{"id":201733,"date":"2019-05-18T09:31:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T04:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=201733"},"modified":"2019-05-20T23:11:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T17:41:03","slug":"is-sri-lanka-a-sinhala-buddhist-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/is-sri-lanka-a-sinhala-buddhist-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sri Lanka A Sinhala-Buddhist Country?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hema Senanayake<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hema Senanayake<\/p><\/div>\n

After Mangala Samaraweera<\/strong><\/a> recently retorted bluntly that Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala-Buddhist<\/strong><\/a> Country, it created a public discourse. Many blamed him and a few praised him for his boldness. I opted to disagree with him, not because I want to go with the tide but because his position does not lead to any meaningful conclusive determination of the issue.<\/p>\n

Any community living in Sri Lanka must have the right to identify with their particular ethno-religious identity. If someone like Venerable Mawarelle Bhaddiya says that he is a Sinhala-Buddhist monk, what does it mean? It means that he is proud to identify in that way. He is proud because with that identity he upholds certain virtues which would be respected by even non Sinhala-Buddhist around the world. He accepts the well-being of other non-Sinhala-Buddhist communities living in Sri Lanka. He has utmost passion for those communities.<\/p>\n