Western strategy to neutralize Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka

The Buddhists need to not only identify the enemy but more importantly identify the strategies adopted by the enemy & the reasons they do so. It is without a doubt they consider the teachings of the Buddha as a threat. It is something even the English vocabulary cannot define or converge to a single meaning. Such is the power behind the teachings of Buddha. When they cannot destroy the teaching, what is their next option?Naturally, it is the followers and with their time-tested tool of divide & rule, they now try to divide the Buddhists who are born into Buddhist families. While this project is ongoing, given that they know the power of Buddha’s teachings, they are trying to control Buddha’s teaching & patent it as per liberal capitalist ideology, to put a “price” to how the teachings will eventually get taught. By now Buddhists should have identified the scope of the threat.

The destruction of Buddhist archaeological sites did not begin suddenly, we know how areas that were pre-dominantly Buddhist in ancient times were taken over with the sword, theros slain, artefacts destroyed & even the world’s oldest library put to cinders. Bamiyan Buddhas were not under attack only by the Taliban, historically attempts had been made to destroy them. The objective of destroying these magnificent structures & placing other structures above them is recorded historically. It showed the shallowness of thought – thinking the removal of structures would erase a teaching.

This was the structural genocide of Buddhism.

The teachings of Buddha was first put to text in Sri Lanka. This is one main reason for the attack against Sri Lanka.

The Buddha’s teachings was the state religion incorporated into the rule & became part of the Sinhala Buddhist cultural heritage. This did not discriminate any other faith. The nobleness of the dasa raja dhamma did not result in any internal conflicts & anyone speaking about ethnic disharmony should wonder why this “disharmony” emerged only after arrival of the 3 European invaders & after they began implementing their divide & rule policies.

Ever since the European invaders arrived, their goal was to erase a teaching that did not conform to their religious beliefs & they were stupefied at the manner it was embedded within the social structure with Buddhist law, Buddhist jurisprudence, Buddhist culture which was followed by the majority Sinhalese as well as respected by others because they did not experience any discrimination in that rule. Anyone challenging this must present examples of ethnic internal wars before 1505!

It is noteworthy that the Buddhist structures are under attack by the key Quad members & the area that they are exerting influence is aligned to their geopolitical goals. Thus the incursions, damage & destruction to sites, illegal occupation, erecting non-Buddhist structures & creating bogus history to claim these are part of this larger ploy to grab these areas by negating Sinhala Buddhist heritage claims to them. Note the increasing govt circulars, lackluster approach by state officials (dept/police etc) – these are all dereliction of their duties as per constitution & legal action must be taken against them.

While structures were under attack – the next target was the culture & this was attempted to be done in multiple ways.

• Missionary schools were opened in areas where migrated non-Sinhalese Buddhists were given education
• Sinhala Buddhists had one option to obtain education – convert & give up Sinhala traditions/Sinhala language & Buddhism.
• Those passing out from missionary schools were given state jobs, titles & were presented as the elite society
• Sinhala Buddhist landowners had their lands confiscated by the State & given to people they brought in from South India.
• Minorities were only given prominence – people were divided as majority & minority / haves & have nots / poor & rich – all these were birthed & promoted by colonial invaders.

This was how the Sinhala landowner were reduced to nobody’s.

Reverse discrimination for the Sinhalese was stopped & every effort clipped, resulting even assassinations, regime change & foreign funded campaigns

• Media – were made to promote anti-Sinhala / anti-Buddhist news items & 24×7 drill into the minds of locals & international community that all the ills of the nation was the fault of the majority. Notice how a story is quickly twisted to pin blame on the majority & thereafter hardly offer an apology. These tactics are well documented & well-funded & choregraphed. How many of Sri Lanka’s main media give regular column space to Sinhala Buddhists? How many of these editors are Sinhala Buddhists? How many Sinhala Buddhists in media get promoted? A content analysis would reveal shocking results.

• Writers/academics/scholars/panelists/authors/film directors – were given scholarships (or not) if they did not take an anti-Sinhala Buddhist line. Those that did were rewarded with even awards & scholarships for their. These entities are tasked to quickly jump & defend the youth social media teams. If you notice all of these hired scholars will be presenting notion that ‘there is nothing to make a fuss about’. None of them will ever defend the majority as they know the moment they do so – their scholarships / remunerations etc will get clipped. Such is their “freedom” of expression!

• The newest entrants are the social media performers via comedy / skits / satire / youth drama – any form of modus operandi they can think of to impact the youth & young adults (new voters to floating votes) is being now used. Notice their scripts are only targeting Sinhalese Buddhists laughing at their culture/rituals/traditions & belittling these in order to present a psychological notion that it is not fashionable to follow these customs. We now see a direct attack not only on Buddha’s teachings but Siddhartha (before he became the Buddha) – all this is being presented as youth displaying their “creativity” and ‘expression’ – why is this creativity only confined to one topic – Sinhala Buddhists? That is because the funds come only to tarnish Sinhala Buddhists. They have prepared well & they pluck out all sorts of examples and theories to back their case – the effort they take as a group, should make people now wonder what the gameplan is all about & who is behind them. That they are using sophisticated equipment, creative platforms necessitate to ask who is funding them & this would reveal much. None of these are voluntary initiatives.

• All of these new stunts coming one after the other at a pace we cannot even keep up with shows they have been pre-planned & this is taking place alongside the efforts that use schools, school extra-curricular events, foreign-funded youth programs, exchange programs to present to the youth how far they can go in a “liberal” society – embracing that, entails smoking, drinking, doing drugs, experimenting with gays/lesbians, encouraging youth to have early sex & using the universities to rag & erase the cultural innocence of the village girls & boys who enter university to study.

This psychological brainwashing turns cultured children with big dreams to fulfil on behalf of their poverty stricken parents to be dashed & peer pressure forces them to be part of the ‘liberal’ club that is out to disintegrate society, devalue heritage culture & eventually distance children from their parents.

Parents who have experienced this would know the sadness, students who have resisted ended up committing suicide. Is it a surprise that the academics showered with scholarships etc would not attempt to  put the university system on track? So academics & students are being brainwashed & no one is doing anything to stop it.

• We expect much to be done by the Maha Sangha who are an integral part of the Dhamma teachings. However, their weaknesses are tapped & they too are enticed with all types of wordly things & encouraged to promote all types of new ideologies for which they will one day soon get their karma.

This project is subtly being crafted to encourage Buddhists to rebuke the Sangha & in turn discourage them from going to the temple, giving dana, going to the theros for wise counsel & associating the Sangha with their Buddhist homely affairs. We should all identify this & accept this initiative taking place. More importantly, this has to be immediately addressed by us. Here the target groups are parents / senior citizens & the Bhikkhus who are already victimized by JVP/Peratugami ideology and increasing numbers of Bhikkus are becoming prey.

• The Armed Forces & Police & those tasked to maintain/decide on law & order are also subtly under influence via training / assurances of scholarships for their children/promotions etc. There have even been non-Buddhist nightingales sent to preach Buddhism to them in what should be an affront to Buddha/Buddhists/Buddhism.

• Education – this is the root of the plague. The insidious funded campaigns & initiatives to distance the Sinhala language has been artfully drilled using a trumped up official language act. The main target is to remove Sinhalese as that eliminates a core pillar that guarantees the Sinhala Buddhist ethos of Sri Lanka. Governments have failed to protect the Sinhala language while also ensuring adequate English language skills were given to children.

That scholarships, youth programs are given intentionally to the English educated only is a subtle means of marginalizing the Sinhalese language & giving the message that no Sinhalese needs to learn Sinhalese & those that value it will not get ahead in life.

The Sinhala Buddhist associations need to understand this important threat & ensure that children not only value the Sinhalese but are given necessary English education & debate & other skills are developed in both languages to make these students shine with their talents.

We should now comprehend the scale of the onslaughts & the triggers and the cheapsters hired.

What is equally alarming is that while these scathing attacks are taking place, parallelly, the same entities funding the onslaught against Buddha/Buddhism/Buddhists are throwing garlands, learning about Mindfulness, visiting Buddhist sites, issuing glorified statements, sending their military even to learn meditation etc.

Why would the same players mock Buddha/Buddhism & Buddhists yet at the same time attempt to embrace it – as their own. There lies the answer. While they steer Sinhala Buddhists away from Buddhism, these entities are trying to acquire patent to it & thereafter they would decide how Buddhism is spread at what price & when. The aim is to acquire control of the teachings of Buddha as that holds powers that they do not wish to make public. This scenario must be comprehended by all to understand the hypocrisies at play.

The overall aim is to break the Sinhala Buddhist pride/nationalism erase the majority Buddhist ethos & then bring under geopolitical hegemonic control who will be the new non-Sinhala Buddhist flagbearers of Buddhas’ teachings . Are we going to allow this, if for you to answer?

Shenali D Waduge