Does Akon's concert matter???

                  These  days a lot of news circulating among a certain portion of society about the proposed Akon's  tour of Sri Lanka.But I think that there is no need to worry about it that much because this tour doesn't affect or even doesn't have an effect on the majority of Sri Lankan society, the rural community. So, Who are talking about this tour? People in some educational circles such as universities ( radical youth ) , some others who have become followers of western culture and some other religious circles are engaged in this discussion.( or debate.) In fact I have seen a page on Facebook protesting against this tour. They say  that Akon should not be allowed to perform in Sri Lanka because he had disgraced Buddhism in the past.www.thuglaws.com/Akon.jpg

                        When talking about the western culture , it has its own deficiencies. Though it is based on jew- Christian traditions western culture no longer need religion to heal their souls;(As we can see they use other methods such as meditation + medicine which are not part and parcel of their religion.) Later we can debate whether it is right or wrong.  So, most of western men see no need of religion and they do not really respect religion which has no importance to them.(Don’t misunderstand me, I know that there are millions who still respect their respective religions.) The best example is that French government trying to ban the Hijab ( the garment the Muslim ladies wear over their head.) stating that France is a non- religious State. So  we have to understand the plight of these people.( If you can call it so.)

                        So, Akon is not an exception. He too is a son of this western culture and he has these weaknesses. So, banning him entering Sri Lanka will not affect him or this trend. As Buddhists  who believe that a man’s good or bad deeds are measured according to his own Panchendriyas+ Manendriya we have keep our open mind on these things. But  according to our Panchendriyas+ Manendriya he may be wrong.( Our Panchendriyas+ Manendriya is designed according to our culture.) But we should not be in a hurry to brand him as a culprit.(remember the Angulimala Eg.)

                                But this doesn’t mean that Buddhists don’t have their own dignity or identity.As Buddha has said we can show the world that who we are in an innocent way. Buddhism  has the most innocent but  yet the most powerful way of demanding things.(As I believe.)We have won  battles  for our sacred tooth relic, Shri maha bodhi in an innocent way. So, the problem with Akon is just of a mere scale.(In fact the problem is that Akon represents the western culture.)So, we have to keep our Buddhist heads cool and think what has gone wrong. In fact the most of the roots of the Buddhists’ problems lie not in America, Britain or any other western country. They lie deep here, on Sri Lankan soil. Our nation is in a transitional region where our culture is trapped between western culture and Buddhist culture. So, most of our people too don’t know the value of a religion. So, their interaction with the temple is very low and vulnerable that any threat can infect it. So, we have to create a new era where the Buddhist’s interaction with the temple is not just a social burden laid on him ( as it has been understood these days) but also a moral duty he has to obey. With such a stable foundation Buddhist values may not be affected by these minor things.

                           So, I think that there is no need to shout this loud about this concert. As I have stated above this concert doesn’t bother most of the Sri Lankan community. If we cry too hard on this minor thing it will be easy for them (who? Guess it!!!) to brand us as extremists which is not a word in the vocabulary to describe Buddhists until now. But it doesn’t mean that we should keep our mouths shut on this. I have seen some videos of his concerts. Our cultural authorities should make sure that those violent s** acts onstage as seen in those videos are not performed here because our country still has a religious society and it still values our traditions.

Your feed back is highly valued and will sometimes correct me on some of these matters.