Abstract
What political influence has the Buddhist clergy on the people and what determines their political attitude? The Author throws some light on the answers to these questions thanks to a stud y conducted on religious behaviour where interviews with the monks included some questions on politics.
Though at first sight the involvement of the monks with a particular political party in the 1965 elections appears to be motivated by anti-communism, it is really caste membership that seems to play a more influential role. But with regard to political involvement the monks seem to reflect public opinion and not to mould it. The importance of their involvement lies in their way of life and in their social position. They are more disposed to defend their own interests, which are religious, than to identify with the point of view of a particular social group. Hence it appears that religion may not after all have the same importance in politics in Ceylon that politicians tend to attribute to it.