At the opening ceremony of a Buddhist shrine at Labugama Horana the Minister for Buddha Sasana is reported as having said that due to the lack of Buddhist monks 1,000 temples were without Viharadhipatis (Abbots in charge). ‘The Island’ of 24/8/04 reported this, and the Minister deplore this sad trend in the exodus of monks from the Sangha. He attributed this to several causes viz. paucity of boys seeking ordination, young monks disrobing for lay jobs after graduation, the limiting of families, to two children because of family planning, NGO evangelists converting the poor by material inducement, and the inability of the rural poor in the backwoods to support their monks and other similar reasons. Recently the Asgiriya Primate reported the closure of some 100 temples in the North and NCP for similar reasons. A Sunday Sinhala newspaper reported a lengthy list of Raja Maha Vihara temples in Sabaragamuwa Province being closed due to the dearth of monks. These reports are disconcerting and call for remedial measures by the Buddha Sasana Ministry and the governing bodies of the Siamese Amarapura and Ramanna Sects.
The function of the Buddha Sasana Ministry is to foster and protect the Sasana. If it cannot or is incapable of doing this it’s better scrapped than wasting collosal amounts of public money on cosmetic ventures and palliative measures. The minister has suggested an International Conference of Buddhist countries towards the end of the year to find ways and means of putting Sinhales Buddhism on an even keel, and save it from the doldrums and the drift to ruination.
Indeed the depletion of monks is a matter for grave concern. The disregard for Vinaya discipline and monks taking to party politics and money earning professions forebodes the doom of the Sasana. The higher education of monks in lay universities for job-oriented secular professions undermines the aims and ideals of the Sangha. The cast-system entrenched in the Sinhala Sangha Contributes to the doom of the Sasana. The landlordship of the higher echelons of the Sangha contributes to the poverty of the rural monks in the backwoods. According to the Buddha’s Vinaya, Sangika property should be the common property of the Sangha. It should be administered in such a manner that the income of temples with large temporalities should be distributed in a way to maintain the poor temples and the legitimate needs of its monks. The Sangha is still functioning in the medieval and feudal set up of the Sinhala Kings. It is not geared to meet the contingencies and requirements of today, where social, economic and political changes have taken place. Unless there is an overhaul and streamlining the Sangha organisation and structure, Buddhism will be a failure unable to withstand the competition from better organised and more democratic Christian missionaries.
Therefore, what is required to remedy the sorry state of affairs in the Sangha today is a Sangha Council to overhaul the Sinhalese Buddhist Sangha. It should introduce reforms in recruitment, education, training and administration of the Sangha conforming to the essential Vinaya requirements. We need not beg for financial assistance from foreign Buddhist countries. Our resources and brain power of the Sangha leaders is enough to remedy all the misfortunes of the Sangha and put Buddhism on an even keel.
The Sangha Hierarchy of the three sects is not willing to give up casteism in the Sangha. They are not willing to share temple and devale temporalities in a common fund to be administered to maintain all monks and temples. They are not willing to recognise the newly revived Bhikkuni order and share the benefits to the Sangha with them. They are not prepared to recognise the 2500 Dasa Sil Matas as junior Buddhist Nuns (Samaneris) and share the resources of the Sasana with them. The Sinhala Buddhist laymen spend their wealth on Wesak pandols, illuminations, golden fences round Bo-trees, gigantic Buddha statues on hill tops and such foolish venture. People of others religions are not so foolish. They should reserve their wealth for more enduring ventures such as social services, poverty alleviation, houses for the aged and orphans etc. Buddhists are not able to compete with them as their wealth is squandered on the above mentioned follies and Peraharas. All this indiscretions must be reduced to the barest minimum. The Sangha Council that meets to reform the Buddha Sasana must eliminate all these malpractices, and bring the Sangha under one umbrella leadership. The progress of Sinhalese Buddhism will depend on the feasibility of such reforms. Otherwise the Buddha Sasana Ministry will continue to be a white elephant playing second fiddle to a corrupt, casteist, and landlord hierarchy of Mahanayakas, who by their neglect for reforms will lead Sinhalese Buddhism to its doom and graveyard.
