Language liabilities

Sri Lanka has two main languages.... or maybe three now.... Sinhala, Tamil and English. I grew up in the days of civil war in the island which lasted almost thirty years from 1983. In the south, people held on to Sinhala and English as a ladder to climb the social hierarchy. Despite Tamil being the other official language of the state, I was not able to learn Tamil when I was growing up, nor it was given much importance in the school curriculum or an encouragement from home.
So I ended up knowing Sinhala and English. As many people following tertiary education, I did my degree and post graduate in English, and consider myself relatively fluent in both languages.
I did meet several obstacle during my training and career due to not knowing Tamil, the other official language of Sri Lanka. But most of the time, they were trival and I, as many others, was able to seek the help of a translator. All the official documents are either in Sinhala or English, and sometimes with Tamil and most of the people I came across know either this or that despite the ethnicity. Hence, the circumstances were such that I never really needed to learn Tamil, nor did I make a genuine effort. And I am pretty sure this would be th story of many Sri Lankans.

Yet,  later in life I came to realize that if there is one thing I regret while growing up, it is the fact that I didn’t learn Tamil, the other official language.
Like a white Caucasian, unaware of the issues pertaining to white supremacy, like a male unaware of the potholes while treading in this patrichal society as a woman, I was totally unaware of the issues of the others.
It was not intentionally being insensitive to the issues. Rather, it was not being sensitive, intentionally to the language liabilities.

I remember in the recent past where this issue became a hot topic with the national anthem being sung in two languages and the opposition leader being Tamil. Call me naive, for me I saw it as a progressive step. But the thing is, the political parties from both sides made a big hype about the national anthem but there was not much done to solve the issue in ground level.
 There are still people struggling to read through the government circulars.... letters sent from official institutes...conversing with officials regarding their problems.... reading transportation details etc...etc...
I’ve heard about an incident where a Tamil speaking medical graduate being blamed for asking for a translator, to converse with the Sinhala speaking patient, at his final exam....  I’ve heard of Tamils being lost in officials meetings that start in English but ends up in Sinhala...and Tamils seeking help to know what is written on their grade promotion letters issued by the ministry... struggling with giving police statements... etc...etc.... and I’ve heard of a Sinhala doctor being blamed by his senior for not knowing Tamil to converse with the patient, by his Tamil senior.....

I am sure, most of us can relate to incidents faces by both parties due to not knowing the others’ language. But, I’d say this feeling of alienation would be felt more for the Tamil speaking community. And it is sad that the majority is not aware or naive about theses facts. While the media willing plants paranoia about the other in each others’ minds, you seldom see any discussion about these little things that can be addressed, by both sects involved.

And we are stuck with this language issues even after so much blood shed. The wast majority of the majority as well as the minority thinks that the other should learn their language. Of course it is good to learn so. But you can not force anyone to do so and if they don’t, it’s basic compassion to accommodate for the difference.
In United Kingdom, where the official language is English, the international language for connecting and communicating, the government services are sensitive to people conversing in other languages. There is space made intentionally for the differences. In most letters from the council, they mention
the availability of translator options. I am yet to come across such sensitivity among Sri Lanka services.

I would say it is a two way process, this reconciliation and building bridges. It’s only when the healing take place in the grass root levels that all feels that they are in an inclusive society. Only when you intentionally become sensitive about the one person in your group, that do not understand the same language as you do, that you become an active part of healing.

Before being paranoid about the other grabbing and destroying what is ours....what if we become compassionate towards the other who doesn’t speak your tongue.....
It would be next to impossible for English to be the official language of Sri Lanka. And expecting everyone to learn “my” language does not also seem to be an possible alternative, even though it would be inspiring.
What we, as individuals can do is to be sensitive about the difference and the difficulties the other faces and act compassionately to create an inclusive society.
If the British  can accommodate space for many languages other than the international language of English, why can’t we make space for just one?

English Vinglish

We are born naive. As we grow up we hear things, see things and pick up all sorts of stimulants from the world closest to us first, and thence from the wider world. We pick up our language depending on the environment we are born into. To pick up a language exposre is the key and earlier the exposure it is better.
I was born into a Sinhalese family and so I end up having Sinhala as my mother tongue. Though I write in English in the virtual space, for ease of typing along with many other reasons, if you meet me in person, I’d speak in Sinhala by default. I was taught English as a second language at school and was encouraged to learn and use it by well meaning parents, who saw that in his little island, knowing English does  make a difference.

For work matters, I visited few European countries, where English was not the main language. In fact, English really didn’t have any place in these countries. Initially I was surprised to learn that, English, which was held so high in a pedestal in Sri Lanka being ignored. In Sri Lanka, knowing English would be a jewel. But here, it meant nothing. And the few people who managed to converse in English was surprised to find that a brown skinned spoke fairly good English. So when they asked me how I came to know, I told them that how we, Sri Lankan’s were under the British, how knowing English made all the changes in social acceptance and bla..bla... and how English became a bridging language in our isle which suffered a 30 year old civil war.....how English is used to look down on and look up on people by the way they handle it...

An incident of particular worth was when I visited a small common wealth island. The military officer in this particular tourist destination led a group of twelve tourist, of which the majority was from England. The officer spoke fluent, impeccable English. At the end of the tour, he mentioned that he came to this island recently and one of the tourists asked where he is originally from.
The officer went on asking, “Did you think English is my first language?”
To which the British tourist replied, “No, you speak English very well, almost too well and gramatarically correct to be a native English speaker. So obviously you’ve learned it, not born into it”
The irony of these words stayed in my mind.
In the small island of Sri Lanka, the elitism is measured by how proficiently you handle your English, how impeccable your pronunciation is and how correct your grammar is and here a British National claiming the opposite, surprised me.


https://www.facebook.com/Arunalanie/posts/1221867054614060:0
I was inspired to write this version of language issues by this post by Trè Ventour and the spoken word on Button Poetry by Melissa Lozada-Olivia.

This is the first time I’m doing a remake kind of poetry, borrowing someone else’s muse.
So, apologies to the original poets, and if I am treading on any egg shells, please let me know
=======================================

My English

If you ask me, if English is my mother tongue,
I will tell you it is not...
but half of me wish it is...

It is the armor that you equip your child with
The immunity forged in dragons breath
The milk in a bottle,instead of mothers’ breast
The priced jewel you’d wear at your own death

It is the poison tree, planted in a land conquered...
The ladder lent, to trample the lesser kith
The bridge built, after they split my land, when they left
The silver spoon, the sword in the battle field of wealth

It is the boarding school with a British name
The suit and tie in the tropical noon and night
The wet mop that hides the dust
The fork and spoon amidst finger balls

If you ask me, if English is my mother tongue,
I will tell you it is not...
but half of me wish it is...

It is the sign of peace in the zone of death
The lipstick on my chapped lips
The escort till the nights end
My betrayal, my denial of my breath

©Lawanya

@treventour
http://treventour.com/2018/02/12/my-english-after-my-spanish-by-melissa-lozada-oliva/

 #poems #poets #poet #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #poemsporn #language #colonial #english

Morals, Ethics and being vegetarian

I was told today by a practicing Buddhist that being vegetarian/vegan is being an extremist...
And vegetarianism / veganism is a marketed hype and we are being drawn in by the trend..
The points made were.... that
➡once a being is killed, which has already taken place by the time it reach our plates, it has lost the value as a being and there is no difference than that and a potato...
and your choice doesn't really make an impact on the process that has already taken place...
and there's no sin of eating such nor merit of avoiding it as well...
➡it's all in our mind that particular dish is from a being.. and we shouldn't worry about it as it's beyond our control...
➡since there are many insects involved and killed by pesticides and by other means during the process of plant product preparation ....... are we gong to avoid the use of that as well?
➡since we can not prevent all the killings that take place for food, there is no point in one person becoming a extremist rebel by refusing animal products
➡it's all to do with craving and we can be buying a pumpkin with the same craving as we buy an animal product
➡and it has nothing to do with Buddhas original teaching and it's just a marketed trend

And I ask her that how come you consciously choose a animal product and select and buy it when you have a choice of selecting otherwise, knowing the process that go through the factory farming...beings born and bread ...force-fed just for our food...
And the response I got is ..we shouldn't think that far and it's all in our mind...

I agree that once you've achieved a certain state of understanding, that you won't feel a difference in any food item and you'd be eating just to keep the body alive and healthy ... nothing more nothing less...

But, before that, most of what we eat are to please our mind, rather than keeping with the needs of the physical body..
So, consciously making a choice to choose non animal products whenever one can, to the best of the options that are made available to you in terms of your health and wellbeing, makes the best practice that seems to resonate with my concioisness.....

But I declined from the argument as I saw no point in trying to convince that to another who holds a different view... and mind you, this is a well educated friend of mine, who practice meditation as well as reads a lot into Buddhist scripture...

My personal idea is that, a practicing Buddhist, Being vegetarian / vegan or non vegetarian is a conscious personal choice... and being in either categeary itself doesn't make you a better being altogether...than the other...
I myself is not a strict vegetarian all the time... but I try to be most of the time...

I can not fathom the possibility of a noble man who told this to the world as a core value, will be petty enough to curtail that compassion in to the account balance of sin and merit... for me he holds a better and bigger place than the account balancer......

“A mother, even at the risk of her own life, protects her child, her only child.
In the same way should you cultivate love without measure toward all beings.
You should cultivate toward the whole world – above, below, around – a heart of love unstinted, unmixed with any sense of differing or opposing interests.
You should maintain this mindfulness all the time you are awake.
Such a state of heart is the best in the world.”
– Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya

If we keep aside the philosophy of sin and merit of killing, i don't have any arguments with that....
What I am asking is... if given the choice, what would you consciously choose?
The stolen good (which you know is stolen) or the good from the manufacturer ?

 For me This has nothing to do with sin/ merit account balance...
It's all to do with the consciousness of knowing the suffering of another being And despite that accepting that it's fine to indulge my tastebuds at the stake of another's life
A practice beyond survival and health...

It's ethics... same as ethical tea... fair trade ... ethical clothing...
And I try to adhere to that whenever I can...

P.s. I'm not that rich to adhere to all those choices all the time, but I try what I can... no animal should die or should've died for the sake of my craving and taste buds...


Any thoughts on this matter?


https://youtu.be/UjbHC0Z2SWw

I agree with this honorable theros' disclosure in the monastic context and in a the context of a person who've lost all lust and craving..who does not crave one or the other.. and eat what is given or made available without a choice, for the mere maintenance of the physical body..

But in the context of lay...
if you are given a choice to choose between two materials... one sold by the manufacturer and the other by a seller who has stolen it from another source, being aware of the theft that took place, what would you consciously choose?
What would you choose when you are aware that a life has been stolen to give the product to you?

This is apart from the facts of acquiring credits to your merit or sin account... that kept aside, what would be your conscious choice?

I agree with the food chains in the natural world that it is the work of kamma... the nature..

But when it comes to factory farming and the consumer chain where the animals are artificially fertilized, born and bred for human food, and the consumer chain that supports it, I fail to see, that it's the mere work of nature or kamma.. ... it's your conscious decision that triggers the chain of events...
If you keep aside sin/ merit account balance totally, can you consciously choose the stolen goods/lives?

And if we are to accept every death to the work of kamma and nature... and do nothing about that, saying they'd anyway die due to their kamma.... you indirectly accepts the massacres...the holocaust... the killings... the wars... and everything else... and fails to do anything about it...
It's true that there is minimum that we can do in events of such large scale...
but we can start with what we can...
Be aware and make a  conscious choice...

Giving and merits

The motives of giving should only be
To serve the receiver and let go of
The shackles around our miserly minds
To unleash the guards of caution and fear
About loosing, about the future…
And be free…..

Giving should not be motivated by
Any means of reward….
Be it material reward or spiritual rewards..
If one gives, in hope of the reward….
That too in a way is a deal ….a trade…
An exchange, that we fail to accept…

"We don't need to be threatened with eternal damnation in order to be kind to one another, do we? "
If people are only good because they fear punishment and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed" —Albert Einstein

Now...
this is not to offend anyone... and I'm not challenging  these statements in the picture as wrong... (extracts form MN - Dhakkina vibhanga sutra)

We should give to the pious clergy, wisely, there's no doubt about it...
But, if we are to develop unbounded love towards every being... how come giving to the lesser be of lesser value...

"Just as a mother her own son [child], her only son [child], guards him at the risk of her life, in the same manner
towards all beings, let one develop thoughts of unbounded love."

Just a thought... I've been told that I have these doubts because I've not read enough sutra and don't know dhamma correctly....and I'm collecting sins by discussing or having doubts about these things...

How come a dharma which is " Svâkkhato Bhagavatâ Dhammo Sanditthiko Akâliko Ehi-passiko Opanâyiko Paccattam veditabbo viññuhiti." Be like that?
("The Dhamma of the Blessed One is perfectly expounded; to be seen here and how; not delayed in
time; inviting one to come and see; onward leading (to Nibbana); to be known by the wise, each for himself.")

We definitely do need to read the sutras...... But if theoretical knowledge of all the sutras is the key thing I wonder how peoples realized truth with just one sutra... of course, you may say that they are much intelligent and wise beings than us.....
But the wise practice is what matters the most...

These concepts of lesser merit, (which my petty mind think is incorporated largely to the survival of the sangha in a society with a majority of puthagjana/ unenlightened beings) may be the reason that majority of town priests are well fed to the brim and lead a luxury life supported by the lay, while the suffering fellow humans are served in a different way... and animals, are totally neglected in this land.....

Isn't it like making your investment that gives the best profit?
Going for the bank that that gives the highest interest for your fixed deposit...
I fail to see any difference in your motive....

What do you except by giving?

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/31205042/dakkhina-vibhanga-sutta-the-dharmafarers
Please read page 150...commentary by many learned monks who've analyzed the MN and many other sutras...

It's not a matter of to whome you give your offerings to...it's a matter of your inner work and understanding....

"And, houselord, even though the brahmin Velāma gave those great gifts, and
even if he were to cultivate a heart of lovingkindness for just as long as it takes to tug at the cow’s teat (to milk it),
greater would be the fruit
if he were to cultivate the perception of impermanence for even the moment of a finger-snap!"

-Velama Sutra
http://dharmafarer.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/16.6-Velama-S-a9.20-piya.pdf

What I intent to discuss in the post is, the current practice of marketing the best profited offering largely by the sangha community..... promoting surplus of lay peoples' headless unwise offering to the sangha...

Katina

Katina...

My mother in law has taken upon herself to serve the temple of her small village with this years' katina. This is a small temple with just three monks in the suburbs of Kadugannawa. During the past three months or so my husbands' parents, along with many other upaasika upaasikaa in the village served this small ancient temple to renovate it, in various aspects.....
Everyday my father in law goes to the temple at 7 a.m. with many other villagers for the renovation process.
We being in Colombo hear about this arduous endevoir only through the phone...
and yesterday we came home for the ultimate event of the katina... preceded by three 12 hourly pirith (the 3 main sutras) chanting ... katina perahera and then the big ceremony...

Being in the midst of all this... I came to know about the monks in this temple...
the chief monk, who had won the hearts of many, due to his piety and good character... is a teacher by profession and he comes to the temple only in the weekend... and then there is this 14 year old samanera monk, hailing from an economically restrained family in Ampara...who under his circumstances has gained a soft corner in the hearts of most upasikaas in the village...
The third monk, who is probably in his 40s or 50s...is the main monk that resides in the temple...
And the stories I hear about this particular monk is not quite writable... and simply put, he sure is a disgrace to the robe...
But still, the villagers are reluctant to reject him or openly criticize his behavior due to the cultural obedience to the noble robe...

Now... to the point of katina... in Walpole Rahula theros' book ... I remember he writes.... (not the exact word translation , but the gross idea)
" in an age where some of the monks hold on to their respective temples, with such bond and desire... inviting them for the vassa, to stay in the same temple for three months.... is in fact absurd"

And when the monks are established in a particular temple... without being on the walk...like the forest tradition monks, does this whole ordeal of Katina serves a purpose?
When the robes and the atapirikara are stacked up in the temples, that you pay the monk, to buy a robe/atapirikara, to be presented ceremoniously to the same monk, does it serve a purpose ?
When the monks have instilled, into the minds of the laymen, that katina is the ultimate meritorious act that grants, best of the places in heavenly realm, and it paves the way to nibbana.... and this meritorious deed can only be performed by the relatively rich and affluent in the society, does it serve a purpose ?
When .... my hard working father in law... who worked tirelessly for the temple, at the end of the day, sits on the floor and tell me...
දුව....මට නම් පේන විදියට මේ විදියට නම් සල්ලි නැතුව නිවන් යන්නත් හරිම අමාරුයි....
මීට වඩා සාමාන්‍ය විදියක් තියෙන්න ඕනෙ මිනිසූන්ට....
(Daughter... as far as I can see... now only the rich can achieve nirvana...there should be a simpler way for the lay people...)

In this age...for monks established in village or town temples ....does katina still serves a purpose than the cultural hype of the ordeal...and does katina alone holds this described meritorious payback that seems to attract the lay in to continuing this practice in to the future...

"We don't need to be threatened with eternal damnation in order to be kind to one another, do we? "If people are only good because they fear punishment and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed" —Albert Einstein

Charity shops

I encountered this "Charity shops " concept when I first came to United Kingdom to accompany my husbands post graduate foreign training. I was not aware of such a concept in Sri Lanka for all the time I was there. ....Even if such a thing existed, I don't think it would gain much with our " holding on" mentality...

In a society where our mothers neatly preserve the first dress, school uniform, cot...bed..etc..etc.. there's hardly any letting go...
We are habitual hoarders ... we hoard things, clothes ,furniture, porcelain, books ....this and that everything...
We don't like to give them away... we want to preserve it to the next generation... next generation from our own breed...not anyone else's...

How many of you have unused furniture and electrical goods, cloths, books taking space in your homes, not knowing what to do with it? For me I can think of a whole lot under the care of my mother as well as my mother in law...
And when we move places, go to a new home, we'd always prefer to buy anew...

This concept of charity shop fascinated me from the beginning... where people would just give away anything and everything that they no longer wanted, for free... to theses charity institutes that would refurbish/ repair/rectouch them and sell... and the profit would go to the Heart Foundation,  Cancer Research, etc etc...etc.. and many other charities...

It's such a wonderful concept..
Why hoard things that you don't need, hold on to them for pure greed and the inability to let go of the attachment to the things?
This concept reduces clutter...
Funds charities ... as well as offer a wide range of things to the community with a subsided prize....

We Asians are born with not only the thrifty gene for carbohydrates...
We are born with thrifty gene for every stupid materialistic thing!!!!
Yet we chant about letting go from dusk to dawn!!!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/Arunalanie/photos/a.726008554199915.1073741833.226021104198665/821521867981916/?type=3

The law is placed on a pedestal When morals loose its place

Law is a term which does not have a universally accepted definition,
Is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior
A rule of conduct or procedure established by custom, agreement, or authority.
The concept that an act is wrong compared to the ideal .....
Law is here to govern the masses without self discipline..
Laws are for people who have no insight or control over their acts...

Apparently the whole world seems to be belonging to that group...
Because Law and Order should prevail in a land for it to be at peace..Practice of proper law in a land is the indicator of healthy living..
Almost all of the conflicts and issues in our island is due to the lack if insight, governance over our actions and inability to choose the morally right thing...
Hence, we as many other nations have sought the help of external governance of self, by "Law"
But when both are lacking........ the society seems to fail...You accept that lawlessness of the land
when you do little deeds, when no one is watching...
Law assumes that external punishment would make one realize the moral facts of life.... make the the insight dawn, as the one faces the gallows. It is as effective as applying balms on skin
to treat a frail failing heart.....

So the society starts with yourself...
Be wise enough to do whats morally right...
Not because of Law...
Not because you are afraid of punishment by the Demons nor fancying rewards from the Gods ...
Not because you need to go to heaven or to avoid hell
Not because you want to fatten the merit account en route to Nirvana...

https://www.facebook.com/Arunalanie/photos/a.726008554199915.1073741833.226021104198665/715415985259172/?type=3