The director of Ratmalana Dharma Research, Hagoda Vipassi Thero, has expressed his opposition to the attempt by the All Ceylon Buddhist Federation to re-inscribe its logo on the Buddhist flag.
In 2017, the Department of Buddhist Affairs issued a new circular to recommend that symbols or letters, words and clauses should not be printed on the Buddhist flag, the director of Ratmalana Dharma Research Institute, Hagoda Vipassi Thero said in an announcement in this regard.
However, Hagoda Vipassi Thero has emphasized that some current officials of the Buddhist Federation are making a short-sighted attempt to adopt the logo with the Buddhist flag again.
The announcement issued by him also states:
The logo of the All Ceylon Buddhist Federation is created on the six-color Buddhist flag, in a jagged circle with the motto ‘Yunjatha Buddhasasane – Samastha Lanka Bauddha Maha Sammelenaya’.
At that time, although some temples, Buddhist society companies, and organization’s name boards were displayed on the Buddhist flag, there was no need for legal regulations as there was no significant damage to the symbolic communications of the flag.
But especially in the year 2004, the political party called ‘Hela Urumaya’ used the Buddhist flag for its election campaigns, so it was seriously damaged in the subject of Swalakshana. Public protests about it became popular in the society. We raised the issues of the ‘Sri Lanka Standard Specification on the Buddhist Flag’ of the Sri Lanka Standards Institute in 1987 and informed the society that new rules should be formulated on the use of the Buddhist flag.
However, as the abuse of the Buddhist flag continues to grow, in 2017, the Department of Buddhist Affairs recommended in a new circular that ‘symbols or letters, words, clauses should not be printed on the Buddhist flag’.
Paying attention to this, the All Ceylon Buddhist Federation has removed the Buddhist flag from the existing logo and adopted a new logo. This is a proactive as well as a progressive step.
But we learned that some of the current officers of the Buddhist Federation are anxious to adopt the logo with the Buddhist flag again. But it must be said that the effort is neither visionary nor progressive.
The six-color Buddhist flag created by the Buddhist Protection Committee was hoisted for the first time in Sri Lanka, on Vesak Poya Day, which was April 28, 1885. And on May 25, 1950, at the World Buddhist Congress held in Kandy, this flag of ours was adopted as the World Buddhist Flag by the unanimous vote of the representatives of twenty-nine states.
Therefore, it is our expectation that you will continue to maintain the precedent set by the Congress to refrain from writing or painting anything on our six-color Buddhist flag, which is the only flag of the world’s Buddhists.
