A Thought for the Day - 3
 

By the benevolence of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, may all beings be well and
happy. Today we pick up the second of the pañcasîla precepts, namely adinnâdânâ-
verama.nî,  for a closer study. Formulated well over twenty-five centuries ago, it more than
anticipates the second of the Fundamental Human Rights. Both endeavour to safeguard a
person's possessions. The precept  adinnâdânâ-verama.nî  precisely insists on the legitimacy
of the ownership of such possessions. A Commentarial note on it says that  'In the acquisition
of private property there shall be no violation of state law'. This is specified as ada.n.dâraho.
Such acquisition shall also not be questionable under good public opinion. They call this
ananuvajjo.
 
In committing an act of theft, one is described in Buddhism as dispossessing another of his
legitimately acquired property, whether it is a bunch of bananas in the garden or a television
set inside the house. What is interesting is that in Buddhism, such possessions are viewed as
the source of one's pleasure in one's life or  tu.t.thi-jananaka.m. Legally, it is the legitimacy of
acquisition which entitles a person to own and possess. Even in the absence of a law-
enforcement  authority, or its becoming defunct as we witness all around today, a high level
of morality would frown upon theft. Buddhism expects this from society.
 

So it was in Sri Lanka in and around the year 1200. A young girl could walk from one part of
this little island to another further away, all by herself, and a with a precious jewel in her
hand, without any harassment, sexual or otherwise. There was no moral anarchy in the
country and no beasts freely roamed the land then. What is it then today? Is anybody
accountable for anything that happens, anywhere? In the homes, in the schols, in offices, or in
the streets? Where is prosecution, where is punishment?
 

These are things to which we as a country or nation, need to awaken, rudely or otherwise, as a
new millennium is seen round the corner. On the contrary, monuments large and small, in
metal and in stone, i.e. statues to the memory of people, keep competitively shooting up in
street corners day after day. People clearly know what each one of them stands  for,  even in
their silence. Statues of gun-wielding soldiers, stand much higher than the rest,  almost at
every roundabout in the land, ironically blowing out the message of peace or perhaps our
military might.
 
At this time of the century, with just only seven more months to wind up, and as the new
millennium keeps amorously winking at us, let us muster all our resources at hand to restore
law and order here. In the name of all religions whose messages we deliver without fail at the
break of dawn every day, let us identify the villain of crime in this country, crimes of sex, and
drugs and  anything else perverse, and band ourselves to fight him. Let us not forget that in
the survival of crime, all of us men, women and children will all perish. If what is morality
has any meaning in any body's head, nothing shall prevent people of all religions, of diverse
ethnic communities and of all heterogeneous political groupings, to gather themselves
together for this single worthy purpose. We are with you.

Let it be known that sensible people in many countries abroad band themselves together to
watch the interests of the neighborhood in which they live. They mark out a segment of their
area of residence and declare it a Neighbourhood Watch Area. Signboards on road sides
show groups of people of diverse identities - of blacks and whites, of men, women and
children of all age groups, and even of uniformed officers, uniting for this purpose.
 

They collectively guard the area, keeping an eye on the movable and immovable property of
the residents, dispersing trouble makers who hang around, and informing the police by
telephone of suspicious characters in the neighbourhood and their questionable behaviour.
 

To do this successfully we need to restore into our country the feeling of neighbourly love
and  friendliness. The idea of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious community must be retrieved
and re-established. Learn from Bosnia and Albania and other devastated countries of the
world where such hostilities have existed on a very much larger scale and stretches over a
much longer period. Statistics from these areas which we download from the internet from
time to time are staggering and well and truly revealing with regard to motivations behind
these murderous ventures.

We  do seriously hope that in this lovely season of Vesak when we think of  the Buddha as
the Lord of Peace whose message of universal friendliness or maitr´  shall bring to mankind
lasting peace and security, we shall in this island country endeavour to do a great deal more to
weld together a nation of peace loving Sri Lankans, inspite of our differences of ethnic and
religious diffrenecs.
 

May all beings be well and happy. May there be peace on earth  and  goodwill among men.