This is an appeal to all members of the Mahasangha of all nikayas in Sri Lanka and to the men and women of the Buddhist lay community.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka, and even in the world outside, are presently stirred up into celebrating the 2550th Buddha Day. S`E0dhu S`E0dhu S`E0dhu. Enlightenment or Buddhaness which our Buddha S`E0kyamuni Gotama attained at the age of thirty-five more than two and a half millennia ago, is what we should rightly call bodhi or wisdom which is invariably needed for, every Sams`E0ric being to liberate himself from the ills of the painful continuance of the life process. This has to be understood, without ambiguity, as the one and only goal of our religious aspirations in Buddhism. Bodhi-p`F9ja, it must be pointed out, has very little to do with the enlightenment process in Buddhism, and consequently very little with honouring the Enlightened One himself.

Every follower of the creed, each one by himself, has to end up the process of his sams`E0ric journeying in reaching this target which is referred to as Nirvana. There is no such thing as jumping out of a sams`E0ric circle or bhava-cakra to reach Nirvana, as young experts, both monks and laymen, are indoctrinating today large numbers of our academically inclined degree-seeking sophisticated men , and women. There is no jumping out of Sams`E0ra. It is no more than self-operated termination of the continuance of the sams`E0ric process, i.e. no more rolling on of the wheel of life: yattha vattam na vattati. Such triumphant individuals therefore come to be called thereafter nibbut`E0, and consequently the state reached is called nibbuti as in the well known quote laddh`E0 mudh`E0 nibbutim bhu`F1jam`E0n`E0.

This final stage implies that the Sams`E0ric being rolls on no more in the life process of being born and dying: yattha vattam na vattati. And hence being plunged in Sams`E0ric misery or vatta dukkha. In being a Buddhist, this is the most vital issue to be, known and handled with diligence, both by those who deliver the message of Buddhism to others and by those who receive it from the amazingly large numbers of those who are placed positions of delivery. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka has not yet set up a bureau of standards in this area.

But elsewhere, thanks to the advancement in the field of medical science, even the delivery of babies today is no more than child’s play. But forget not that even the culture of test-tube babies has its own history and its limitations. With the dhamma too, the fundamental question all the time has to be ‘Who delivers what in the name of the dhamma in Sri Lanka today?’

Now with this, revivalist, but still a rude, awakening in the year 2006 for the celebration of yet another Buddha Jayanthi, as a prop for an enfeebled and tottering culture [if correctly assessed? ] it may be worthwhile for Buddhist gray-beards and even shaven-headed seniors in the S`E0sana to seriously consider whether the house is in order within the S`E0sana, both with regard to our knowledge of the basic teachings of the Buddha and their practice in the lives of the adherents, both monks and laymen.

As is best known to us, the religious and spiritual culture of Buddhism, leading up to the unalterable goal in Nirvana, is unquestionably gradual and graduated. One does not gain one’s enlightenment through a leap-frog method of mechanically sitting down to meditate: N`E0ham bhikkhave `E0diken’eva a`F1`F1`E0r`E0dhanam vad`E0mi [MN.I.479]. This is more than adequately supported through words like anupubba sikkh`E0 [= gradual culture], anupubba-kiriy`E0 [= gradual training], anupubba-patipad`E0 [= gradual journeying] in the K`ECt`E0ggiri Sutta of the Majhima Nik`E0ya [loc. cit.]. This culture also proceeds in gradual stages, through a three-tiered process called tisso sikkh`E0 The stages are sequential, one following from the former and leading up to the latter.

Just one look at these stages, to avoid any precipitous leaps in the dark. One is expected to commence this religious culture in earnest, with an adequate grounding in moral goodness [s`ECle patitth`E0ya ]. This basic external discipline of word and deed prepares the human individual to fit himself harmoniously into the world in which he has to live, without getting into serious conflict or being contaminated through his erratic thinking in relation to the world, i.e. of grasping through lobha or kama and equally well rejecting through dosa. Words like vitakketi and papa`F1ceti are used to refer to these erratic processes.

We believe that this being watchful about our relations with the external world and our acquisition of s`ECla-culture are reciprocally connected. This in turn, is said to prepare the Buddhist disciple to handle his initial mind culture to put him in focus for the understanding of the true nature of life, i.e. yath`E0-bh`F9ta-paj`E0nana which necessarily converges on the acquisition of wisdom or pa`F1`F1`E0.

This culture of moral goodness or harmonious interpersonal relationships is the basic motivation for the s`ECla-culture of Buddhism. Do people in Sri Lanka, from the very top to the very bottom, know why they habitually take pa`F1ca-s`ECla or Pansil? If the givers know fully well what they give under pa`F1ca-s`ECla, they cannot be so unconcerned about their nonobservance by the takers. Prior to this competitively rushed Buddha Jayanthi celebrations, it would rejuvenate the present dilapidated structure of the major religion of the land, if the authorities check with both monks and laymen, even of the highest rank, how they interpret the injunctions 1, 3 and 5 of the pa`F1ca-s`ECla.

Occupying the very first place in the well known p`E0nca-s`ECla listing, is p`E0n`E0tip`E0ta veraman`EC or abstinence from destruction of life, from human down to animal. It is the unrestricted respect and love for all living things, because of the logic, repeatedly indicated in Buddhist teachings that all love their live’s and do not wish to be destroyed and deprived of it. (Dhp. v. 129)

(Dhp. v. 129)

He who loves his own life cannot destroy the life another. This is in the well known dictum delivered by the Buddha to King Pasenadi Kosala. Nobody knows of another, in any part of the world, who is dearer than oneself.

(SN.I.75)

Remember this respect for life is not necessarily tied up with the animal food one eats. It goes much farther and beyond. Man’s need for food like fish and meat, and wearing apparel like animal skins in leather and furs leads to destruction of living creatures of diverse sorts. It is also to be remembered whether you do the killing in a barbaric or more elegant way, or have it done by another, or even assume that you have nothing to do with it, the crime is one and the same. The Dhammika Sutta of the Suttanipata makes no secret of it for anybody’s sake. The injunctions are firm and clear, even to the modem media preachers who often choose to put their glasses on the blind eye. Here is the Dhammika Sutta of the Suttanipata.

(Sn. v. 396)

As for the sikkh`E0pada No. 3 of pa`F1ca-s`ECla, i.e. k`E0msu micch`E0c`E0r`E0 veraman`EC, everybody in Sri Lanka, both monks and laymen, elite and less elite, pious and less pious, all seem to like it diluted to mean sensual pleasures. Not sexual improprieties. It matters very little to the Buddha or the Dhamma. Carry on as you are used to.

As for the 5th precept of sureraya-majja-pam`E0datth`E0n`E0 veraman`EC, all civilized countries in the world have made a start for its implementation with their Breathalyser testing of testing drunken motorists. Let the wiser Sri Lankans drink their red and white wines up to their own standardized limits, their own mada pantanata. Their medical experts I will stand by their comments. But the Police must indeed prosecute.

One last comment, at a time when we believe, it looks most opportune to make it. We make no apologies. Do Sri Lankan monks and the lay community know the difference between the pan-sil and ata-sil which are in free circulation in the country. A few decades ago, Sri Lankan monks cried even from roof-tops’, pleading for the establishment of a pansil observing society in the land [pansil rakina sam`E0jayak ] We doubt whether anybody knew its implications. Even today, think of the diversity of opinion with regard to the interpretation of these five basic injunctions, specially nos. 1, 3 and 5, as we have already indicated above. Monks do approve and the elegant elite of the land take,, without batting an eye lid, even adulterous vulgarity within the, sanctity of Mam’ed life, with such self-deluding phrases like consensual consent. You know who sponsors these ideas and where?

These are menacing our society like a plague. Do our self-appointed dhamma-custodians not even know what is in our own dhamma such as sahas`E0 sampiyena v`E0? We are quite sure, sampiyena va and that with adequate evidence, that every body in all ranks are willing to gleefully continue like this, with the comforting belief that all these in life will end in death. Has the state, headed by Buddhists or non-Buddhists, a role to play in arresting this ceaseless decadence that is taking place ?

Pansil and ata-sil in the life of a Buddhist are like gear changes in a motor car. Higher the gear, like the 4th or the 5th one enjoys a higher Cruising speed. But pulling power, up hill or down 1, is less. In a motor car, descend to a lower gear, and while the cruising speed lessens, the pulling power increases. In the same way, in Buddhist s`ECla practice, the higher we go from pansil to atasil, one’s spiritual power increases and proportionately, one also gets nearer to one’s goal, of Nirv`E0na. The additional precepts 6, 7 and 8 together with the revised 3"’ precept one advances much in one’s religious culture. People in this country, together with their religious clergy, know what ata-sil means. They have been derailed. No Mauer who is to be blamed. Let us feel, the need to correct ourselves.