colonial era power base

8/7/2019 Colonial Era Power Base

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COLONIAL ERA POWER BASE

RE-EMERGING IN OUR MOTHERLAND?

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

There are clear indications that the Colonial Era Power-base the Catholic and Christian

establishment, with its privileged Tamil component, is attempting to re-emerge as a force

to undermine our Nations Buddhist Character and to gain foothold in Our Motherland.

Devious means are adopted by this force including the mobilization of feeble politicians,

media personnel and others with little foresight, who do not have the interest to preserve

the Buddhist identity of our Nation. It is time the concerned Buddhists and others startmobilizing vigorously and forcefully, to counter this undesirable anti-national trend by

taking all necessary action to reinforce the Buddhist foothold of our motherland.

Catholics and Christians today account for a mere 5% of the countrys population and afair proportion of them are Tamils, some being racist Tamil terrorists or their supporters

living locally or overseas. Among such supporters are some Catholic and Christian

priests. Even though their population is small, their religious establishment still continues

to have tremendous political influence in our country. A majority of the major business

tycoons, media organization owners, some journalists in the English media, some civil

activists and politicians, especially those in the Parliamentary Opposition are Catholics or

Christians.

In addition to their unethical conversion businesses, the Christian and Catholicestablishments have, in recent years financially sponsored and promoted a series of other

programs to undermine the resurgence of Buddhism in our country in recent years. The

Church appears to have mobilized their journalists, including those attached to nationalmedia outfits, Christian scholars and professionals in big-business in our country and

their supporters, to help in the promotion of their devious activities.

Their aim is to disrupt the resurgence of Buddhism and Buddhist activities across thecountry, with the elimination of Tamil terrorism and restoration of peace in the country.

Their devious activities are aimed at undermining the strength and influence of Buddhism

and Buddhists in the country, in subtle and indirect ways. Their actions are aimed to


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demean and weaken in a most cunning and subtle manner, our nations Buddhist

leadership, our Maha-Sangha in particular, our Buddhist organizations, and in general ourtraditional Buddhist cultural pursuits and practices. Our rich and meaningful traditional

cultural norms are corrupted by the introduction and highlighting of western culturalsuperficialities and influencing the attitudes of the younger generation against their

cultural inheritance. They use the electronic media effectively to accomplish this anti-

national activity, this repulsive social menace.

2600th SAMBUDHDHA JAYANTHI CELEBRATION

The influence of these colonial forces to infiltrate and undermine important Buddhistprogrammes organized by the government is well evident in connection with theprogramme proposed by the government regarding the 2600th Sambudhdha Jayanthi

Celebration. For all purposes, this is an exclusively Buddhist event to be held in Sri

Lanka, and meant to be celebrated by Buddhists throughout the world. It appears that

this Buddhist programme has been infiltrated by the Catholic-Christian establishment,

thereby diluting and undermining the significance of this unique Buddhist event. This

controversial government programme has been proclaimed by the Prime Minister who isalso the Minister of Religious Affairs by his letter dated 05, August 2010. What is most

disturbing is that, this highly controversial programme, according to the PM, has beenapproved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Concerned Buddhists of Sri Lanka should strongly object to this anti-Buddhist action on

the part of a government that is in power today owing to the strong support it receivedfrom the Buddhist community. It is an encouraging development that all prominent

Buddhist Organizations and genuine Buddhist leaders including the ordained and lay,

across the country have joined hands to protest against this unbecoming action on the part

of the countrys Prime Minister. They have taken necessary initial action by forwarding

letters to the President and the Mahasangha leadership, highlighting the controversial

nature and undesirable effects of the PMs proposals and its conflicting implications in

terms of the provisions in the countrys Constitution, which accords a prominent placeand special privileges to Buddhism and the Buddha Sasana, stipulated categorically inParas 9, 10, 14(1) & (2). According to the PMs proclamation, all religions in the country

are being accorded the same privileges as Buddhism which is contrary to the provisions

of the Constitution. In view of accommodating other religions especially the Catholic and

Christian establishments in this exclusively Buddhist event, the 2600th Sambudhdha

Jayanthi Celebration programme is referred to in the PMs proclamation as an Islandwide International Programme. According to this programme, District Committees

representing all religions of the country will be formed to organize and conduct the event

on an island-wide basis thereby diluting the Buddhist character and spirit of this


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celebration. No responses have been received for the letters sent to the President and the

Mahasanga Leadership.

Perhaps our Prime Minister and his Advisors may be unaware of the fact that moves to

establish Inter-Religious Committees, inter-faith committees are a creation of the

Christian/Catholic Church to weaken and subvert Buddhists and to reduce the impact of

Sinhala Buddhist programmes and activities. Those who are better conversant with their

activities know that the Catholic and Christian clergy have been highlighting andpromoting this cunning idea, this subtle approach of scheming against established

religions such as Buddhism, by means of infiltrating them through these so-called

inter-religious and inter-faith organizations and committees. Their hidden motive is

to infiltrate and undermine the Buddhist establishment and weaken its position of

prominence and significance.

DIRECT INVOLVEMENT WITH LTTE TERRORISTS

These Catholic-Christian leaders and groups preach that the cause of all the problems in

Sri Lanka, especially of the Tamil communities, is the Sinhala people, especially the

Sinhala Buddhists and the panacea is power sharing and secularism which is the

euphemism for Christianization ("Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aidand International Charity" by Michael Maren, David Rieff's; LTTE and the Christian

Church, Gerald de S Samarasekera, LankaWeb, Oct. 03, 2004; Tigers Eelam: NothingHindu or Tamil about it, by B.R.Haran, Sri Lanka Guardian, July 05, 2010; "A Bed for

the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis", recent columns by Rajpal Abeynayake andNeville de Silva in Sunday Times; the Communiqu from President Tejan Kabbah of

Sierra Leone to Kofi Annan just before the 1997 Western backed military coup, who

accused the London based Christian Nordic funded NGO International Alert of

meddling in Sierra Leone's internal affairs and supporting the RUF terrorists and

"sabotaging all efforts at implementing the peace","Lords of Poverty: The Power,

Prestige and Corruption of the International Aid Business" by Graham Hancock;).

It is a well known fact that Christian priests were directly aiding and abetting the LTTE

to carry out terrorist attacks. In the late 1990s, there were several newspaper reports of

Christian priests being caught trying to smuggle-in banned items used to make bombs touncleared areas. In the past the racist Tamil Tigers have been using some churches in the

Kotahena as safe houses.


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Our people should know that the racist terrorist LTTE's attacks on Buddhists, including

the bombing of the Dalada Maligawa, the massacre of Buddhist monks in Aranthalawa,shooting of hundreds of devotees at the Sri Maha Bodhi site in Anuradhapura, and the

recent killing of 64 Sinhala Buddhists in Kebitigollawa, all have the hidden paw of theChristian Church behind them.

It is noteworthy that it was the Bishop of Mannar, Rasappu Joseph who declared open

the "Embassy of the Tamil Eelam", the Eelam House in London during the

heydays of the LTTE. He has the audacity to make a submission a few days ago, at

the LLRC in favour of the Tamils, portraying them as a suffering lot who need

support and proposing power sharing as the solution to their problem.

The so called Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam is led mosty by Catholics and

Christians. It is no secret that the LTTE was strongly backed by the Church and is a part

of a neo-colonial conspiracy. Many members of the Catholic and Christian clergy acted

front men of the LTTE and the so called Fr. S.J.Emmanual; the former Vicar General of

Jaffna is a prime example. Today he lives in Germany helping the Eelam cause.

It is said that once the Eelam is created, the Church of South India that has contributed so

much to the Tamil separatist cause, is set to re-establish itself as the "Church of TamilEelam" and become the official Church of the new state. It is said that this is the ultimate

end that the Western countries, NGOs, the Christian Church and the LTTE are strivingfor. Chelvanayagam, the father of Tamil separatism was a Christian. As D.B.S. Jeyaraj

wrote in the Christian owned Sunday Leader sometime back, that Christians havecontributed more to the "Tamil cause" than Hindus. LTTE's ideologue the late Anton

Balasingham, a former employee of the British embassy in Sri Lanka was a Christian.

The same goes for terrorist Prabakaranss son - Charles Anthony and many of LTTE's

lackeys across the globe, ranging from NGO parayas to British and Canadian

parliamentarians.

PAROCHIAL ATTITUDE OF MINORITIES

Unlike the Sinhala Buddhist community and their leadership, the large mass of those who

belong to minority communities and their leadership, including religious minorities such

as Catholics, Christians, Muslims and Hindus, have failed to think beyond their parochial

view. Separatism and divisiveness appear to dominate their thoughts when it comes to


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their association with the country. This attitude of the minorities inevitably prevents them

from developing a sense of belonging to the nation, and cultivating better relationshipswith the indigenous Sinhala Buddhist majority. It is a fact that the Sinhala Buddhists have

been the dominant majority community of the country from historic times.

This parochial attitude prevents them from understanding and appreciating the worthy

principles and values that characterize our nation, that give our nation an identity of its

own. Building a stronger sense of national identity holds the key to achieving truereconciliation and social cohesion in our nation. Our nation needs to be united behind the

nations values. Extremism in any form, including religious, is not in-keeping with the

principles and values that form the basis of our nation. Our leaders and government

should provide the lead to encourage all communities, especially the minority

communities to be a part of the nation, to develop a national perspective, to participate innational events and be participants in the national development effort for the commonbenefit of all. As an initial step, the minority communities in our country should be active

participants in celebrating national events such as the Independence Day, Republic Day,the Traditional New Year and so on, whereby they will have opportunities for

intercultural dialogue and building of cordial and mutually beneficial relationships with

the diverse communities that form our nation.

SPIRIT OF TOLERANCE AND ACCOMMODATION

History of our country reveals vividly that a spirit of tolerance and accommodation of

others irrespective of their religious or other differences has been a common

distinguishing characteristic of Sinhala Buddhists of this country from very early times.Judging from the fanaticism and confrontational attitudes, utterances and actions of the

Catholic Church and the Evangelists in recent times, it appears that this spirit of toleranceand accommodation on the part of Buddhists is not appreciated by them. It is being

exploited as a weakness to pursue their self interests of promoting their religions and

ways of life at the expense of Buddhism, Buddhist culture and Buddhist way of life. We

are yet to know the real underlying reasons for some of our prominent politicians to be

supportive of or to have become victims of the devious machinations of the Church.

APPROACH IN BUDDHISM

Unethical and confrontational approaches, including fanaticism and brutality adopted bythe Catholic and Christian religious establishments, often in the past and even today, to

promote their religious beliefs provide a stark contrast to the approach in Buddhism. TheBuddha Dhamma is described as 'ehipassiko', inviting one to come and see for himself.

There is no concept of coercion or proselytization in Buddhism. The Buddha taught the


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importance of patience, tolerance, and non-aggression, providing a splendid ideal of

tolerance for Buddhists to follow. There is not a single occasion in the Buddhistscriptures of the Buddha being less than compassionate, not only to those who accepted

his teachings but also to the followers of all faiths, not only to the good but also to thewicked, not only to humans but also to animals and to all living beings. In striking

contrast to the spread of other world religions, which are replete with unethical and

forcible conversions and sectarian strife, the history of Buddhism is remarkable for the

complete absence of bloodshed in the name of the teacher.

The history of Buddhists of Sri Lanka during the four hundred years of foreign Catholic-

Christian rule prior to the countrys political independence is nothing but a long andpoignant chronicle of Buddhist tolerance in the face of direct and indirect oppression and

injustice. Atrocities committed against Buddhists by Catholics and Christians in Sri

Lanka during the 16th to 20th century period in particular, were extensive and

unprecedented. The undertaking to maintain the Buddhist religion given in 1815 by theChristian British was grossly betrayed. Who but the Buddhists tolerated the rank injustice

of Catholic Portuguese rulers who used the revenue from one of the most sacred places ofBuddhist worship, the Dalada Maligawa, to pay for the construction of St. Paul's

Cathedral right in front of the Maligawa on land that belonged to the Maligawa. Who butthe Buddhists tolerated the rank injustice of the Christian British in destroying amagnificent Buddhist Vihara in Kotte to erect in its stead a Christian School? Who but

the Buddhists tolerated the extortion from them of four hundred pounds a year for the

building of Christian Churches?

It would be ungrateful on the part of Sri Lankan Catholics and Christians to overlook the

fact that Buddhists gave them shelter and protected them when the Portuguese and Dutchsubjected them to untold harassment. It is ironical that when the Roman Catholics were

ill-treated by the Christian Dutch, they sought refuge among the Buddhists who gave

them shelter amongst them. Right throughout the Catholic- Christian colonial period of

our country, it was the Buddhists who showed compassion towards the oppressed, it was

the Buddhists who tolerated the dreadful Catholic-Christian injustices and wretchedness.

BRITISH FAVOUR CHRISTIANS OVER BUDDHISTS

It is reported that in the 16" century, the Catholic Church came to Sri Lanka with swordin one hand and the bible in the other. They and their lay collaborators under the Pope's

Treaty of Tordesallas had been given license to plunder, destroy buildings, rape and kill.That was Christianity old style as they rampaged destroying an entire civilization. Their

Protestant successors, the Dutch drove these marauders away. But Sri Lankans, who at

the time were almost exclusively Buddhists, gave Christians sustenance in their country,

and allowed them freedom to practice their religion. Their other Protestant successors, the

British, talking with double tongue favoured Christians and Christianity over Buddhistsand Buddhism, whom under the 1815 treaty they promised to protect. They created a new


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collaborator Christian class drawn from spies and those who betrayed the country. They

rewarded them with lands stolen from the people and the Buddhist temples.

COMMON AGENDA OF ALL CHURCHES

It is no secret that all the world churches- most important of them being the RomanCatholic Church and the Protestant Church -- have a common agenda which they call

"Evangelization 2000 and Beyond". Evangelization 2000 is not an isolated phenomenon.

It comes in wake of two other movements, globalization and Westernization.

Westernization has culturally enslaved the minds and lives of many people. All this

together constitute a single, three-pronged onslaught on our national sovereignty

economic, cultural and religious. Evangelization is in fact homogenization. It seeks to

impose "one God, one Prophet and one Book over all mankind. It is aimed at destroyingcultural pluralism and religious diversity. It is the evangelizing faiths that threaten the

rich and colorful diversity and impose a monolithic way of life over all peoples.

UNHOLY ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHURCHES

In Sri Lanka, there is competition and conflicts among the many different churches

established by different denominations like the Catholic, Anglican Wesleyan, Baptist,Salvation Army and Methodist churches and the later entries to this island known asEvangelical churches of Assemblies of God, Jehovahs Witnesses, Seventh Day

Adventists, Mormons, Apostle church, Calvary church, Church of Prayer, Divine Love

Church, East Lanka Evangelical Church, Four Square Church, Gethsemane Church,

Every Home Crusade and so on. Today there are over thirty seven Christian sects in Sri

Lanka.

The present Christian regrouping in Sri Lanka is an unholy alliance between Catholics,

Anglican Protestants and fundamental Christians from the USA. The Christian resistanceto the "Anti-conversion" Bills is carefully stage-managed with enormous amount of

money being spent. Foreign funded Christian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) is

being mobilized. The Evangelical Christians believe they hold a divine mandate, their

"Great Commission" from God, to spread their creed. But it is also a matter of policy asfar as the Catholic Church is concerned. Pope John Paul II, during his 1998 visit to India,

stated categorically that the "Christianization" of Asia is an absolute priority" for the

Catholic Church in the new millennium.


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It should be emphasized that Christianity in whatever form did not spread in this island

through liberalism, that the Christian churches now expect the Buddhists to adopt. On thecontrary, the Christian faith came to stay because the Buddhist rulers accommodated

them not through ignorance but through their magnanimity and tolerance, a fact nowforgotten.

INTOLERANCE IN MONOTHEISM

Fundamentalist and intolerant stance, taken by any religion, is offensive to followers of

other faiths and to those of no faith at all. Overzealous attempts at conversion disturb

peaceful-coexistence. Intolerance is essential only to monotheism. An only God is bynature a jealous God who will not allow another to live. When a religion sees its scriptureas revealed and divinely inspired, it finds a basis for exclusivity and intolerance.

Justification for intolerance is provided by the very nature of a Supreme Being who is

described as a jealous and angry being, who punishes those who defy Him with eternal

damnation. There are stories in the Bible which describe God as committing genocide on

unbelievers with violence toward men, women, children, and even the unborn. Buddhism

does not accept an omnipotent God, a Creator, nor any revealed scripture. Because faithin God or a savior is not an issue for Buddhists, there is no reason for Buddhists to judge

others, to condemn them for their beliefs, or to feel compelled to convert them.

UNETHICAL PROSETYTIZATION MENACE

In recent decades, the Evangelical Christian unethical prosetylization menace has become

an increasingly serious problem for Sri Lankan Buddhists. Since late 1970s, there has

been a massive inflow of Evangelical organizations to Sri Lanka, supported by huge

funds from western countries, especially from the US. These Fundamental Christian

organizations, numbering nearly 500 and certain NGO's have been taking advantage of

Buddhists and Hindus in poverty or in distress. Besides allurements and other fraudulent

means, they even use force, threats and undue influence to convert these innocent people

to Christianity. This has been a big threat to the traditional Buddhist norms thatcharacterize these neighborhoods, which helped to establish social cohesion and generate

harmonious relationships in our rural areas. Christian conversion activities have resulted

in divisiveness and disharmony, in addition to moral degeneration in some of our

historically peaceful and moral rural neighborhoods.

INCOMPATIBLE TO THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF LIFE AND CULTURE


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What these Christian missions are attempting to introduce to our predominantly Buddhistcountry, is incompatible with the way of life and the social value system of the country.

Sri Lanka has a well-established Buddhist culture which extends to a period that exceeds

2200 years. It is based on non-violence and compassion towards all living beings.

Buddhist way of life is based upon the Five Precepts of Buddhism. The Buddhist way of

life has resulted in the development of cohesive communities with closely knit families

with strong and lasting family bonds. This socio-cultural cohesiveness of Buddhist

communities is destroyed by the western norms and lifestyles introduced with Christian

prosetylization menace. It has had a divisive effect on our societies. There are instancesof serious disharmony in families where some are converted and others not. Youth

subject to conversion adopting lifestyles that are not in-keeping with the traditional

cultural norms has caused much disharmony and turmoil.

Those Sri Lankans, who have been well exposed to the western world, are aware of the

largely individualistic tendencies that the western corporate culture promotes where

excessive aggressiveness, competition, greed, craving and sensuality reign supreme. In

these Christian countries, most people suffer from undue stress, depression and ill-

health owing to limitless craving for material possessions, physical comforts and sensual

pleasures.

RESPONSE OF BUDDHISTS TO PROSELYTIZATION

In recent decades, Evangelists have been quite active in their proselytization work in

remote Buddhist villages of Sri Lanka. This threat should not be taken lightly. On the

other hand, the Muslims are encroaching on Buddhist temple lands and destroying

Buddhist monuments and archeological remains in the Eastern Province. Buddhist

communities that have become victims and potential victims to Christian proselytization

are mostly poor and illiterate. They are easy targets for evangelists. It is important to

realize that there cannot be Buddhist spirituality where there is widespread hunger andpoverty and in addition widespread illiteracy, ignorance and superstitions. It is time for

Buddhist leaders in particular to get their act together, look out for one another and

redeem themselves by rallying to the Buddha's call to "go forth... for the good of many,

for the benefit and well being of many." If we do not organize ourselves without further

delay and adopt appropriate strategies and measures to help these impoverished and

forgotten Buddhists and let the Evangelists have their way, then the only ones to blamewill be us - the indifferent, indolent, complacent Buddhists.


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THEISTIC RELIGIONS BASED ON UNVERIFIABLE BELIEFS

God exists only in belief. All God believing societies are based on beliefs that are

unverifiable. Any society which can only exist based on a lie or a bunch of lies is a

society which has no right to exist. As a human being it is ones nature to live by reason,

not by force. To live by force is to attempt to be something other than what one is. It is a

path which can only lead to pain and unhappiness and my eventual destruction. Catholics

and Christians argue that their God exists and is the only god. Then, there are Muslimswho profess Islam arguing that their Allah exists and is the only god. This means these

two groups have different gods. How can both of these beliefs be true? Allah and God

cannot both exist. That which cannot be shown to exist should be assumed to be

nonexistent.

NO CLAIM OF DIVINE AUTHORITY IN BUDDHISM

Sri Lanka has to be a genuinely Buddhist country if we are to have a free and moral

society. We cannot have a free and moral society until an ethical code based on

observable, objective reality is derived, taught, and internalized. It is Buddhism that

serves this purpose. Theistic societies are based on beliefs whereas Buddhist societies are

based on a totality of verifiable truths.

Buddhism does not claim to be the one and only valid spiritual path. It is not based on, or

claim divine authority. Buddha never claimed to be divine or sent from God. Buddhism

does not attempt to suppress reason by dogma. Unlike most other religions, Buddhism

isn't so much about things to believe, as things to do. It is a technology of mind

improvement. This is why Buddhists often refer to themselves as practitioners rather than

believers. The Buddha told his students to trust their own experience of the effectiveness

of the teachings, and not believe things just because he said so. The Buddhas teachings

are to be judged by their effectiveness in promoting peace and spiritual realizations,rather than unverifiable claims to their origin.

ABSOLUTE RELIANCE ON FAITH IN THEISTIC RELIGIONS


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In order to justify themselves against attack by reason, the God/Allah-based religions

place absolute reliance on faith, which is seen by them as being superior to reason. Theyrefer to it as the divine truth. Their argument is that since it is the divine truth whatever it

says is true and all other competing beliefs are the work of the devil.

They promise heaven for belief and threaten eternal punishment in hell for disbelief.

They boost the believers' egos by telling them they are 'chosen' or superior to believers in

other false beliefs. These religions teach that they are the one true path to salvation andall unbelievers are cast into hell. This is a doctrine known as exclusivism. They establish

themselves as belonging to the One True religion usually by reference to some sort of a

holy book Bible or Koran. Buddhism is not exclusivist. Any person guided in their

activities by compassion is regarded as following a beneficial spiritual path. In

Christianity exclusivism went to extreme lengths with many denominations claiming thatthey were the one true faith and the other denominations were corrupt, this is still theofficial policy of the Vatican.

MEANS TO PROPAGATE RELIGION

God based religions argue that they are required according to the word of God as the case

may be, to propagate their religion by resorting to various means. One such means hasbeen the so-called Holy War to convert or kill all unbelievers. Intimidation and terrorism

are common methods used even in modern times. Threatening and discriminating againstunbelievers is a common practice. In 1999 the Catholic Church was publicly seeking

forgiveness for the errors, injustices and human rights offences it committed in the past.The Church asked pardon for the sins and weaknesses of Catholics down the ages.

Among the Church's past sins, was "the use of force in order to impose the truth" -- an

apparent reference to forced conversions. The Pope was seeking pardon for "the failure

to respect and defend human rights."

Buddhism is a religion which has never attempted to propagate itself and exterminate its

enemies by war and tyranny. Buddhism recognizes that one of the most destructive

delusions is excessive attachment to any view, which will thus appear virtuous and right

for all people. The harm that can be done by fundamentalist attachment to ideologies and

abstractions is far greater than that caused by attachment to wealth or material objects.

RATIONALITY IN BUDDHISM


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Buddhists have no need to suppress, censor or misrepresent the teachings of otherreligions, as Buddhist philosophy is totally rational and quite capable of withstanding

criticism from other belief systems. In fact, Buddhism appears to be the only spiritual

system which can provide counterarguments to theistic beliefs and Western Materialism.

Buddhism has not even been slightly corroded by modern scientific discoveries.

Buddhism is a set of tried and tested methods which are used to develop the mind by

producing altered states of awareness. In effect it is a psycho-spiritual applied science. Its

methods of mental development are designed to free the mind from the accumulated

delusions of millennia, and lead to a state of peace and tranquility. Using Buddhist

meditation techniques one could examine the rubbish left over in ones mind fromchildhood indoctrination and reflect upon and clear ones mind from the various mind-

polluting and divisive belief systems driven by fear, guilt, wanting to conform, wantingother people to conform, or alternately pride in being better than non-believers.

The Buddha always encouraged his students to gain understanding of his teachings by

putting them to the test of personal experience, and not just relying on his authority. Infact the Buddhist idea of authority has much more in common with the idea of scientific

authority than it does with ecclesiastical authority. Buddhist authority carries with it the

idea of the possession of knowledge which can be conveyed to others and confirmed byreproducible experiences. In Buddhism there are no unsupported statements which one

must believe without questioning. There are no threats of hell or promises of heaven

attached to being a Buddhist as opposed to being a non-Buddhist. The condition of futurelives is determined by actions of body, speech and mind and not by religious affiliation.

If a religion encourages positive actions and states of mind then it is doing its job. If itcauses hatred, division and pride then it isn't working.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Vancouver Canada

February 5, 2011

colonial era power base

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