斯里兰卡佛教四大长老联名上书要求重建佛教事务部

佛教在线海外讯 据《colombopage》2009年10月21日报道，斯里兰卡包括摩尔瓦多派、阿斯羯利派在内的佛教四大长老联名上书斯里兰卡总统，要求重建佛教事务部，采取立即措施保护佛教。

在发给总统的信件中，四位长老表示，斯里兰卡国家许诺通过《宪法》保护佛教，然而政府却在2006年废除了佛教事务部而改立代表三大宗教的宗教事务部。而该事件则导致严重影响佛教及佛教历史的几场运动的发生。

四大长老还指出，几版佛教教科书里歪曲佛教与其历史。

他们要求斯里兰卡总统建立由专家组成的专门委员会，对每版即将出版的佛教书籍进行审查。（编译：子规）

Oct 21, Colombo: Chief incumbents of all four Buddhist chapters in the country asked President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday to reestablish the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs with immediate effect to protect the Buddhism.

Sending a special letter to President Rajapaksa, chief incumbents of all four chapters, including Malawathu and Asgiri pointed out that the Sri Lanka as a nation has promised to protect the Buddhism through its constitution.

However, the government in 2006 abolished the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs and established a common Religious Affairs Ministry for all three religions.

As a result of this step, several activities took place that badly affected the Buddhism as well as Buddhist history in the country, the chief incumbents pointed out.

According to the four chief incumbents several Buddhist text books have been launched with distorted facts about Buddhism and its history.

They asked President Rajapaksa to appoint a special committee, comprising professionals to review every Buddhist book before they are launched.