Somewhere, somehow we all have been hurt…

If your heart has courage to hate, then it has an equal courage to love as well.

Hatred and love are like two sides of a coin. We all have a light and dark inside us, but what matters is the part we choose to act upon – that’s who we really are.

For all of us, every day is a choice between the right and the wrong, or one or the other. We all are in a constant struggle – an identity crisis. We struggle every passing moment with the given identity of culture, religion and race. At times we are privileged because of this identity whereas at other times we are discriminated against.

It is a tough task to phrase all my experiences and thoughts into few words, because I’ve listened to many friends of mine from North, East, South and so on. They all have got painful histories regardless to which community they belong – but that one thing I noticed, they all have in common is grief. I believe, grief of one community is not inferior to another. This is the reason, I want everyone to understand that our stories are similar in one way or another – even though our stories are different our pain is mutual.

A child born today will soon learn about the 30 year old brutal civil war in Sri Lanka. He will learn the story from either a defeated or victorious side, not knowing that in a war we all are losers. He will be told that one was right and the other was wrong, and will be taught to choose a side. This history will then be embedded into his identity and personality. Hatred will be passed from one generation to another, continuing something immoral in our society. Thereby, we inherit our identity rather than building one.

For most of us, race, religion and culture are elements of the identity which were given to us; but at the end of the day we fight for this identity which was not even our choice in the first place.

Since 1948, for 68 years how many years have we had a real independence? Out of 68 years, we have fought with each other for over 40 years. We have had a civil war, JVP insurrection, Bodu Bala Sena and various other unrest situations. Our fights take different forms, but they go on and on. Being a Sinhalese-Buddhist woman I feel, it is important that Sinhalese get involved in the reconciliation process as they are the larger ethnic proportion. Also, it is important that Buddhists get involved in bringing in social justice, and women get involved in bringing in social equity.

If you ask me what is the most beautiful thing about Sri Lanka; I would say it is our amazing Diversity. Sri Lankan culture is rich with diverse food, clothes, festivals, communities, race and religions. The question is what we are going to do with this diversity? Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sinhalese, Tamils, Burghers, should not just ‘tolerate’ each other, but should be ‘accept’ each other. We should be respectfully celebrating our rich diversity that makes us all proud Sri Lankans.

I feel that our culture has been so embedded within the religion, that as a result we sometimes ignore the realities, inevitably excluding some people. We Sri Lankans should divert ourselves to build an inclusive society where, we all are accepted for who we are. We all love kawum and kokis, buriyani and watalappam, thosey and wadey, and milk wine and Burgher nap. Just as much as we like those things from other communities, we must love its people too.

What we need to understand is that; war left not only Sinhalese widows in the South, but Tamil and Muslim widows in the North. We have not only Tamil orphans from war but also Sinhalese and Muslim orphans. The war hurt those who left the country as just as much as it hurt those who stood back in the country. All our divisions are manmade and delusional.

As a Sinhalese-Buddhist representing the religious and ethnic majority of Sri Lanka, I believe it is the majority’s responsibility to stand up for minority rights – just so that, one day we can get rid of these concepts of ‘majority’ and ‘minority’, where we are able to think of one human race, and have faith in humanity.

It only takes courage to apologize to a person outside your religion and race; and we must have the courage to do so, because during the process somewhere, somehow we all have been hurt.

Presented by Thevuni Kotigala, at Sri Lankan Harmony Day 2016, Melbourne on 6th March 2016 at Mulgrave Community Centre. Harmony Day pave the way for Sri Lankans living in Australia to meet and form links beyond religious, ethnic, political, cultural and other divides.

Thevuni Kotigala is a 23 year old Sinhalese Buddhist, who is an undergraduate of University of Sri Jayawardenepura. Her passion is on serving the world, and she believes in peace and reconciliation.

And then He created ‘Man and Woman’

Ashamed,
Like a volcanic eruption they fall,
Thick, black, foul, venomous air in the horizon
Mammoth tower fallen
Silence,
Is this what I believe in?
Most Gracious!
Most Merciful!
Not paranoia!
Not murder!
Not self-righteousness
Naked,
Feeling exposed to thoughts and visions
Beliefs and People
Insecurity –
Then Acceptance,
Acceptance –
To Honour,
Honour –
To Love,
‘Love thy neighbour’ Quote,
Some don’t get it
Belief is Funny-company
Some Run,
Some Hide
I love
I believe.

~M. Ramzi Zaindeen

Presented by M. Ramzi Zaindeen, at ‘Breaking the Golden’ Rule Open Mic Night, on 23rd January 2016, at Lentil as Anything, Footscray, Melbourne.

The Keeper of Order

It is my belief and an obvious fact that ‘order’ is the key for the existence of anything at all. In the same way it is a necessity for human existence and the continuance of the world that ‘order’…

Source: The Keeper of Order

Religion: A way to better life, or way to chaos?

I was born with the religion ‘Buddhism’ labeled on to me. I was not a person who got the opportunity to choose what I should believe in, but it was a default decision made for me by my parents. But, I’m grateful that I got the opportunity to learn about the way of Buddha, and his teachings with his ideas on what is wrong and what is right.

For years, since I have been able to think for myself and make my own decisions, I followed what I was taught. I didn’t know back then if I had enough knowledge to question what I get to hear, and I didn’t know whether I was right or wrong. But what I’m grateful about being a born Buddhist, is that I got the mental stability and clarity to question each decision. I got to clear my doubts and I got to reject if I was not too convinced; yet if there were consequences for neglecting, I would be in a state of mind to face them.

My studies in high school were based on natural sciences and mathematics, where some people consider it to be the most righteous way to adjust lives accordingly. Yet, people from all religions and ways of life experiences the brutality of trying to find the absolute truth in everything. Which I think is the question; ‘What is absolute truth?’

Every religion has common as well as widely different definitions, to say what is right from wrong for different subject matters. Most of them have basic common ground rules to follow if we want to follow the path of the defined righteousness of a specific religion. For example, one religion might say that you are not ought to kill any living beings, while another say you are allowed to kill animals if it’s to satisfy the basic human need such as hunger or starvation. That choice for many people is based on what they choose to believe in when they are born to this world. But that decision, fortunately or unfortunately, is not something that person makes with rational justification therefore the question remains; what is truth? So, sometimes you find people blindly follow something to the extreme ends not knowing if it is the real truth or not; yet choose to believe in it anyway. I would not be a judge of that.

In my opinion, this truth is different from one religion to another. What would be accepted by some people would be unaccepted by the others. Therefore some situations bring about conflicting situations through misunderstandings. But one must question before taking any actions as to; who are we to question another person’s belief, and who are we to say this is the real truth. Is it really worth it, to put humanity in jeopardy to protect something not knowing if it’s the absolute truth? Do we honestly have the right to say if Buddhism, Christianity, Muslim, Hindu, Atheism or whichever the religion or way of life is the one true way of life?

We are born with a brain to think and feel. Therefore, I firmly believe that moderates should stand up against anything that promotes conscious discomfort to another, from the way we practice our beliefs. If there’s a difference of opinion what should be done as human beings is to discuss and understand without fighting over it.

My opinion over religion; although I question everyone’s beliefs as to why they would, that is only for my personal evaluation. I believe that religion is an essential part for a growing mind since it gives (although I’m not 100% correct) some ideas on what life is and to value another human being. Without such guidance the world could be in chaos, the law and judiciary system will not be able to find a proper base to rectify actions done by another human being. People come out to the world with no clue but only wanting to seek the truth. Therefore, a child, who comes to learn a specific religion, should learn to respect another person’s belief while they respect what they learn, and be able to learn from other religions as well.

The best example I would have is on my beliefs. As a person who dedicated many years to study natural sciences, I used to always have a different mindset and a disregard for people who would mention about Gods, and their divine powers. However, I had an interesting conversation with my girlfriend who is a Roman Catholic, where she explained the concept of considering God as energy. Her point was, what if there is a certain thing called positive and negative energy which relates to the action one does? What if God is this energy where positive energy will circulate to give a positive impact and negative energy gives negative spirits? Although my idea on God is different, I respect those who believe in it hoping that they do so not just blindly, but with a believable reason.

For my brothers and sisters who have been reading this up to now, I have only one simple humble request. Whether to act upon on it or to neglect is solely the reader’s decision. I’m not concluding as to which religion or way of life is the best, because it’s always someone’s opinion. Therefore, my request is; be grateful to the religion you were born with for all the good things you’ve learnt from it, but be open minded enough to know that for all religions people follow it with a reason, so find that reason, take the good things you can take in to your life no matter what that religion is, and be respectful to other’s beliefs. Whatever you choose to do, don’t forget that despite all the differences in beliefs there’s one thing we all have in common; which is being a human. So embrace it, spread the love through humanity, and find your real truth. Don’t let religion; the spiritual experience that gives peace, be a factor to cause violence.

Thilanka Liyanage is a 21 year old Sinhalese, Theravada Buddhist. He is an undergraduate of University of Colombo, in Faculty of Science and he is also an undergraduate of Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka College of Engineering.