vaccines and “swine” flu The whole world has panicked with the spread of the new strain of influenza A, named H1N1. The original misnomer ‘swine flu’ made some of our officials consider banning the import of pork! Two years ago it was the ‘Bird flu’, with some people giving up on eating chicken! When there [...]
Archive of entries posted on November 2009
Ravana & the R.A.S.
R.A.S. & the RAMAYANA The Hindustan Times has reported today that our Royal Asiatic Society has claimed “The Tourist Board has been over the last couple of years marketing Sri Lanka to India as the abode of Ravana of the Hindu mythological epic the Ramayana. This is a total travesty and a future danger for [...]
Animals in concentration camps
Some of the recent deaths of animals in captivity in our zoological gardens, had been blamed on the visitors. The real blame should be accepted by the authorities who manage these prisons. Who collect innocent animals from around the country, and from around the world and who keep these animals in small cages for life. [...]
Caste in Buddhism
In the Supina Sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya, we hear of the four different coloured birds who alight at the feet of the Buddha and all of them turn white. Today the many coloured birds who alight at the feet of the statue of the Buddha, not only remain in their original colours, but they [...]
Five Precepts in Buddhism
In our country, we claim we have the purest and highest form of Buddhism and that we have preserved it for 2500 years, and with about 75% of the people in the country claim to be Buddhists. Most of these 15 million Buddhists recite the Five Preceots regularly, often several times a day. 1. Panatipata [...]
Islamization of Buddhism
Transformation of Buddhism In Sri Lanka, the Dhamma preached by the Buddha has gone through many transformations. First we had the Hinduization, bringing in Hindu deities into our temples, sometimes converting them to ‘Buddhism’. Next came the Christianization, which led to the coining of the term ‘Protestant Buddhism’. This was influenced more by Christians who [...]