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(RNS) — The road protests that drove Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from workplace final month introduced collectively individuals from throughout the nation’s various and generally warring ethno-religious teams: Tamils, Muslims, Christians and Sinhala Buddhists — together with, unmistakably, the saffron-robed Buddhist monks who’re fixtures of Sri Lanka’s political scene.
However with Rajapaksa in exile in Singapore and life returning nearer to regular, decades-old questions are being raised about Buddhism’s function in Sri Lanka’s authorities.
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Political involvement by the monks — straightforward to identify within the protests in opposition to Rajapaksa’s inaction on Sri Lanka’s financial woes — additionally contains taking seats in Parliament and becoming a member of political events. Final 12 months, a controversial monk named Galagoda Atte Gnanasara was appointed to a presidential job pressure for authorized reforms regardless of his vociferous anti-Muslim views.
“The function of monks is to assist individuals enhance their spirituality. Over the last 10 years, their political involvement has develop into an excessive amount of, I believe. Individuals don’t view them as spiritual leaders anymore,” mentioned Venerable Mahayaye Vineetha, a Sri Lankan monk dwelling in Kandy, a metropolis in Sri Lanka’s central highlands.
The connection between monks and political figures has reportedly diminished some monks’ respectability. Furthermore, hard-line political monks with ties to the Rajapaksas have turned out to hitch protests in opposition to their former allies alongside youthful, extra progressive monks.
One video taken from Batarramulla in April reveals a monk, a former ally of Rajapaksa’s and chief of the nationalist Janasetha Peramuna celebration, being scolded and pushed out of the protests. A person within the video will be heard saying “It’s due to the individuals such as you, we undergo immediately like this.”
“That is certainly one of a number of situations the place individuals referred to as out monks as being instruments of the state and mentioned they’ve contributed to the present scenario, the sustaining of the political elite, and the supporting and abetting of violence and ethnic strife,” mentioned Nalika Gajaweera, a analysis anthropologist on the Heart for Faith and Civic Tradition on the College of Southern California.
Theravada Buddhist monks have been each non secular and sensible advisers to Sri Lankan political leaders for hundreds of years, beginning with the nation’s kings. Within the seven many years since Sri Lanka’s independence from Britain, the connection has develop into extra entangled as Sinhala Buddhism, marked by its nationalistic values, has proliferated within the nation’s monasteries.
Sinhala Buddhist nationalism will be traced again to Anagarika Dharmapala, an influential anti-imperialist and nationalist monk from the early nineteenth century. His speeches, crammed with anti-Muslim and anti-Tamil rhetoric and geared toward making a Buddhist dominated nation, are notorious in Sri Lanka.
Dharmapala’s targets have been realized with the 1956 Sinhala Solely Act and additional enshrined in Sri Lanka’s 1972 structure, which privileged Buddhism over different religions, primarily cementing an ethno-religious majoritarian state.
In recent times, the blatant racism and violent language of the primary wave of Sri Lankan independence have reappeared. Laborious-line monks with ties to politicians just like the Rajapaksas have led to racist rowdyism amongst their followers; some monks have even dedicated violence themselves.
“Individuals ought to be capable to see that there’s a weaponization of faith for political functions, to advertise a sure political agenda,” mentioned Gajaweera.
In 2015, Venerable Akmeemana Dayarathana Thero, an in depth ally of the Rajapaksas, was arrested for threatening Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka and inspiring individuals to throw rocks at them.
Because the financial scenario has devolved in Sri Lanka, monks have come to play an more and more necessary function in day-to-day life. In rural areas, temples will be the only real useful resource for villagers who in any other case lack entry to information on political developments. In city areas, the place the schooling system has largely collapsed, some temples run dharma faculties for youngsters.
Chamila Somirathna, a professor on the Colombo Institute of Analysis and Psychology and the mom of two younger kids, mentioned her 5-year-old son has solely been in a position to attend kindergarten in particular person for 30 days within the final two years after the federal government forcibly closed faculties.
“It’s actually necessary for temples to mediate in these sorts of instances. Youngsters ought to get the prospect to affiliate with different youngsters their age, get schooling and get that faculty expertise.”
As Sri Lanka’s financial system has suffered, too, the monks present much-needed support via their redistribution of dana, or almsgiving. Regardless of a stark lack of sources and an rising starvation disaster because the 12 months goes on, devoted lay Buddhists nonetheless present as much as present monks with meals every morning.
“Individuals wouldn’t have sufficient meals for themselves, however deliver one of the best factor for monks. I’ve a lot lovingkindness for these individuals. They’ve a whole lot of religion, and so they may need some issues with monks, however they’ve by no means stopped with alms,” mentioned Vineetha.
Sometimes, meals given to monks is both consumed or thrown away, however within the present laborious occasions, many temples are reallocating additional meals to households in want. Addressing this struggling “all the time comes first. Then we (monks) can take into consideration different issues,” in accordance with Vineetha.
Regardless of the scenes of monks being booed on the protests, lots of the younger, predominantly Buddhist protesters welcome monks’ involvement within the common rebellion and politics at giant, so long as it’s performed in restricted measure.
“Some senior monks have merely spoken in assist of the protest motion. They weren’t on the streets becoming a member of in, however simply mentioned, ‘Sure, we assist this.’ For some protesters, that assertion doubtless provides public legitimacy to the battle, significantly among the many wider Sinhala Buddhist public,” mentioned Gajaweera.
However their presence on the protests has made even another monks cautious. Some activists who compelled the previous president out have accused these monks of being “opportunistic” — attempting to save lots of face by protesting regardless of beforehand supporting the Rajapaksa regime.
Many Sri Lankans are lower than happy that their new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is an in depth ally of the previous president. They anticipate the hard-line nationalist monks previously aligned with Rajapaksa will again Wickremesinghe and the established order.
“The structure continues to be structured because the Sinhalese and the ‘different,‘” mentioned Gajaweera. “Though everyone seems to be ‘equal,’ there’s a particular case for the Buddhists. These contradictions of the nation-state will proceed to form the long run.”
The perfect route for monks, mentioned Vineetha, is to make use of their place to not acquire energy for themselves, however to “assist laypeople perceive the political system. When there’s an election and leaders come to villages promising this and that to the individuals, we might help them grasp the corrupt system.”
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