'In war there are no winners..."

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email from Lesley Sirimane	May 22 (3 days ago)

'If you ask me to point out the most important message that I can derive from Buddhism for reconciliation in our society, I would like to remind you of this verse in the Dhammapada.

Jayam veram pasavati – Dukkham seti parajito
Upasanto sukham seti – Hitva jaya parajam

(Dhammapada, Sukha vagga verse 5)

This means, "Victory breeds hatred; the defeated sleeps in sorrow; the peaceful sleeps happily, abandoning victory and defeat." Accordingly, I can say any sort of victory celebrations certainly negatively affect the idea of reconciliation. As long as we keep 'the victorious and the defeated' dichotomy in society, we are keeping alive the "hatred and the anger". If we want to have reconciliation and a peaceful country, we need to get our people away from the "victory and defeat" mentality. It is not my word. It is the word of the Buddha.'

- Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera, Lecturer, Department of History, University of Kelaniya.

http://ceylontoday.lk/59-38898-news-detail-religion-for-reconciliation-is-it-feasible.html