Some thoughts on Christchurch
The terrible massacre of innocent people in a mosque in Christchurch is more than heartrending. First, it was in a church in USA, then in a mosque in Philippines and now it is in two mosques in Christchurch. Of course, Buddhists will accept it as Karma.
It is only a matter of time before another massacre will take place as a retaliation for what happened at Christchurch or as a continuation of what happened at Christchurch.
Could the disaster at Christchurch have been prevented? I believe yes, at least it could have been made more difficult to execute. The mistake was that the New Zealand government and the people of New Zealand did not recognize that such a thing could happen in their country. To show solidarity and concern and protectiveness is well and good. But it should have been done before this incident occurred, by anticipating such an outcome.
In Sri Lanka, like in New Zealand different communities exist without any effort to understand each other.
Because nobody realized the danger of not understanding and not working together between the two main nationalities (races) in Sri Lanka, a 30-year war was fought with indescribable damage. The effects of that war are still with us. A similar war based on different religions is too horrendous even to think of.
May I suggest to the relevant authorities to think about this issue and act before it is too late.
A suggestion would be, say for Buddhists (I am not sure how practical it is) to invite people of other religions to participate at least as observers and try to understand each other during these meetings. The other religions can reciprocate and hopefully an atmosphere of friendship (or at least of tolerance) will develop between different communities.
May be (I know I am asking for trouble here!!) we can tone down the ever present loudspeakers in regular public demonstrations of Buddhist events so that other communities will not feel too alienated.
For me, it is the ultimate irony (I nearly said the ultimate tragedy!!) that when the ultimate goal of Buddhism is the ending of Samsara here and now which can only be achieved in meditation undertaken in isolation in your home (yes, I am doing it full time), the emphasis in society is to do everything other than that.
Dr. Asoka Thenuwara Colombo