Word: buddhists
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ended the voyage, but not the story, of the mysterious seafarers. When they reached St. John's, the castaways, most of whom were in their 20s, identified themselves as Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka who had fled their strife-torn homeland to escape persecution at the hands of the Buddhist Sinhalese majority. They said they were students, businessmen and skilled ! workers, and claimed to have paid an Indian "agent" up to $3,000 each for passage to Canada. Then followed a month aboard a ship that had picked them up at the south Indian port of Madras. But five days...
...Tamils, most of whom are Hindus, form 18 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 16 million and they claim economic and political discrimination by the Buddhist Sinhalese majority...
Burma may be the most devoutly Buddhist country in the world, but it is also the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma: this is the "Burmese way to socialism." In order to work out such a complex destiny, its leaders basically closed the country from its independence after World War II until, in the seventies, a 24-hour tourist visa was instituted. Now tourists are allowed in for seven days--the longest, busiest week of your life...
Later in the trip, a monk explained to me that the Buddhist conception of charity encompasses two halves: giving and encouraging others to give, and neither is complete without the other. Thus, the Burmese dancers were really helping us along to nirvana by encouraging us to give them things...
...Lanka and India, he plans to return to his village because "that is where my call is." Christians currently constitute about 8% of Sri Lanka's population of 17 million; the growth of the faith, Saravanapavan believes, could have a positive impact on a nation suffering bloody division between Buddhist Sinhalese and his own minority of Hindu Tamils. "The Christians come from all communities in Sri Lanka," he said. "Only the Prince of Peace can unite my country...