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It has come to light that there is a worldwide chain of liquor bars
and restaurants named "Buddha Bar."
The Buddha is a religious leader who preached the Dhamma and the five
precepts recommended by Him from the foundation of ethics for the
Buddhist Laity.
One of the five precepts is to abstain from liquor that causes
intoxication and heedlessness. Thus to name liquor bars after Him is
most hideous. Perhaps they use the name for liquor bars to ridicule the
Buddha Dhamma, proving to what extent they are uncultured, uncivilised
and uneducated.
And they carry on regardless as the Buddha Dhamma does not promote
violence and Buddhists refrain from violence. What would happen if a
chain of liquor bars is opened in the name of another religious leader?
Some of the places that "Buddha Bars" are known to operate are: UK
(London), USA (New York where the UN headquarters is based, Washington),
France (Paris where UNESCO is based), Ireland (Dublin), Czechoslovakia
(Prague), Ukraine (Kiew), Lebanon (Beirut), Egypt (Cairo),
Czechoslovakia (Prague), Indonesia (Jakarta) and Brazil (Sao Paulo). We
have embassies in most of those countries.
It is surprising that the embassy staff were deaf, dumb and blind to
"Buddha Bar" issue. The Buddha Sasana and Foreign Ministries should take
this up with the respective governments.
Upali S Jayasekera
Being an ex-serviceman, I really cannot understand the way that the
government treated the Armed Forces pensioners over the issue of our
basic pension increment which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers
on 24th December 2009. Accordingly the Department of Pensions issued the
Circular No. (...........) 6/2010 on 29th June 2010 advising the
concerned authorities to arrange payments as approved by the Cabinet.
Overruling the both, the Cabinet approval and the Pension Department
Circular, the Department of National Budget released a Circular NO. BD/GSP/253/9/1
on July 6, 2010. According to the DNB circular, the increment is
entitled for the officers and other ranks who were on duty at the time
of war victory on May 19, 2009 and not the officers and other ranks who
completed a service period of 22 years in the Army, Navy and Air Force.
It is well understood that the Cabinet Paper No. 09/1919/317/063 was
submitted to increase the basic pension of the officers and other ranks
of the armed forces and not the war heroes in the battle field on May
19, 2009.
Reason for stoppage is not known.
Mahinda Nihal Perera Moratuwa
Bhadraji Mahinda Jayatilaka wrote his first novel in 1971, when he
was 17 within the span of four decades. Bhadraji has written over 40
novels and released his latest novel on December 7 at the publishing
house of Dayawansa Jayakody.
Bhadraji has won the state literary award twice, first for the best
translation ('The Yellow Robe' by Ven Walpola Piyananda Thera; Dayawansa
Jayakody publication) and the second for the best English language
children's book 'Purple planet' (Sandakada publication). He has also won
the prestigious D R Wijayawardana award in 1995 for the best novel and
the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress Award for the best novel written under
a Buddhist theme in 2008. (Dineka Kusinarawe, Sarasavi Publication).
Eric Fehr scored twice as the Washington Capitals got the New Year
off to a soggy but successful start with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh
Penguins in a rainy Winter Classic on Saturday.
Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead thanks to Evgeni Malkin but the Capitals
hit back with goals from Mike Knuble and Fehr, who stole the spotlight
from the NHL's leading scorer, the Penguins Sidney Crosby, and
Washington team mate Alexander Ovechkin.
Steady rain and unseasonably high temperatures had forced the NHL to
push back the opening face off for the showcase outdoor game to 2000
local time.
Mother Nature had threatened to ruin the NHL's New Year's Day party
but conditions improved just enough to allow the NHL's signature event
to go ahead in front of sold-out crowd of 68,111 at Heinz Field.
Reuters
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