An excerpt from my recent trip to Sri Lanka on behalf of Amnesty International:
“The evidence of goodwill is abundant at the community level wherever inter-religious gatherings take place,” says Jehan Perera, Director of the National Peace Council. “This is especially the case in areas where ethnically mixed populations live in close proximity. Small groups of extremists can create disturbances in these areas. But the ethos of the larger majority is to live in peace and harmony.”
A number of the country’s Buddhist monks and prominent lay teachers – who have themselves faced attacks and intimidation from the Buddhist Power Force — have also been active in stressing that violence and hatred are incompatible with the core teachings of the Buddha.
“What we are seeing is not Buddhism,” said Dr. A.T. Ariyaratane, founder of the country’s Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement which promotes rural development. “Buddhism does not believe it putting labels on ourselves or each other, but rather seeing all beings as part of the interdependence of life, and caring for all of them.”
Read the rest on my Huffington Post blog.
From: From our President