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BBCの報道;


16 March 2013 Last updated at 15:17 GMT


Sri Lanka bars Buddha tattoo Briton for 'disrespect'


Sri Lanka has denied entry to a British tourist at Colombo's international airport because he showed a lack of respect for Buddhism, reports say.

An immigration official told a local newspaper that when the man was asked about a tattoo of Buddha on his arm he had spoken "very disrespectfully".

Such views would have been a "threat to his own safety" in Sri Lanka, he added.

The authorities are tough on perceived insults to Buddhism - the religion of the island's majority ethnic Sinhalese.

Last year, three French tourists were given suspended prison sentences for taking photographs that showed them pretending to kiss a statue of Buddha at a temple*1.

In 2010, the American R&B star Akon was refused a visa after protests over one of his music videos, which featured scantily-clad women dancing in front of a statue of Buddha*2.

An official at Bandaranaike International Airport told AFP news agency that the report of Friday's incident involving the British tourist was correct.

More than 100,000 British citizens visited Sri Lanka in 2012, accounting for 10% of the total number of tourists. The UK is also the country's second-largest trading partner after India.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21812855

さてやくざ者のことをクリカラモンモン(倶利伽羅紋々)ともいう*3不動明王の変化身たる倶利伽羅龍王の彫り物を背中にしていることに由来する。勿論全てのやくざが倶利伽羅龍王の彫り物をしているわけではないけど。これは仏教に対する冒瀆として解釈されるのだろうか、それとも信心の現れとして解釈されるのだろうか。勿論スリランカの仏教は上座部なのでそもそも不動明王などは関係ないわけだが。
See also http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20120619/1340042345