Section Days abstract book 2010.indd - RUB Research School ...

irths as the Bodhisattva. They called their election campaign a ”paramita perahara” – a
religious procession that progresses undistracted towards the achievement of a ”dharmarajya”.
Their effort was termed an ”adhistana puja” – offering of determination.
The JHU monks describe themselves as apolitical and it is obvious that they are using a
religious terminology to demarcate themselves from a political sphere.
It is widely accepted among the Sinhalese that they serve as the custodians for true Buddhism.
The question of what constitutes authentic Buddhism has always been debated.
Such public debates, in which an urban middle class regularly engaged, became the venues
for defining and contesting the notion of true Buddhism. The JHU monks have become the
centre for renewed debates over the proper roles and conduct for Buddhist monks. Within
these debates the JHU-monks have to authorize political engagement by religious terms. They
have to purify the parliament along moral Buddhist lines or to disrobe. This means either to
become secular members of the parliament or to sacralize the political sphere.