceyya bhūtasmiṁ, pācittiyan”ti.
Honestly, I think that arguing about the ariya status of the committee members is a waste of time, in a practical sense. There are lots of very specific problems with the bill as it is proposed now that don’t really hinge on the enlightenment status of the members of the committee.
Seems like this thread should stay focused on the topic of…
Sri Lanka Proposed Tripitaka Conservation Bill
This is eerily similar to the prevailing atmosphere of Hindutva fundamentalism in India. Waves of fear and anxiety in the minds of a great chunk of the citizenry are generated by conjuring phantasms of ‘enemies’ who are allegedly working tirelessly to destroy the ‘True Religion’. This spectre of impending doom is embellished with emotion-charged, unhinged material cooked up everyday and the resulting concoction is poured into pliant minds using social media. Along with the hate-literature targeting the ghostly ‘enemy’ that is churned out, an equally frenzied amount of self-serving, supremacist content that extols the chosen religion is generated and fed to people.
The result is a society that operates solely on the fumes of hatred, distrust and intolerance. Politicians seize and stoke this hysteria because it gives them a perfect excuse to deflect all the problems that common people face. Economic decay, corruption, dysfunctional amenities, incidents of violence, haphazard growth and all mundane issues are blamed on ‘enemies’ rather than wily, incompetent, corrupt politicians.
And in this atmosphere of warring groups, the voices of calm sages and saints are simply drowned out.
A reminder to participants to stay on topic. If you wish to discuss minute details stemming from the discussion here, you are welcome to open a new topic in a suitable category.
I think this bill is not as radical as you think in Sri Lanka there’s still blasphemy law to further protect buddhism
In many suttas the background story is the state providing support or patronage to brahmin for example
Dn5
Now at that time the brahmin Kūṭadanta was living in Khāṇumata. It was a crown property given by King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha
So there’s nothing wrong if the state try to protect buddhism either through blasphemy law or this law or material support
No-one’s objecting if the State provides assistance to any religious order. In the Suttas we see kings supporting Buddhism. This even happens today; in a secular country like Australia, Buddhist temples get various kinds of support; the same thing happens in, say Indonesia, a Muslim majority nation.
What we don’t see in the Suttas is the suppression and control of religions by kings. Disputes among religious practitioners as to doctrine and practice are internal matters. It is a sign of a normal and healthy community. Wisdom evolves through the expression of ideas and discussion of differences.
Suppression of difference and dispute is a sign of an unhealthy society. It promotes only hate and ignorance. It is happening in Australia, too, and it’s equally unhealthy here.
(And before anyone says, “But you’re listing to the distortions of the fake news!”, no, my understanding comes from reading the draft bill.)
This bill is wanted by Sri lanka mahasangha
https://www.ft.lk/news/Committee-to-address-distortions-of-Buddha-s-character-Tripitaka-and-Buddhist-sacred-sites/56-715134
“Sri Lanka is the major centre of Theravada Buddhism. Those who are masquerading as faithful followers of Buddhism and as Buddhist monks are trying to distort the basic teachings of Buddhism. The Government must intervene swiftly to thwart the planned conspiracy to destroy pure Theravada Buddhism,” the Maha Sangha stressed adding there was a need of an initiative to defeat the heretics academically.These heretics have been systematically insulting the monks who are engaged in the task of protecting the Buddha Sasana and the Tripitaka. The Maha Sangha expressed regret over these happenings and highlighted the importance of paying immediate attention to these acts of manipulation that are being carried out through social media networks.
The need to regulate places that are maintained as centres of faith and disease treatment was also discussed.
“Protecting and preserving the Tripitaka means defending our Buddhist heritage and culture,” the Maha Sangha stressed and said the need to expedite the drafting of the Tripitaka Conservation Act, pointing out that declaring the Tripitaka as a World Heritage Site alone would not ensure
Regarding blasphemy law The sangha may be wrong here though because buddha said “this teaching is inviting the inspection” so the sangha have contradicted with the teaching
Regarding conservation bill if the state supports that means the lay support it too since Lanka is a democracy any lay minority who oppose the bill should be ignored if the majority lay don’t support the bill I don’t think the government will be reelected so there should be no worry
It doesn’t matter who wants it. The sangha has (in theory) powers in the Vinaya to impose sanctions on its own members. What this bill does is create civil punishments far outside of the Vinaya.
And to be clear, this bill is wanted by some members of the Maha Sangha so they can target some other members of the Maha Sangha.
This is absolutely true. However in Sri Lanka there is a long history of kings getting involved with Sangha matters, particularly in restoring the “purity” of the Sangha.
Bhante Anandajoti recently published an old translation of the Nikaya Sangraha, a book on the history of Sri Lanka. When you read it you really get a feel for the long history of royal involvement in the Sangha. For example,
And providing perpetual maintenance for three thousand and seven hundred ordained priests, [king Śrī Saṅghabodhi Śrī Parākramabāhu the First] was living a life of health and ease, when he came to hear of the decline of religion during the one thousand to hundred and fifty-four years intervening between the fifteenth year of King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi previously mentioned and the fourth year of his own reign, on account of the sinful priests who had continued to observe as true the Vaitulya and other false doctrines, which had been started by infidels in the manner previously shown, and which, though in disrepute, were still handed down. He thought that if a ruler of such extensive sway as he, hearing of so great a stain on the sublime purity of the Buddhist religion, paid no heed, the Buddhist religion would die out, and many mortals go to perdition. “It is meet,” thought he, “that I should be of service to the religion of Buddha, which is to last 5,000 years,” and with a heart influenced by mercy and directed by wisdom, he considered, “With whose help can I purify the religion thus declining, to enable it to endure without blemish?” Then he went up to the priests of the Mahā Vihāra, whose chief was the Thera Mahā Kāśyapa of the grove of Audumbaragiri, a man helpful to the three-fold faith and possessed of various virtues, such as steadiness, constancy, &c., and informing them of his desires, he sent for many hundreds of sinful, evil-practising priests of the three sects called Dharmaruci, Sāgalika, and Vaitulya, who by their evil practices stain the purity of the Buddhist religion, and having placed them in a marquee, he, standing in his place during the three watches of the whole night, expelled them all, and, purifying the Buddhist religion, brought the three colleges into conformity. On account of the merit of this good act, he was, upon his death, re-born as the god Naradeva, with a kalpa’s lifetime, on a golden peak of the Himalayan mountain range, which shines with 84,000 peaks of gold.
According to vinaya, leadership of sangha is based on seniority not arahantship or fruition
These senior monks want to punish their juniors who have wrong view
If I am not mistaken in vinaya monk who have wrong view would be expelled
So I think this bill is not required since sangha already have mechanisms to punish bad monks
This is how it should be done. One of the problems, though, is that in this particular instance, there are some who are teaching silly Dhammas, that’s true, but they also seem to be, from what I can tell, perfectly sincere and honest and in fact quite admirably dedicated; they’re confused, but honestly so. While on the other hand, there are many “orthodox” monks who are corrupt, interested in only money and fame, even though they may say and do the right things in public. Who, then, gets to discipline who?
I’m not sure if the outcome of the meeting held for comments on the draft of the bill has been shared in this forum. Suffice to say that it was a clear reflection of the heterogeneity of the Sri Lankan Sangha: the opposition to the bill was as prepared, meticulous and vocal as the support. At the end it was concluded that the current draft of the act required major changes, especially the sections related to crimes and punishments through the justice system, which would need to be replaced with a process that is in alignment with the Vinaya.
I don’t think anyone who aligns themselves with traditional Theravada (as the proponents of the act do) can accuse the venerables who opposed the act of being ‘corruptors’ of the sāsana: many of them were not only well-versed and trained in the tradition but also serious practitioners, such as Ven. Sudhīrānanda Mahāthera and Ven. Maggavihārī Thera, who represented the Galdūva/Nā Uyana forest monastic institutions.
For the sake of transparency: I have been a vocal opponent of the act for a while, and I am not an adherent of the Theravada commentarial tradition:
Perhaps one of our Sinhala speaking forum members can share any interesting information in this video. Here is a google translate of the video description:
A recording of the conference held at the Bandaranaike International Conference Hall on August 5-7, 2021 to discuss the proposed Tripitaka Conservation Bill. This is the recording of the first half of the 5th day.
There was a scholarly discussion and the Venerable monks and lay scholars were present to present their views. There have been exchanges for and against the bill.After considering all the issues raised, the Hon’ble Presiding Council has decided that due to this Act, the final decision on the Tripitaka will be vested in a civil court which is unfavorable to the Sasana. A committee has been appointed.
More information on the proposed bill can be found on the Facebook page below.
Sri Lanka imports groundbreaking fertilizer from India:
“Nanoparticles are promising candidates for implementation in agriculture. Because many organic functions such as ion exchange and plant gene expression operate on small scales, nanomaterials offer a toolset that works at just the right scale to provide efficient, targeted delivery to living cells.[3] Current areas of focus of nanotechnology development in the agricultural industry include development of environmentally conscious nanofertilizers to provide efficient ion, nutrient delivery into plant cells, and plant gene transformations to produce plants with desirable genes such as drought resistance and accelerated growth cycles.[4] With the global population on the rise, it is necessary to make advancements in sustainable farming methods that generate higher yields in order to meet the rising food demand. However, it must be done without generating long-term consequences such as depletion of arable land or water sources, toxic runoff, or bioaccumulative toxicity. In order to meet these demands, research is being done into the incorporation of nanotechnology agriculture.”—Wikipedia
Anybody cheering for government telling people which translations to follow has my commiserations and seeing how they made their bed i will let them sleep in it.
Why not develop siddhi or do something otherwise awe-inspiring and use that to pry people away from wrong view…