SuttaCentral
Does anyone know where to download, obtain, a copy of the proposed act from a government source? My searches online have been fruitless. All I have a link to someone who has shared it on Google Drive. It’s accuracy and currency cannot be verified.
bit.ly/TripitakaAct
I do not share your optimism Deepika. I fear that this bill will have many unintended consequences. I am not sure if all involved in this act did so in good faith as you think, some may have, but I agree that its an act of desperation. You mention consumerism, but aren’t some of the elected Maha Nayakas in Sri Lanka icons of consumerism?
I was reading some responses of people who for various reasons follow monks like Bhikkhu Walasmulle Abaya (anicca does not mean impermanence) and Meewanapalane Siri Dhammalankara (Buddha was born in Sri Lanka). They seem to say that this act will not deter them from highlighting the real Buddhism (according to them), and are willing to go to jail or pay a fine. Recently Bhikkhu Mahanuwara Vajirabuddhi has also come under scrutiny by the proponents of this bill for his critique of the Abhidhamma and Visuddhimagga. His followers say the same thing. I think this bill will lead to more schisms in the Bhikkhu order of Sri Lanka, and perhaps an establishment of a new sect.
This bill also seeks to police the internet, and limit freedom of speech and expression. The proposed committees will most likely be entirely made up of men (discussion on the reestablishment of the Bhikkhuni order?). Further the Siam Nikaya has been given the most number of ‘seats’. The use of the term “according to Theravada tradition” is also concerning.
We live in a world where there are many divisions in Buddhism, Mahayana, Theravada, Zen, Tibetan, Pureland, etc. Yes, those who maliciously or foolishly misinterpret the Buddha’s teaching do a great disservice to themselves and others, and these are done in the name of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. However fining or jailing people is not the answer. I agree with you that the “the teachings of the Buddha is supposed to challenge us to rethink our purpose here and find the path to exit”, but do you think this bill will help or hinder such an endeavour?
As you say, it all depends on the execution of this act. This is the real concern.
Obviously, rich and powerful big pharma and the fertilizer manufactures are very angry about this drastic move. Sri Lanka is not a wealthy with money and the social security system not strong. Farmers who manage season to season are somewhat upset with this abrupt nature of this decision. Overall it is good move and the equilibrium is yet to come.
I fear that this bill will have many unintended consequences, as it is done in an act of desperation.
I was reading some responses of people who for various reasons follow monks like Bhikkhu Walasmulle Abaya (one time student of the late Bhikkhu Waharaka Abyaratnalankara - anicca does not mean impermanence) and Bhikkhu Meewanapalane Siri Dhammalankara (Buddha was born in Sri Lanka). They seem to say that this act will not deter them from highlighting the real Buddhism (according to them), and are willing to go to jail or pay a fine. Recently Bhikkhu Mahanuwara Vajirabuddhi has also come under scrutiny by the proponents of this bill for his critique of the Abhidhamma and Visuddhimagga. His followers say the same thing. I think this bill will lead to more schisms in the already fragmented and fractured Bhikkhu order of Sri Lanka, and perhaps an establishment of a new sects.
This bill also seeks to police the internet, and limit freedom of speech and expression. Its one thing for the leading monks to criticize, censure, rebuke, admonsh monks who misinterpret the dhamma, but its another to impose fines and jail terms. The Order of Monks can expel errant monks, but I have not heard of any monk being disrobed for intentionally and mischievously interpreting the Buddha Dhamma.
The proposed committees will most likely be entirely made up of men and the discussion on the reestablishment of the Bhikkhuni order in Sri Lanka maybe buried with that. Also the Siam Nikaya has been given the most number of ‘seats’ at the table. The use of the term “according to Theravada tradition” in the act is also concerning.
The letter of the proposed law maybe all well and good, but the proof will be in the implementation. I fear that this whole thing will end up as an embarrassment to Buddhism in Sri Lanka, which I must say has failed to produce any scholarly monks of international repute of late. After the late Walpola Rahula Thero, and the late Dhammavihari Thero (formerly Prof Jothiya Dheerasekara), Sri Lankans now have only Henapola Guneratana Thero (Bhante G). The global discussion of mindfulness is mostly devoid of contributions from contemporary Sri Lankan monks. This silly act will only make the “Sinhala buddhist” monks more insular and cling to their “books”. Do the Sinhala translations have a robust peer review process? It’s an act born out of weak men with limited foresight.
Conversations with a waharaka “monk” were bizzare, hilarious, saddening and deeply terrifying. These people are fanatics, they believe a sotappati can choose their on sila, totally unscrupulous , lieing constantly and impossible to reason with. I don’t know what can save the sasana from this lot. And they have so much support in the diaspora community.
Hello Deepika, Who is going to judge the “correctness” of a given text? I think this is the main issue to be discussed.
I do understand that there is a committee. But has any of them attained any stages of Nibbana? How would we know that they are qualified to make these critical assessments?
Thanks Deepika for giving us the feedback email. While I disagree with the Bill, I think the fact that they are inviting feedback is an excellent sign.
Below see my email to the Minister.
Dear Minister,
I am writing to provide feedback for the proposed Tipitaka Conservation Bill that is under consideration by the Ministry. I have been advised that feedback is welcome, and I write under this belief. If feedback is unwelcome, please feel free to disregard!
In brief: I urge the Minister to reject the proposed Bill in any form.
By way of introduction, my name is Bhante Sujato. I am an Australian bhikkhu of 25 vassa. I am a founder of SuttaCentral, and I have translated into English the entire four Nikayas and part of the Khuddaka Nikaya.
As we all know, Buddhism has a long and noble history as a religion or a path of practice and understanding that has spread and thrived peacefully. Many years ago, a monk was wandering across the United States, and someone asked what he was. He said he was a Buddhist monk. The person, knowing nothing about Buddhism, said, “The Buddha? Oh, is that the peace guy?” “Right, yes, the peace guy!”
This is how Buddhism has survived: by living in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings, and by showing the world that they are meaningful and relevant.
This being said, I was somewhat perturbed to see the proposed Bill, as it appears to substitute force for persuasion and example. This is not how the Buddha defended his teaching.
I understand that Sri Lanka faces unique and difficult challenges, and as an outsider I cannot fully grasp everything that lies behind this proposal. But I have visited Sri Lanka a number of times, and live closely supported by the Sri Lankan community, so I have some idea of the dynamics involved. It is frustrating to dedicate one’s whole life to the Dhamma, only to have to deal with fools who think that their imaginings supersede any established knowledge. I have worked strongly to counter such delusional and conspiratorial thinking: I have banned such delusional thinking from our forum; I gave a long address at the Walpola Rahula Institute on the subject; and am putting together a course on Jayatilleke’s Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, aiming to show the Buddha’s commitment to realism and empiricism, and the astounding contributions made to that tradition by Sri Lankan scholarship. And of course, through my translation work on SuttaCentral I aim to bring accurate and readable translations of the Tipitaka to everyone.
In my very limited experience, the Sri lankan government has a noble history of suitable and appropriate support for the Dhamma. When, in 2019, the Sri Lankan government asked for international support for establishing the Tipitaka as a UN World Heritage, I was all too happy to join with other international scholars to lend our support. We were delighted to see such appropriate and useful action taken. And when SuttaCentral proposed a project for transcription of Pali we were honored to receive the support of the President and the Minister for Cultural Affairs.
The proposed Bill, however, does not help us. Rather, it will hinder our efforts.
Conspiracists and delusional thinkers thrive off opposition. They spin a story of how the Truth has been suppressed, about how they are the brave and lonely truth-tellers standing up to entrenched authority. And such attempts at suppression as the proposed Bill do nothing but prove them right. All it does is show everyone that education and persuasion have failed.
Most people in the world have a positive impression of Buddhism, it makes them think of the “peace guy”. But when they see a Bill like this, it will remind them of the extremes of religious fundamentalism that blight so much of the world. They will ask, “Are Buddhists just as bad as the rest of them?”
And while older folks like ourselves might think we are defending our faith, by far the fastest growing belief among the world’s youth is non-belief. Young people are sick of hypocrisy and corruption in religious institutions and are turning away in record numbers. How appealing do you think this Bill will be to them? How does this Bill address the things that matter to the young?
Let me say that I do not agree with everything in the Commentaries or Sub-commentaries, and nor does anyone that I know. The Commentaries themselves record an active and healthy dialog of discussion and disagreement in many points of interpretation. If the standard for compliance of translations is pure fidelity to the “Theravadin” tradition, then will the Sri Lankan government ban my translations, and along with them, pretty much all international scholarship? You may have no such intention, but legislation like this is a blunt instrument and it will be used in ways that its creators cannot forsee.
To help Buddhism thrive, what I believe we need, and what I have dedicated much of my life to, is twofold: education in the Buddha’s teachings as found in the Suttas; and practical examples of how to apply those teachings in a contemporary context.
We need to think more deeply about how we can establish genuine understanding, especially among younger people. They are brought up on the internet, and questioning is part of their makeup. They will not accept things based on authority, but only on reason and evidence. This is a good thing!
The Dhamma has nothing to fear from inquiry, from skepticism, from science. On the contrary, every skeptical inquiry, every probing question, every perceived flaw, serves only to polish the true Dhamma so that it shines all the brighter. Let us welcome difference and discussion, and support diverse and critical thinking. If we lose the argument and fail to persuade people, that is not the fault of the Dhamma, but our own: let us get better at it!
There will always be delusion in the world. But the Buddha never said to overcome delusion with coercion. Rather, he taught us that delusion is countered by one thing only: wisdom.
I trust that the Ministry will make the wise choice, and reject the proposed Bill entirely.
yours in Dhamma
Bhante Sujato
Indeed!
Fascinating! Do you have any links to articles on these changes?
I’m familiar with the other monks you mention, but not this venerable. Do you have any links to English articles on his teachings?
I also noticed this. Any decisions on Buddhism should be done in consultation with the fourfold assembly.
According to the Bill, decisions will be made essentially by a board consisting of heads of major relevant institutions in Sri Lanka such as Nikayas, Pirivenas, and Universities.
Re: Ven. Mahanuwara Vajirabuddhi…it’s fairly easy to find his books in Sinhalese in Australia, we had them on the shelf at the NBM library (we didn’t keep Pure Dhamma or Dhammalankara group publications tho, it was my job to destroy these things…with pleasure.)
Most people seem to remember him from the Kandurata FM radio program, you can just google his name and his page should come up. The Most Venerable Maha Arahant Mahanuwara Wajirabuddhi Thero - The discourses made by the Arahath - www.Path-To-Nibbana.org I’ve never seen any English, however. The most English is probably on his Facebook pages
While he’s a bit controversial (and an arahant claimant), the main “issue” is that he is publically sutta-based. We kept his stuff available, even if he has his quirks, the feedback from my educated Sinhalese friends has led me to believe that people should have a chance to hear what he is saying.
I’m wondering if this would affect other non traditionalist groups. Or what about if like a group of Chinese Buddhists came and wanted to establish a temple, they would be using the Chinese Mahayana texts…
This seems to have the potential to be used in very dangerous ways.
As always bhante I really like your style. Bhante, the proposed bill in its current form has multiple issues but rejecting any form of governance or a discipline are the things I can’t understand. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world (Brahma realm?? 
) in perfect harmony with each other.
Like bhante explained during the Walpola Rahula Institute Presentation, the conspiracy theories and the dark forces phenomena presentation, delusion is running riot (Foundation Institute, Colombo -2019). I am sure even Bhane must have experienced the outcomes of some form of negative force, even in a Buddhist country like Sri Lanka.
The world heritage proposal bhante kindly supported was also supported by the group proposing this Tripitaka bill. As bhante may already know UNESCO rejected the heritage proposal. What you may not know is that many people celebrated the rejection. They must have had their reasons, maybe they thought the Tripitaka is not worthy enough to make it to the world heritage list. That is the real world we live in Bhante. People have agendas, plans and ulterior motives, mostly not to do with the greater good.
Even the Buddha, when he was still alive had to set some rules for the sangha to follow, he did not simply ask the community to discuss and welcome their differences. In my humble opinion bhante, a rule is not always about being punitive, it is not always about coercion or force.
If our ancestors did not do things within their capacity and to suit the times there were in to protect and propagate the teachings of the Buddha, today we will not be discussing this, as there will be nothing left to discuss.
Yes it is only to do with the Sinhala Translations of the Pali Tripitaka.
The proposal is to appoint a board to do this. In 1956 a similar board was appointed to translate the Pali Tripitaka to Sinhala aka Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series (BJTS).
The fertilizer ban has been lifted in the last few days.
As @Deepika pointed out: “Farmers who manage season to season are somewhat upset with this
abrupt nature of this decision. Overall it is good move and the equilibrium is yet to come.”
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/sri-lanka-lifts-fertiliser-import-111158866.html
When we have great sutta teachers like Bhante Sujato and Ajahn Brahmali who can teach Suttas in the English language why do we have to look for second-hand translations of a non-English speaker? I am sure Ayya knows in translations the output or the target language is more important than the source language. Maybe this is why Ajahn Chah did not give dhamma talks in English.
The act does not specify that it is limited to only Sinhala translations.
The proposed act also mentions fines and jail terms for individuals and collectives of individuals .
Thank you Bhikkhuni Suvira for sharing this information.
It’s relevant to the discussion. I think most people involved here are not familiar with the kinds of distortions that are being taught in Sri Lanka.
The idea that it’s the government’s role to protect a religion is going to be a big point of disagreement between people on the forum. On the one hand, kings worked hard in Sri Lanka to preserve the Dhamma. So Sri Lankans are going to be quite used to this idea. On the other hand, people from a western/European background will be more familiar with the problems that happened/are happening when religions and government mix.
Everyone (well, at least lots of people) here are in favour of protecting and preserving the Dhamma. And many, including you, are working hard to do this. However, the measures in this bill are not going to preserve Buddhism. They will be used as weapons against monks that people disagree with. Jail time? Really? I can’t see how anyone can think these are good ideas.
If the government was really interested in preserving Buddhism, then they could do a better job of teaching it in the schools. But they can’t even manage teaching regular subjects, so I have little hope for Buddhism being taught well. Kids have a hard time even attending Dhamma programmes in the temples because they have to go to so many tuition classes because they aren’t learning the regular subjects well in the schools.
It is difficult for me to accept the legitimacy of certain mahanayakas being involved in judging the validity of anyone’s Buddhism at all, given that as far as I am aware, at least the Malwatta branch of the Siam Nikaya still has caste-based ordination restrictions based off an 18th cent decree, preferencing not only Govigama and Radala castes, but also (as a consequence) the geographic regions where these castes predominate.
Somebody tell me if I am wrong…but I don’t think I am.
Which begs the question, who is really ruining Buddhism?
