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The role of the Church in Lanka and Indonesia
MORE often than not, religious and ethnic differences come to fore in times of social tensions and economic difficulties. The Church has always been at the heart of many a controversy, though not of its making, especially in the ‘orient’.
By a conscious decision, the Church fanned out to every nook and corner of the world in the wake of colonisation and trade. Sri Lanka and Indonesia are two classic examples of how the Church prospered in difficult terrain. While the problem for the Church in Sri Lanka remains on the back burner because of the persisting ethnic conflict between the Sinhala Buddhists and the Tamils, it has come into the open in many parts of Indonesia.
In most instances, analysts point out, a conflict arises because the Church succeeds where the government fails. The Church tends to thrive in areas of strife and dissent. Not that the Church is responsible for this, but it finds the situation ideal to work with the people and earn their trust—to fill a vacuum.
By involving the local people in its activities, the Church (whether Roman Catholic, Protestant or others) has focussed on the everyday needs of the populace and built up a channel of communication. It has concentrated on fulfilling the basic needs—education, health, self-employment and, of course, spiritual solace. When these are made available under one roof, the Church naturally tends to become influential with the people. In all this, the role of the parish priest and the head of the regional Church is significant. The success or the failure of the Church is inextricably linked to their personality and equations with the people.
The role of the Church in two different ethnic and social environments—Sri Lanka and Indonesia—provides an idea of how it functions and also of the controversies it will be caught in unless it steers clear of politics and remains low profile.
Though current figures are not available, the Roman Catholic Church in Jaffna, Tamil stronghold in Sri Lanka, has become a centre of attraction in many ways. Over the decades, the Church has flourished in this northern territory, where ethnic tensions have ruined peace. It is the Church, along with the Jaffna University, which functions today as ever before and renders service to the people—irrespective of whether Jaffna is under the control of the military or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In any talks with the Government in Colombo, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the LTTE or foreign donors who want to implement aid programmes in the strife-torn Tamil province, the Jaffna Bishop and the Church invariably play the role of a mediator or intermediary.
Tamil historians in Jaffna once argued that but for the Church and the missionaries, the ethnic strife would not have become so pronounced. It is because of the missionaries who settled down in Jaffna and founded a chain of schools and colleges that the Tamils acquired English education. This gave them a headstart both during the British Raj and when Ceylon became independent in 1948, because the bureaucracy required English- educated officers in a multi-ethnic country. The Jaffna Tamils came to occupy important positions in Government and in the judiciary, for instance. This naturally excited the Sinhala majority, which started hating the prominence of the Tamils and thus the ethnic strife got sharpened.
Fortunately or unfortunately, conversions have been an issue Sri Lanka—in the Buddhist areas and not in the Tamil- dominated areas in the northeast or the central, plantation districts. There the Church still flourishes and is doing useful work.
Despite complaints in Colombo that both the Church and the ICRC often take the LTTE’s side in negotiations, the two agencies have played a useful role in keeping communications in place even at the height of the ethnic battles.
The Church in Jaffna and neighbouring areas has been able to reach out to the common people and look after their immediate problems—it implements any number of programmes to generate self-employment and works for community development. It runs a chain of educational institutions and takes care of the nutrition needs of children and ensures that many of them go to school. In addition to the existing skeletal health care system, it offers a complementary service, sometimes with the help of foreign doctors.
Above all, the Church also caters for the spiritual needs of a strife-torn society. Prayer, penance, counselling and extensive interaction help the people retain their hope and faith.
But in southern Sri Lanka, the Buddhist clergy often battle it out with the Church in the controversy over conversions. The Church, therefore, adopts a low-profile there to avoid any confrontation with the majority or the Government, which also comes under Buddhist pressure.
In Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, the situation is much more complex. It is only in East Timor that the Christians are in a majority and there the Church has emerged as a major player. In the other provinces, it continues to function but under trying conditions.
With the onset of the economic crisis in July 199 7, social and religious tensions have come to the fore. The ethnic Chinese community has become the target of attack by not only fundamental Islamic groups but also mobs which are agitated over the growing unemployment problem.
The wrath of the Indonesians has turned on the ethnic Chinese for two reasons— one, they are more affluent and not only control the retail economy but head some of the major business conglomerates: two, many of them happen to be Christians and the local church, therefore, becomes an easy target. The mobs have targeted the churches in sporadic incidents since late 1997. Even now, they continue to be torched and tempers are running high in different parts of the archipelago.
In East Timor, the Church commands a better position. The local Bishop, Carlos, shot into international fame winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The Government has necessarily to involve him and the Church in any dialogue to find a political settlement. A ‘voice of moderation’, Bishop Carlos is a shield for the local Christian population and he plays mediator with the omnipresent armed forces which are out to crush an insurgent group.
Even at the height of the mob frenzy, the international community did not play up the religious strife in Indonesia. There were subtle appeals and veiled threats seeking to protect the ethnic Chinese community, ostensibly because it played a vital role in the local economy.
But in a recent television interview, the President, Mr. B. J. Habibie, made it clear that he could hardly rein in the majority Muslim community under the present circumstances. His sympathies were with the Indonesians who felt that the ethnic Chinese (who were also Christians, if not Buddhists) alone were affluent and this led to social tensions and inequalities. The President took the line that it would be counter-productive to restrain the majority community because that would make it more violent and lead to another collapse of the Government.
Analysts point to a basic difference between ethnic tensions and religious conflicts, though there can often be a mix-up. Managing ethnic equations has been a major challenge to many governments, notably in South and South-East Asia. There are Islamic states, where protection of the minorities may not have been guaranteed. But where the nations are wedded to secularism, protecting the minorities becomes a major commitment.
Referring to the current conversion controversy in India, a leading Hindu philosopher-thinker, who does not want to be quoted, said: ‘ Conversions and religious tensions are an indication of the failure of the Government and Hinduism to deal with the problem of their people. I must say that our saints and missions have started to realise this failing and are moving in the right direction. Instead of exposing the majority community to criticism by leaving its leadership to militant forces, it may be better for the Hindu missions to take the lead in forging communal harmony and reaching out to the people in the nooks and corners using the very tools that the Church has used".
He is convinced that Hinduism, which is more than a religion, must throw up a mature leadership that can not only preserve the Indian identity but also ensure the nation’s standing as a secular state. — (The Hindu)
Deterioration in moral values
Staging a revolt in the temple — a must
by Mangala SirisenaToday we live in a polluted society. One who looks at this degeneration with one’s inner eye would observe that the influx of global culture resulting from unbalanced technological innovations, open market economy and the concept of global village, released uncontrolled without a central planning shattered all moral values and generally accepted ethical and religious norms beyond redemption, shaking the entire social order. Things have gone beyond the point of no return and to recapture the lost values is a very difficult task. The situation has become so complex that one cannot easily analyse a problem arising therefrom to find a logical solution. Causes leading to the problems are complex and complicated making it difficult to single out.
In the face of this appalling situation, the task Ven.Gangodawila Soma Thera has come forward to shoulder is a herculean task and his intention should be highly appreciated. However, his preachings have become the subject of continuous criticism in the print media. Criticism is a sign of good health, especially when it is constructive. Whatever it is, this criticism has made his discourses more and more popular. But, popularity should not be mistaken as the criterion that judges the quality, integrity or usefulness. What is more important is whether his exercise is successful. If his intention is to recapture the lost moral values and to re-establish the common ethical and religious norms, it should be applauded even if the exercise is not successful.
It is a sensible choice to resort to the teachings of Buddha in finding a way out of this degeneration. In the teachings of the Buddha, the minimum moral standard required from a Buddhist layman is to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and taking intoxicants. There is no religion that does not approve this ethical conduct. But, people, Buddhists and all others, continue to indulge in these vices, in spite of their being denounced by all the religions and ethical norms.
The Buddhists repeat these five precepts, some daily and the others occasionally. In their regular sermons, the Sangha invariably stress on them. Hence, one cannot say that they indulge in these vices because they do not know that they are bad. As such, any repeated preaching will not add anything more to deviate them from this wrong path.
Until towards the end of nineteen forties, religion was not a school subject. But there was better discipline in the country in those good old days. However, with religion in the school curriculum, people are compelled to believe that school is the breeding point of indiscipline. This notion has been confirmed by the Government being compelled to introduce anti-ragging legislation to maintain discipline in schools and universities.
If ignorance is not the cause, social reformers should search for the causes leading to these rampant misdeeds. Without knowing the cause one cannot think of the remedial measures. Preaching the sermons the listeners are already tired of hearing more than hundred times , though they come in different colours, will not bring back the lost value shattering the status quo.
The Sangha Community itself is responsible for embracing the worship of Gods in Buddhism with an abode for each God in every temple. This mythological cult of God-worship and praying for favours from them has been strongly denounced by intellectuals like Dr. E. W. Adikaram, Dr. Abraham Kovoor and many others. The Rationalists’ Association is an example. In spite of all that, Kovils have come up all over the country for these mythological Gods, providing a source of massive income to make easy money. The large crowds rushing in at these places speak for the popularity of God-worship. Preaching against it has not reduced this blind faith.
A faith is not acquired with reasoning. Even as Buddhists, we have become Buddhists because we are born to Buddhist parents. But Buddhism does not call for faith or belief, it is a teaching to be understood. Mythological Gods are worshipped through fear and faith. Portraits of Gods are designed to generate fear with lethal weapons in their hands, whereas a portrait of the Buddha generates loving kindness and compassion. It is this fear that drives people to worship Gods and pray for favours. We live in a society full of uncertainty and fear. If anyone can irradicate this uncertainty and fear no one would go to these mythological Gods for favours. Even the most profound rationalist can get driven to prostrate before the God depending on the magnitude of fear that tortures him under his skin.This psychological factor is a thing that a sociologist cannot ignore.
Failure in convincing his listeners was indicated in a telephone question placed before this erudite monk, during the course of his radio discourse on the first of January 1999. This listner has kept away from going to the Vishnu Devala at Kandevihara after listening to the preachings of Ven. Soma Thera. He said that a terrible fear was torturing him thinking that the God would take revenge for ignoring him. He sought the advice of this erudite monk to get rid of this fear. Had the learned monk been able to convince the listner that God is only a mythological concept and does not possess powers to grant favours or to inflict punishment, that fear would not have arisen in his mind. Case studies of psycho-analysis show that fears like this is the cause of acute neurotic ailments. If this listner becomes a neurotic patient as a result of this fear it will be a grievous sin on the part of the learned monk.
As a remedial measure, the Ve.n. Thera quoted the Pali scripture -" Thanhaya jayati soko - Thanhaya jayati bhayan " and advised him to take refuge in the Triple Gem. On the basis of ‘Thanhaya jayati bhayan’ one has to attain the Sotapanna stage to renounce thanha or craving. That is not probable in this birth. The purpose of taking refuge under the Triple Gem is to achieve this end, that is to follow the Buddha Dhamma under the guidance of the Sangha to find the Noble Eightfold Path. This is a long way, no one among the living people has gone as yet. So it cannot be a relevant remedy for his follower who is under the fear of God’s resentment.
Referring to the Vijaya episode during the same discourse, in a high tone of ridicule, he said that Vijaya was not an Aryan because he did not come under the definition of Arya as defined in the teachings of Buddha. Vijaya is called an Aryan because he was from the anthropological ethnic group of people called Aryans. Oxford Dictionary meaning given to the word Aryan is that an Aryan is a member of the people speaking any of the languages of Indo-European family. No one will accept that Rev. Soma Thera is not aware of this ethnic group of people. In the circumstances, his argument appears to be an argument just for the sake of argument harping on a word torn off from the relevant context. Truth should be logical, but everything that is logical is not truth. This type of argument would persuade people to treat his arguments as a bluff. If it so happens, it will defeat his noble intention.
Again, in an earlier occasion during a television discourse, a female listner who telephoned him with a problem was advised to approach the Sangha in case of such problems. She then posed a second question asking as to how one could approach the Sangha when there is rampant misdeeds on the part of the Sangha. Instances like this compel people to think that he goes with his eyes closed to reality. To reveal reality before him I like to refer him to an article written by Ven. Ellawala Medhananda in page 6 of the Divaina 26.02.1998 about the appalling state of the Sangha Community.
I give below the English version of para 2 of this letter for easy reference.
" ... Every Buddhist must be weeping with tears in his eyes when he sees some of the reports appearing in the daily press in respect of some monks. A monk has killed a woman after committing rape on her and thrown the dead body into a river. A girl student who came to a Pirivena has been stabbed to death by a monk. A monk has killed-a woman and carried the dead body on his shoulder. Number of monks were arrested for digging a Dagoba and stealing the valuables that had been treasured therein. A monk has raped a number of young girls in a childrens’ home. Some monks were arrested on their way back to the temple after looting a passenger bus. A novice monk who came to the Pirivena for studies was killed by ragging and his dead body was hanged to show that he had hanged himself. A monk was arrested for having homo-sexual relations with some boys. Some monks were taken under custody by the police for being found drunk and discharged after warning. Monks have defrauded people to the tune of over laks of rupees on the pretext of getting foreign employment. Some monks have threatened to set themselves on fire demanding that one Minister should not resign, when taking life is not in keeping with the teaching of the Buddha. Thousands of similar incidents not in keeping with Bhikku life have appeared in the press."
This degeneration of the Sangha Community is the reality one should react to. This proves the intellectual assertion that a moribund society creates its own morbid grave diggers. Before these grave diggers bury the timeless teaching of the Buddha, it will be very much appreciated if Ven.Soma Thera can divert his intellectual capacity and energy to start a revolt in the temple itself to purify the Sangha community in the name of Buddhism. In the absence of a Sangha Community worthy of its name, there would not be a Triple Gem for the Buddhist laymen to take refuge in.
In this respect I like to draw the attention of all concerned to the worthy article of Ven. Bhikku Bodhi that appeared in the Sunday Island, page 6 of 12.07.1998, under the title ‘Sangha at the crossroads.’ This article appears to be the result of a painstaking study of the problem, in the interest of Buddhism. There he speaks of three choices before the Buddhists in approaching this problem. It runs like this.
" .... As we stand at these crossroads, looking towards the future, three choices offer themselves to us. One is simply to resign ourselves to the decay of the Sasana, accepting it as a backward swing of the pendulum of history - sad but inevitable.’ Another is to wring our hands and complain. A third is to ask ourselves what we can do to stem the rising tide. If we adopt the third route, we might begin by noting that the Sasana does not exist like a Platonic form in an ideal realm of its own. It exists, rather, only as imbeded in the millions of people who call themselves Buddhists and look for refuge in the Triple Gem."
In this article, Ven. Bhikku Bodhi gives his analysis of the problem and his solutions thereto. When he has taken so much of pains to analyse the problem and place his suggestions before the people, it is a pitty that our Nayaka Theras of the three Nikayas or the Ministry of Buddha Sasana have not opened their eyes to this reality, leaving aside the other Buddhist leaders.
However, in addition to the suggestions given therein, any meaningful reforms should think of vesting all properties belonging to temples in a central body that should undertake the management of all assets including finances, looking after the needs and welfare of the Sangha at large. Ownership and handling of properties lead to attachment, whereas the main theme of the teachings of Buddha is detachment. This attachment can be thought of as the main cause that has contributed to the deterioration of the Sangha Community.
Was there gun licensing in Sri Lanka before the Portuguese?
by D. G. A Perera
(Life Member, Royal Asiatic Society, Sri Lanka)Readers may be excused for viewing this headline with some amusement. For, ask anybody even among the learned, and he, or she, will tell you that before the Portuguese came in 1505, guns were unknown in this country. That was what we learned in school (when history proper was a part of the school curriculum). The writer of this article was no exception, for he too: was subject to that common error. Even a well-known academic who has contributed to the History of Ceylon published by the University of Ceylon in 1960 said that he felt the same way, when he was questioned about this, recently.
Some scholars like H. W. Codrington and Professor Senarat Paranavitana may have known that gunpowder was used in warfare before the Portuguese came, here but they may not have had concrete evidence to prove it. Whatever opinion they may have expressed about the subject, has been largely ignored. Therefore, would not one be surprised when confronted with an ancient document issued under the royal seal of a monarch of Sri Lanka nearly seven hundred years ago, that he had exempted some people paying taxes due to the State for licensing their guns?
This ancient Copper Plate inscription had been in the possession of the Herath Gunaratne family for 696 years before it came to be handed over to the government archivist for safekeeping. It had been issued to their great, great, ancestor by the king for services of a special nature mentioned there. What is so remarkable about it is the statement that he and his descendants had been exempted from paying taxes due to the State (among other things) for gun licenses about 200 years before the arrival of the Portuguese!
King Parakrama Bahu IV (1302-1326) of Dambadeniya had made this grant of Nindagam and immunities, for special services rendered by two persons who were also conferred the titles of Sri Lanka Herath Hamy (Lord) of Yatikaha-bada-Delana and Kacca-Kaduve Patiraja Mudali, respectively. The document is dated "the 10th day of the waxing moon of the month of Binara, in the Saka year of 1224 (1302 AC). This king was also known as King Pandita Parakrama Bahu II. The fact that this unusual grant was made in the same year that he came to the throne may indicate that these services had helped him to reach that goal.
"The two persons (aforesaid) are (declared) exempt from taxes in respect of dairy produce, death duties, gun licenses, oxen and buffaloes and official duties," says the clause relevant to our purpose.
The state archivist has not expressed any doubt about the authenticity of this copper plate inscription. It is now in the safe custody of the Director of Archives Dr. K. D. G. Wimalaratne, to whom it has been handed over recently by Dr. C. D. Herath Gunaratne who states that he had taken it from the iron safe at Galmuruwa Walauwa where it had been always kept. (This is in the village of Galmuruwa near Madampe mentioned in this grant.) The Sinhala copy and English translation has been provided by no less a scholar than Professor Nandasena Mudiyanse who is well known for his numerous publications pertaining to the medieval history of Sri Lanka.
(This Dr. Herath Gunaratne is the brother of the late Dr. Victor Herath Gunaratne of W.H.O. fame. Few indeed would be the number of people anywhere in the world who could claim direct descent from a family that old, and with such great authenticity).
The term translated as "gun licenses" is "kayi tuvakku" in the original document. Codrington gives "tuwakku aya" as the old term for gun licenses. Hence there could be some reservation about the meaning of the term "Kayi" in reference to "tuwakku" here. But there can be no doubt that the name ‘tuvakku’ for guns was in use during the Dambadenlya period of history. In the context in which it occurs, ‘Kayi tuvakku’ can hardly mean anything other than some kind of levy on the use of guns.
Sorata Thera traces the Sinhala word ‘tuvakku’ to its Turkish counterpart ‘tupak’. Winslow traces the source of the Indian Tamil word ‘tuppakki’ to Hindi, while he also says that in Jaffna, the term used in Tamil is ‘tuvakku’ - essentially the same as the Sinhala term. This is understandable, for up to the middle of the 16th century the population of Jaffna consisted largely of Sinhala people.
Hence, the Sinhala adaptation of the name as ‘tuvakku,’ (by substituting ‘v’ for ‘p’ appears to be from Turkish ‘tupak’ passed direct to us by Arab traders and not through the Indians. This is not so difficult to imagine, for connections with the Middle East were there during this time. For instance, King Bhuvaneka Bahu I who ruled from Yapahuva had sent an embassy to Egypt before this. It is on record that the Sultan of Egypt received it in the year 1283. (History of Ceylon, University of Ceylon 1960, (P 631)
But they say that the appearance of one swallow does not make it summer in England. So, should we accept this single instance of the Sinhala word for ‘guns’ as proof of the existence of firearms two centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese? If it was a fact, then why did our historians not mention it in our school history books before this? The problem appears to be that our historians for the period after the arrival of the Portuguese have relied too much on western (Portuguese, Dutch and English) sources which at best, give only one side of the story.
The Sinhala panegyric known as the Dambadeni Asna, on Parakrama Bahu II (1236-1270), was not meant to be a true history in the modern sense. But it does mention the two foreign invasions known to have taken place during that reign. It also mentions nine different kinds of firepower used for defeating the second of these invasions. This refers to the first and abortive attempt made by the king of Tambalingamu (The Javaka, Chandrabhanu) to get a foothold here in 1247 AC. As enumerated in the Dambadeni Asna, the kinds of firepower used on this occasion were:
1. Dum (smoke) vedi
2. Saera [arrow] vedi
3. Muna vedi (a copyist’s error for Mura vedi?)
4. Yaturu (machine) vedi
5. Gal (rock) vedi
6. Gini [flare] vedi
7. Sabda (sound-effect) vedi
8. Vala (trailing) vedi
9. Maha (big) vedi
Scholars may argue that this cannot be accepted as a true statement of the variety of firepower (vedi) available to the Sinhala people so early as 1247 AC. But it does confirm that the use of gunpowder (first used in China in the 9th century), was known in this country by the middle of the 13th century. Local villagers soon learnt to make their own gunpowder. Sulphur was easily imported as it always had been for ayurvedic medicine. They had learnt to extract saltpetre from deposits of bat dung in ancient caves (e.g. Nitre Cave,) even before this. No finer charcoal for making gunpowder could be got from anywhere, than by burning the wood of the common Geduma tree (Trema orientale). The Arabs are credited with making the first guns early in the 14th century, about the same time, or just prior to our copper plate inscription.
The fact that gunpowder could be made locally at this time, also confirms the fact mentioned in our copper plate, that about the year 1302 AC some kind of gun (tuvakkuva) was used in Sri Lanka, though it certainly was not so advanced as the ‘matchlock’ of the Portuguese. The latter type of gun was invented in Europe only about the year 1425. According to what Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia has to say, even in Europe at this time:
"The first hand gun was a rough metal tube closed at one end and fastened to a stick. It was loaded through the open end, with crude gunpowder and shot made from bits of stone or metal. One man held the gun by the stick and while another applied a smoldering fuse, or match, to a touch hole near the back of the tube. The gunpowder in the tube exploded generating gases that propelled the shot out of the tube."
This device was perhaps useful for stalking and killing wild animals but hardy practicable in warfare until two major improvements were made in the 1400s. These were (a) a curved stock with a butt to be placed against the shoulder and (b) a hammer like device for moving the match to a pan of priming powder near the touch hole and the ignited powder flashed through the touch hole firing the gun, which was then called a "matchlock". The "firelock" in which the burning match was replaced by a toothed wheel which that spun against a piece of flint to create the spark that ignited the powder is said to have been invented (in Germany) only in 1515 ten years after the arrival of the Portuguese in this island.
So Coutos’ statement that "there was not a single firelock in the whole island..." at the time they came on the scene (in 1505), is correct, because the Portuguese themselves did not have any firelocks then. The Sinhala people had no need for such clumsy weapons as the earlier type of gun, as their long-range bows and arrows were just as effective in battle. In hand to hand combat their swordsmanship was found to be superior to that of the Portuguese, as the latter often came to realize to their own cost.
The Sinhala armies also had no need to use cannon, for unlike in Europe at this time, there were no castle walls to breach here. There were hardly any walled fortresses in Sri Lanka during the Dambadeniya Period (except in Polonnaruwa city). But it was a fact that the Sinhala people had the technology to outstrip the Portuguese in making better guns, and better cannon. This is confirmed by the following statement put on record by them (with emphasis added):
"... at that time, there was not a single firelock in the whole island; and after we entered it, with the continual use of the war that we made on them, they became so dexterous as they are today, and came to cast the best and handsomest artillery in the world, and to make the finest firelocks, and better than ours, of which there are in the island today more than twenty thousand." [History of Ceylon - Barros & Couto 1597 p. 72.]
If we remember that Portugal at this time had an Empire that was in extent greater than that of Rome at any time, it is difficult to understand why some historians tend to regard the following statement by these Portuguese historians as an exaggeration:
"Since it falls to us to enter upon the wars of Ceilao (i.e. Ceylon] which since we discovered that island has always been to the state of India another Carthage to Rome, because, little by little, it has gone on consuming, in expenses, men and artillery, so much, that it alone swallowed up with its wars more than all the other conquests of the East." [ibid. p. 62)
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