May as a month of peace and trust Sorrow and hope have no ethnicity, race or religion

Sri Lanka which is enriched by four of the main spiritual paths practiced in the world has the capacity to contribute to how the end of 30 years of conflict could be enshrined in national 

memory, upholding equality

We are today so used to limiting our respective religions to brick structures or elaborate rituals that we have failed to glean the kernel of commonality in all religions which is compassion. If humanity had comprehended this properly, this could wipe out the scourge of conflicts, in all its forms from the face of the earth

• A reflection on the unity humankind shares with sorrow which no living being has escaped

While sorrow is something explicitly linked with happiness at its ebb, it is also entwined with the human ego. Wars of the heart, mind and nations are linked with inflated egos that have not been trained to be transmuted to equanimity, compassion and equality. In this piece of writing we will examine how sorrow could bring humanity together for a re-awakening of consciousness and conscience. This article will primarily look at a series of recommendations that could help position the month of May to bring about lasting positive changes in the country. Hence, in the commemoration of May as a month of Peace and Trust in Sri Lanka, we will look at the initiative that diverse national institutions can take to encourage both inter religious harmony and use the respective spiritual paths as a catharsis. We will look at briefly understanding the word ego as meant in Buddhist textual interpretations which is referred to as ‘thanha’ or ‘bava thanha’ (which could be also explained as clinging or craving and examine how these terms relate to humans and nations. 

By Surya Vishwa 

This article is part of the series of writings we generate every month of May to influence the commemorating of the month in one uniform manner whether it is in the North or the South. 

The Harmony page since inception seven years ago endeavours to show the salient connection between aspects such as policy, economy, education, wellbeing and spirituality. The word spiritual which could sound esoteric actually is derived from Medieval Latin and originates from the word Spiritus which could be decoded as ‘breath’ or ‘life force.’ Therefore, when we say that every other factor that we are confronted in life is interspersed with this core, it is not a fancy way of being obstruse. It is bringing attention to the crux of humanity’s collective heartbeat.

We are today so used to limiting our respective religions to brick structures or elaborate rituals that we have failed to glean the kernel of commonality in all religions which is compassion.

If humanity had comprehended this properly, this could wipe out the scourge of conflicts, in all its forms from the face of the earth. 

Yet our calamity seems to be that ever since an individual from a different corner of the world began a journey of seeking, that it got transformed into a ‘religion’ that segments of humans inherited through birth which they absorbed into their egoic thought pattern. The prevalent mentality in the world is where one set of religious followers extolls their religion over the other – as opposed to the richness of the overall truth the world can mould through every one of these paths. 

In Sri Lanka the religion or philosophy that the majority or the citizenry subscribe to is Buddhism – which is the path of wisdom, the middle path and unconditional compassion. This is a path that many Western intellectuals have chosen, not because they inherited it from the parents they were born to, but by choice of rigorous contemplation. 

Having considered the above we can now look at how the religions practiced in Sri Lanka; Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam can help the country to develop a national policy that takes a very traumatic part of contemporary national history and make it remembered not in an ethnically sectarian manner but as a heartfelt moment of awareness of all citizens on the value of peace, the right of every human to be directed in the path of wellbeing and not destruction and the value of equality. Some of the recommendations we have made below reflect this. 

Tomorrow, 18 May is the date when three decades of civil war came to a bloody end where hundreds of Sinhala and Tamil youth were killed. 18 May signified the end of bloodshed. It brought forth the potential for the country to re-direct attitudinal changes that could erase future unrest. In short the aftermath of 18 May created ample opportunity for the State to take equality-based policy making very seriously. Equality is the key tool for what they call ‘counter-terrorism.’ 

One case in point is how Singapore, a country which diligently pursues equality in the strictest sense, weaving it into everyday life where all nationalities and ethnicities have to share their locales, preventing ghettoism and where all cultures and religions are respected have never faced any national security threats. Of course the country has a strong military force and uses advanced multiple strategies to identify and prevent security breaches but the significant win for the country is that it has transformed itself as a sphere of trust. 

Trust

Trust is the essence of peacebuilding. If trust is empowered in many differing ways through national policy as Singapore has done then we would have shifted our mindset to re-looking at how 18 May is remembered. 

It is a day where many Sri Lankan Tamils mourn because many of Northern youth died – in the last phase of the civil war as well as throughout the three-decade timeframe, just as hundreds of Sinhalese youth and those in their prime sacrificed their lives. 

The role of the military has to be looked at objectively. Hundreds of Sinhala parents mourn their children on 18 May. Hundreds of others, both Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim heave sighs of relief on this day that their offspring are still alive and that there is no bloodshed and gunfire anymore. Incidentally it is to be recognised that the armed forces of Sri Lanka consisted of Sri Lankans who were Sinhala (Buddhists and Christians), Tamil (Hindus and Christians) and Muslim – (Moor and Malay). 

It is also interesting that if one were to record the peace stories that happen within a civil war content it would read like fiction. This is what this writer has found in the scores of interviews carried out from the 1990s to now. It was not unfamiliar in the height of hostilities for members of one warring side to inform whoever the human being they had developed a humane empathy with to be cautious on a particular day, virtually tipping off on an attack, just because they wanted the person who had treated them with compassion, to be alive. This harks to the basic principle in all human beings. We want others who treated us with compassion to be well and to live well. To wish ill on a human is a corroding of the heart which is not the normal state of life.

In both Judaic and Islamic scripture it is mentioned that saving one life equals the saving of all mankind. Christianity and Buddhism places equal significance on the value of human life by emphasising forgiveness and unconditional love. 

Buddhism holds the most profound teachings on the power of love and compassion. This could be juxtaposed to the teachings of Jesus that the kingdom of God is within oneself. The kingdom of God is one of mercy and compassion. Loving kindness to oneself and others opens the portal to stabilising the surrounding atmosphere – the conceptual creation of loving kindness through national policy is how we could make Buddhism a living legacy of the nation. Equality is the cornerstone of Buddhism. Over 2,500 years ago in a rigid caste based society the Buddha managed to break this caged mindset; those who joined him as followers from low castes were treated according to merit as per their spiritual perseverance and it is said that many of them were placed as spiritual superiors to high caste individuals who also sought to become monks. 

Therefore, Sri Lanka which is enriched by four of the main spiritual paths practiced in the world has the capacity to contribute to how the end of 30 years of conflict could be enshrined in national memory, upholding equality. The Harmony Page has been promoting May as a month of peace and trust. Ideally this month could also promote equality, through practical and visible policy-related steps. 

Recommendations and commentaries

We place below the following recommendations and commentaries based on widespread interviews with religious clergy, civilians (both youth and elders), military personnel, former LTTE cadres. 

1. Create 18 May as a National Day of Peace, Trust (and Equality).

2. Let this be the only way Sri Lanka would remember this day – where schools, universities, business establishments and religious places of worship usher in diverse activities to support the above inculcation in the national psyche. 

3. Many Sri Lankan Buddhist monks are spread across the world, preaching peace and wisdom. It is recommended that these clergy members are encouraged to share their views on how Sri Lanka could be an example in the world in transforming a war memory into one that stringently commemorates peace and only peace. 

4. Explore the option for the Government to set up a structure with the involvement of all relevant ministries towards initiating an island-wide represented platform where activities that encourage national unity are undertaken. This could be through the formation of a national committee that actively includes local government members. 

5. For the State to work with all non-governmental and civil society groups to direct them in how they could collaborate as per the above. Ad hoc agenda driven activities by individual organisations could hamper progress towards national harmony. 

6. The right to mourn should be upheld. It is basic psychology that the more an emotion is repressed by the State or any entity that the more it builds up into resentment and unrest. The freedom to mourn will help dissipate trauma and unfold great healing in the humans struggling to make peace with the untimely death of their loved ones and those who are listed as missing. 

7. It has to be admitted that Sri Lanka has not created any national activities aimed at mass scale healing although the country has enough of human resources to do so. 

8. The many progressive recommendations in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) of 2010 could be re-examined.

9. May 18 could also be identified as a day where creating national policies that harness the potential of all citizens is looked at extremely seriously. The formation of grass root citizenry groups primarily in the North, East and the South is recommended through local government bodies and consultations held to understand grievances if any, of different communities and segments of societies.

10. Allow the month of May to act as a time period of healing the wounds of three decades of sorrow. Remove labels such as war heroes or terrorists from being identified with the reconciling of the past. No one is born with such labels. 

11. May 18 accords Sri Lanka the opportunity to re-frame how it could create the future and also position Sri Lanka internationally. Since tourism is a key way of doing this it is recommended that commemorating May 18 as a way of upholding national peace is crafted into the national tourism blue print. For example the state appointed committee members could work with embassies overseas to in turn work with hotels and tour operators to see that peace related memorials are attended by foreign visitors. 

12. It is recommended that Sri Lanka creates one key National Peace Memorial to remember 18 May, which is represented by all citizens of the country.

13. As above this day should make every citizen ask the hypothetical question, if there was no bloodshed for the past 30 years, no policies that treated one set of people differently, how the nation would have progressed; Sri Lanka lost investment from countries such as Japan in the mid-1980s after the opening up the economy because of the volatile situation brewing in the country. 

14. It is well known that the Sri Lankan Tamils who left the country after the 1983 anti-Tamil riots now contribute in major ways throughout the world, serving other nations which they made their home with their intellect, perseverance and commitment to succeed. May 18th should in addition to being a day of Peace and Trust should be a day of reflection. We could ask ourselves how Sri Lanka would have benefited if we had allowed these Sri Lankans to flourish in the land of their birth, to the fullest of their capacity. 

15. Every university and school across the country could create national unity centred national peace, trust and equality based activities. Sri Lanka’s education system remains polarised across ethnic and religious lines. It is recommended to reduce or remove such divisions. As a start the least that can be done is to encourage the intermixing of the different schools in various districts and provinces. 

16. Language remains a key issue in Sri Lanka that hampers understanding between communities; hence it is recommended that Tamil and Sinhala are taught through play activities as early as pre-school. This would be a step to eliminate bias towards any language. There are no superior or inferior languages. 

17. The State could obtain the support of clergy members across the country to maximise the impact of ushering in thoughts of equality, compassion and empathy in the month of May through their sermons, etc., as per the respective religious teachings.

18. It is recommended that blood donation campaigns be organised between districts and the North and the South in the month of May as a display of national unity. 

19. Sri Lanka could develop the concept of common worship – where the four main religious traditions are represented in one platform and sermons chosen to enhance the togetherness of the nation. This could be conceptualised in a manner where those who are more secular in their interpretation of religion could help towards promotion of the intellectual, philosophical and wisdom based understanding of what we call religion. 

20. The month of May could be used to create a thinking and introspecting nation. One way is to encourage different faculties of universities including law, to come up with thematic discussions that assist in helping youth to recognise the link between equality and national unity.