Pri's blog

An article in the Daily Mirror  of 22 April reports a call from the National Sangha Council  that asks that Colombo not be made a Chicago or a Bangkok.  It is a protest against the casino bill that will be presented to the Sri Lankan parliament this week.   I don’t know about Chicago, but I am right now in Bangkok, and I marvel, as I have always done, how Thai people practise their religion, Buddhism, alongside their highly consumerist life style, with little pretense or hypocrisy.  The Sanga walk collecting alms every morning in the city.  I have never seen that in Colombo. And it would seem that the gods of consumerism and the gods of religion sit comfortably side by side, with the people of Bangkok constantly worshipping at street temples in the course of their day to day activity, showing respect to the gods as they go about their daily routine. May be a little more Bangkok style Buddhist piety,  may not be a bad thing...

I don’t really DO Christmas... and my best December 25ths have been spent in  London in my sister’s flat, drinking the rather lethal hot punch my brother-in-law prepares, watching Bond movies on television while the men (brother-in-law and son) prepare the Christmas meal; stuffing myself up with whatever fantastic menu they decide to lay out at whatever time (brunch, high tea, supper), and then full of good food and drink, falling asleep on the couch only to wake up on boxing day, happy that the whole event for that year at least, is behind me!  This year I am in Colombo.   As season’s greetings flood my inbox, facebook, twitter, etc etc  and the Christmas songs reach such a crescendo on Gold FM as I drive frantically to and from Arpico, Selyn, Barefoot, Paradise Road, Rhithi (cannot handle a pre-Christmas ODEL, I am afraid) filling in the gaps in my gift list, there are three thoughts I would like to share with you... The first thought  is related to ...

There was an interesting debate among colleagues that was triggered by the simple fact that I shared the official government calendar for 2014.  The Calendar has, as it has had in the previous year, and possibly many years prior to that,  the sub title -  Buddhist Era 2557-2558. This triggered a discussion on whether it was appropriate to have that on the calendar or not.  The argument against seemed to be based on it being seen as an imposition by the State of Buddhism, into areas that are perceived as secular and non-religious. [Though of course, as was pointed out,  the Gregorian Calendar is not really secular at all, based on the fact that it counts the years from the birth of Christ!] What was interesting was that we were having this debate at all.  Obviously, the current context has made us all ultra sensitive to certain issues, and the whole question of a state religion led some of us to be uncomfortable, others to be resentful (not overtly ma...