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Morning Spice by
Ginger Fortunately some of the alleged culprits were caught as the city saw the underworld showing an increasing boldness. A young businessman was done to death in the most brutal manner imaginable. At about the same time an army officer was attacked and wounded in the city by assailants the authorities feel were members of the L.T.T.E they are all getting bolder. Could the underworld here be having links with the L.T.T.E. as a rule the Mafia will stoop to anything if the money is good. They are not tied down or restrained by scruple and so no one knows where such crime waves will end and whom they will help in the final analysis. They are by no means a patriotic lot though they make a fine art of cultivating those who count. A serious crack down is necessary for more than one reason though it is a rather formidable task. The underworld has got bigger and spread its tentacles so wide that emasculating it totally may not be feasible, but at least some serious and vigorous action against them may make the city a safer place. At the moment Citizen Perera feels pretty unsafe. Many areas of activity seem dangerously atrophied like the stock market. Let crime get the better of law and order and the lights will blow out! Many a politician fails to realize the folly of nestling servants to their bosoms. Any patronage for this element should stop if it is not to back fire on the politicians themselves. Butch and Sundance A television company is developing a two puppet show and featuring Butch and Sundance. They are expected to be a smart pair of porkers who talk of what good pets pigs can make. They also scare you off eating pork. They claim they will make better pets because they are clean, attractive and intelligent. One wonders whether there will be much agreement on that claim. Downing street Officers of Westminster City Council and English Heritage demanded that they be let in to Tony Blairs living quarters as they had heard that the P.M. had spent as much as 105,000 pounds in refurbishing and renovating his quarters. Actually there were no renovations but they had played new carpets wall paper and installed a kitchen. The kitchen too included standard wooden units which replaced those that existed for forty years. Desecration of Pirith ceremonies There was a recent news report in the print media about a celebration connected with the opening of an additional banquet hall or some such building at a seaside star class hotel where a Pirith chanting ceremony too had been conducted along with other festivities. A couple of years back a similar Pirith ceremony was held on the occasion of the opening of a swimming pool attached to a famous hotel in the hill capital. We are quite often treated to the rather amusing spectacle of government-corporation management officials organising Pirith chanting ceremonies together with other ostentatious functions to declare open new buildings and re-open renovated or retouched ones and also bridges, roadways and irrigation canals etc. On most occasions when there is a change of heads either in a Ministry or a Department/Corporation, interested parties, staff unionists or influential official-s in those institutions make it a point to hold Pirith chantings complementary to their 'welcome- ceremonies. It has become almost a fashion and an institutional requirement to resort to the conducting of Pirith ceremonies as an indispensable feature of most political/social functions. The organisers would never look into the desirability or acceptability of pirith chanting at such secular mundane celebrations. 'Pariththa' - the Pali-term for Pirith is a composition of exhortations depicting virtues to be cultivated and evils to be eschewed, recited in the form of stanzas which could bestow blessings if the participating listeners refrain from evil thoughts and deeds and fashion their life styles in keeping with the correct path shown by the Buddha. It has to be reiterated that the blessings chanted in the Pirith recital would be effective only if the participants could subscribe to and accept with purity of mind and action the sublime code of conduct enunciated in the Pirith stanzas. To ward off ill effects and evil influences we entreat our good monks, with a sense of genuine conviction, to bless us with the recital of Pirith - Pali Suththas which are couched in words of benediction to the suffering people and their possessions. In the present context, not only Pirith ceremonies but certain other aspects of the religious system including some of the monks too seem to have been politicised to some degree, to suit the whims and fancies of politicians and their followers. A glaring misuse and consequent desecration of the system of Pirith ceremonies could be observed in most political/social circles resulting in the denigration and loss of the validity and benedictory efficacy of the expressive Pirith recitals. Upper class hotels and similar establishments where sensuous music and sensual dancing festivities along with the sale and consumption of intoxicants - bordering on, worldly-unholy activities are held with a mercenary motive are not the ideal locations to conduct Pirith chantings as the desired purpose of blessings cannot be achieved in such surroundings. Similarly holding Pirith chantings devoid of well meaning purity of purpose and action in office buildings and such institutions in an ostentatious manner to keep up with the prevalent social mores would not be at real beneficial blessings to anyone. Although such events are arranged and staged with lot of fanfare the organisers and the participating officials make the least effort to show any interest or dedication to carry out their legitimate duties in their workplaces - the very places deemed to have been blessed - and serve the ordinary men and women who turn up to get their reasonable requests attended to and grievances redressed, instead of which those same officials would adopt indifferent, unsympathetic and sometimes abusive attitudes when dealing with ordinary people. On the contrary the officials concerned would go out of their way to accommodate and attend promptly to the needs of the affluent influential big wigs and politicians at all times. We are irrationally and blindly initiative in most things especially in unwanted showy aspects. When a certain set of people in an office complex or some other institution organises a Pirith/Dana ceremony for a worth while reason or no reason at all others of that ilk or in similar capacity would follow suit making a mockery of the whole system of religious customs and exercises. In the course of time, there would come a situation when some people might organise Pirith ceremonies to declare open market places selling meat and fish and it would extend even to the opening of public toilets too. Either the learned monks or the averagely intelligent organisers of religious events should be able to realise the utter hollowness and futility of their conduct, and endeavour to be reasonably moderate in their actions and activities, especially where religious practices are concerned. In this context, we have already become a laughing stock in the eyes of most visiting intellectuals and learned western Buddhists. It is time, we rethink, review and discontinue some of our irrelevant, frivolous activities that would besmirch our religious sanctity. R. M. A. B. Dassanayake Importance of Dhamma school education Mr. Lakshman Jayakody the Minister of Cultural and Religious Affairs has stressed the importance of Dhamma School Education at a Media Conference at the Ethnic Affairs and National Integration Centre in Kollupitiya. (Ref. 'Island - 14/8 page 3) Whilst heartily commending on the Minister-s proposal let us hope and pray most fervently it will be put into practice soon, with him taking the initiative. Meanwhile I would like to put forth a few humble suggestions of my own on Setting up of Dhamma Schools (of all Religions and Ethnicity) where-ever possible. Existing school buildings could be utilized, as Dhamma Schools are held only on Sundays). Providing needy children with basis necessities. (Books, pens and pencils, slippers, and white cloth for lama-sarees or national costumes. Also a set of sil-clothes or whatever in order to encourage children to participate in religious activities). (These could be provided by the Government with the help of the private sector and philanthropists of the area). Giving a cup of tea or milk and a bun, during the interval. Holding annual prize givings as an encouragement. Children attending Dhamma Schools should not be forced to memorise gathas or stanzas. Dhamma Schools should start late in the morning so that little ones will feel more fit to attend. Children should be given a basic knowledge in Dhamma in English too. Private tuition classes if held on Sundays should be held late, ie after Dhamma Schools are over. In Buddhist Sunday Schools emphasis should not entirely be on pali gathas and suthas. A child may easily grasp the meaning and thereby put into practice if he is able to understand. The five precepts for instance could be taught as 'Sathun mama nomarami - Sorakamkisith nakarami Dusirithen velakemi - Boru bhasinmath penin duruvemi (For example, Jayamangala Gathas as recited by Mr. Rohana Weerasinghe in version). Teachers should be of good character, and on a voluntary basis. But they could be given a small salary on a daily basis so that any one could take a turn to teach or lecture. A good time table must be set up so as not to bore or burden the children. For example - each and every child must be given an opportunity to make a small speech or recite a verse or any such thing in the presence of the whole school. This would enable them to gather self-confidence. - Meditating or observing silence for five minutes before school closes. - Organising shramadhanas, etc - Helping the less fortunate school mates. Incentives should be given to teachers and children attending dhamma schools - such as Ð an added qualification in gaining jobs, transfers promotions and so forth. If the mind of the child is properly moulded now we will have a descent future generation. Queenie Balasuriya Recently I came across a book of political quotes - considering the situation of politics in our country it is small consolation that it has always been the same all over the world to go by the following. Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even when there-s no river - Nikita Khrushchev. He knows nothing and he thinks he knows everything. That points to a political career - George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara. Shakespeare, in the familiar lines, divided great men into classes: those born great, those who achieve greatness, and those who have greatness thrust upon them. It never occurred to him to mention those who hire public relations experts and press secretaries to make themselves look great. - Daniel Boorstin, 'The Image-. Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politician, take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature makes them. - Bertrand Russell. City government is of the people, by the rascals, for the rich. - Lincoln Steffens. Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men. - George Jean Nathan.The great mass of the people... will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. He did not care in which direction the car was travelling, so long as he remained in the driving seat - Lord Beaverbrook on Lloyd George. The problem of power is... how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public. - Robert F. Kennedy. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life. - Jeremy Thorpe. A good character is not merely unnecessary for becoming Prime Minister. It may be positively harmful to its owner. - Woodrow Wyatt, Turn Again, Westminster. I don-t make jokes - I just watch the government and report the facts. - Will Rogers. And last of all, what worries one most is: The trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who believe, with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all the people all of the time. - Franklin P. Adams, Nods & Becks, 1944. All in all it makes me agree with the following quote of Rudyard Kipling, 'Politics are not my concern... They impress me as a dog-s life without a dog-s decencies'. And Thomas Jefferson summed it all up: 'I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just'.We people must realize the truth in what Theodore Roosevelt said: 'This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in'. Dr. Mareena T. Reffai 'Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely' is what is often quoted in relation to those who hold political power. But, it seems that power can also lull good intelligent human beings to a comfortable sleep, from which it is hard to awaken. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, when asked if the government was legally justified in postponing Provincial Council Elections, said, the postponement of elections under emergency regulations is not a new development. The UNP had done it before he pointed out. So reports 'The Island- newspaper of August 16. Thirteen years from now (as the PA has already been in power for four years) the present leader of the opposition may well be swept into power as the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka. For now, it is clear that neither the PA nor the UNP has any intentions of abolishing the executive presidency while it enjoys power. It is also possible that the present Minister of Constitutional Affairs would still be there to advise the UNP government on Constitutional matters. If at that stage, the new President were to postpone elections under emergency regulations, would this Minister of Constitutional Affairs nod this head and in his profound wisdom declare, 'There is nothing wrong, the PA has done it before'? 'Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds', is what Shakespeare said centuries ago. As a member of Avadhi Lanka. I write this to keep the people of this country 'awake- regarding matters of public interest. This letter is written in that spirit. Leela Isaac Mushrooming shanties in Dehiwela Being a person owning a house in Dehiwala, permit me to highlight the rapid increase of shanty dwellers in this area with the support of the politicians. The stretch along the beach between De Alwis place and Muhandiram place Dehiwala before 1991 was free from shanties, a place for bathing both for local and foreigners. The residents of the adjoining lanes made use of this stretch for their evening gatherings with their children, which added to the scenic beauty of this area. In 1992, the Member of Parliament, with the backing of the local body brought more than 15 families to be settled along this stretch and provided facilities such as water from bowsers and street lights to light the areas where the shanties sprang up in no time. Representations made to the local body by the residents protesting against such settlement was ignored. This place remained an eyesore with the mushrooming of all vices until June this year. From June they started vacating gradually as they were given government built houses in Attidiya and by July, there were no shanties seen. To the utter surprise of the residents of the area, about five families followed them and built houses in no time. It is now back to square one. The residents of the houses towards tailend of the road have to put up with these shanty dwellers as neighbours in a polluted environment. It appears that such encroachment into the beach land is a well-planned exercise, deserves investigation. One cannot understand on what grounds the municipal authorities are permitting such unauthorized houses to be built without any basic amenities. It is amusing that in the light of numerous requirements a house builder has to meet to build a house on his own land, building of such houses is permitted so freely on the state land. A. Wijeyanathan I was appalled to read about the theft of five guardstones from the Watadage at Medirigiriya. This once again highlights the problem of safeguarding this country's numerous archaeological treasures. I have a beautiful Buddha head in my study, which most people mistake for the genuine article. It was actually made less than 30 years ago by the late Mr. H. R. Premaratne, former Director of Public Works, who was a highly accomplished artist. His masterpiece - a life-size replica of the Gal Vihara - stopped the traffic on Kensington High Street when it was exhibited in London. All these replicas were made from fibreglass, and surely this technique could be used both to bring in valuable foreign exchange, and to reduce the black market in genuine artifacts! Sir Arthur C. Clarke, CBE |
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