The Buddhist chapter to which Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera belongs says it was not called to the President’s discussion on the removal of his robes, and has written asking for a meeting of its own before he is next produced in court.
The letter was sent on Friday by Agga Maha Pandita Ven. Dr. Kotapitiye Rahula Anunayake Thera, Chief Secretary of the Maha Viharavamshika Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Maha Sangha Sabha, to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Hiru News reported.
The jurisdiction claim
The letter restates the chapter’s central argument: because Gnanasara Thera is a monk of that Sangha Sabha, the authority to decide whether his robes are kept or removed rests with the Sangha Sabha itself.
Rahula Thera said he was surprised that the discussion held on Thursday went ahead without the chapter being included. That meeting between the President and representatives of the Maha Sangha had been set for Thursday after all four Mahanayaka Theras wrote to the Department of Prisons.
With the matter still unresolved, the letter says, the chapter wants to put its case to the President directly. It asks for a date and time before Gnanasara Thera’s next court appearance, and invites the President to come to the Mangala Uposathagaraya of the historic Kotte Rajamaha Viharaya, together with the relevant ministers and the Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs.
This is the chapter’s second letter in the dispute. The first, on 6 October, went to the Commissioner General of Prisons rather than to the President.
Clergy in Britain write to Prisons
Separately, the Sri Lanka Sangha Sabha in the United Kingdom has written to the Commissioner General of Prisons condemning the decision to produce Gnanasara Thera in court in civilian clothing, Hiru News reported.
The letter was sent by Dr. Ven. Vitharandeniye Kassapa Thera, the body’s Vice President and Chief Incumbent of the Birmingham Maha Viharaya.
He wrote that monks have been imprisoned for offences throughout history and that the law must apply to them equally — but that it must also be applied fairly. He said he had no objection to prison clothing being worn inside the prison itself, but that he had not previously seen a monk’s robes removed and civilian dress substituted for a court appearance.
A state official, he wrote, should have been able to foresee that doing so at a moment of intense national controversy would distress the Buddhist majority. He asked the Department to refrain from such steps in future.
Update, 10 October: the Opposition Leader visits the chapter
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has visited a temple of the same Kotte chapter and said recent insults directed at monks and the monastic robe are unacceptable, Hiru News reported.
He made the remarks after visiting the Pannipitiya Rukmalgama Dharma Wijayaloka Temple, where he met Most Ven. Ittepane Dhammalankara Thera of the Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha — the same chapter whose exclusion from the President’s talks is the subject of this article — to receive blessings and hold what Hiru describes as a cordial discussion.
Premadasa said matters of this kind should be handled sensitively, by obtaining recommendations from the relevant parties and correcting discrepancies. He said former President Ranasinghe Premadasa had given the Sambuddha Sasana a special place by establishing the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and the Buddha Sasana Fund, while giving other religions, races and cultures their rightful constitutional place, and that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya continues to recognise the position the Constitution accords Buddhism. He added that the country’s unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty matter, but so does enforcement of the laws set out in the Constitution, and said he acts as a Buddhist through his conduct rather than using Buddhism for political gain.
This is Premadasa’s second intervention in the dispute. He earlier issued a statement saying a monk should not be brought to court in lay clothing without his consent or his religious institution’s knowledge.
A claim about the three Nikayas
The more consequential remarks came from the Thera. Ittepane Dhammalankara Thera said Sri Lanka has historically been a Buddhist nation and that protecting Buddhism is everyone’s duty — and that 99% of Buddhist monks, including the Mahanayake Theras of the three Nikayas, oppose the humiliation faced by Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, a monk’s robe being removable only by the Maha Sangha.
The “99%” is the Thera’s own characterisation rather than any count, and Hiru reports it as his assertion. But the narrower claim within it — that the Mahanayake Theras of the three Nikayas oppose what was done — is consistent with this newsroom’s own reporting: all four Mahanayaka Theras, across the three Nikayas, wrote jointly to the Commissioner General of Prisons saying they were concerned and surprised by the decision.
Note that the Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha, of the Maha Vihara lineage, is not itself one of the three Nikayas. Its senior monks are therefore speaking to the position of bodies other than their own.
Update, 11 October: the Daily Mirror confirms the visit, and names his office
The Daily Mirror has filed its own account of the same meeting, and it settles a question this article left open.
The Thera is the Mahanayake of the Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha — the chapter’s most senior monk, not merely a senior member of it. He made the point himself in criticising the consultation: he asked why the Kotte Sangha Sabha had not been consulted before the decision was taken, noting that he is the Mahanayake of the Sabha.
“If such a decision was being taken, they should have at least consulted the Kotte Sangha Sabha,” he said.
On the central claim he was more precise than Hiru’s account suggested, and he drew a distinction between enduring a situation and conceding the principle:
“Only Buddhist monks have the authority to remove a monk’s robes. If the robes are not removed, the situation can be endured, but no one has the right to disrobe him.”
The Daily Mirror also reports that a letter has been sent to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on the matter and that a further date has been requested for a meeting with him. That is consistent with the chapter’s Friday letter described above, and indicates the request for a meeting was still outstanding as of Sunday.
Two points of care. The Daily Mirror renders his name Ittapana Dhammalankara where Hiru gives Ittepane Dhammalankara — a transliteration variant of the same monk, not two officials. And the Daily Mirror does not name Gnanasara Thera, referring only to “the monk at the centre of the controversy”, whom it describes as a member of the Kotte Sangha Sabha, an eloquent speaker and a preacher of the Dhamma. The identification in this article rests on the surrounding reporting, not on that filing.
The Daily Mirror carries the 99% claim in the same terms as Hiru, and likewise offers no source for it.
Not reported
Neither report says what was discussed or decided at Thursday’s meeting with the President, or which chapters attended. Neither carries a response from the Presidential Secretariat, the Department of Prisons or the Ministry of Buddhasasana to either letter, and neither gives the date of Gnanasara Thera’s next court appearance.
Answered since first publication: Ittepane Dhammalankara Thera’s office within the Sangha Sabha — he is its Mahanayake.
Still open: whether the chapter has received a reply to its request for a meeting with the President. No filing says whether Premadasa’s visit was connected to the chapter’s request, or whether the Samagi Jana Balawegaya intends to raise the matter in Parliament. No source is offered for the 99% figure by either outlet, and neither reports a response from the Presidential Secretariat to the chapter’s letter.
