Sangha courts mooted to deal with convicted monks
Mahanayakes and Govt. leaders will meet on July 2 to discuss proposal to set up special tribunals after Gnanasara Thera’s jail uniform stirs controversy
The Buddha Sasana Ministry is proposing to set up special courts to hear cases involving Buddhist monks. The move comes in the wake of the imprisonment of Bodu Bala Sena ( BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera and the controversy over whether he can continue to wear his monk’s robes while in prison instead of the prisoners' uniform.
Buddha Sasana Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera told the Sunday Times that he would propose the setting up of three courts in Kandy, Kurunegala and Ratnapura to hear cases involving Buddhist monks. He said the matter would be discussed with the Mahanayaka Theras at a special meeting to be held in the Parliament complex on July 2.
The minister said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, Justice and Prison Refor ms Minister Thalatha Atukorale, Higher Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam would join him at this meeting with the Mahanayaka Theras.
Meanwhile, the Buddhist Advisory Council will meet the Mahanayaka Theras on July 10 to discuss wide- ranging issues affecting Buddhist monks and Buddhism in general.
The Government’s moves come amidst increasing calls to establish a ‘Sanghaadhikarana’ (Sangha Court) for monks. Among other things, such a court would have the power to decide whether a monk convicted in a court of law can continue to remain a monk and wear his robes while serving his sentence.
The matter came to a head after the Homagama Magistrate on June 14 sentenced the Ven. Gnanasara Thera to one year’s rigorous imprisonment, to be served in six months, after he was found guilty of threatening Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, within the Homagama Court premises.
Prisons Department officials insisted that all prisoners are treated equally, and as such, the monk would have to wear the prison garb just like other prisoners. The BBS and several Buddhist monks protested, stating that civilian authorities had no right to disrobe a monk.
At present, at least 15 Buddhist monks are serving prison sentences after being convicted of various crimes.
Stakes were raised further when the Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abhayatissa Thera of the University of Sri Jayewardene pura said that Gnanasara Thera could, in theory, cease to be a monk if he stopped wearing his monk’s robes for seven straight nights under the Vinaya Pitakaya ( Disciplinary Code for Buddhist monks).
Speaking to the Sunday Times later in the week, the Ven. Prof. Abhayatissa Thera, however, clarified his earlier statement. He said that since Gnanasara Thera had been compelled to give up his robes without his consent, he would still remain a monk even if he were to spend more than seven nights without his monk’s robes. Nevertheless, he said, the incident has created a discourse within Buddhist society and had renewed calls to maintain a suitable balance between the law of the State and the law of the Sangha (Sangha Neethiya).
“In terms of the Sangha Neethiya, the offence Gnanasara Thera was convicted of does not construe a severe offence to be deprived of his Bhikkhu robes,” the Ven. Prof. Abhayatissa Thera said, alleging that the state had forcibly done so. If a monk commits a serious offence such as murder, rape and theft and is found guilty by a court of law, then he should be removed from the priesthood. “Such offences are considered severe, not just by State law but by the laws of the Sangha, too. Any monk who commits such offences will be stripped of his priesthood.”
Elaborating the complexities of the laws that governed the Sangha, the Ven. Prof. Abhayatissa Thera noted that in certain instances, matters that were not treated as offences by lay society were grave offences among the Sangha. For example, a Buddhist monk who engages in sexual relations is liable to be thrown out of the Sangha order, whereas in lay society, sex between two consenting adults is not a crime.
Commenting on the controversy, the Ven. Iththekande Saddhatissa Thera, Convenor of the Ravana Balaya Organisation, said Buddhist monks were not seeking exemptions from the country’s civil laws. “What we are saying is that if a special Sanghaadhikarana is set up, controversies such as the one over Gnanasara Thera and his prison garb could be averted,” he said.
He said that laws should be enacted to empower the Sangha court to assess the gravity of the offence a Buddhist monk convicted by a court of law had committed, and decide whether he should be expelled from the monkhood.
“The Sangha Court will merely rule on whether the person convicted can continue to remain a monk or not. If the Sangha Court rules that the offence is not severe enough to deprive the monk of his priesthood, then he should be allowed to wear his robes during the period of his sentence.”
Though the controversy over Gnanasara Thera’s prison uniform more or less ended on Friday with the monk being granted bail by Homagama Magistrate Thushara Upuldeniya, a Prisons Department spokesman said the Thera was “extremely understanding” of the prison rules and voluntarily gave up his robes for prison attire during his stay in prison.