Only love douses hate, not the hell fire of hate
Exactly two thousand three hundred and twenty two years ago when Indian Emperor Asoka’s son arrived in Lanka with the bowl of the Dhamma and presented his father’s priceless gift of the Buddha’s philosophy to King Devanampiyatissa atop Mihintale rock on a Poson Poya, the Triple Gem of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha has been the refuge of its people and the attendant tenet of non violence to all beings their creed.
One of the fundamental dictates of the Buddha was “Hatred does not cease by hatred but can only be doused with love.” It was not merely towards another human being but to all living beings on earth as manifested in his message” May All Beings Be Happy.”
This staff of ahimsa, of non-violence of Jain origin and adopted and reinforced by the Buddha was the sole staff Mohandas Gandhi employed to defeat the massive fire power the British wielded and had at their disposal to crush the first sign of rebellion and retain safe the Kohinoor diamond that was India on their Imperial Crown.
But in the face of non violence which Gandhi used as his staff and implement, the awe inspiring British
cannons fell silent, their armoury melted as did British hearts and the ‘ nauseating and humiliating spectacle of a onetime Inner Temple Barrister, now a half naked fakir” as Winston Churchill was to describe Gandhi, “striding up the steps of the Viceroys Palace and there to parley with him on equal terms” signaled the surrender of British might on whose Empire till then the sun had never set, before the simple staff of non violence that Gandhi bore.
And how were the mighty British laid low? How were they reduced to the dust and made to leave a continent they had exploited to the full and still unsated yearned for more? The answer lay in the ancient wisdom of India, in the philosophy of the Buddha which one man employed as his only harmless but potent weapon of attack: Non violence, Love to all, no matter how the enemy responds. It’s the same with the teachings of Christ, who lived five hundred years after the Buddha, who exhorted his fellow men to turn the other check if slapped. Not from a position of cowardice but from inner strength. For else, one is but reduced to a puppet dancing to another’s tune and fancy.
That episode in recent times serves as a powerful demonstration of how hatred can be overcome with love, how non violence, ahimsa triumphs over the most evil of intentions and actions.
All that the Buddha had preached was embedded in that Bowl of Dhamma that Emperor Asoka’s son Arahant Mihidu gifted gratis to the Lankan King Devanampiyatissa that Poson Poya day two thousand three hundred and twenty two years ago. Sadly, however, through the years the pristine message became mistranslated, misinterpreted, distorted, even warped beyond recognition and what survives though some core still remains, is largely a deformed form most of all Lanka still mistakenly hold as the Dhamma the Buddha preached two thousand five hundred years ago in the far off plains of Northern India.
But, as said before, some core still survives. For instance, the Kalaama Suthra invites all to question the doctrine of the Buddha and not to accept it without determining for oneself its validity. Where it is blasphemy in other religions to question the scriptures, the Buddha gave his followers a licence to question his teaching before accepting his doctrine.
And central to his teachings was ahimsa, non violence and tolerance and the dictate that how so much one is wronged, to harbour hate is to burn oneself with the fire of hate, that hate will not end in hate but can only be doused with the gentle rain of Love and Compassion.
Easter Sunday’s attack, of course, would have needed a monsoon of rain to douse the hell fires of hate and rage that dwelled within the communities torn apart by the mass tragedy. That is understandable. It’s only natural. But to harbour hate and go living, breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping, dreaming and waking up the following morn harbouring ill will only does harm to oneself. If one follows the religious code not only of the Buddha but all other religious leaders, you will find that an ‘ eye for an eye’ attitude as Gandhi once said, ‘only serves to make the whole world blind.’
The Chief Prelate of the Asgiri Chapter of the Siam Order, the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratana Maha Thera, declared in his Poson sermon his animosity towards the entire lot of Muslims in this country for the vile deeds of a handful.
He said - and it’s recorded on video so none can claim it’s a distortion of his speech - that:
Muslims have poisoned Sinhalese and exhorted the Sinhalese not to eat at their restaurants hereafter. But is there any evidence of a single case of a Sinhalese found dead after having a biriyani at a Muslim eatery. None.
On that blissful Vesak full moon eve when Prince Siddhartha was in the process of attaining enlightenment and giving up his earthly and mental attachments one by one and reached the stage where he relinquished his desires forever and still realised that he hadn’t achieved the ultimate and that one more fetter kept ted to samsara’s wheel, to the law of cause and effect. H realised then that what he had to shed was his own ego that still kept him bound to the wheel, he had to shed his ignorance and only then did he realise enlightenment. So when The Chief Prelate of the Asgiri Chapter of the Siam Order the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratana Maha Thera declared on Poson Poya day that Muslims have poisoned Sinhalese - without having a shred of evidence - he should not be condemned, but to be pitied. Secondly when he said
That a Muslim doctor had made thousands of Sinhala women sterile with the intent of decimating the Sinhala race what is the proof he had- especially when the inquiry is still going on and the law enforcing authorities have still not concluded their investigations, with the findings still to be given to the Attorney General to file action in court and justice to be done in a court of law and the offender yet to be found guilty or not. The Venerable monk’s haste to prejudge the issue is not to be condemned. It is to be pitied. Thirdly, when the Venerable Mahanayake of the Asgiri Chapter blithely tells his people
not to go to Muslim countries what does he mean? Does he mean that all those house maids presently serving there who contribute eight billion bucks to the nation’s economy too must pack up their bags and return home pronto merely because of the prevailing Islamophobia in the island. Can you imagine the damage that will be done to the economy if the Venerable monk’s advice was literally followed? And the monk should not be condemned but only to be pitied.
Fourthly, The Chief Prelate of the Asgiri Chapter of the Siam Order the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratana Maha Thera said
that some upasika ammes have come and said that Muslims should be stoned. This contemplation of violence against any being on earth goes against the very grain, against the very heart of what the Buddha preached.
Even as Jesus Christ said on the cross looking at the mob below braying for his blood, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, the venerable Maha Thera must not be condemned out of hand, but in the best Buddhist tradition should be pitied.