Business of Public Administration v Public Service

Many western countries have gone down to the lower level and produced more benefits than is needed for their life as a self-sufficient units. Many eastern countries – including Sri Lanka, become co-consumers of those benefits and therefore dilute their independent status .One who is able to manage with the benefits s/he has – filling the gap with higher satisfaction that comes with sharing – is always an Independent person. The mere presence of such a person in Public Service would contribute to Public Administration transforming towards Public Service.

l by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(31 July, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘The Myth of a Independent Public Service’ by Mr.Tissa Devendra

Mr. Devendra says‘My firm conviction is that there never was, and never can there ever be, an independent public service in Sri Lanka.’

If there was one independent member in a family – there certainly is a firm foundation for that family to become a self-sufficient family. Even if there was one Independent family in Sri Lanka, then there certainly is a firm foundation for an Independent Public Service in Sri Lanka. I believe my family is such a family and hence any nation that my family is part of would strengthen its foundation of Independence through my family.

Mr. Devandrasays ‘it is quite clear that my colleagues and I served the government and not the public – who, at best, could be described as collateral beneficiaries of our actions.’

I must add that the Public are beneficiaries as well as victims of the actions of Public Officers.

To my mind, Public Service is made up of (1) Common Principles (2) Due Processes that flow from such principles and (3) Common Values that confirm the practices of those Common Principles and Due Processes. At the level of the Individual they are respectively, the Body, Mind and Soul. At family level –they are the (1) Oldest member we consciously follow (2) Relationships (3) Youngest member who fills our hearts with joy.

Sri Lankan Public Service, like the Australian Public Service has many ‘unpracticed’ theories / principles. Hence it would seem that it could never be ‘independent’. If we stay within our True contribution, we would identify with that independence. Like with families, there are parts of Public Service that are autonomous. Each part that is self-sufficient has earned its ‘sovereign’ status. It is important to identify them separately – as devolved units. If the Government is not able or willing to do this, then the Public must do so bottom-up. In democracy, the Public have Equal Responsibility as the Government to work towards this independence and self-governance to register the true value of their work if such is beyond the limits of actual Public Administration. The Government has the Responsibility to not interfere with such independent units – the same way the UN does not have the right to interfere with sovereign parts of a country.

I myself had to make the decision to take such bottom-up action in relation to our donation to the People of Thunaivi in Vaddukoddai in Northern Sri Lanka, where the first declaration of Independent Tamil Eelam was made. I am now making similar claim by revoking the donation on the basis of ingratitude by the recipients ( Government Officers who physically control the property). No the conflict is not between Sinhalese and Tamil civilians but between Tamil Government Officers and Tamil civilians.I realized through direct experience, that these officers do not have the wisdom to ‘develop’ new paths of Governance acceptable to all – from locals driven largely by religious faith to global citizens looking for confirmations/outcomes that could be rationally understood.

This was also the case during Colonial period as confirmed by Mr. Devendra. During Colonial times, we were seen through the Colonizers. Now we are being seen directly and / or through our more powerful allies – such as India and China. To claim sovereign status we need to show ourselves through self-sufficient parts of Public Service and not through parts that are dependent on others – such as the armed forces that needed help from governments of other countries..

My solution to the above mentioned donation-related problem is to do the work myself to facilitate the people to become economically independent – my own achievement due to migration to Australia. This is an outcome that the wider world would identify with more easily than through reconciliation between ethnic groups. That reconciliation needs to be part of our Due Processes- the outcomes of which should not be ‘shown’ to wider world. The more benefits we sacrifice the higher we grow as a community. Benefits need to be first earned and/or inherited before they could be sacrificed for the higher purpose. At the moment Sri Lankans at the top end of Public Administration (NOT SERVICE) are busy collecting more and more benefits – including popularity votes – and hence are not contributing to self-governing opportunities.

Families as well as Countries, are Equal so long as they are self-sufficient and therefore are independent of others. The moment we think of benefits and opportunities from another structure, we start losing our own independence. All relationships are paths necessary for intellectual relativity. They are temporary due to being paths. The success of any relationship is Oneness. Under the vertical hierarchical system, the person in the higher position often ‘includes’ the person in the lower position. They together manifest only ONE outcome. Public Administration in Sri Lanka’s North continues to follow this system. I was informed repeatedly that the approval of the Divisional Secretary (who was very expensive in time, to access) was needed for me to remove my property from an enclosed public area. Those parts of Government, receiving monies from the international community need to actively practice democratic systems if they not to become welfare recipients.

In family as well as Public Administration, the higher positions were traditionally held by men. Those men who invested in that system, often seem to have difficulty adjusting to Equal partnerships. Similarly, women who seek Equal status tend to ‘show’ that equality through educational certificates etc. rather than BEING that Equal other half. Likewis, migrants. In the system of Equal Opportunity partnerships- agreement leads to Peace and disagreement leads to attraction and production of wealth and status through active life. This is needed by Sri Lanka.

At benefit level, if we suppress one desire – for example the desire for political status, it would manifest in another form – for example as administrative status. We may for example, stop eating meat but may start eating more sweets if we gave up meat for ‘external’ reasons – such as popularity. Man has the ability to discriminate and attribute rights and wrongs by delaying and /or sharing benefits. One who gives up benefits for the higher purpose – for example to take up the higher position and responsibility for others through that position, would not keep changing the ‘form’ of benefit. Today’s Benefits shared with others become the foundation of tomorrow’s Opportunities. When we share genuinely and without duress/external influence, the returns happen for certain and we would identify with them, if we were genuine when sharing.

When one shares from the higher level, the other person needs to be at the same height to receive the energy or needs to surrender her/his investment in that issue to the higher investor – so that the lower investor does not produce her/his own outcomes. The latter is the vertical system of autocracy and the former is the lateral system of democracy. If one comes down to the level of the lower investor and still gives ‘form’ to the outcome as per the higher investor – the downward step is temporary. If one gives form to the lower investor’s work (as happened to the Sri Lankan Community due to JVP followed by LTTE ) – then the whole relationship slides down to the benefits level and therefore is slower in realizing self-sufficiency. Many western countries have gone down to the lower level and produced more benefits than is needed for their life as a self-sufficient units. Many eastern countries – including Sri Lanka, become co-consumers of those benefits and therefore dilute their independent status .One who is able to manage with the benefits s/he has – filling the gap with higher satisfaction that comes with sharing – is always an Independent person. The mere presence of such a person in Public Service would contribute to Public Administration transforming towards Public Service.

Public Administration as well as Public Service are there for us to help us manage our own local units – where we are the bosses. The rest is not our business.




GL, LALITH BRIEF AMBASSADORS ON LLRC IMPLEMENTATION

| A statement issued by Ministry of External Affairs, Colombo

( July 31, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Minister of External Affairs Professor G.L. Peiris and Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President, met with the diplomatic community at the auditorium of the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday. A comprehensive briefing took place on the work under way regarding implementation of the recommendations contained in the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, with emphasis on the results already achieved and the planned trajectory for co-ordination and implementation in the future. The detailed matrix, including priorities, the institutions entrusted with responsibility, key performance indicators and time frames, was explained to the diplomatic community.

Prof. Peiris said that the Cabinet of Ministers, two months ago, had approved of the establishment of a mechanism under the Presidential Secretariat, headed by the Secretary to the President, to be in overall charge of implementation of the LLRC Report. The matrix prepared by this Committee was presented to the Cabinet by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and was endorsed by the Cabinet, Minister Peiris said.

He added that full information in this regard was made available to local and international media at the briefing held by Minister Peiris and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga at the Ministry of External Affairs last week. It was considered appropriate to have an interactive session with the diplomatic community, he said.

Mr. Lalith Weeratunga explained in detail the approach which his Committee adopted to the work they had undertaken. He said that the recommendations, capable of short term implementation, had already been given effect, while work had begun in a structured manner with regard to the longer term proposals.

Both Prof. Peiris and Mr. Weeratunga emphasized the importance of acknowledging the substantial results already achieved on the ground within a far shorter time span than had been necessary in post conflict situations in other parts of the world. This is of particular relevance in the context of the significance consistently accorded by international law and practice to domestic remedies and procedures, they declared.

Their presentations to the Ambassadors and High Commissioners were followed by an extensive discussion.


Buddhism in the West


l by Kishore Sherchand

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. ~Albert Einstein

(31 July, 2012, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) Many in Nepal, my country of birth, have basic understanding of Buddhism. I came to the US in 1979 and then again in 2006. I have tried to study how Buddhism is practiced in the US. I found people practicing Buddhism with great enthusiasm as compared to my fellow Nepalese back home. I have been more than a little disappointed with this observation in the past. Also, I put some sort of uncomfortable questions when we don’t dare to adore some of Buddha’s teachings. The major reason for this subdued approach toward Buddhism has been the action of erstwhile rulers of Nepal, who tried to effectively banish Buddhism by expelling everyone who practiced Buddhism; and who threatened Buddhist monks and nuns with the choice of disrobing or leave the country.


Buddha’s ideas were based on his observation of human behavior starting with his experience when he ventured outside his palace and saw an old man, a sick man, and a dead man. Buddha taught that any human being can attain Buddhahood provided he or she follows the Eightfold Paths which are included in the Four Noble Truths. His teachings of the Four Noble Truths which included the Eight Fold Path are:

1. There is suffering in the world.
2. Suffering occurs because of too great an attachment to one's desires.
3. By eliminating the cause-attachment-you can eliminate suffering.
4. There is a method to eliminating the cause, called the Eightfold Path, a guide to "right" behavior and thoughts. The Eightfold Path is a moral compass leading to a life of wisdom (right views, right intent), virtue (right speech, conduct, livelihood), and mental discipline (effort, mindfulness, concentration).

When I landed in the United States, my wish was to find a place where my family and I could go for pray and meditate. My wife Shova met a Tibetan friend who suggested that we visit Tse Chen Ling Buddhist Center near San Francisco Downtown. For the first time in the US we saw a Buddhist center run by American monks and nuns. Tibetan Lama Gheshe Knawang Dakpa was the main teacher at the centre at that time. The center is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation on Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) and the center’s students often visit Nepal. For almost one and half years we attended his great teaching every Sunday. We also performed Puja including the one to commemorate the death anniversary of my sister’s and her husband who were victims of a cold blooded killing at Sauru Mustang.

Later we started visiting Shambhala Buddhist Centre in Sunset district that was closer to our house. Shambhala offers open house meditation session every Sunday followed by teaching. We found mostly Americans attending the sessions. Unlike Tse Chen Ling Buddhist Centre where monks and nuns lead the teachings, there were regular folks teaching. Shambhala way of teaching, meditating and studying philosophy is to purify one’s mind and body. The practices were a combination of sitting and walking meditation which was a new thing for me.

In Nepal, we practice by sitting in lotus and by prostrating before a Buddha’s statue. In the US we saw that you could sit on the floor or a chair or walk or lie down to according your convenience. I liked the fact it was possible to adjust the physical posture according one’s level of comfort.

Later once I moved to Sacramento I had to find a place where I could do what I did in San Francisco. I met on my own a Thai Buddhist Temple Wat Sacramento Buddhavanaram and planned to visit. Mostly Sunday was when most of Thai followers used to gather and pray mostly on special occasions. The temple was run by 5 Thai monks. Since, most prayers and worships are performed in the Thai language, so it was not so understandable. Our visits were more of a ritual prayer than meditation. I also started visiting another Buddhist Center named Lion’s Roar Buddhist Center in Sacramento. The centre is directed by Native born Lama Yeshe Jinpa, Director and Resident Teacher and a Mongolian Lama Venerable Damchaabazar Gurjav, Associate Teacher. The Center offers variety of programs but my visits were mostly confined to occasional meditation and attending lectures by invited Lamas known in the US. I also came to know another Buddhist Center by the name “One Bodhi Tree”. My first visit was to see a documentary on Dalai Lama’s Renaissance, which was really appreciable. The Center’s teaching is run by Mr. Ravi Verma, a computer scientist, a Buddhist Practitioner and a Teacher. In one meeting, he taught “Tongle” (taking and giving) meditation and led meditation in the memory of recent tragedy in Japan. My visit also experienced a 2600th Centennial Celebration of Buddhism at Sacramento organized by a group of Buddhist communities of Sacramento and Bay area. The celebration gave me a profound opportunity of knowing how this religion is adored by the American people. Till now I was also highly fortunate enough to visit the exhibition on Relics of Buddha and Buddhist Masters in Sacramento organized by The Maitreya Project touring 50 different countries and several states of USA.

Buddhism in the US

According to several studies, Buddhism was almost unknown to USA 150 years ago. Large scale Chinese immigrants in 1850s and Japanese in late 1880s began to arrive, and from Korea around 1903. Immigration was at first primarily to Hawaii. Populations from other Asian Buddhist countries followed, and in each case, the new communities established Buddhist temples and organizations. For instance, the first Japanese temple in Hawaii was built in 1896 near Paauhau by the Honpa Hongwanji branch of Jodo Shinshu. The first Japanese Buddhist temple in the continental U.S. was built in San Francisco in 1899. The first Buddhist clergy to take up residence in the continental U.S. were Shuye Sonoda and Kakuryo Nishimjima, missionaries from Japan who arrived in 1899.

The first Theravada monastic community established in the United States was the Washington Buddhist Vihara in Washington in 1965 by the monks from Sri Lanka. The Vihara was accessible to English-speakers with Vipassana meditation part of it activities. However, the direct influence of the Vipassana movement was not established until a group of Americans returned there in the early 1970s after studying with Vipassana Masters in Asia.

After 1970s, many Tibetans immigrated to the West from Nepal and India. The exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan people Dalai Lama made a rousing call through the message of peace and non-violence to the Western world. Universities started to teach Buddhism. Many centers existed devoted to the teaching of Buddha. Many retreat centers were established all over the United States and beyond. Noteworthy, for the first time, nuns from Nepal also came to USA to be ordained.

Basically there are three groups of Buddhism flourishing in the United States (Ryuei Michael McCormick, 2002). The first groups are the "Ethnic Buddhists" who practice Buddhism because it is a part of their ethnic heritage. We can see many monasteries established and run by different Asian populations. The second groups are the "Evangelical Buddhists" who are comprised of groups from Asia who actively seek out converts from the general population. Finally, the third are the "Elite Buddhists" who are comprised of those native born Americans who have actively sought out Buddhism. The Elite Buddhists form the third and most visible group of Buddhists in the USA. By one estimate, their numbers in the mid-‘90s were 800,000 but they could easily be more than a million now that the 21st century has dawned. These are the middle class, upper-middle class, and celebrity patrons of Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, and the Theravada-derived Vipassana meditation practices.

Thousands Buddhists temples and practice centers are estimated to have been established. The first Buddhist temple in America was built in 1853 in San Francisco by the Sze Yap Company, a Chinese American fraternal society. California's Hsi Lai Temple is one of the largest Buddhist temples covering 15 acres (61,000 m²). The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is geographically the largest Buddhist community in the US located in Talmage, California covering over 480 acres (1.9 km2) of land.

Monastery to Living Room

We in the East follow Buddhism as a way of ritual during birth, marriage, death for peace and harmony. We have a monastic way of practicing Buddhism, especially the Lamaism which has remained more of a passive way not letting the ordinary followers to know much of what it meant Buddhism. Our Lamas and Nuns were not trained in a way that could make them more approaching for teaching in public. However, the situation is gradually changing now. On the contrary, Hindu priests became more capable mainly due to language supremacy and state patronage in Nepal. In my opinion, comparatively, the teaching in Theravada (Newar Buddhism) remained more appealing to its followers.

I have read the article published in National Geography 2005 by Perry Garfinkel through the Shambhala Center Boulder where he states,

“Around the globe today there is a new Buddhism. Its philosophies are being applied to mental and physical health therapies and to political and environmental reforms. Athletes use it to sharpen their game. It helps corporate executives handle stress better. Police arm themselves with it to defuse volatile situations. Chronic pain sufferers apply it as a coping salve. Prisoners practice for self-reflection and rehabilitation.”

It did not mean much in the East where we have rituals of worships and prayer. We offer alms to Bikshhus and Bikshhunies allowing them to continue their livelihood and devoting to Monastery and Vihara. To sustain livelihood in a monastic life, those who wish, do so either by regular donation through membership when one is physically present at visit. On the contrary, the Western society, by their culture roots does not impart this way of giving donations. Raising funds or donations is a normal practice.

Shambhala Way of Practicing Buddhism (http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/chogyam-trungpa.php):

Probably the best-known Tibetan Buddhist Lama to spread Buddhism in a more secular way in the United States was Chögyam Trungpa, part of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. He first moved to England in 1963, founded a temple in Scotland, and then relocated to Barnet, Vermont, and then Boulder, Colorado by 1970. He established what he named Dharmadhatu meditation centers, eventually organized under a national umbrella group called Vajradhatu (later to become Shambhala International). He developed a series of secular techniques he called Shambhala Training. Following Trungpa's death, his followers at the Shambhala Mountain Center built the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, a traditional reliquary monument, near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado consecrated in 2001.

Buddha’s teaching spells out that nothing is static and time makes you to change. Do what you conceive the best. Probably this way of accepting the philosophy and principles of Buddhism in a completely different culture can better fit you. Shambhala master advocates that one does not have to change his original faith and can still practice Buddhism. The credit certainly goes to Rimpochhe Trungpa who founded Shambhala to make more acceptable to the Western society. Trungpa Developed a Shambhala model in the West beyond Buddhist canon attracting thousands of students that include Japanese archery, calligraphy, flower arranging, tea ceremony, health care, dance, theatre, and psychotherapy, among others. He, in 1974 established Buddhist-inspired Naropa University in North America, the first of its kind, that integrates ancient traditions of wisdom into the curriculum of modern education.

Buddhism is taking a turning point when great Masters speak to Westerners how one can practice Buddhism without sacrificing one’s own faith. The fundamental guiding principles come right from Siddhartha Gautama that all human beings are welcome to join, practice and preach irrespective of original faith, race, nationality, caste, color and creed.

Is Buddhism is on the Rise?

Prophecy of Eight Century Indian Sage and founder of Tibetan Buddhism, Guru Padmasambhava (The Lotus Born; Guru Rimpoche;Lopon Rimpoche) may be worthy to cite here,

“when the iron bird flies, horses run on wheels,
the Tibetan people will scatter like ants across the world,
and the Dharma will come to the land of red-faced people.”

The red-faced people could have been called Europeans including those who spread over to America, Australia, and other parts of the world.

The greatest Man of the Century, Albert Einstein, although he comes from a Jewish family, labeled Buddhism in his quote as the “Religion of the Future.” His prophecy could also be judged as a growing acceptance by Western intellectuals linked to meditational practice and experimental or observational verification.

I see, those looking for Buddhism in the West have deeper depth of quest for keeping the body and mind in the most respectful form. They search and develop curiosity of one’s act by meaning and its implication on their life style. Meditation has helped them to discipline their body and mind, finding a way out of dogmatism, and finding a disciplined life action, peace of mind, closer to nature and scientific verification. Buddhism perhaps tries to answer in three ways: The philosophy of action, karma, philosophy of compassion and greatness, karuna, and philosophy of wisdom and intellectualism, prajna, which we in the East would not pay attention much.

Many University professors, writers, thinkers, Hollywood celebrities, sports men and women, executives have embraced Buddhism in a way of understanding and practicing. Meditation and chanting have become a way for many of them. One of the first Americans who followed and ordained as a monk of Buddhism, was Robert Thurman. In addition there are Richard Gere, Steven Seagal, Tina Turner, Tiger Woods, Roberto Baggio, Jennifer Lopez and many others. Probably the most well known is Richard Gere who also supported freedom for Tibet and human rights.

The one major event that helped Buddhism gain a breakthrough in the United States was the 1893 Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, a highly publicized Interfaith event attended by such personalities as the Japanese Zen-Master Shaku Soen (1859-1919) from Japan and Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) from Sri Lanka, who traveled across the US and founded the first Buddhist centers there. One of the greatest popularisers of Buddhism was Shaku Soen`s disciple Suzuki Daisetzu (1870-1966), who was the first to give Westerners a systematic account of the enlightenment experience (Satori) in Zen.

When China became a communist country, it suppressed Buddhism - most visibly in Tibet. According to the International Campaign for Tibet, since 1949 more than 6,000 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, nunneries, and temples have been destroyed. But today Buddhism in China is resurfacing. With more than 170 million practitioners, it's the country's fastest growing religion. Some estimates now over 400 millions to as much as 50 percent of the national population.

In the 1990s, Robert A. F. Thurman estimated there were 5 to 6 million Buddhists in America. In a 2007 Pew Research Center survey, at 0.7% Buddhism was the fourth largest religion in the US after Christianity (78.4%), no religion (10.3%) and Judaism (1.7%). Another estimate of the number of Buddhists in America ranges from just over one million to as high as four million. And according to a 2004 study, more than 25 million Americans believe that Buddhist teachings have had an important influence on their spirituality.

Buddhism is no longer just for monks and Asians in the West. Christians and Jews practice it. African Americans meditate alongside Japanese Americans. Accurate counts of Buddhists in the United States are difficult. Because Buddhism is often a cultural concept, individuals who self-describe as Buddhists may have little knowledge nor commitment to Buddhism as a religion or practice; on the other hand, others may be deeply involved in meditation and committed to the Dharma, but may refuse the label "Buddhist".

Fourth Form of Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism 

Buddhism so far in the lands of Buddha are basically divided into three categories or sects: Therabad (Way of the elders), original form of Buddhism mostly popular in Sri Lanka, plain India and other South East Asia; Mahayana (great vehicle) popular in East Asia China, Korea, Japan and part of Vietnam and Vajrayana form of Mahayana popular in Tibet, Himalayan region of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Mongolia, part of Eastern Russia. The fourth one coming up as the Western Form of practice composed with socially engaged, may be livingroom-based, more secular, may be non-monastic, more philosophically approached than the traditional lands of Buddhism. This is termed like Engaged, Socially Engaged, Humanistic or Navayana. In the Western context, I would also prefer to call it Dhyanayana (meditational).

The word Engaged Buddhism was not familiar to me until I attended a three day orientation meeting at Bhaktapur, organized by one Youth Bouddha Shangha of Nepal supported by International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). The main teacher was an American lady. I thought, in the beginning, this notion was coined by Westerner to practically apply in social uplifting like education, health and development as we observe in Christianity way of doing. I felt, this is a good way of serving the needy society - refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and Dharma teachings to situations of social, political, environmental, and economic suffering and injustice.

The term was first coined by Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, inspired by the Humanistic Buddhism reform movement in China by Taixu and Yinshun. Finding its roots in Vietnam through the Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Engaged Buddhism has grown in popularity in the West. During the Vietnam War, he and his Shangha (spiritual community) made efforts to respond to the suffering they saw around them. They saw this work as part of their meditation and mindfulness practice, not apart from it. Thich Nhat Hanh outlined fourteen precepts of Engaged Buddhism, which explained his philosophy.

One of the best known figures who followed the path of Buddhism in a socially and politically way that pertains very much to the concept and practices of Engaged Buddhism was Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar, the founding father of modern Indian constitution, in defiance of hierarchical Hindu caste system that existed in India and Nepal, with his announcement in public, followed Buddhism and converted at one time almost half a million Indians of lower Hindu caste. He is widely considered as the main figure who brought back Buddhism in India that was kept exiled for over 800 years. In his words, while accepting Buddhism as his religion, “I will accept and follow the teachings of Buddha. I will keep my people away from the different opinions of Hinayana and Mahayana, two religious orders. Our Buddha Dharma is a new Bouddha Dhamma, Navayana (Neo Buddhism).” (Navayana, 1956). Many Buddhist scholars like George Boeree (2002) and founder of the Buddhist Society in England (1906-1967) Christmas Humphreys, have favorably commented on Navayana coined by Dr. Ambedkar, another synonym for Engaged or Humanistic Buddhism.

Engaged Buddhism has found its way of attempting to link authentic Buddhist meditation with social actions. Organizations such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists and the Zen Peacemakers, led by Roshi Bernard Glassman are devoted to building the movement of Engaged Buddhists. Other Engaged Buddhist groups include the Benevolent Organization for Development, Health and Insight, Gaden Relief Projects, the UK's Network of Buddhist Organizations, Fo Guang Shan and Tzu Chi. Other prominent figures in the movement include Robert Aitken Roshi, Joanna Macy, Gary Snyder, Alan Senauke, Sulak Sivaraksa, Maha Ghosananda, Sylvia Wetzel, Anthony Stultz, Diana Winston, Fleet Maull, Joan Halifax, Tara Brach, and Ken Jones.

Buddhism viewed from Faith and Wisdom as unity of Religion

Buddhism advocates the unification of faith and wisdom. Faith is characterized by the sentiments of respect and of inspiration by an ideal. Faith in Buddhism is developed through contemplation and investigation so that the characteristics of truthfulness, righteousness, and efficacy of the ideal in which one develops faith, can be understood and revealed. Cultivation of faith and wisdom as a unity in Buddhism, unlike other religions, involves several stages, 1. Faith without prejudice 2. Faith with profound understanding 3. Faith with endeavor 4. Faith with realization. Otherwise, faith without wisdom will develop ignorance and wisdom without faith will develop a perverted view. And the most outstanding characteristic of wisdom is free thought and its operative functions include understanding and cognition.”

Buddhism in the West has taken a turning point making more appealing to the western people in pursuit of practicing Buddhism. The West has developed it into a system that leads to finding a way of understanding cause and relationship. Many American youths question whether Buddhism is a Religion or a Philosophy. Because Siddhartha Gautama did not say himself Son of God (Jesus Christ), Prophet of God (Muhammad) or God of God (Shiva). Buddhism does not preach the existence of God. Many of the Westerns youths view and reject their own religious beliefs in God as the supreme power. They perhaps try to think in the line of what Buddha said twenty five hundred years ago or Buddhism says, “Anybody can be Buddha (Enlightened one) if one follows those Four Noble Truths and Eightfold paths.”

More than that, the practice of meditation has become so powerful and fascinating that no other religion has made this in pursuit of self realization. Western quest to understanding the true meaning of Buddhism in a daily life may have imparted an added value more than just a ritual practice that we perform in the East.

The West may also have understood better the future implication of Buddhism, a message of peace, compassion, tolerance in the midst of growing global unrest and war crisis. Most Americans want to see the realm of peace; Buddhism could give this, because in its history it has been least inimical against other religions. Its approaches have always been peaceful and respectful to others religions. Ironically, during the history of it’s up and down, others especially the rulers defied its literatures, statues, teachers in violence, expulsion and extermination.

Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained Native born American Lama in the Tibetan tradition presents his definitive views in his book, “Awakening the Buddha Within” – “We are all Buddhists. The problem is that most of us are sleeping Buddhas. Buddhism is less a theology or a religion than a promise that contains meditational practices and mind trainings can effectively show us how to awaken Buddha nature and liberate us from suffering and confusion.”

UC Berkeley Professor Lewis Lancaster, a devotee and a distinguished scholar of Buddhism and founder of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to use the latest computer technology to map the spread of various strands of Buddhism says,

“Born and raised Catholic, I embraced Buddhism having listened to a talk by a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk in Kandy, Sri Lanka where I had a Fulbright scholarship. Thanks to Buddhism I've found peace.”

Prof. Lewis labels Buddhism as the World religion because, “Buddhism spread through merchants and trade; Buddhism gave portable sanctity to the world; Buddhism gave relics to the Western society; Buddhism connected its land of origin to Central Asia, China and other parts of the ancient world, taught monastic living to other religions; and it is the most digitally published and gets hits more than any other religion and scientifically verifiable.”

Buddhism turned into a World religion without missionary convert and without forceful action, rather through perfect self-realization in the most secular way.

At the end, in the face of my hard understanding that not much published and discoursed in the media on the Western Buddhism by Nepalese scholars, I am prompted to write something from what I observed and learned in the United States. I hope to offer some insight why Buddhism is so fascinating to the Western world.

References:

Beng Tiong Tan, 1996. Teaching in Chinese Buddhism, Buddhanet, Buddha Dharma Education Association, Inc: The Two Distinctive Characteristics of Buddhism, Newcastle, Australia, 10. www.BuddhaNet.net

Lama Surya Das, 1997. Awakening of The Buddha Within. Eight Steps to Enlightment. Tibetan Buddhism for the Western World. Broadway Books, New York.

Lewis Lancaster, 2010. Burke Lecture: Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology, University of California, Berkeley.

Mark Vernon, March 2011. Meditation News: Buddhism is the new opium of the people. www.guardian.co.uk.

Nishikanta Waghmare, 2007. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Contribution to Buddhist Education in India. www.Countercurrents.org.

Perry Garfinkel, Buddha Rising: Out of the Monastery, Into the Living Room, National Geographic - December 1, 2005.

Ryuei Michael McCormick, Buddhism in America. http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/Buddhism-in-America.html

The Berzin Archives. The Buddhist Archives of Dr. Alexander Berzin.

Timothy Miller, 1995. Buddhism in America: The Dharma in the Land of Red Man. America’s Alternative Religion. State University of New York Press.

The Writer can be reached at ksherchand@yahoo.com



Can Asia challenge the West

It was Western Europe inspired by the East’s ships that helped them gain geographical advantage and thus began the modern trade, slavery and the new economy. The Western Europeans discovered, plundered and colonized the Americas moving on to Asia and Africa. Western Europeans were soon involved in production and tapping into the power of fossil fuels. The first industrial revolution emerged in the UK and the British began to dominate the global economy and then came the American dominated economy until the present where the Asian tigers have once more arisen and China, India and hopefully a united Asia will regain its rightful stake.

l by Shenali Waduge


(31 July, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A question never answered is why does the West dominate the world and why do the rest of the world allow the West to dominate them? Moreover, it is always inferred that the West is superior and thus what the West says, does or advises is superior – no questions asked. As we enter the 21st century we can be assured that the world is witnessing two major changes – beginning of the end of Western domination and the Asian renaissance.

When people are the same all over the world to understand how the West came to rule the world we need to go back 15,000 years. From nomadism, the world has reached universal settlement, agriculture, large populations, labor, centralized power and a phase we refer to as modern.

Those promoting the West would argue that the West are biologically superior and have better leaders while the others would argue they possess unique cultures and a rich history. Be that as it may the great civilizations evolved from Asia, Mesopotamia, Mexico and Peru. With time while some groups stuck to hunting others built empires after realizing the value of location, geography and climate. Thus it was in South West Asia around 9000 BC that farming began and spread across Europe as well as China and Mexico.

The first city emerged 6000 years ago in Iraq (Mesopotamia), out of sheer jealousy most of these monumental buildings and historic sites have all been brought to ruins by US/NATO air strikes. Soon states turned into empires created armies that moved round the seas resulting in the introduction of taxations. The world’s greatest empires spread from Rome in the West to the Han China in the East when the East became far ahead of the West in terms of innovations.

It was Western Europe inspired by the East’s ships that helped them gain geographical advantage and thus began the modern trade, slavery and the new economy. The Western Europeans discovered, plundered and colonized the Americas moving on to Asia and Africa. Western Europeans were soon involved in production and tapping into the power of fossil fuels. The first industrial revolution emerged in the UK and the British began to dominate the global economy and then came the American dominated economy until the present where the Asian tigers have once more arisen and China, India and hopefully a united Asia will regain its rightful stake.

Undoubtedly, the rise of Asia and the East has rattled the West. The importance of the rise of the East means that Asian societies are rising and Western societies are crumbling. This is not difficult to perceive. The West’s “freedom” slogan has only produced children out of wedlock, low marriages, a trend in homosexuality, complete collapse of the family, overflowing prisons, drug addicts and people addicted to prescription drugs, large numbers drawn to psychiatric therapy and the list goes on. What ails the culture of the West is that it has afforded its people multiple options which have altered the value of faithfulness in love, for children and even taking care of parents once old.

These traits have been advanced through Western influenced media into Asian cultures as well.

The West is suffering a financial crisis, massive unemployment etc whilst continuing its policies of invading nations on the pretext of securing human rights, democracy and freedom for these people. This new trend is nothing to be surprised over and in fact it simply reveals that the West is now drained out and is out to secure new wealth. Thus the re-entry to the East to once again squander as they did in colonial times – this time with a touch of sophistication, using corporates to enter as investors and then to walk off with a country’s key assets.

The brutal colonization of the Third World went hand in hand with religious and economic expansion. Once “divide and rule” became the principle and slavery became the norm the rich cultures and civilizations of the East fell apart one after the other not helped in the least by the wars and conflicts that were purposely instigated in a game that the West contrived to ensure they would reign supreme by dividing and disintegrating others whilst bribing Asian leaders to function on behalf of their strategic interests denying rights to their own natives. With time the West developed a model to ensnare and enslave countries further by introducing the World Bank and IMF – always led by a person from the West. These policies were nothing but enslavement of generations of people in taxes where the West end up living off interest paid on the invisible loans given. And we have to be thankful for these loans and grateful to the local leaders for securing them!

The desire to maintain its security at the helm of world governance has prompted these Western nations to go to any lengths to ensure the empires they have built do not fall apart and so “terrorism” was created and with it a drive called “war on terror” which has now been tied to a doctrine called “responsibility to protect” enabling countries to legally enter and take over nations simply on an “assumption”. Leaders of Third World nations especially the politicians have not helped to counter these maneuvers since they have been enticed by commissions and love for money falling prey to the machinations of the Western governments leading them to betray their own nations and their own people. Such local leaders have enabled the West to walk over and completely destroy nations.

It is no secret that the West has been trespassing on other cultures. The British strategy during colonial times was to introduce alcohol to the natives on top of the overall divide and rule policy, the British created divides among castes further dividing the people! Thus the strategy to introduce a non-cultural item into another culture and show that to be far superior than the existing culture has certainly made inroads in Asian towns and cities….just count the number of Asian youth attempting to have size 0 bodies! Asians are always competing to own the latest mobile phone or possess the latest car in the market….these are all western influenced outcomes.

So while spirituality is beckoning most people of the West who are giving up their religions and turning to philosophies like Buddhism and mind calming meditation and yoga, the people of the East are in severe competition attempting to all the while live and act like the West. So we certainly see the lifestyles of the two inter-changing reiterating the need for the wise leaders ruling the East to get to grips with the present scenario and think of how to ensure East does not give up its cultural heritage.

Asians need to decolonize their minds. With Asia’s rise, Asians need to think as Asians and not follow or practice all that is West. It will only facilitate the decay of Asia despite its rise.

We are all aware that the rise of the East is headed by China which means China needs to keep the Asian nations together and to foster greater ties not in the manner that the West has been doing. Certainly China has done a great job sharing its prosperity, signing free trade agreements, using its state services to forge partnerships instead of having corporate take over nations. What China now needs to do is to encourage Asian nations to value Asian cultures because the fall of Asia will come about by following false Western cultures.

What people of the East need to realize and remember at all times is that MODERNISATION is not WESTERNIZATION.

What is keeping the West at the helm however is the United Nations with its pretext of fostering unity and protecting the world from another war whilst doing nothing to stop mini-wars and conflicts which have been covertly created by the West. The UN is carrying forth the West’s dogma – Reform. Yet does reform have to be according to the West?

It is not difficult to see that the real power of the UN is concentrated among 15 members and 5 permanent members of which China and Russia balances the scales. Yet for most part, the West has dominated every resolution passed in the UN and has managed to manipulate the secretariat to endorse its “new colonialism” strategies.

Yet, without a doubt the 21st century will be Asia’s century and before our eyes we see power shifting. Nevertheless, as of now Asia’s biggest enemy remains Asia and that will continue to be until Asia and Asians realize their own values, respect their culture and cultural heritage and not fall prey to the Western culture that is being steadily incorporated into Asian society through western media channels.

Geography, location and climate was what induced the West to take over the East and tap into its wealth – these very ingredients remains the secrets to Asia’s growth and it is for that very reason that every inch of Asia in terms of its geographical focal points, strategic locations be protected by Asia’s leaders and climate is used to advantage to foster every aspect of sustainability drives possible. With these areas strategically taken care of by Asian leaders led by China, Asia is unlikely to fall. The only challenge to this is India which has become manipulated by the West and is being used as a pimp to tap into countries of Asia in order to keep the pro-US agenda in tact and US very much part of whatever Asia decides. Whilst Indians as a whole may not be aware of this and are unlikely to agree to Western influence, the reality remains that India is controlled by a handful of aristocrat Brahmins. It is time India woke up to the realization that Asia’s fall will come because of India compromising Asia – otherwise Asia will be a force to reckon with.




Taking the LLRC report and action plan seriously

By making its response to the LLRC known in the form of an action plan, the government can be said to have finally clarified its position on the issue. Previously different members of the government spoke with different voices regarding the government’s attitude towards the LLRC. The government now can also be credited with coming up with an action plan that spells out in summary fashion what it intends to do and how to measure that progress. This opens the possibility of monitoring the government’s progress.

l by Jehan Perera


(31 July, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The detailed action plan prepared by the government with regard to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and released last week has been done in a highly professional manner, and would be the envy of many a dysfunctional previous commission of inquiry. On the face of it, the government appears to have taken the LLRC commission report seriously as the Commissioners would have wished and the international community has already called for. There are 91 recommendations that the action plan takes cognizance of. Each of these recommendations is looked at in terms of specific activities they entail. The action plan also identifies the government agencies that will be responsible for implementing each of these activities within a specified time frame, most of them ranging from 6 to 24 months.

By making its response to the LLRC known in the form of an action plan, the government can be said to have finally clarified its position on the issue. Previously different members of the government spoke with different voices regarding the government’s attitude towards the LLRC. The government now can also be credited with coming up with an action plan that spells out in summary fashion what it intends to do and how to measure that progress. This opens the possibility of monitoring the government’s progress. On the other hand, the contents of the action plan still remain beyond the reach of the masses of the people as the 388 page LLRC report is still not translated into the Sinhala and Tamil languages despite the passage of over 8 months since the report was released in the English language. Neither has the LLRC action plan itself been prepared in a manner that is easily comprehensible by the general public.

In the version that has been put out at this time, the action plan does not have a narrative that explains its background and purpose and would make it more accessible to the popular understanding. It therefore comes across as a technical document in the form of a table with terminology that will not be familiar to most people. Terms such as "key performance indicators", which forms a central feature of the action plan, are not in common usage within the generality of the Sri Lankan population. These are terms that are used especially by members of the international donor community who wish to assess the impact of the projects that they fund and also by those who seek to obtain their goodwill. This suggests that the action plan needs further evolution if it is to become a people-friendly document and one that is accessible to the people in both the Sinhala and Tamil languages.

NEW MECHANISMS

The LLRC has won local and international acclaim for its efforts to look at the totality of Sri Lanka’s experience that led to terrorism and war. It came up with a total of 285 recommendations of which 135 may be called main recommendations as they have several sub-recommendations. It can be believed that the LLRC laboured to bring forth a document that could serve as a blueprint for Sri Lanka’s renewal as a success story of post-war development, democracy and reconciliation. The question to answer is whether the action plan prepared by the government meets this same objective. More serious study is also required to ascertain whether the 91 recommendations taken up for commentary in the action plan leave out important substance contained in the 135 main recommendations to be found in the LLRC report.

A preliminary assessment of the action plan would indicate that the government intends to seamlessly harmonise the LLRC recommendations into the government’s ongoing programme and activities. By that same token there is no indication that the government seeks to make the LLRC report a point of departure with past and present political practices. There are many instances of the LLRC recommending the setting up of a new mechanism to deal with a specific set of problems. This might be due to its recognition that existing governmental mechanisms are inadequate to resolve those problems. But with the exception of appointing a Land Commission, the government has, by and large, not taken on the LLRC recommendation to set up new mechanisms.

An example where the LLRC recommendations have been circumvented by the action plan, is the matter of the appointment of a Special Commissioner of Investigations to look into alleged disappearances. Another example is the Independent Institution with a strong investigative arm to address the grievances of citizens. The government’s position in the action plan is that existing mechanisms will be used to take care of the problems. In the case of disappearances the government has proposed invoking the present procedures in the Code of Criminal Procedure. It was in recognition of the past failures that the LLRC presumably recommended the appointment of a Special Commissioner. The problem with the government’s approach is that this proper utilization of the Criminal Code has not happened in the past and this is unlikely to change in the future unless there is a radical departure from past practices.

AVOIDING IMPLEMENTATION

The government has also used another method of avoiding implementation of the LLRC recommendations with regard to new mechanisms. This is by casting responsibility for deciding on them to the still-to-be-established Parliamentary Select Committee to look into constitutional issues. This strategy has been used to deal with the reforms proposed by the LLRC that would affect the government’s highly centralized hold on power. There are two recommendations made by the LLRC that are of critical importance to improving the checks and balances in governance. These are to establish a constitutional provision for judicial review of legislation. Another is the recommendation to de-link the Police department from the Ministry of Defence. Both of these are given to the still non-existent Parliamentary Select Committee to decide on. When the PSC will be established and whether the main opposition parties will be part of it is still anybody’s guess.

Those who look upon the LLRC report as a landmark document meant to transform the political culture of the country are likely to be disappointed by what they will find within the action plan of the government. Not only is there a repeated insistence that existing institutions are good enough for the job, there is no willingness to accept the need for improved institutional design of institutions. In particular the action plan dismisses the LLRC’s recommendations that independent commissions for the Police and Public Service need to be established. The action plan states that these independent commissions have indeed been established. Hardly anyone, except for the most partisan supporters of the government would say that any of the institutions appointed under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution are independently constituted ones, as they emanate solely from Presidential fiat.

What this preliminary assessment of the action plan reveals is that the government is less interested in meeting the challenges of political transformation within Sri Lanka than in meeting the challenge of the international community in Geneva. At the March 2012 session of the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, the majority of countries passed a resolution calling on Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of its LLRC. Armed with the action plan, the government may feel more confident that it can overcome its detractors from the international community at the forthcoming sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in November. The government is no doubt concerned that a reversal like the one that took place in Geneva in March of this year does not repeat itself.


ANNA’S MOVEMENT: FROM A MORAL CRUSADE INTO A POLITICISED KICHDI

Anna’s subsequent indefinite fast in Mumbai , which had to be terminated for want of adequate public response, and the one-day token fast in Delhi, did not attract the kind of public response that his fast in New Delhi in August,2011, had attracted. This was due to many reasons.
BY B.RAMAN
__________________________

( July 31, 2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Anna Hazare is on fast again at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi since July 29,2012, demanding the immediate establishment of an independent and powerful Jan Lok Pal to act against corruption.

2. His disillusionment and anger over what he looks upon as the failure of the Government to carry out the promises on this subject made by it before he agreed to break the fast of August last year at New Delhi were evident in the very dignified interview given by him to Barkha Dutt of NDTV on July 29,2012.

3. His sincerity and humility, his anguish over the failure of the Government to act on its promises and his determination to fast again came out loud and clear from his interview to Barkha.

4.His was a well-reasoned stand against continuing corruption and the reluctance of the Government to act against it expressed in eloquently polite language. Those wanting to have a clear idea as to why he is on fast again should see Barkha’s Anna Interview.

5. His fast of August,2011, was a significant success even though it did not immediately achieve his objective of the establishment of a Jan Lok Pal. The success was due to his magnetism and moral commitment to the fight against corruption and the control that he exercised over his team of advisers and supporters. He saw to it that they did not resort to objectionable methods of coercion that were unGandhian. The media too, which was shocked by the way the Government treated him by having him arrested on flimsy charges and detained in the Tihar jail for some days before the fast, showed considerable empathy for him, his team and supporters. This empathy came out in the totally positive media coverage of his fast.

6. Anna’s subsequent indefinite fast in Mumbai , which had to be terminated for want of adequate public response, and the one-day token fast in Delhi, did not attract the kind of public response that his fast in New Delhi in August,2011, had attracted. This was due to many reasons.

7.Firstly, the large public support for him was confined to New Delhi and did not extend to other parts of India. Secondly, there was a fatigue over his tactics of frequently threatening the Government with a fast. Thirdly, some members of his Team faced allegations of financial irregularities committed by them while they were in public service or after their retirement. Instead of responding to these allegations with the same seriousness and moral outrage as Anna, his team and supporters had reacted to allegations of corruption against members of the Government, they tried to cover up the allegations against some members of the team with self-righteous denials and attribution of motives to the Government for making their alleged irregularities public.

8.Fourthly, the movement, which started as a single-point crusade against corruption, started getting politicised and developed a multi-point agenda reflecting the aspirations of different members of the team. From an ethical and moral movement against corruption, it became a hotch-potch movement to cleanse the political system with demands like the introduction of the right to recall, electoral reforms etc. Different centres of influence and ambitions emerged thereby affecting the unity of the movement and diluting its moral force. What started as a moral crusade turned into a politicised kichdi.

9.The result: A decline in public support and media interest even though the fascinating attraction of Anna remained, but slightly reduced. The latest fast of Anna and his supporters from Jantar Mantar reflects their anxiety partly to revive public interest in their movement and partly to step up pressure on the Government and the Congress Party to carry out the promises made last year.

10. The Government has handled the fast with greater finesse this time. It did not try to stand in the way of the fast as it did in August last year. It asked the Delhi Police to give permission for the fast. It has refrained from circulating any allegations of improprieties by some members of Anna’s team.

11.The initial public response, when some members of Team Anna went on their fast, was not up to the expectations of the team. But it has picked up since Anna himself started his fast on July 29. There were reportedly impressive crowds on July 29 demonstrating the spontaneous support of sections of the Delhi public for Anna. There were large crowds on July 30 also, but not as large as on July 29. Some sections of his supporters held an ugly demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s residence and shouted slogans against him. Some prominent members of Team Anna gave a call on July 29 appealing to the Delhi students to miss their classes for a week and come to Jantar Mantar to demonstrate their support for Anna. This does not appear to have happened. The response from the student community was unsatisfactory.

12. Team Anna should have tried to understand that the increasing question marks over the heads of large sections of the public regarding the multiple directions in which the movement has started moving are responsible for the declined enthusiasm for Anna’s movement. Instead, Anna’s supporters, who initially directed the anger of some of the crowd that had gathered against the Prime Minister, started turning the mobish anger against the media too.

13. Initially, the media correctly reported that the public response to the fast of Anna’s supporters was limited. On July 29 and 30, the media again correctly reported that the movement has started regaining some of its elan of August last after Anna joined the fast. At the same time, the media has not exhibited so far the uncritical fascination for the movement that it had shown in August last. It is more skeptic, more critical and more objective.

14.The members of Team Anna, who wallowed in the undiluted adulation of the media last year, are now angry against the media for highlighting the poor public response to start with and the inner contradictions that have weakened the unity of action. This anger was initially expressed through publicly-voiced allegations of corruption in the media and through charges that the media has restricted its coverage this year due to pressure from the Government.

15. On July 30, when the student community of Delhi did not turn up in large numbers as fondly hoped by some members of the Team, this anger took an ugly turn following allegedly provocative anti-media comments by Shri Prashant Bhushan, one of the prominent members of the team. There were allegations of scuffles between some provoked supporters of Anna and some media personnel when the supporters allegedly surrounded and abused them. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Ri4yQrgME )

16.This year, the online support for the Anna movement has taken an ugly turn too. There was considerable online support last year too which was organised by IT and IIT whiz kids attracted to the movement. They kept their online campaign in support of Anna dignified and praiseworthy. This year, many of them are absent from the online campaign, which seems to have passed on into the hands of the supporters of Shri Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, whom I normally refer to as the NaMo Brigade.

17. The NaMo Brigade sees in the revived movement by Anna an opportunity for further discrediting the Government in order to pave the way for the victory of the BJP in the 2014 elections and the emergence of Shri Modi as the Prime Minister of India. The NaMo Brigade has toned down its rhetoric in support of Shri Modi and stepped up its rhetoric in support of Anna. It is also trying to intimidate those who express misgivings over some aspects of the revived Anna movement by indulging in its usual campaign of abuses and invectives.

18.Let there be no doubt about it. All of us admire Anna and are proud of him. All of us support his movement against corruption and want it to succeed. At the same time, many of us are concerned over the multiple-horse chariot that he is now riding, unable to control the different horses pulling the chariot in different directions. Instead of resting with mere expressions of regret over the tactics of some of his followers, he should take firm control of the movement and make it once again a moral crusade against corruption.

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate, Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-Mail: seventyone2@gmail.com . Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

Involve Civil Society In Implementing LLRC Action Plan



(31 July, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) An action plan prepared by the government with regard to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was released last week. There are 91 recommendations that the action plan takes cognizance of. Each of these recommendations is looked at in terms of specific activities they entail. The action plan also identifies the government agencies that will be responsible for implementing each of these activities within a specified time frame, most of them ranging from 6 to 24 months.

By making its response to the LLRC known in the form of an action plan, the government can be said to have finally clarified its position on the issue. Previously different members of the government spoke with different voices regarding the government’s attitude towards the LLRC. The government now can also be credited with coming up with an action plan that spells out in summary fashion what it intends to do and how to measure that progress. This opens the possibility of monitoring the government’s progress.

However, the National Peace Council is concerned that the contents of the action plan still remain beyond the reach of the masses of the people as the LLRC report itself is still not translated into the Sinhala and Tamil languages despite the passage of over 8 months since the report was released in the English language. Neither has the LLRC action plan itself been prepared in a manner that is easily comprehensible by the general public or been translated into the two official languages.

We believe that the LLRC report is a document that could serve as a blueprint for Sri Lanka’s renewal as a success story of post-war development, democracy and reconciliation. We call on the government to further develop the action plan in consultation with civil society and other sections of the polity and to make it a people-friendly document and one that is accessible to the people. NPC is willing to take the action plan to the grass roots level, Inform grass root communities of the plan and its process and assist the government to monitor how it is being carried out


Governing Council

The National Peace Council is an independent and non partisan organization that works towards a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It has a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka in which the freedom, human rights and democratic rights of all the communities are respected. The policy of the National Peace Council is determined by its Governing Council of 20 members who are drawn from diverse walks of life and belong to all the main ethnic and religious communities in the country.

Tea Is Our Pride

It is the duty of every Sri Lankan, especially the Diplomatic Missions worldwide to defend and promote our silver inherited as much as the beauty of Sri Lanka which is no match to other. Sri Lanka Tea is unique due to unique flavor, color and character which cannot be readily found elsewhere. The humidity, cool temperature, sunshine, and rainfall (two monsoons) in the country’s central and southern highlands are conducive to the manufacture of unique quality teas.

l Sarath Wijesinghe


(30 July, 2012, U.A.E. , Sri Lanka Guardian) Tea is our pride, for which we can be proud of for the reason that it is the best tea on the Globe. It is the duty of every Sri Lankan, especially the Diplomatic Missions worldwide to defend and promote our silver inherited as much as the beauty of Sri Lanka which is no match to other. Sri Lanka Tea is unique due to unique flavor, color and character which cannot be readily found elsewhere. The humidity, cool temperature, sunshine, and rainfall (two monsoons) in the country’s central and southern highlands are conducive to the manufacture of unique quality teas. Tea plantations are scenic and pristine. Tea is grown handpicked and processed in an artisanal process, unchanged over a century. Where else in the world one could find this combination in One Island.

Tea is the most consumed drink of the mankind next to water. It is very healthy harmless and a natural drink which is consumed as a social drink which bonds families countries including Sri Lanka (Once Ceylon) which has now lost the position as the main exporter to the world. Tea grown area is limited due to shortage of land, and the cost of production has become unbearable mainly due to the shortage and high wages of labor and maintained. Estate owners do not invest on replanting and new plantations due to excessive expenditure and the length of period for a return, though once the tea is properly grown the benefit will extend to few decades. But in an era citizens are looking for quick and large margins on profits, traditional investors on cultivation are rare. This is a sad and disturbing situation. It is time the local investors and tea estate owners are encouraged for re plantation and/or use tea estates for Tea Tourism for which the environment is ideal due to landscape and beauty in addition to the availability. Tourists, especially those from Middle East are full of praise and love for Tea Estates for beauty, calm environment and greenery coupled with sceneries. It is time the tourist Board and the Tea Board engage in an exploratory expedition on this area to benefit the tourist industry as well as tea industry and both industries in return will be boosted with unexpected publicity for both areas. 

It is a sorry affair that people have got used to unhealthy fast food and beverages with strong chemicals and poisonous materials. However the concerns are raised and advice given to discourage unhealthy breweries and encourage healthy and natural drinks, the billions spend on advertisements and attractions have overtaken the campaigners for natural drinks which are healthy, cheap and readily available. Sadly in Sri Lanka coffee with lot of sugar is available in parties and officers increasing diabetic population when tea is freely available in every corner. A young coconut is only 30 rupees where as artificial beverage with lot of sugar and chemicals will cost over 50 rupees, which passes billion of rupees to multinational companies. Ironically average youngster and even an adult will go for the unhealthy artificial beverage in place of a natural young coconut or a healthy cup of tea. India is far above us. They have banned artificial beverages and multinational companies from the Indian soil. 

Tea is marketed and popular in Russia. The most important foreign markets for Sri Lankan tea are the former Soviet bloc countries of the CIS, The United Arab Emirates, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Iran, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Libya, and Japan. The political situation in some countries has a direct effect on Ceylon Tea and it is time for us to look for alternatives until the situation in the Middle East settles. Arab world and West considers Tea as a healthy smooth traditional social drink. The consumption patterns has changed due to fast life by adopting quicker methods such as tea bags instead of traditional pot of tea, or naturally made tea traditionally for quiet and smooth enjoyment. Still tea is synonymous with Ceylon with the brand and the trade mark for pure original and quality tea. Awareness and demand for Ceylon Tea among consumers in the Gulf Market is high. Loose tea consumption has dominated over consumption of tea bags. Consumers are gradually weaned away from loose quality tea due to aggressive media campaigns and fast life of consumers. Multinational brands increase their market share through heavy media/promotional spend and sophisticated packaging, despite using infer ere “multi origin teas” The brand becomes more significant than the origin. This trend is seen in former Ceylon strongholds such as Russia and former Soviet Republics.

It is time we look for new avenues to sell out tea with least effort as it is not difficult to find markets for quality consumer items with a worldwide love and reputation. It is useful to adopt a market strategy to sell our pride and silver to our friends who love the wormath of the people of this beautiful the country. Best is to use UAE which is a country so close to our hearts and minds as a vehicle for our tea which is already a platform in this strategic location and diversified terrains. Positioned in the heart of the old world, UAE is the ideal access point to the three continents as a vital transit point between the East and the West. Dubai is the business hub in the Middle East and UAE is the shining jewel on trade and tourism with 7.9 million visitors in 2010, and the world’s largest shopping mall- the Dubai Mall. With the world’s tallest building, one of the top destination cities in the world, world’s largest man made harbor and world’s largest manmade Island this is the best and most friendly and accessible destination to promote our tea and use it as a platform to all other destinations including the west. Dubai is a business HUB for tea trade as well. Our pride is devaluated and the trade mark is exploited by our competitors in tea trade. An aggressive and consorted effort is urgently needed to countr dilution and promotes our pride and silver.

To meet this demand the Sri Lankan Embassy in the UAE has initiated a dialogue/discussion with the Sri Lankan (TEA) business community in UAE and Sri Lanka with the participation of the Chairperson of the Tea Board and all interested parties in UAE, on 26th September 2012 to find ways and means of promoting Sri Lankan Tea in order to maintain the “Brand and the Quality” which is maintained for centuries. Those who wish to take part at the seminar/workshop may communicate with Sri Lankan Embassy in UAE on 0097126316444/0097126315252/0552503888/0557396689/0553054991 or email lankamb@emirates.net.ae- Web Sri lankaembassyuae.com


(The Writer can be reached at sarath8@hotmail.com)