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Buddha on the medium of instruction

by A.G.S.Kariyawasam

The sensitive and the controversial subject of reverting to the English medium of instruction in the Sri Lankan education system has been hitting the Press headlines for some time now. The authorities have decided to bring back English as the medium of instruction in stages.

The reason adduced for this vital change is the low standard of English obtained in the country's educational set-up when this language has became a 'must' for purposes of global communication and furtherance of modern knowledge. Most of the good jobs in the job-market are being grabbed by those who have acquired proficiency in English through foreign or international school education. Therefore the politicians and the relevant officials are painstakingly preparing the infrastructure to enthrone once again English in this position from which it was dethroned nearly half-a-century ago!

In taking this vital decision our "authorities", as usual, seem to have forgotten or overlooked the bigger implications of this move as they are generally worried about only the immediate problem of the low standard of English and the consequent demand for better English. But, let it be known that behind this move there hangs an extremely sad tale as far as the all important problem of building the Sri Lankan nation on a sound footing with a genuine and a dignified national identity is concerned.

This revolves round the extremely vital question of the fate of two national languages of the country, Sinhala and Tamil, in relation to the nation-building struggle. To this question of vital importance the authorities have turned a blind eye, either ignorantly or connivingly.

The British colonialists invariably bore an imposing attitude towards the "infidel natives" of all the countries they brought under their control. The intentionally executed a campaign of enfeebling the national vitality of those countries mainly by replacing their national languages with English as the medium of instruction and of administration. As colonialists this was how they performed the "cultural invasion" into the conquered.

Through this scheme Sri Lankan society became bifurcated into two main groups as "the privileged" and "the unprivileged", based on those with English and those without English respectively. By the time Sri Lanka got back her political independence from the British in 1948, this process of denationalisation had been continuing and establishing itself more or less as a tenet for nearly one-and-a-half centuries.

The dark and the sad aspect of this process in relation to the country's national identity was the alienation of this English-educated privileged class from the country's national ethos as they developed an attitude of contempt towards their own brethren who were denied privilege of becoming Anglicised and remained 'native'.

Thus the former became foreigners in their own motherland. With the highly hopeful national revival in 1956 every genuine Sri Lankan looked with expectation and desire that things would fall into place and the nation-building process would proceed steadily towards the desired goal of a peaceful and coherent nationhood based on our rich heritage. Yet, quite frustratingly, the journey towards this ideal has been heavily hindered upto-date, mainly due to our own lethargy and the opportunistic policies of our political leaders.

With this explanatory preamble to the chosen topic of discussion let me quote the Buddha's views on this important subject of the medium of learning and teaching. He has made a very clear statement in this regard to the effect that each person should master his Teaching in his or her own mother tongue.

He has vehemently opposed confining his Teaching to a single language with rigid rules which cannot be changed. As recorded in a passage in the Cullavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka (vol. ii, p. 139, p75) two monks once complained to the Buddha that people of different nationalities from different localities were corrupting (dusenti) the Buddha word by learning it in their own mother tongue and requested the Buddha's permission to render the Buddha-word into metrical form with rigid rules (as in Vedic Sanskrit) so that no one can effect changes in it.

The Buddha at once strongly opposed the suggestion with the following reprobation: "You stupid fellow, how dare you make such a foolish suggestion? Such a move will never bring any good to any person or party. I vehemently oppose the idea and if anyone were to disobey me he will be guilty of a punishable offence. With these the Buddha has expressed his view on the best medium for a person's core learning.

It is firstly so because the additional strain of mastering a new language at a tender age does not stand on the way of the child's genetically inherited powers of comprehension. More important, it is through the mother tongue that a person's originality and creativity find room to blossom forth in their maximum expression of efflorescence.

All world-class writers and poets have produced their masterpieces in their mother tongue as in the case of Geetaanjalie of Tagore in bengali, Shakuntala and Meghaduta of Kalidasa in Sanskrit, Anna Keranina and War and Peace of Tolstoy in Russian, all the plays of Shakespeare in English, our own Kavsilumina and Guttilaya in Sinhala etc. No nation can preserve and improve on its inherited talents and create a strong and vibrant self-identity unless its people master their mother tongue and express themselves through it their varied talents.

Our leaders should have followed at least India in tackling this problem, because the Indians have acted with foresight and have avoided the messy situation we have created for ourselves. While making Hindi the official language of the Union as a whole, they made the provincial languages of the states their official languages, thereby creating fifteen official languages in the country.

Their next intelligent step was not overthrowing English altogether by making constitutional provision through the Official Language Act of 1963 to retain English also in addition to Hindi for official purposes of the Union, including the transaction of parliamentary business. Through these far-sighted measures they have avoided the Sri Lankan type of national problems in this field.

In contrast to all this we have been short-sighted enough to overthrow English altogether without realising its significance as a world language. While making the mother-tongue the medium of instruction as vital necessity, measures should have been taken not to allow the study of English to suffer thereby. We have thrown the baby with the bath-water and created a panic situation which we are going to meet by going back to the English medium once again. This is a case of falling from frying pan into the fire as was succinctly shown so far in this article.

The immediate need of the hour is to turn out a good set of teachers of English countrywide at least to approach the quality of the galaxy of teachers we had till the sixties as the Secondary Trained Teachers that came out from the Maharagama Training College. A difficult-task but the need is such that it has to be done.

The so-called present day English teachers, the majority of them, are nowhere near even a moderately good English teacher. Let the place of the mother-tongue remain but the quality of its education also be improved. Improve English as the 'link language' or whatever you may call it. We cannot and should not allow its quality to go down.

Malaysia's rising influence in the Buddhist World

by Senaka Weeraratna

The Global Conference on Buddhism 2002 held in the Malaysian city of Shah Alam late last year was indeed an eye-opener. Attended by almost 1,000 participants, it was South East Asia's largest Buddhist gathering for the year. Further, the list of speakers invited to the gathering read like an international who's who list: David Loy, Mettanando Bhikkhu, Geshe Tsering, Ajahn Brahmavamso, Elizabeth Sherwood, Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda were among some of the big names that graced the event.

A day right after the conference i.e. December 9, 2002, the same venue witnessed another major gathering. This time, the Malaysians hosted the 22nd World Fellowship of Buddhist (WFB) and the 13th World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth (WFBY) General Conferences. Any organiser would have been hard-pressed to hold one international meeting at any time, but the way the Malaysians managed two major assemblies back to back was indeed a feat by itself.

One interesting observation was the sheer diversity of the people who came to grace the events. Although a majority of Malaysian Buddhists are of Chinese descent, the head of the country's Maha Sangha is a Sinhalese, that is the well known Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Nayake Thera, who enjoys a folk hero status among Buddhists in South East Asia for having pioneered the revival of Buddhism in Malaysia, and for Dhammaduta work in regional countries.

The guest of honour who officiated at the opening ceremony of the WFB and WBFY general conference was none other than the Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed himself, who is a Muslim. And while there was a keynote address given in Chinese by the Ven. Ching Yao (from Taiwan), all the proceedings and exchanges were done in English.

This is all the more remarkable when one takes into consideration that Buddhism is not the main religion of the country, where Muslims make up about 55% of the population. Stepping outside the Grand Blue Wave Hotel which hosted the two conferences, one could see the imposing state mosque, with its four minarets rising high into the sky. Surrounding this venerated mosque is a clean, developed, modern and well laid out administration of Shah Alam, the capital city of the state of Selangor. As we were taken on tour of the city and its vicinities, it became clear to the overseas visitors, that the Buddhist face of Malaysia was very much a reflection of its multicultural, multiracial and multi religious mosaic.

Its Buddhist populace is drawn from a number of Buddhist traditions. The Dhamma skyways and highways are stoked with all the major mainstream schools offered by the rich tradition of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajirayana - all practising and cultivating peacefully side by side. These schools and their adherents are served by monks and lamas who come from their respective home countries.

The Theravada tradition is served by Myanmar monks leading certain viharas, while Thai or Sinhalese speaking monks can be found manning the other respective temples. Malaysian Chinese Buddhists who have a historical Mahayanist base now increasingly patronise these Theravada Temples.

This illustrates the high level of open mindedness of the Malaysian Buddhists in accepting new approaches for local adaptation.

When one adds up the different traditions and schools and languages used by all these diverse groups, coupled with the fact that they have to exist side by side with adherents of other religions such as Sikkhism, Hinduism, Bahaism, Christianity and Islam, one begins to appreciate the spirit of accommodation of the Malaysians who are able to sit together under one roof and keep the peace at the same time.

Perhaps their greatest advantage is the fact that because of the diversity, Malaysians have no choice but to accept and respect their differences. This was clearly demonstrated in the way food was served for the delegates at the two conferences. BNN

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