Maha Sangha has protected country for over 2,500 years - PM

Nimal WIJESINGHE-A'pura Additional District group corr

The Maha Sangha have been protecting the country, the nation and the religion for over 2,500 years. Today, there is an atmosphere where certain enemy forces are trying to invite foreign powers to enter the country for gaining their narrow and unpatriotic ends, said Prime Minister D M Jayaratne.

"I, as the Prime Minister on behalf of the government and President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeal to the Maha Sangha to be on the alert and vigilant about such inimical forces," he said.

The Prime Minister was addressing the inaugural session of the three day International Buddhist Conference (IBC) 2012 held at the Anuradhapura Dulyana hotel auditorium, yesterday.

The IBC is being organized and sponsored by the Anuradhapura Buddhasravaka Bhikkhu University of Sri Lanka on the guidance of Vice Chancellor of the University Ven Prof. Thumbulle Seelakkhandha Nayaka Thera with the support of the Higher Education Ministry.

One hundred and fifty foreign Buddhist delegates, including intellectuals, both clergy and laymen representing universities and recognized Buddhist associations in 15 countries are participating in the international summit which ends on February 19.

The Prime Minister said that the Maha Sangha of Sri Lanka as well as of other Buddhist countries had played a historic role in the preservation and promotion of Buddhism in their respective countries.

"The Buddhist laymen were depending on the Buddhist clergy for the preservation of the pristine purity of the Buddhist teachings", the Prime Minister pointed out.

"The message of the Buddha which is so relevant to the present world has to encounter many obstacles for its very survival in Buddhist countries.

Poverty in the Asian countries has provided ample opportunity for other religions to attract the impoverished Buddhist laymen of such countries to their respective faiths by offering material benefits.

This has been becoming an alarming feature to the detriment of Buddhism in these countries" Jayaratne emphasized.

Higher Education Minister S B Dissanayake said that he strongly believed that this was the right time to reform the Bhikkhu education system to suit the modern world.

He said that efforts should be made to learn the diverse and rich Buddhist traditions in different countries and we must endeavour to work together towards propagating the teachings of the Buddha.

Vice Chancellor of the Bhikkhu University Ven Prof Tumbulle Sri Seelakkhandha Nayake Thera in an anusasana said that it was opportune at this unique juncture of the 2600 anniversary of the Supreme enlightenment of the Sakyamuni Buddha to reflect on the progress report so far.

It would be immensely beneficial to the human race to properly diagnose the multifarious challenges that Buddhism had faced both internally and externally for over two and half millennium, the Nayake Thera emphasized.

Professor Ananda Wehihena Palliya Guruge, Professor of Buddhist Studies and Special Assistant to the President at the University of West Hsi Lai University, Los Angeles county said in his keynote address that the experience so far was that the international Buddhist community has still not realized the need for an action oriented body to initiate and implement an integrated effort for the promotion of Buddhism. Buddhist tradition schools and sects have developed in a highly decentralized democratic and independent fashion throughout the history.

Asgiriya Chief Prelate Most Venerable Udugama Sri Buddharakkhita Maha Nayake Thera, Ven Niyangoda Vijithasiri Nayake Thera of Malwathu Chapter, Ven Welamitiyawe Dhammakusala Nayake Thera, Ven Kotugoda Dammawasa Nayake Thera, Atamasthanadhipathi Ven Dr Pallegama Sirinivasa Nayake Thera, North Central Province Governor Karunaratne Divulgane, North Central Province Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake and a large number of local and foreign guests were present at the inaugural conference.