Same applies to Akon and his insensitivity towards Buddhism .

Isn’t this what all those people, including groundviews, wanted us to do? “Practice Buddhism” instead of demeaning the dhamma by protesting? So why make a fuss, just say “whatever” and move on… it’s the best way of standing up for Buddhism isn’t it?

The same Tourist Board that invited Akon to perform in Sri Lanka in the first place also promoted, as part of its officially sanctioned marketing material, a meditative Buddha tattooed rather attractively on a woman’s bare back – http://www.lankatruth.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5083:govt-shaken-by-lankatruth-article–removes-tattooed-woman-from-online-copy-of-daily-news&catid=35:local&Itemid=62

One can only gather that being in the Rajapaksa government gives one the license to wantonly desecrate Buddha statues and indulge in the odd tattoo of the Buddha without too much of bad karma, because after all, they are all great patriots, which Akon is clearly not.

a humble poem –

Don’t stone yourself

When all illusion
is stripped down
To naked facts
(Naked facts – that go deeper
than naked bodies)
Reflect on the words
Of the Great Master
Meet our eternal companions
Our three companions in suffering
Self deception – our common ground
And its two unruly kids
Passion and aggression
Everything we build
We build on these three rocks
So why throw little stones
At your own reflections
Your brothers and sisters are
But mirrors of your soul
Don’t stone others
You stone yourself

It is not Kalana Senevirathna and sholud be Kalana Senaratne who wrote the article
“Aroused by Akon’s Sexy Bitch: the Rise of Sinhala-Buddhist Fundamentalism?

Thanks!

Thanks!

If you have no feelings about worldly things everything is buddhism. If you have feelings about buddhism then it is a worldly thing ….

Permit me to use a western phrase. What is all this blah, blah, blah has to do with

“… Buddha was first a Hindu…”.

Pull the anger waaay back dude, try some of that meditation & try to think rationally about what’s going on. Here are the known facts as discussed at this article & some possible ways things could have been handled better (also, chill out on the “more patriotic than thou” rhetoric – i am sure the vast majority of the people who are here love Sri Lanka one way or another, it’s just this is not the middle ages any more and many well meaning people here see better alternatives to how things were handled re: this Akon vs GOSL & some Buddhists conflict):

1. US musician accidentally (according to him) insults Buddhism.

2. In response, GOSL denies a Visa to the musician so that he cannot go to SL & perform/work. A bit overboard of a response, but, that’s from an enlightened modern/secular (or ancient Eastern, take your pick – maybe Lokayata?) perspective that believes in & forgives human faults & also believes in freedom of speech, also the government’s choice to placate a major constituency by responding to their request/sympathizing with their anger over a perceived insult.

3. So, thus far, a bit backwards, but, alright for an emerging democracy (or even a well developed democracy, such actions – governments doing sometimes bizarre things to keep many of their voters happy happens everywhere – even in the US & “the west”).

4. But then things go way overboard – what’s up with people attacking a TV station? How is damaging a Sri Lankan institution going to benefit Sri Lanka?

Anyway, obviously there are many Sri Lankas – just as there are many Americas – the ultra conservative, violent, racist, xenophobic, ultra-religious one as well as the liberal, open, humanistic, humane one to whom entertainment is just entertainment & not some conspiracy to destroy Buddhism or undermine Sri Lanka. So those two sides plus Akon & the GOSL got pulled into this debate/conflict/whatever.

I think, in the long run (or the short run) what matters to millions of Sri Lankans is being able to survive – having enough work, money, etc, & then building good lives for themselves – now that the war is over (& I seriously doubt that any sane person believes that SL Buddhism is threatned by Akon or any other trivial perceived insult to Buddhism caused accidentally by “Westerners”). From that perspective, the ultra-right wing Buddhist fundamentalists may want to calm down a bit – not get worked up over every little perceived insult & then start a mini-riot. Akon fans are not the LTTE, also people putting on a show to make money is not the end of Sri Lanka. Economic activity is a good thing. This whole issue makes it look like that Buddhist fundamentalists are just looking & aching for the next war – on edge, on alert, can’t handle peace & normal life (that includes people paying money to see a musicians that some say is aweful). What SL may have now (in some parts at least) is not Theravada Buddhism, but a new kind of a Militant Buddhism – thus not Buddhism at all, but a reason to go to war on the pretext of defending Buddhism – perhaps the kind of thing that gave rise to the Kmehere Rouge (sp?) in Cambodia (probably not, but your disdain for educated people who may want to give a fair shot to both Eastern & Western ideas does not look healthy, could lead to very very bad things), also we’ve got shades of Burma/Myanmar military junta feel/ideas going on here.

Anyway, hope things calm down on this front – not looking forward to hearing about a new war – one between Rural Buddhist Types vs. Everyone Else in Sri Lanka next year.

Also, keep in mind – Sri Lanka has a lot going for itself – it can be both a great tourist attraction & a place to further develop an ancient, multi-ethnic, multi-religious (yes, mostly Buddhist) & secular country/civilization into the 21st century (& have it do very well in the 21st century). Really, with all its assets, if the paranoid & violent people (& the corrupt) were not to get in the way/kept out of the way, SL can probably pull out of poverty & underdevelopments all kinds in a very brief period of time (& yes, maybe even producing some local international pop stars – Buddhist rap coming out of SL & going global? who knows, everything is possible – as long as the trigger happy folks are kept in check).

- S

We as Buddihsts should not take Akon as serious as Talibans who destroyed Bamiyan Buddha staues http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0301-04.htm and should show tolerance towards non-buddhists who use buddha statues as ornaments without knowing relegious value of it.

Buddha said no use of worshiping my statues or images, if you want to lead a good life follow my Dhamma. Buddha said: If you want to respect me follow my dhamma do not worship staues/image. Now, how many of us followng his dhamma before criticising Akons “sexy bitch”?

About Sirasa “Stone Protest”, those are political thugs (Kelaniya Dr. Mervin clan perhaps). They should be arrested and send to rigorous imprisonment. If we are real buddhists we should follow “ahimsa”, the Non-violence.

According Sigmund Freud’ psychoanalytic theory of personality, “sex” and “aggression” are key drives to a persons behaviour or personality.

Sex: represents our drive to live, prosper, and produce offspring

Aggression: represents our need to stay alive and stave off threats to our existence, our power, and our prosperity

The personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality known as the id(primitive behaviors), the ego (acceptable in the real world) and the superego (moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society).

So, to coexist we need to control ourselves according standards set by the society (maintain “ego” and avoid “id” ). Such standards should seperate sexual arousal out of religious places and symbols.

May the tripple gem (buddha,dhamma sangha) bless all including Akon!

It seems that this singer brat is fortunate than so called educated puppets of our country who have no value of anything of this country but worship even shit coming from the west. Our educated imitators are an unfortunate bunch of idiots, who don’t see the gold mine lying under their own feet. They have no dignity, rather than singing praise songs even to the wind coming from the west direction.These educated imitators lick the boots of western ideologies blindly to earn a penny to protect their pot bellies and do not do any productive service to this country. I think some of them will now open their eyes because a a westerner has converted to Buddhism. When the Buddhism is coming from the west our idiots will compose praise songs.

What a bunch of imitators we are having?

I think “Munge as gedi walata hena gahala” as Mahinda Thero of Tibet said.

Thanks!

Shall I now show you how you ran away last time from the debates, as you now indicate you want to wind up the present debate?

I don’t want to humiliate people, but I would be very much like if you don’t forget your past (and your mother, country, language, religion and be a bit grateful to them too).

Thanks!

It is not very easy to re-establish your broken pride. You cannot do it with semantic tricks alone. It is still harder with me.

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice! May you attain the Nirvana you seek, but please look after yourself first. Don’t try to force the rest of us there!

Thank you.

Truth is a killer! It is like the sensation you feel after a strong arrack! The truth is that Mahinda Rajapakse does good business with China and Mahinda Rajapakse has no business with the Dalai Lama. I did not request Dalai Lama to visit Sri Lanka. He made the request himself, China said no-no to Mahinda, and you can guess the result. That is exactly what happened.

If I believe so what is it for you? I think non of your business.

Please learn Buddhism and see, you also might believe so. But there was a pig slaughter next to the temple where Buddha lived, killing pigs through out his life.

Manik gele paya hapunata kana ehindal ganeeda?

May Tripple Gems Bless you!

You are under the influence of hatred (for being defeated), dear somewhatHatred or sorry, sorry, disgusted after the lost. Don’t get angry, it is normal losers get angry. Failures are the pillars of success.Please calm down. Maithree Meditation is good for you.

(If you want I can show how you ran away from the debates last time and absent for a long time in the forum until the viewers forget them.)

If the above cure doesn’t work tell me, I can give you the same treatment.

Thanks!

Cheers! (be merry!, be happy!!)