Buddhist sect head says Dutch monk's death a suicide; not verified by post-mortem

The death of a Dutch Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka has caused controversy as the head of the sect deceased the monk belonged issued a press statement highlighting the death was a suicide. The press statement was issued by Thirikunamale Ananda Maha Thero, the Prelate of Amarapura Sri Dharmarakshitha Sect. 

The Chief Prelate said that the death of the monk could be suicide and asked media not to highlight it as a homicide. The temple the monk stayed belong to the sect and the temple the Chief Prelate resides. 

However, the post-mortem was conducted on December 10th by Dr. Janaki Warshahennadi, the Judicial Medical Specialist of Karapitiya Teaching Hospital of Galle. The verdict did not verify the death was a suicide and directed police to investigate further.   

Three police teams of Sri Lanka are investigating the death of a Dutch national Buddhist monk who was meditating in a Theravada Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka. The death was initially suspected murder. 

The dead body of the Netherlands national Buddhist monk was found on December 08, 2020, from a lagoon in Rathgama in Galle district of Sri Lanka. 

The 59 years old Buddhist monk known as Ven. Jinawansa had dedicated life for meditation. He has been living in Katudampe Polgasduwa forest monastery in Rathgama in Galle district since 2011 under visa renewed yearly. The monk used a canoe to come to the village for begging alms. His empty wooden canoe was first found floating on the lagoon. 

The monk's body was found dumped in the lagoon tied to heavy rocks. Sri Lanka Police suspected the late priest might have been murdered elsewhere and drowned in the lagoon. Three police teams are investigating the incident. He was missing since December 05, 2020. 

Post updated on December 12, 2020

Sri Lanka government takes control of the construction of shrines with purposes of domination

A Buddhist temple in Kilinochchi

(June 25, 2010, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka government has decided to ban construction of religious places of worship around the country without permission. The reason cited by the government is that these shrines cause religious conflicts.

According to new regulations, if anyone needs to build a religious places of worship in certain place, the person has to submit an application recommended by the Divisional Secretary of the relevant area to the Secretary of the Ministry of Buddhist and Religious Affairs. The Secretary has powers to appoint a committee to study the application.

Building religious places of worship was not always an innocent task everywhere on this earth throughout the world history. Everywhere, religious devotion was mingled with the ethno-religious hegemonic needs and political dominance.

The same attribute was prevalent when the colonial rulers assisted building of Christian churches and in the post colonial Sri Lanka that government assisted setting up of Buddhist temples.

The process of setting up of religious places of worship was highly invasive in the post-war period. For instance, the way the victorious Army hurriedly set up Buddhist temples and erected unaesthetic statues of Lord Buddha at every nook and corner was an insult to the preacher of one of the world's most non-violent religions.

Similar dominating acts are wide spread in areas minority religious devotees dwell predominantly too.

Vicious non-religious aims of rousing anger of the ‘opponent’ religions are behind all these acts.

Some politicians expect a free and easy ride to power on the back of the blind devotees mobilized either for or against these acts of religious dominancy.

Certain scrupulous elements make use of these things for other personal gains. For example, a famous gossip regarding a major Buddha statue in Panadura town is that a businessman put up this statue to prevent his business places that were behind it being demolished in road construction.

Some more unscrupulous individuals use this madness to squat in prime lands in major cities and towns. That is why the government had to take the control of putting up religious places of worship.


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Sri Lankan village woman Kawamma the real miracle of Somawathi

(May 17, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Kawamma, a 79-year-old village woman and a mother of three from Wariyapola in Sri Lanka’s Northwestern Province, is the real miracle of Somawathi, a Buddhist temple in the Eastern Province. However, she is an ordinary village woman apparently uneducated.

More than 800,000 devotees flocked in this forest-locked temple to see the body rays of Lord Buddha from the dagaba in the temple on May 09th. Torrential rains and heavy traffic jam caused a stampede in which at least three persons were dead. Over 25 persons were hospitalized and some were missing for days.

Kawamma lost contact with her group of devotees and finally lost in the jungle and survived there for eight days until two Muslim fishermen that were fishing in Mahaweli River at Sungawila found her.

She had bruises in her body but she was healthy, Police said. Police admitted her in the hospital. She said to media that she did not eat anything but drank water from puddles and roamed chanting Buddhist ‘Gatha’.
The woman told the police she survived in jungle without any food for eight days drinking only water. She is a resident of the address Netiya, Malagane, Nuwarakanda, Wariyapola in the Kurunegala district.

Weddings in Buddhist temples and Christianization of Buddhism

New couple under a bo tree

(May 12, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Piyumi Boteju is a beautiful actress of Sri Lanka. She took the hands of a young man recently and she made a topic for us not because of her wedding but because of the venue it was held.

The wedding took place in Gangaramaya, a famous Buddhist temple in Colombo. Buddhism deals mostly with the spiritual side of the life and the Buddhist temple normally is not a place where weddings take place.

But in recent times, some young Buddhist couples tend to register their weddings in temples and some of them lobby for Buddhist monks vested in legal powers to register marriages, a power that the Christian priests possess.

This is the Vesak month the Buddhists commemorate the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Lord Buddha. It is interesting to see that the Buddhists send Vesak cards as same as Christians, make Sal Uyana, an equivalent of a Christmas decoration and sing Vesak 'carols'. The day following the Vesak full moon day is a holiday in Sri Lanka and many Buddhists feast on that day like Christians do on Christmas.

This 'Christianization' of Buddhism began in late 19th century under the patronage of Henry Steel Olcott of Buddhist Theosophical Society. One can study the ancient Sinhala literature to see how different the way the Buddhists followed religion before this cultural reform.

Weddings in temples are a culmination of this 'Christianization of Buddhism' movement.

Apart from the shifts in the traditional sects, some Buddhist monks have even imitated the evangelist Christian sects when they created a new kind of religious centers called Asapu in Sri Lanka.

Inter religious cultural transfer is common and Sri Lanka's Christianity too is immensely influenced by Buddhism.

But the problem here is that the Buddhist leaders blatantly imitate Christian values while criticizing West and sowing hatred against the minority religions in the country.

Original Buddhism is far different from what is now worshiped by most 'Buddhists' in Sri Lanka. During Vesak, it is good if Buddhists can focus to rediscover Buddha, leaving behind this hubbub of religio-business and chauvinist ethno-religious projects that go in the name of Buddhism in contemporary Sri Lankan society.