International Conference on South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR)
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Item The Buddha, Martha Nussbaum and Sympathetic Imagination(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Sugunaseela Thero, YakkaduweThe ‘Sympathetic Imagination’ is introduced to the cultural literature in 90th decade by Martha Nussbaum, an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. To elucidating it further, according to Nussbaum, Sympathetic Imagination is “the possibility of an individual to lend ears for others, especially those who are of different genders, races, classes, religions and national origins”. Before 2500 years ago, the Buddha, the founder of Buddhist Philosophy, has taught and proclaimed this theory through many concepts. In Buddhism ‘Sympathetic Imagination’ is parallel to the concept of ‘Samānattatā’ (Impartiality, feeling towards others as towards oneself). For an instance, “attanaμ upamaμ katvā”, ‘putting oneself in another’s place’ which can be clarified as everybody should think about others. Among the special characteristics of the Buddha, ‘the Sympathetic Imagination’ is highlighted because he could convey properly his teaching to the people who are related to multi-cultures and religions, without any quarrel. When paying attention to the current social system not only in Sri Lanka but also in the world, it is clear that communities related to manifold cultures, races, classes, religions etc., are trying to illustrate that only their own view is the truth but others are false. Here, my chief endeavour is to discuss how far the ‘Sympathetic Imagination’ is discussed by Nussbaum and the Buddha and the issue I’m going to clarify is how far we are aware of Sympathetic Imagination and use it for the alleviation of social disorders and crimes. The conclusion I illustrate is ‘the doctrinal factors related to the Sympathetic Imagination in Buddhism are more helpful to make an interconnected peaceful world system. To prove this fact I use several texts of Martha Nussbaum and Buddhist canonical texts.Item Traditional Theravāda Theory on the Authenticity, Substantiality and Historicity of the Abhidhamma(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Sugunaseela Thero, YakkaduweThe traditional Thēravāda idea of the authority of Abhidhamma is none other than, ‘the Doctrine of Abhidhamma taught by the Buddha. Although it is so, there exist doubts about the authenticity of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka as genuine Buddha word. For instance, the early sect of the Sautrāntikās declared that, as their name indicates, ‘only Sutta and Vinaya as canonical but not the Abhidhamma’. As a whole, some scholars (including Thēravāda commentators) proclaim that the Abhidhamma was preached by the Buddha, some other people say it was not preached by the Buddha. Some scholars point out that the Abhidhamma was a system of knowledge developed and constructed by the disciples based on the teachings of the Buddha. By scrutinizing various facts, this paper proposes that that ‘the mere intention and willingness of Thēravādīns, regarding the historicity, authenticity and substantiality of Abhidhamma is, undoubtedly, ‘the Doctrine of Abhidhamma is realized and taught by the Buddha.Item Step to Stop the Religious Nationalism in Politics and National Integration of Post War Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Sanjeewani, W.S.N.Nation building and national integration is the mirror of the stability and harmony in a country. Most of the states in the world are multi ethnic societies, thus the democracy and the secularism are vital for that. Sri Lanka is also a multi ethnic country and it has accepted the democracy and the secularism. The post independence governments have introduced many of steps for the nation building and advancement of national integration. But Sri Lanka has been facing the problem of nation building and religious nationalism has spread in to politics. Thus it is worthy to examine the practice of religious nationalism in politics and its impact to the national integration of Sri Lanka. The study covers the time period from 2005 to 2014. The study was based on the secondary sources with qualitative data and further examines the public opinions on religious nationalism. According to the study, the government has only established the Buddhist Advisory Committees for the policy making excluding other religious leaders. The government maintained a specific ministry only for Buddhist Affairs. The political coalitions between majority and the minority political parties have addressed only the political purposes but not ethnic harmony. The legal acts and policies have addressed only the language problems. The government or religious authorities haven’t taken the necessary steps to prevent the religious conflicts and aggressive violence of the Buddhist societies. The special police task hasn’t been introduced as the suitable solution to prevent the religious conflicts. There are no suitable programs to enhance the ethnic harmony within the multi ethnicities. The responsible authorities haven’t taken the necessary and suitable steps to stop the religious nationalism in the politics and it has affected for the national integration in Post war Sri Lanka.Item Religious Healing in War-Affected Children in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Thoradeniya, W.M.S.M.K.The impact of war on children was mainly given attention after the Second World War. The reason was researchers found that Second World War caused many children to be severely affected by war in many ways and especially it caused many children to be displaced and separated from their families. Therefore, attention has been focused on the mental health and psychological and emotional well-being of children after Second World War and healing techniques were planned accordingly. Psychiatric treatment (mental health approach) was one of those methods practiced to address psychological problems of the war-affected population. During that time most commonly used psychiatric treatments were cognitive behavioural therapy, pharmacotherapy and dynamic psychotherapy. It seems that these methodologies influenced the healing programmes operated in war areas worldwide. However, the use of psychiatric treatments or mental health approach alone in healing activities came under severe criticism later on. On one hand critiques state that healing mechanisms must be planned and designed according to the social structure in a society and that the cultural background of that society must be kept in mind. On the other hand, critiques highlighted that in the third world countries where war is more prevalent, there is a huge shortage of professionals in the psychiatric field and therefore, difficult to heal war-affected people only through formal psychiatric methodologies. Therefore, in using the social context method, a few important factors can be observed. Firstly, it allows a larger population to be served within the healing process. Secondly, it is believed that social contextual methodologies can be accessed easily and at a lower cost. When taking into account of the social contextual methodologies researchers are of the view that the most suitable coping methods among the social contextual factors are ‘religious practices’ and ‘traditional beliefs’. In Sri Lankan history proved that this argument up to some extent and especially canonical literature has described how religion can be used in order to heal people’s mental and physical suffering. Therefore, main intention of this paper is to analyse the ways in which how religion, especially Buddhism can be used in order to heal war-affected children in Sri Lanka. This is a qualitative research solely based on a literature review on the relevant subject.Item Promoting Spiritual Tourism in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Samarathunga, W.H.M.S.Tourism in Sri Lanka is growing at a double digit rate since the end of three decades of terrorist activities. The country is investigating and trying on new product development including Casino tourism to attract more tourists that encompasses unimaginable socio-cultural, economic and environmental negative effects. The success of any tourist destination depend on how well they have identified the motives of tourists and how well tourists’ needs and wants are looked after by that destination. Tourists even look the same, but they have different motives of how to experience their vacations and the destinations they visit. Some come to the tourist destination for relaxation, others come for pleasure, and some come to experience spirituality. Religion and spirituality are still among the most common motivations for travel (Dallen, 2006 and Gallagher, 2009). However, the true potential to develop Sri Lankan tourism sustainably through spiritual tourism has got little or no attention of the respective authorities and the tourism service providers in Sri Lanka. Thus, this research aims to: a) Disclose the potential of developing Sri Lankan tourism through spiritual tourism; b) To forecast the challenges in doing so; c) To make suitable recommendations to promote spiritual tourism in Sri Lanka. The researcher used explorative research methods in collecting data to achieve the aforementioned objectives. Interviews, personal observations, and distribution of questionnaires were the main research techniques utilized. Twelve numbers of spiritual leaders managing Buddhist temples, Hindu temples and yoga and meditation centres were interviewed and thirty five (35) numbers of spiritual tourists participated in this research. The research was carried out in Colombo, Kandy and Kurunegala districts. The findings of this research indicate that there is a huge potential to develop spiritual tourism in Sri Lanka through Buddhist and Hindu monuments and practices. However, the country needs aggressive marketing campaigns to attract the right clientele while developing the spiritual tourism as a product. The research passes recommendations to the relevant authorities, travel agents, spiritual tourism service providers in developing and marketing of the spiritual tourism product of Sri Lanka.Item The Intoxicated Malangs in Pakistan an Anthropological Study of Folk Religion(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Chaudhry, W.It is only recently that the phenomenon of pirs (saints) and shrines, in the context of the Indo-Pakistani sub-continent has caught the attention from Western Scholars of Islam. Still it is often considered as a deviation from true Islam, and is usually passed over in silence in the various introductions to Islam, which usually only deals with ‘High Islam’ or the ‘Big Tradition’. Some work has been done, though by scholars from the sub-continent, or by Western Islamists and anthropologists. Even in these studies, little attention has been pain to the malangs, a group of Sufis who are totally devoted to the service to God; but who do not operate under the hierarchies of living pirs and their successors. Instead they claim to have direct contact with God or with a dead pir. Very often they are not attached to a certain shrine, but wander from shrine to shrine at the direct command of God or the dead pir. The following study gives a brief introduction to the system of shrines, and a discussion of the malangs, especially those at the shrine of Bari Iman in the neighbourhood of Islamabad. The study is based on a field study which the author made on the occasion of the annual Urs celebration at this shrine.Item Interplay of Spirituality, Religious Belief and Ethno-medicines with Health and Healing Practices among Hindus of Northern India(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Agnihotri, V.In all traditional societies the system of medicine was based on spirituality, religion or plants which were used for curing a sick either separately or in combination with each other. Medicine has been practiced one way or the other since man became a cultured animal. The37thWorld Health Assembly adopted the historic resolution that the definition of health includes four domains of well-being: physical, mental, social and spiritual (WHO, 1998).The World Health Organization (WHO) has accepted spirituality as an important aspect of quality of life. Spirituality/religion is a part of one's cultural milieu and informs meaning, value and direction to human life. A number of studies point towards a positive association between religious involvement and better health. Religion played an important role in the scholarly writings of early sociologists. Durkheim (1951) argued that religion served both a social and a mental health function. In traditional societies and in various other communities, large majority of the population made use of a system of medicine combined with the use of herbs and Plants. People had knowledge of the plants available in their surroundings and they ascribed their socio-cultural beliefs and practices with these plants. Plants have profoundly influenced the culture and civilization of man in many countries. In India, The renewed interest in the interaction of spirituality, religion and plants with health and medicine has significant implications in the Hindu Religion. This present Study provides an understanding about the interplay of spirituality, religious belief and ethno-medicines with health and Healing practices among Hindus of Northern India.Item Philosophy, Religion and Heritage: A Buddhist Overview(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Singh, V.K.Heritage as per Merriam Webster is the traditions, achievements, beliefs, etc., that are part of the history of a group or nation. Another dictionary tells us that Heritage is something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition. Actually Heritage is what we possess and what we are. Buddhism is heritage and the Buddha said “Appa dipo bhava” – “Be your own refuge”. In my opinion if we understand heritage, we unfold the door of salvation and this is the philosophy of the religious heritage. Some words need to be redefined but there are some other words which do not need to be redefined, rather they need clarification and reinterpretation in the new language of new era but ultimately what they mean remain the same and will never change since they carry THE HERITAGE. Religion is linked with heritage in such a way that the moment a religion develops and prosper, the heritage started to exist. This is simply in order to sustain the content of that religion is so precious that it cannot be afforded to get lost by time and space. History tells us about the lost of civilizations just due to the avoidance of its heritage. It is the heritage that reminds us who we are and what should become. Heritage is the guiding force of civilization. The Buddha told on several occasion that he is not delivering anything new that is not given or discovered yet. He is just passing on a forgotten heritage to the present generation who is unaware of its values. Philosophically, the heritage tourism is the expansion of the journey inwards to the outward word. The heritage tourism actually provides us the atmosphere and vibration of our heritage and helps us to regain in order to start the inward journey.Item Reflections on the Saivite Philosophy of the 12th century Tamilnadu Through its Temple Art & Literature(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Vijailakshmi, U.R.The inscriptions and literature pertaining to a region, speak the language of politics and political correctness through their genealogy. Rarely the subtleties of religious philosophy as espoused in the region get reflected in such sources as much as it does in art, though occasionally, literature gives that rare glimpse. To study the cultural phenomena, concepts, and notions of a particular period, an integrated study of art and literature become necessary. The art of a particular period brings forth certain nuances which otherwise would have been impossible to discern only through literary sources. The later Cholas of Tamilnadu espoused Saivism in preference to other faiths. To them, the concept of Saivism was all encompassing and it subsumed Vaishnavism within it. This thought was reflected in the Kulothunga Cholan Ula, the literature of the 12th century. The temples of Kambaharěshwara of Tirubuvanam which is closer to Chola capital and the temple of Ramalingeshwara of Avani in Karnataka which was an outlying province of the Chola Empire were two such distinct examples. In Tirubuvanam the Lord Saraběswarar, who is lion headed but with a human upper torso, his lower body like a horse, has wings, four arms and six legs and who subdues the lion-faced Lord Narasimha after the latter slayed the demon Hiranyakasibu, was built during this period. Though the story of Saraběswara is part of Siva Puran, the popularization of this myth during this period requires some study. In Karnataka in the village of Avani the temple of Ramalingeswara was built in the same period on the orders of the same king, Lord Ram and his brothers have been represented in anionic form of Lord Siva. The temple has many sculptures which juxtapose Saiva saints and Saiva divinities alongside various avatars of lord Vishnu. The themes of the sculptures in the pillars, especially in the Ramalingeshwara temple, have a mix of both Siva and Vishnu puranas. It undoubtedly brings forth an interesting mix of both Saiva and Vaishnava legends within the same temple walls and pillars. A study of the temples, their art and the Saivite philosophy bring out the underlying tensions prevalent in the period and reveals how the Chola rulers through art and philosophy were trying to steer the course of people’s preference towards their rule.Item The Buddhist Shakespeare! (Analysis on the core Buddhist notions concealed in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and King Lear)(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Tennakoon, T.M.W.P.For centuries the scholars have probed the plays of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest playwright of English Literature, to find out traces to determine his faith, but have failed. Even though the arguments have been centered upon the contradictory views that how the secular and Protestant opinions have been included in his writings, research to find out the influence of Buddhism on his writings is scarcely available. Shakespeare’s sonnets have often been identified with the recurrent exploitation of the theme of impermanence, a core Buddhist teaching but his dramas have been hardly analyzed under this light. A close study of his dramas proves them to include Buddhist teachings, even if no reliable evidence has been so far found that Shakespeare at least read Buddhist texts. However, the analysis of the depths of human mind especially through the characters of the tragic heroes; Macbeth and Lear with their tragic flaws like excessive greed for power and egotism can be well explored under a Buddhist light. Moreover, the inclusion of the core Buddhist teachings such as kamma, anicca, dukka (caused by ignorance, attachment, and aversion), anatta, the relaxation of thoughts, the two guardians of morality (hiri and ottappa), importance of good company, etc., will be highlighted and discussed in relation to their presentation in the two tragedies under discussion. The main objective of the present paper is to bring out the giant figure of Shakespeare a potential resource for Buddhist scholars.