'Cause Pigs can Fly

Pic by Mstyslav Chernov (Wikipedia)   Yesterday, while joking around in office, I said I was religious for only a minute or two each day. This was when I offered flowers, gilan pasa and the Buddha pooja to the white statue on a shelf at home. I would light the oil lamp, often cursing the matches for not lighting at the first strike, then take two joss sticks out of the packet. One I would light and offer the Buddha. Then I say four or five lines that cover pin awashya ayata pin deema, keeping everyone safe, mentioning a few specific people like Jayawathi and then wishing for the strength to attain nirvana. Once that's done, I light the other joss stick, keep it near the picture of Athamma and go about my day. During the rest of the day, I rarely, if ever, think about my Buddhistness. I don't wear a pirith noola, I don't wish people the blessings of the triple gem, I just go about my business. I do go to temple twice or thrice a year but I’m not a huge fan of te...

I don't think temples are really asking us to send them our ideas and suggestions, but as a Buddhist, these are some of the things I would like monks to focus on. 1. Majority-minority I don't understand why numbers matter, especially since we use them to claim ownership of land which contradicts what the Buddha said about ownership. Anyway, if Buddhists are worried about the now-minorities soon becoming the majority, then you need to focus on why that's happening, instead of trying to kill each other. It could be that there are less Buddhists. This is understandable since the protectors of the Dhamma are no longer doing a good job. So less reasons to believe, less in number and less reasons to claim ownership of land. It could also be that forced conversion is taking place. If this is happening, do something about it because while you are shouting like lunatics about Halal and shawls, there are people being forced to convert to other religions. Give us a reason to believe. ...

බුද්ධ ධර්මයේ පරිහානියට හේතුව බෞද්ධ කාන්තාව යයි සමහරු කියනවා. අපිලු පන්සල්වලට යද්දී කොට සායවල් සහ තද ඇඳුම් අඳින්නේ. අපි විතරයිලු සිල් ගන්නවයි කියල ඕපා දුප කියවන්න පන්සලට යන්නේ. බෞද්ධ කාන්තාව තමයි හැම ප්‍රශ්නයකටම මුල. මිනිසෙක් හොරකම් කරයි. ඔහු තම බිරිඳට ගහනවා. මත්පැන් බොනවා. ඔය හැම එකකටම දොස් කියන්නේ ඔහුව හොඳට හදන්න බැරිවෙච්ච ඔහුගේ අම්මටයි. බොහෝවිට ඒ බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවයි. මෙතන කියන්න මට සීයට අගයන් නැහැ. හැබැයි ඉතින් මට පේන විදියට නම් පන්සිල් වලින් වැඩි ගණනක් පද කඩන්නේ පිරිමි. කවුද වැඩිපුරම සත්ත්වයන්ට හිංසා කරන්නේ? මරන්නේ? කවුද වැඩිපුරම හොරකම් කරන්නේ? එතකොට මත්පැන් බොන්නේ? හැබැයි මොන දේ කරත්, මොන දේ නොකලත් අන්තිමට හැමෝම දොස් කියන්නේ ඔය බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවටයි. ලඟදි බෞද්ධ කොඩි හදන හේමපාල ට කතා කරද්දී, ඔහු කිව්වා බෞද්ධ කාන්තාව කොඩි හදන්නේ නැති නිසා ඔහු ක්‍රිස්තියානි කාන්තාවන්ට ඒ වැඩේ බාරදීල කියල. ඒක අහල තරහවක් ඇතිවුනාට මම මුකුත් කියන්න ගියේ නැහැ. හැබැයි තරහ හිතුනේ කොඩි හදන්නේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි කාන්තාවන් නිසා නොව, ඔහු කොඩි සැදීම බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවගේ යුතුකම යයි කියූ නිසාය. ඔය කතාව කිව්වේ පිරි...

Since the connections the mind makes between various things cannot be fully explained, today an empty train heading towards the commercial capital of the country made me think of the decisions and choices we make in life. We choose to hurt and sometimes, we choose knowing it will hurt us. It isn't easy, looking at a choice you made knowing it will tear you apart. Yet, a voice in your head will tell you that, sometimes, you make that choice because you can't always keep thinking about the future. Live in the moment, I always say to my self. This is what you should do. Don't always think about the consequences. Of course, you can't completely ignore the thought of the future and dig your own grave. But within certain limits, make that choice that makes you happy in the present tense. Sometimes, it feels like we have a choice, but turns out, we don't. Either someone else made that choice for us, or there never were multiple options. Of course, the mind wanders. ...

The world may lack many things, but it doesn't lack religions. Or beliefs. Now a question I have been asked too often is, "why do you not believe in God?" I usually choose some reason and shut them up. But today, well, here's a list. 1. Since you can pick and choose between religions and beliefs, there has to be some selfish reason behind your choice. Now, I have asked for stuff from that faceless, nameless God! I've said over and over again, "Look! If you do in fact exist, now's the time to show your self. Also I would really appreciate it if you kill me in my sleep so that I wont have to wake up tomorrow for a blood test!" (Yes, I actually did ask for that and was so disappointed to wake up the next day!) So since you are reading this, or rather since I'm writing this, you know that I didn't die that night, and the blood test was utterly painful too! But I've asked for other things, things too personal to talk about, and too far awa...