The chief prelate of the Atamasthana (the eight sacred Buddhist websites within the historic Sri Lankan metropolis of Anuradhapura), the Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thero was arrested lately in reference to allegations of sexually abusing a 15-year-old lady.
The kid’s mom was additionally arrested for aiding and abetting the abuse. The courtroom has imposed a international journey ban on the monk. He was later launched on strict bail situations.
The case has drawn intense public consideration in Sri Lanka. Atamasthana is without doubt one of the most revered Buddhist establishments and its chief prelate occupies a place in a sacred website tied to nationwide reminiscence and Buddhist authority. However public concern is just not restricted to the allegations or the put up Hemarathana Thero holds. The conduct of establishments across the case has additionally come beneath scrutiny.
The Anuradhapura Justice of the Peace’s Court docket ordered the arrests after the Nationwide Little one Safety Authority knowledgeable the courtroom that police had delayed appearing on complaints.
Sri Lankan regulation doesn’t place Buddhist monks above different residents. A monk accused of a legal offense is topic to the identical legal regulation as anybody else. However in follow, police hesitate to take motion in opposition to senior non secular figures, and politicians concern they are going to be criticized for supposedly appearing in opposition to Buddhism. This isn’t formal immunity, however immunity produced by deference.
The case has additionally positioned President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in a tough place. Talking on the Nationwide Vesak Competition on Could 27, he mentioned the federal government would promptly enact legal guidelines to keep up self-discipline amongst Buddhist monks. He mentioned the federal government would amend the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance of 1931 and re-establish a Dharmadhikaranaya, a physique with authority to deal with disciplinary issues regarding monks.
Dissanayake made the announcement on the eve of Vesak, a very powerful Buddhist competition, and framed the transfer as a response to requests from the very best Buddhist prelates. He was not presenting himself as a secular ruler disciplining the Sangha from exterior, however claimed to behave with the sanction of Buddhist authority.
Sri Lanka doesn’t lack guidelines governing monks. The Buddhist monastic order has its personal disciplinary custom, rooted within the vinaya (foundational code of conduct for Buddhist monks). The nikayas or monastic fraternities have their very own guidelines and hierarchies. Temple property and office-holding are regulated by regulation, together with the Buddhist temporalities framework. Reformers have additionally debated the katikavatas (monastic constitutions) as a method of codifying self-discipline inside the Sangha.
That is additionally an issue of authorized pluralism: a number of authorized and ethical orders function directly, and they don’t at all times level in the identical course. And sometimes, they don’t at all times level in the identical course. When a monk is accused of misconduct, one query is whether or not he has violated the vinaya and/or expectations of his nikaya. One other query is whether or not he has dedicated an offense beneath basic regulation.
A Dharmadhikaranaya might be able to cope with questions of monastic conduct, robes, titles, temple workplace, monetary propriety, or breaches of spiritual self-discipline. It can not substitute the police, the legal professional basic, or the courts when severe legal allegations come up. If the federal government presents monastic self-discipline as the reply to legal misconduct, reform might turn into a diversion. However, the state can respect the Sangha’s inside traditions whereas insisting that legal regulation applies equally to all residents.
That is simpler mentioned than finished.
Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka have by no means been solely ritual figures. Historical Sinhalese kings often sought the recommendation of the monks. In addition they performed an necessary function in resisting the colonial powers in Sri Lanka. That legacy explains why the Sangha instructions respect. It additionally explains why the state finds it tough to attract boundaries.
In current instances, the connection between monks and politicians has served either side. Politicians search the blessing of senior monks as a result of it helps them communicate to Sinhala-Buddhist voters. In return, governments have given the Sangha entry, funds, land, official standing, and safety. At instances, they’ve additionally appeared away when politically related monks crossed authorized or moral strains.
This cut price has turned some senior monks into each ethical authorities and political actors. Governments seek the advice of them on schooling, devolution, constitutional reform, archaeology and land. A few of this displays Buddhism’s actual place in Sri Lankan society. Nevertheless it has additionally created a spot between non secular respect and political privilege. Many extraordinary Buddhists could revere the gown whereas nonetheless worrying in regards to the politicization, commercialization, and misconduct of sections of the clergy.
In an article printed in Anthropology At this time, Amitav Ghosh and H. L. Seneviratne identified that the monk’s trendy public function modified sharply within the twentieth century. Educated monks began believing that social service was an necessary a part of their vocation, which got here to incorporate recommendation and intervention in secular affairs, together with direct political exercise and strain on elected representatives.
This made the monk not merely a spiritual information but in addition a political actor. Some monks turned academics, activists, commerce union leaders, intellectuals, and nationalist campaigners. As soon as monks entered the general public sq., politicians needed to reply. As a rule, they selected lodging. Ghosh and Seneviratne argued that one of many well-known examples of the facility of the monks in influencing politics was the derailment of the 1957 Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact. The message future governments discovered was that organized monks might veto main political settlements.
However this clerical authority can’t be understood solely as a cynical seek for energy. Latest analysis argued that the declare that Sri Lanka has a particular Sinhala-Buddhist vocation is enticing not solely as a result of it serves majoritarian pursuits but in addition presents a narrative of honor, dignity, and collective function. It tells Sinhala Buddhists that they’re custodians of a sacred inheritance.
That helps clarify why challenges to highly effective monks can turn into greater than authorized or administrative disputes. They’re simply framed as assaults on Buddhism itself.
However that doesn’t imply there isn’t a room for reform. Many Buddhists themselves fear about commercialization, politicization, and misconduct inside sections of the clergy. A reputable system of inside self-discipline might assist restore public confidence. It might additionally give the Mahanayake Theras (the chief monks of assorted monastic chapters) and nikayas clearer authority to behave in opposition to monks whose conduct damages the establishments.
However reform should not confuse two questions — one is how the Sangha disciplines monks, and the opposite is how the state enforces legal regulation. A monk could reply to the Vinaya as a monk. He should reply to the regulation as a citizen.
Dissanayake got here to energy promising a cleaner state. His Nationwide Folks’s Energy authorities has spoken typically about equality, accountability, and the necessity to break outdated patterns of privilege. The Atamasthana case now assessments these claims in an space the place Sri Lankan politicians have normally been cautious.
