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Author Sarah Malini Perera held ‘for offending Buddhists’ in Sri Lanka
Author Sarah Malini Perera held ‘for offending Buddhists’ in Sri Lanka
An expatriate Sri Lankan woman who wrote two books about her conversion from Buddhism to Islam has been arrested while on holiday in Sri Lanka, apparently for causing offence to Buddhists.
Sarah Malini Perera, who was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in Bahrain since 1985 and converted to Islam in 1999, was arrested last week under the country’s strict emergency laws, according to the police.
They declined to give precise details of the 38-year-old writer’s offence, but suggested that her books were deemed to have caused offence to ethnic Sinhalese Buddhists, who account for about 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million people.
News of her arrest came just a few days after protests by Buddhist nationalists prompted the Sri Lankan Government to refuse a visa to Akon, the Senegalese-American singer who had been due to perform in Colombo next month.
Continued here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7079701.ece
From the Brad Warner Blog
Can I get a "hell no!?"
An expatriate Sri Lankan woman who wrote two books about her conversion from Buddhism to Islam has been arrested while on holiday in Sri Lanka, apparently for causing offence to Buddhists.
Sarah Malini Perera, who was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in Bahrain since 1985 and converted to Islam in 1999, was arrested last week under the country’s strict emergency laws, according to the police.
They declined to give precise details of the 38-year-old writer’s offence, but suggested that her books were deemed to have caused offence to ethnic Sinhalese Buddhists, who account for about 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million people.
News of her arrest came just a few days after protests by Buddhist nationalists prompted the Sri Lankan Government to refuse a visa to Akon, the Senegalese-American singer who had been due to perform in Colombo next month.
Continued here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7079701.ece
From the Brad Warner Blog
Can I get a "hell no!?"
0
Comments
Respectfully,
Raven
http://www.sangam.org/articles/view/?id=142
A lot has been written about religious intolerance among some groups of Sinhalese Buddhists. You'll find a lot more information if you Google.
Everybody wants to believe that their group is superior to other groups. Many Buddhists believe in Buddhist exceptionalism, the idea that Buddhist countries don't go to war, Buddhists are not violent, etc. This is no more true of Buddhists than it is true of Christians and Muslims. We're all human, and Buddhists do everything that other humans do.
"And if she has converted to Islam, I suspect she has other issues."
Nice but judgemental. If she finds Islam a better path for her, maybe it is, you ever think of that?
No actually, your right, if you'd really got somewhere, your right, you wouldnt need to find another religion. (or anything else for that matter)
i agree with you whole heartedly stephen
as a sri lankan woman i can say who ever made that judgement against her is not a buddhist, i mean not a real buddhist
in sri lanka people (most of them) think if they are born to a buddhist family they are buddhists
but i know there are a lot more real buddhists are among catholics (a group of christians in sri lanka)
being born to a buddhist family doesn't mean s/he knows Lord Buddha's Teaching
so please do not dissapointed with sri lankan buddhists
they are just human beings like any other religious persons
But Sri Lanka is about the only place I know of that actually did have a Buddhist war, i.e. a war about Buddhism. It's called the "War of the Tooth" and involved ownership of the relic of the Buddha's tooth in Kandy (a town in Sri Lanka). So we're not totally pure.
Palzang
it is better if you do not spread things if you are not sure of it
no offend please
We used to have public sittings on Sundays where newbies would always come to learn and sit for the first time. As one of the practice "facilitators" I always ran into the same Shangri La syndrome. Buddhism was seen to be the pure (non) Religion that was free of all the bad things they associated with Religion. They idealized it so much, and were so disappointed to hear that Buddhism was just a human organization. ....(They were also disappointed when meditation ceased to be novel and they had to face their own boredom).
It may be a good idea to let new folks in on the humaness of Buddhism so it doesn't distract them from practice when they figure it out.
From dhammawiki:
Thenceforth, the Tooth relic of the Kalinga became an object of great veneration by generations of Kalinga kings until it earned the wrath of brahmanical followers, and consequently several attempts were made to destroy the relic by fanatical rulers. Yet the Tooth relic was miraculously saved from such atrocities, which caused the kings of other states attempted to possess the Tooth relic for personal veneration. Thus, from the beginning, the Tooth relic came to be considered as an important symbol of veneration. The last Indian ruler to possess the Tooth relic was Guhasiva of Kalinga (c.4th century AD).
The final attempt made by a neighboring state to make war with Guhasiva for the possession of the Tooth relic caused this venerated relic to leave the Indian shores. By this time, Buddhism was well rooted in Sri Lanka, and the island rulers maintained close relations with the Indian states that fostered Buddhism. For this reason the Kalinga ruler, in imminent danger of losing in battle, decided to send the Tooth relic to the Sri Lankan king whose ascendants were from Kalinga, the present Orissa.
In fact war is how the tooth ended up in Sri Lanka in the first place. So which part was inaccurate, brother Upekka?
Palzang
such fights (wars) were not in the name of Buddhism but for the power of the kingdom
by the way, i prefer to stay as sister upekka
True, it wasn't, strictly speaking, a war about Dharma. Actually most so-called Christian wars weren't really about Christianity either but about who had the power. The Crusades were not really about retaking the Holy Lands from the infidel Muslims but about controlling trade routes and expanding European control into the Mideast. I was just pointing out that Buddhism (and Buddhist countries) are not completely free of such worldly thinking. The same is true of medieval Japan where warrior monks(!) abounded and took an active role in the many wars and general mayhem of the times. In WWII as well, generally Buddhist monks in Japan supported the nationalistic government in their attempts to annex Asia and turn captive peoples into slaves. Only a very few (such as Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, who later came to the US) resisted.
In general, though, Buddhism and Buddhist countries are much more peaceful than those following the Mosaic traditions. For example, before Tibet became predominantly Buddhist it was the most feared and powerful nation in Asia. Its armies were practically invincible, and they controlled a large empire. After Buddhism arrived, however, the Tibetans abandoned their warlike ways, eventually becoming easy prey for the predatory Chinese.
Palzang
but if we do believe in Dhamma, there is no predatory Chinese, instead kamma vipaka for one and kamma creation for another in the present moment
as Bhante Abayarathanalankara says we all are paying our debts even though we do not see it
there is only one way (path:)) we can transfer our debt into bad debt
that is to practice Noble Eightfold Path
and that also starts from the Right View not before that
so most important thing is to get the Right View
that does not change just because we are christians, muslims, hindus or buddhists
Palzang
'thama thama nena pamanin' published by sarasavi publishers
any criticism (positive or negative) is appreciated by the author
Palzang
from sarasavi book shop, sri lanka
no idea