Ven. Ajahn’s sermon to President RW

Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso 

• Says instead of initiating an inquiry over his missed flight urges Wickremesinghe to focus on how to make Sri Lanka a better country with more forgiveness

British-born Theravada Buddhist monk Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso wants President Ranil Wickremesinghe to focus on building a better Sri Lanka with more forgiveness than initiating a probe over the minor issue of the former missing a flight at BIA.

The Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso made this observation during a talk at the Vesak Day and 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia yesterday.

The monk who was in Sri Lanka for two weeks for multiple engagements missed the Singapore Airlines flight on 31 May due to a mistake by staff at the VIP Lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport. 

“President of Sri Lanka, who is supposed to be running a country, initiated an inquiry about why Ajahn Brahmavanso missed his flight. Honestly, it was totally overboard,” said the famous monk adding it was a small mistake and not a big deal.

“Instead of having an inquiry about why I missed my flight, have an inquiry on how you (President) can have a better country with more forgiveness,” Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso said during his talk in Perth.

He also said: “When you allow people to make a mistake they are not afraid of making mistakes but they make less mistakes.”

Having missed the flight Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso was subsequently flown by SriLankan Airlines to Singapore.