French tourists in trouble over Buddha kiss

[hope rainbow]

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
September 2012

COLOMBO - Three French tourists were given suspended six-month prison sentences in Sri Lanka after their holiday pictures appeared to show one of them - a woman - kissing a Buddha statue on the lips.

All three - two women and a man - pleaded guilty to desecrating a Buddha shrine in the central town of Kanfy and were also fined 1,500 rupees, police said.

The man in the group also tried to imitate the pose of the Buddha and their actions hurt the feelings of Buddhists in the country, police told a magistrate in Galle.

Officers were alerted to the incident after the group tried to get their holiday pictures printed.

"The studio employee saw the images and alerted the Galle police who arrrested the tourists on Monday," said police spokesman Ajith Rohana.

They were free to go as their jail sentences were suspended for five years and the magistrate did not make any order to expel them from the country, he added.

Last month, there were reports that five Arabs visiting the island were arrested for distributing "litterature insulting to Buddhism", the BBC reported.

Sri Lanka is a majority-Buddhist state and sensitive to foreigners showing disrespect to Buddha images. Shrines and temples have banned tourists from visiting unless they are conservativeky dressed.

The country banned US rap star Akon in March 2012, saying he had produced a music video involving scantily clad women in front of a Buddha statue.

Eight years ago, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court ordered police and customs to seize Buddha Bar images after monks complained they hurt local religious feelings.

What do you think?
Do you think legal actions or bans are the best way to deal with behavior dis-respectful to Buddhism?

Tourists Get in Trouble for Inappropriate Buddha Photos

[Q]

I can understand how Buddhists would actually find this action to be very offensive... however I do feel it is inappropriate for them to impose such heavy penalty... It some how makes me feel that the authorities, although they may be devoted Buddhists, but they are going a little extreme. It is not fair for a tourist, whom is not a Buddhist ending up in jail just because she probably did not know the sensitivity of the community in the area. What they should have done is not allowing the visitors to take pictures, or prevent them from getting too close to the Buddha images.

[Rihanna]

Buddhism is beyond cultural boundary. It is the Truth and transcends time, culture, etc. Motivation is the essence of an action, whether the result is good or bad. If the motivation was pure with respect for Buddha and Buddhism, one has right to express any sort of cultural greetings. French do often kiss out of love and affection.

I do not see anything negative from the action of kissing a Buddha statue. If that broke the house rule of the temple, then a ticking off should suffice. I do not agree that an action like that warrants such heavy punishment. I have read many times in the papers where the Buddha statues were being vandalised by those looking for treasure or out of disrespect. So what would be the penalty??

Making a mountain out of a small thing, wasting time of courts when courts have very serious jobs to do, inciting words of hatred over a kiss, thinking Buddha Idols can be insulted by ignorant actions, nothing of this sounds anything close to Buddhism taught by Lord Buddha. On a lighter note, i don't think it would have offended Buddha too, and if he did he wouldn’t be Buddha!!

[yontenjamyang]

I think the laws are there for a reason. Without a full understanding of the evolution of the law ie the history and background and culture and demographics of the country, one would not be able to make an informed conclusion and opinion. Perhaps, the law were more lenient or harsher before, perhaps it it a multi religion society etc. ALL this needs to be taken into account.

Buddhist practice of compassion is at the forefront of this case. Even though the sentence of 6 months jail and a fine was given, the jail sentence was suspended meaning the perpetrators was let off free. If that is not compassion then what is? The fine is like a slap on the hands. The authorities obviously felt there was a need to show an example. Perhaps there were other cases where the perpetrators were let off with a warning. We do not know of these. True or not I do not know.

My opinion is that the authorities was correct it prosecuting the perpetrators and the judges showed compassion. All in all, alls' well ends well.

[bambi]

Sorry to say that it is common sense to respect any religious places. There is no such thing as 'I don't know'. Before you visit a country and buy an air ticket, don't you check whether the country need a visa for entry? Whether its a temple, church, mosque or even a picture, nobody should take it as a joke. Just because we are tourists, doesn't mean that we can be insensitive to their culture or beliefs. Lets hope that the tourists that were fined are aware of what they do in the future.


French Tourists Given Jail Terms in Sri Lanka for “Kissing Buddha” Photos
 

[pgdharma]

Buddhist images are highly revered by the Buddhists and they may find it offensive to kiss a holy image as to them it is an act of disrespect.  However, it is the culture of the Westerners to hug and kiss each other as an act of affection and love, so to them there is nothing wrong with kissing a Buddha statue. Anyway, there were no signs put up to warn tourists on the do’s and don’ts or a barricade to prevent tourists from getting too near the Buddha statue. So the authorities are partly to blame for this incident too.

[hope rainbow]

This reminds me of the story of Siddharta about to achieve enlightenment when Mara displayed all samsaric temptations, including beautiful women trying to seduce the sage about to become a Buddha.
The Buddha did not move, his mind remained stable, nothing could distract him and in a final gesture, he called to the earth to bear witness to his journey and justify the worth of his achievement.

See the story:
(from http://buddhism.about.com/od/iconsofbuddhism/a/mara.htm)

The Buddha's Enlightenment

There are several versions of this story; some fairly straightforward, some elaborate, some phantasmagorical. Here is a plain version:

As the about-to-be Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, sat in meditation, Mara brought his most beautiful daughters to seduce Siddhartha. Siddhartha,however, remained in meditation. Then Mara sent vast armies of monsters to attack him. Yet Siddhartha sat still and untouched.

Mara claimed that the seat of enlightenment rightfully belonged to him and not to the mortal Siddhartha. Mara's monstrous soldiers cried out together, "I am his witness!" Mara challenged Siddhartha, who will speak for you?

Then Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself spoke: "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared. And as the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.

[buddhalovely]

It’s standard procedure for photo labs around the world to contact authorities if illegal activity is discovered in pictures, but what constitutes “illegal activity” can different widely from place to place. Case in point: three French tourists were recently given jail terms in Sri Lanka for photographs they took containing Buddha statues.

After dropping the pictures off at a photo lab to have prints made, the owner of the lab noticed the images and alerted authorities. The two women and one man were then detained and charged with “wounding the religious feelings of Buddhists by taking pictures deemed insulting.”

A magistrate later sentenced the trio to six months of prison with hard labor, and also a small fine. The punishment was “suspended for five years”, though, meaning the tourists won’t actually be serving any of the jail time or doing any of the hard labor. Their punishment is therefore a wrist slap and a fine.

The next time you’re traveling abroad, you should think twice about snapping photographs that are potentially offensive — those pictures might actually be illegal.