Topic started by mmc (@ 61.11.77.233) on Sat Dec 7 23:31:30 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

All of us who are aware about the History knows that the teravadisation(a version of fanatic Buddhism and more particularly , the virulent version of it headed by the SL-Urumaiya monks) lead a large section of the Tamils in Srilanka to forego their Tamilness and made them into different entities which got ultimately merged with the larger Sinhala identity.

In Tamilnadu, now our great Thirumavalavan , who is backed by Church funds has initiated this process.Every religious denomination is jumping on HIndu-Dalits as vultures fight among themselves to prey on the flesh(here these 'vultures' act in unison!).

I am reproducing a post i made to Ashok on the threats of Teravadism:

I personally consider Buddha as representing the pinacle of Hindu thought and spiritualism.I consider Him as a Hindu , not only by birth but also by His preachings as i find that he has echoed what the Upanishads have declared milleniums before Him.I find Him preaching the same thing Krishna preached.

This doesnt mean that i want to amalgamate Buddhism into Hinduism.I dont want to destroy the individuality of Buddhists of all sects including the teravadic version prevalent in SL.Again this doesnt prevent me from owning Buddha as mine.He rose as a result of the same thought process in which i have been boughtup.He belongs to the same cultural heritage as that of mine.I am proud that i hail from the same stock that produced Buddha and of my linkages with that Saint.

I can never ever spit venom on Budha or ridicule Him.If you had the patience to go through my posts, you wouldve found out that I never criticise even the Semetic Gods.

However, I have many times ridiculed teravadism (only the SL version of it) as I have ridiculed the church or the fundamentalist institutions of all religions.I have attacked the missioneries , mullas and similar way I have ridiculed the Buddhist Sangha . This is merely my view.I have felt that the SAngha as an institution is responsible for the loss of lives of thousands of SLs and has pulled down a beautiful country and destoyed the dreams of atleast two generations.

I know that the Sangha is now understanding this.I am seeing many teravadists who echo similar statements.

Well, coming to the point, as you all criticise and ridicule Sangh(i mean Hindutvadis), I criticise and ridicule the Sangha (tervadic monks).I have never said that you shouldnt criticise Hindutvaists.Similarly, I am entitled for my views.

About attacking certain practices of SL-Buddhism, I merely attack them only when they ridicule certain Hindu practices.

~~~ * ~~~

If you or Nisala get offended by some remarks of mine against the teravadic monks of the teravadic practices , i have thousand times more grievance against Nisala's mentioning of words on Hindu Figures in a derogatory way.

I started criticising the SL-teravadic offshoot of Buddhism only when i observed that Nisala gleefully participated in our discussions on problems in Hinduism or Tamil society but started going into denial/attack mode when i pointed out certain things to him ,like the presence of cruelty among Buddhists, casteism within the Sangha in SL etc.

You must wonder as to why i mention casteism in Sangha or point out to the drawbacks of Teravadism.If you know what is happening throughout India now, you may realise the reason behind my attacks.

Throughout India , now a frenzied atmosphere is created among Dalits saying that Buddha has been their saviour and Buddhism is their religion.Many times i find that christian missioneries are involved in the work.I dont know as to what is their ultimate game plan.But this is happening.

Whereas conversions to christianity has come down in the recent times, conversions to teravadic-buddhism have started everywhere.And they dont target dalit christians or dalit muslims(yes there are no dalit muslims in tamilnadu, but they are there in huge number in north india..esp UP).Only Hindu-Dalits are asked to switch over to Buddhism.Now recently in a meeting held by all Dalit organisations in Tamilnadu, it has been decided that a Buddha's statue will be kept in every Dalit locality belonging to Hindu-Dalits.Christian Dalits have resisted and the convention declared that such Buddha's statues will not be kept in DAl;it-christian localities.

The Teravadic Monks of Uttar Pradesh with Missionery money power sponsored Dalits and Dalit organisations to go to Durban and tarnish India there.Teravadic version of Buddhism( the other sects in India maintain a distance in this regard) is now spreading its tentacles undermining the State and helping out the anti-India forces by utilising the Hindu-Dalits.

Hence, even though I accept Buddha, many principles and philosophies of Buddhism, i remain sceptical about the Teravadic version( in the Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Gaya , the most vocal monks are actually SL-tervadics who have attempted at removing all Hindu Motiffs which has been present since the time it was built...i think 5th century AD).And this is merely my opinion , no Hindutvaist criticised Buddha or Buddhism and maynt know that teravadism is different from Dharamsala Version which they see daily or hear in newspaper report, which doesnt have any ill intentions towards India or Hinduism.





Already in Maharashtra the neo-buddhists are posing a major threat to the Maharashtrian Cultural ethos.

Eventhough Buddhism originated in India and Buddha preached 'Pure Hinduism', the teravadism has no connections with the preachings of Buddha and inherently violent and has more of the anti-Buddha animist content.

Let us hail Buddha (for we are infact practicing what Buddha preached) , but let us be aware about the threats of the new conversion movement which is going to undermine the Tamil Society and is going to create violent-artificial Divisions among us.

Casteism and Untouchability is bad.But atleast it can be rectified as is happening now.But conversion is not a solution to it and it will plunge our society into perpetual divisions and communal conflicts for centuries to come.

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: VC (@ 210.220.73.7) on: Fri Dec 27 15:29:36
  
  Togadia promises "Marana Dhandanai" for all Non hindus!
  
  Read all about it here:
  
  http://www.vikatan.com/vc/2002/dec/vc0195.shtml
  
  which hole do looneys like togadia, modi, advani, mayir etc crawl out of?
  
  
• From: Senaka (@ dup-200-64-191-49.prodigy.net.mx) on: Sat Dec 28 05:23:46
  
  AJ, although the article you posted contains several incorrect statements, generalizations and makes rather enourmous sweeping statements, I found it a good read because it reveals the insecurities and prejudice (justified or unjustified) that is quite prevalent among expatriate Sri Lankans. If you wish, I could explain with a bit of detail my reasons for rejecting many of the statements contained in the article. Here I would like to point out that if, as claimed in the article, "...the ‘monk factor’ has been very successful in Sri Lanka in producing and maintaining a large supply of Tamil-hating Sinhala people and leaders", then we would have expected nationalist parties among the Sinhalese to win many of the recent government elections or at least gain many votes. But we do not see this happening. Contrary to the rise of Hindutva and the acceptance of this concept by large sections of Hindu Indians (see results of Gujarat election), in Sri Lanka we can quite clearly see that extremism among the Sinhalese has been rejected by the Sinhalese constituency who have returned parties on peace platforms and dealt severe blows to nationalist Sinhalese Buddhist parties such as the Sihala Urumaya. These blows have been strong enough to have wiped off such parties from the political scene and into oblivion. Do keep in mind that 95% of the Sinhalese community is Buddhist.
  
  I think that inflammatary articles are the last thing we need during this peace process that could finally deliver much wanted peace and development to the island. When articles are written with emotion and ill-will, factual errors and generalizations are all too conspicuous. I quite honestly feel the merits of the article you posted are quite heavily outweighed by these factors.
  
  Senaka
  
  PS Here is an article I thought you might like to read. I am only posting the first section - the full version may be read by clicking the link.
  
  --------------
  
  A Buddhist Monk as a Member of a
  
  Christian Mission College
  
  Andrew Wingate
  
  I first met the Venerable Sutadhara in 1999, when I was in Sri Lanka as a member of a Friends for Peace delegation of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. As with every other outside visiting group, we were able to do little to further the cause of peace in this most intractable of civil wars, apart from gaining much more understanding of the complexity of a struggle which has ethnic, linguistic, social and religious connotations. Buddhists and Hindus are on different sides of this divide, as Sinhala and Tamil respectively. Muslims speak Tamil but feel deeply antagonistic towards the Tamil Tigers (the LTTE) because of the massacres Muslims have endured. Christians stand uneasily on both sides of the community divide; some take ethnic positions, a minority try to use their strategic position to work actively for peace.
  
  As a community, Buddhists are much influenced by their monks. A few of these are actively engaged in peace efforts, a number are actively militant in favour of the Sinhala cause. In between come the majority, who, like Sutadhara, continue their daily life as best they can, willing peace, but not being politically active by temperament.
  
  I met Sutadhara somewhat incongruously, in a bar in the rather nice hotel in which we were staying in Colombo. Dressed in the robes of his order, he seemed quite at home, as he had a cup of tea, and discussed with me the possibility of coming to England, to be the first official Interfaith Visiting Fellow, at the United College of the Ascension, Selly Oak, Birmingham, where I was Principal at that time. He had been recommended to me as someone for whom dialogue and listening were natural, and who could be clear too about his complex faith. He has a Doctorate in Linguistics, and teaches in the University.
  
  This first meeting revealed a man of great humility and graciousness. I also saw the first signs of an impish sense of humour that I was to get to know well later. Far from being rigid in his rules, he indicated he would be ready to adapt to our college in ways that surprised me. He did not normally eat after 12 noon. I asked him whether he would expect his lunch early, and then to fast until the next morning, imagining that this would not endear him to our caterer. He said that this would not be necessary; as a guest he should adjust to our ways. I also pointed out that the garb he was wearing, a saffron robe with bare arms, might fit our stereotype of a Buddhist monk, but might leave him shivering in our autumn and spring, yet alone winter. He said that putting a sweater over his shoulders would not invalidate his vows! More importantly, he said that, though he would share his faith with us, above all he wanted to learn about Christianity, a great religion that he knew little of, and that it was difficult to pursue such a study in his own context for communal reasons. He wanted to learn too about the way of life of Christian monks. Professionally, he would like to study local English dialects, quite a task in the West Midlands!
  
  
  http://www.anglicannifcon.org/BuddhistMonk1.htm
  
  
  
• From: geno (@ ) on: Fri Dec 24 20:06:30
  
  The thEvar kuRRapparambarai lavade ki bal "mmc" who started this thread - should care to answer the atrocities against "thamizh hindoo dalits" in :
  
  * mElavaLavu
  
  * pAppApatti and keerippatti
  
  * denial of temple entry to dalits in Many temples in southern districts - in areas where these "mukkulathOr" - kuRRap parambarai(genetically criminals) doggies live in large numbers
  
  thEvar bA$tards are in a way mostruously equivalent to - those sinhalese urumaya mottai erumaimAdus in sri lanka.
  
  "eeyatha pAthu iLichathAm pithaLai"!!!
  
  
• From: geno (@ 61.2.224.177) on: Fri Dec 24 20:07:05 EST 2004
  
  thEvar genetically criminals need to be brutally woken up from their "feudal warrior kshatriya" pipe-dreams.
  
  Thamizh dalits would do that in future as effectively as the eezha pulikaL do to those sinhalese racist mottai erumaimAdus.
  
  ;=))
  
  
  
• From: I.... (@ proxy2.iitm.ac.in) on: Mon Jan 3 18:08:00 EST 2005
  
  neo-buddhism is navayana
  
  

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