Image courtesy JVP website

Some priests in ascetic orders who indulge in carnal pleasures, though not very often, do get excommunicated. A prominent catholic priest of high rank in Europe who had allegedly abused a child some twenty years ago was disrobed recently, when the affected party unearthed that case. There are some Buddhist monks too who are not virtuous, but there is no effective mechanism to disrobe them. What happens often is that the person in question himself voluntarily quits the temple. Though they are frowned upon by society as Heeraluvas I esteem them for their courage and honesty in leaving a place where they don’t fit in anymore.

In a certain sense, Peoples …

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There may have been some two to three hundred mourners at his funeral. Most of them seemed to have been his close acquaintances or those known to him at least remotely. I don’t know how many scientists or science fiction writers were there to represent the field of Clarke’s scribe. From Sinhala art field there were two, namely Ajith Thilakasena and Sugath Watagadhara, and one politician, Prof. Thissa Vitharana. From the Buddhist clergy, 19 monks appeared remarkably lacking any public figures among them. They had come uninvited and on their own, not to hold any religious ceremony but to pay their last sincere respects to a great rationalist. No rituals and no eulogies. The funeral lasted barely 15 minutes with …

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Deception has two extreme poles at each end of the untruth. One end is witty, subtle, astute and artistic. A magician, for example, perplexes us with pleasant surprise, tickling our innocent perception of truth as something illusive, though the deceptive role involved in the trick is taken for granted by everyone, magician and spectator alike. And, this trick, as long as it is not disproved hangs in suspension as an “untrue truth”. It is this that mesmerizes us and makes us his easy prey.

The mediocre con artist occupies the other pole of deception. A bald man selling some indigenous oil as a sure remedy for falling hair fits this category. His deception works not in his own smartness but in …

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We all know that a Cease-fire between the two contending parties by itself is no solution to our national conflict. A cease-fire provides only an opening for a tedious journey that we have to undertake to reach a lasting solution. In other words, it is an intermission in the brutal communication carried out by the bullet between two warring parties to seek a breathing space to explore other possibilities of negotiating an end to the conflict in a human and a civilized manner. Given the fact that it was, by its very nature to be temporary and therefore be urgently used to the maximum benefit of both parties in strengthening mutual understanding and building confidence, governments of Mahinda Rajapakse as …

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A few days back, a big poster published by one called Kosgoda Gnanaseeha Thero (B.A. Honors) of Pahingamuwa Gangarama temple could be seen pasted in some places in Kandy area. Its headline was “Solution to the National Question in Sri Lanka- Evict Three Million Aliens”. It was so descriptive that it looked like a whole chapter of a handbook of patriotism than a normal poster. Therefore, only certain sections are quoted here, as would be necessary to understand its basic tenets.

“We urge the UNO to evict three million aliens from Sri Lanka as an effective measure to prevent the conspiracy of exterminating the Sinhala race. The present war, the scarcity of food, obstructing development projects, murdering Sinhala leaders, anti-Buddhist campaigns …

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Tamil residents in Jaffna are reportedly being forced to carry a special document of identification issued by security forces, in addition to the national identity card provided by the Emigration and Immigration Department. In other words, these Tamils have been ignominiously reduced, in the eyes of government authorities, to the status of non-nationals of their own country.

Not only that, in order to get this security clearance, as reported in a weekend newspaper, one is obliged to disclose his/her political affiliations too.

About 20 years ago, the visa application form of the USA in their Paris diplomatic mission contained a rather impolite question like this: “Have you ever been a member of a political party affiliated with Marxism?”

It is possible that the …

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In 1982 the cattle population in Sri Lanka had been 6.7 million, Athuraliye Rathana Thero has said while participating in budget debate in the Parliament. Out of this, normal cattle had constituted 1.3-million while the rest were buffaloes. But by 2000, this cattle population had decreased by 114000, Thero had sadly pointed out.

It is not clear whether his sadness is caused because the cattle population is being dwindled as an economic resource or because he is upholding the cattle’s right to life as a supreme principle. As he is a Buddhist monk, drawing on the Bhuddist tradition and going by the spiritual values of Bhuddism, we can safely presume that it was his pure compassion for animal life that had …

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Today, Karuna Amman is in the police custody of British authorities, charged with entering Britain on a forged passport. As reported in last week’s Sunday Leader, this forged passport used by Karuna had been issued under a name Kokila Gunawardana by the Department of Emigration and Immigration in Colombo. This is not a normal passport that we civilians usually use but a diplomatic one especially issued to diplomats, high-ranking government officials, heads of governments and parliamentary members and ministers etc. If under special circumstances such a passport is issued to a person not holding some important position in the hierarchy of the state, a written request from the Presidential Secretary is needed. It was with this passport with all privileges …

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Last week Thamil Chelvam’s death was celebrated in the South by lighting firecrackers. About one and a half decade ago, the SLFP supporters in the South did the same on the tragic death of President Premadasa.

Then, the assassins of President Premadasa were from the same stock of the person assassinated now. Yet, the common perception of the South at that time amounted to a sort of implicit gratitude towards the perpetrators of the crime, for they did, in the Southern psyche, an invaluable favor in eliminating an alleged despot, on behalf of the South. In that sense, the LTTE was considered a savior in disguise. Today, when that savior was assassinated by an armed force under the command of another …

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