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When we are celebrating the Poson festival with great pomp and
pageantry and insist on the preservation of the Buddhasasana, we tend to
overlook a very important aspect of it the order of the Buddhist nuns.
Caught as we are in the whirlpool of religious activities to ensure
that Buddhism is retained in its pristine form, may I venture to say
that the order of Buddhist nuns is relegated to the background and if at
all any interest is shown in it, it is just passive and is of no
consequence.
It is a lamentable fact that values and norms held in high esteem in
our country are now declining in the face of the onslaught of very
corruptive influence exerted upon the young minds, specially those of
the girls.
The most detestable and undeniably harmful aspects of the Western
culture are dished out to our young girls as they are very gullible in
nature, through the media, and specially through advertisements which
outrage the modesty of the young they are shown them in the light of a
commercial commodity.
Fashions which are seductive are highlighted giving the impression to
the youth that it is the order of the day and that we should toe that
line to come within the charmed circle.
There are reasons to believe that certain organisations are
manoeuvering such campaigns to ween our youth specially our girls, from
the great values that we have been heirs to and gradually get these
young elements to lose their moorings and lose direction.
This rot has set in so much so that even places of worship have now
been converted into romantic places where the misguided youth behave in
a very uncouth manner desecrating the sanctity of the place.
It is in this scenario that the Buddhist nuns, who have a sway upon
our girls could arrest the rot by exerting their influence upon them and
bring them back to the right track.
These Buddhist nuns could play that role to perfection only if they
are called upon to do so, for this purpose well-meaning and enterprising
Buddhist organisations must take the initiative, stabilise the order of
Buddhist nuns, give it direction and the objectives to save our girls
misled by the obscure powers that be and avert a natural disaster.
In this regard the order of Buddhist nuns should be reorganised and
re-energised to play the role of redeemers of our youth specially the
girls. During this Poson season, this could very well be a thought to
ponder over and necessary measures taken in that regard.
T. H. MENIK KANTHI
----
It is very heartening to read this article which gives in detail the
heroic deeds of our Security Forces (Reference DN June 29). While we
regret the loss of many brave soldiers, the Nation will forever remain
indebted to these men who risk their lives and others who have made the
supreme sacrifice for the cause of the motherland.
May the triple gem guide you and protect you dear soldiers.
May those who gave their lives in the liberation of the land held by
the terrorists attain Nibbana, for this land they have given their lives
to protect has been five times blessed by the Buddha, and his teachings
remain here, and in protecting the land you have also protected the
teachings of the Buddha, which is the symbol of the Living Buddha.
CHARLES PERERA
-----
Thanks to my friend T. D. S. A. Dissanayake's appreciation on the
late Prof. V. K. Samaranayake that I learnt that the late Professor had
declined the prestigious Government scholarship on the grounds that he
was challenging the 1961 Government's introduction of the clause -
"obtain a single pass in Sinhala at the GCE (O/L) exam".
We of the minorities in Mother Lanka salute the fragrant memory of
the late Professor.
This refusal to accept the 1961 award reminds me of another person.
Thanks to the source of all life he is still with us! He is Professor J.
A. Gunawardena, formerly of the Engineering Faculty of Peradeniya.
From the time I entered Peradeniya in 1960, the late Dr. Ram Florence
Aluvihare used to tell me that this Peradeniya Don also had refused to
accept a scholarship on the grounds that the beneficiary should be Dr.
Sivaprakasapillai (Jnr).
We of the minorities in Sri Lanka shall always remember with
gratitude these men of integrity. They being of the majority community
challenged politics which has sadly ruined this land of ours.
May we in Sri Lanka have more of these to dismantle the edifice built
by party politics based on majoritarianism.
Sydney Knight
---
I read the article about establishing labs to develop Nano technology
(Reference DN June 28. Who are going to be working in those labs? Do we
have the subject taught in our universities? We cannot achieve any
growth by restricting education for our people.
We have a huge international market for technology jobs. It is high
time to train as many people as possible. They can either stay in the
country and work or be employed as high skilled workers elsewhere.
RUWAN KOTUWELLA
----
The article on the above by 'Ven. Dr. Walpola Piyananda, Chief Sanga
Nayaka of the United States of America and President of Sri Lanka Sangha
Council of the US and Canada - to give his full title - (Daily News 27,
p. 25) about how he solved the embarrassment of the Vietnamese monk
having left-over food in the refrigerator is interesting. But the
venerable doctor-monk has missed the wood for the trees!
The Buddha declared a Vinaya offence for monks to store food. I
suppose the rule does not apply to 'American Buddhism'.
KINGSLEY HEENDENIYA,
Nugegoda
----
As a regular Monday morning traveller via the Kandy-Colombo intercity
express train, I wish to bring to the notice of the Railway Authorities
of the issuance of duplicate tickets.
Incidents of this nature have been on the increase ever since the
computerised ticketing procedure was stopped. Commuters get embroiled in
heated arguments over bookings, which in turn makes all others' lives
miserable. It causes severe embarrassment to women as well. When a
complaint is made, the guards on duty take them down earnestly, only to
find that the mistakes are repeated week after week.
Is there something going on behind the counters? Let's clean up the
SLR.
ANAS,
Katugastota
----
You have apologised to the Sri Lankan citizens for having a hand in
electing Mahinda Rajapaksa as President. Rather than apologise, you
should demand gratitude for having done so.
Just think - here was Sri Lanka and its inhabitants being literally
destroyed by the world's worst bunch of terrorists.
Every so-called 'leader' before Rajapaksa bent over backwards to
accommodate every wish of the Sun God Prabhakaran and his grisly band of
slaughterers.
It is only Rajapaksa who is doing what has to be done - cleansing the
Motherland of the evil stalking it from time immemorial - what had been
the primary task of the Sinhala Kings.
It is amusing that all this brouhaha with your accomplice, Sripathi
taking oaths before the Horagolla Samadhi etc. would not have happened,
if only the President had agreed to give back your portfolios. Your
condemnation that the Presidential election was won by bribing
Prabhakaran hardly matters.
Firstly, the arch terrorist world never have exposed just how few
Tamils there are to start his Eelam.
And second, if there was a 'fund' to bribe Prabhakaran we assure you
we would all have contributed towards it anything at all, to stop the
motherland from falling into the treacherous clutches of the Sinhala
Kotiyas, Kalu Suddhas, Don Juan Dharmapalas, the international community
waiting with its tongue hanging out and all other traitors, waiting to
destroy our nation.
We hail Mahinda Rajapaksa as the saviour of the nation.
Neil Weerawardane,
Colombo 4
----
All parents in Sri Lanka desire their children to become fluent in
English knowing that this will open up for them the vast ocean of human
knowledge and improve their quality of life by education and employment.
English must be made an official language - as it is so even now, in
practice. The present 'English teachers' must have their knowledge
upgraded, better textbooks provided and special incentives given for
results achievement. This will improve the nation as a whole. We owe
this to our future generations.
P. NATHAN |
