I was impressed by the young monk's description of Buddhism as more a philosophy than a religion. Even as a non-believer in God, if not especially as a non-believer in God, this characterization of Buddhism appealed to me.Alas, there was in reality a Buddhism in Sri Lanka, as I would discover, that was in fact an amalgamation of Hindu-Buddhist superstition and other cultural practices peculiar to Sri Lanka. What a disappointment!
This was part of my story until 8 years ago, when I left Sri Lanka for the UAE (preceding post).
Unlike in the UAE, the religious powers that be in Sri Lanka were not in the least bit coercive. Although Buddhism was unofficially the religion of the state, there were no punishments to be feared under Buddhist teaching. Such a level of liberalism might not be found in an Islamic Sharia state.
What everyone could enjoy in Buddhism as practiced in Sri Lanka were the wonderful elephant pageants, dances and drum festivals associated with it, known as perahera.
While suffering under the burden of separatism inspired terrorism, the associated military conflict and a poor economy, there were extensive personal liberties afforded in Sri Lanka, reflective of both a Buddhist and, similar to India, secular political tradition.
Sri Lanka was in fact fertile ground for that less than virtuous off-shoot of atheism otherwise known as Marxism. The Marxists, as I'm sure many would agree, simply replaced one form of tyrannical devotion with another, hardly an ideal manifestation of atheist expression.
Dalada Maligawa temple, home to Buddhism's tooth relic.
The two and a half years I spent in Sri Lanka were rather carefree from the perspective of being a non-believer. In homage to the culture, I attended temple or church or other religious functions as occasion might have required. Even Muslims in Sri Lanka were a comfortable lot to intermingle with. Religion and the religious in Sri Lanka seemed largely without hangups.
By this time, it had already been several years since I had thrown off the yoke of religion, and that ironically enabled me to appreciate the cultural richness supplied through a variety of religious traditions.
The preceding part of my story continues in Japan.
4 comments:
Dear Atheist, Thanks for sharing your religious journey. Being a monk and having lived in Sri Lanka I can well understand why Buddhism only had little appeal to you. But please consider that Sri Lanka is not Buddhism (despite what many Sinhalese seem to think) and Buddhism is not Sri Lanka. Have a look at 'non-cultural Buddhism at my www.buddhismatoz.com
Thank you for sharing that. I'll have a look at your website--Buddhismatoz.com. I suppose being not from Sri Lanka you were able to observe this. I wonder, do you think the young monks growing up in Sri Lanka have this understanding as well, or do they normally perceive the Buddhism learnt and practiced by them to be genuine? If so, did you engage with other monks there on this topic while you were there?
Your opening line "Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country" is wrong, although many Sri Lankans believe so. According to the constitution of Sri Lanka the Goventment gives the "foremost place" to Buddhism, that or the majority being Buddhist followers doesn’t make Sri Lanka a Buddhist country. Because the constitution does not recognize Buddhism as the state religion we cannot say it’s a Buddhist country.
The Buddhism that is currently in Sri Lanka is more of a Protestant Buddhism. This was initially started by the Anti-British people who were led by Anagarika Dharmapala and Henry Steel Olcott, etc... and now most recently the "Extremist Sinhala-Buddhist Nationalism" was inspired by Buddhist Political Parties and the people who identify themselves as intellectual such as Nalin De Silva.
Of course, the core content is the Original teachings of Buddhism; but the practices are NOT. Most of the Sri Lankan Buddhists are merely blind followers.
The recent trend of Anti-Western Extremist Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism is growing is like wildfire in the country because it’s backed by the politics.
Well, my opening line about Sri Lanka being a Buddhist country was a very loose generalization, not really meant as a defining statement. Your point is well taken. Any country, even one which has a clearly mandated state religion can still be characterized by many other things.
I am glad that you have referred to some historical events and names of people that I can research to get a better understanding of the religious and political environment in Sri Lanka today.
I do feel regret that many in Sri Lanka are using religious rhetoric to justify political positions and activities. One of the beauties of Sri Lanka is its cultural and religious diversity. That is the kind of Sri Lanka I will always root for.
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