UPFA MP Ven. Aturaliya Ratana Thera told Parliament on July 6 that the Buddhist Affairs Department was lackadiasical in revamping Buddhist religious education in the country in conformity with trends in the modern world.
The monk said Buddhist meditation methods were used in certain states in the United States today to rehabilitate misguided youth.
“They hire Buddhist scholars from Asian countries for this purpose. They use ‘Vidharshana Bhavana’ to correct such misguided children,” he said.
Ven. Ratana Thera said internationally reputed Buddhist Universities had been established in Korea, China, Myanmar and Thailand and stressed the need to upgrade the status of Buddhist Universities in Sri Lanka.
“They must be centres of spiritual studies. Today, foreign students come here for Buddhist studies. Yet, they are not stimulated properly towards spiritual studies, by the existing Buddhist Universities,” he said.
Commenting on Ayurvedic medicine, Ven. Ratana Thera said it should be taught as an Advanced Level subject for students.
Then, students will get a better understanding about the fauna and flora in our country with high herbal value,” he said.
“We can revamp our Pirivena Education system in keeping with modern trends. If students gain a thorough knowledge about Sanskrit language at Pirivenas, they can read about Ayurvedic medicine. They can also learn the Hindi language after mastering Sanskrit,” he said.
Source: Daily Mirror
