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| Saturday, 31 July 2004 |
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Focus on some important aspects of the Dhamma Dialogues on Dhamma Author - Bogoda Premaratne. Publisher - Tharanga Darshana Perera. Printer - Nuwara Eliya Printers. Price - Rs. 500 This book is a record of the dialogues on Dhamma that was carried on for over five years from Vesak 1995 under the Program Series "Dhamma in Daily Life" and was telecast over I.T.N. every Poya Day. The central theme around which all these dialogues have been structured is that almighty fiction of our personality, that is "atta", a subject, very often regarded as better left alone, for the obvious reason that nobody likes having ones own personality exposed to a penetrative examination, even to one's own self. Impersonality or "anatta" has been explained by Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera (1878 - 1957) in his Buddhist Dictionary as follows, "annatta: (not self, non-ego, egolessness, Impersonality) is the central doctrine of Buddhism, without understanding which a real knowledge of Buddhism altogether impossible. It is the only really specific Buddhist doctrine with which the entire structure of the Buddhist teaching stands or falls. All the remaining Buddhist doctrines may, more or less be found in other philosophic systems and religions, but the "anatta" doctrine has been clearly and unreservedly taught only by the Buddha, wherefore the Buddha is known as the "anatta-vadi" or Teacher of Impersonality. Who so ever has not penetrated this impersonality of all existence and does not comprehend that in reality there exists only this continual self consuming process of arising and passing bodily and mental phenomena and that there is no separate ego-entity, within or without this process, he will not be able to understand Buddhism i.e the four Noble Truths in the right light". This book consisting of 28 chapters covering over 300 issues in 475 pages provides insight and focus on to some important aspects of the Dhamma. It examines the Doctrine of Impersonality which is at the very heart of the Buddha's Teaching. The emptiness of the world of "I" "me" "mine" and the "self" in the light of the Buddha's Teaching is well explained and help to grasp the essence of the Dhamma in relation to the "self". The Dependently Arising and Dependently Ceasing "paticca samuppada" has been well explained to impress the open mind of those interested in the Dhamma. It explains how the Paticca samuppada formulation displays the whole structure of Suffering. The introduction to some important aspects of the dhamma which are very relevant to the day-to-day life of man are so very impressive and appealing that anyone interested who reads this book would want to read it again and again. In many of the conventional type of presentations introducing and explaining various aspects of the dhamma, the reader or the listener some times develops questions at the back of his mind and remains not adequately educated on the subject. The "Dialogues on Dhamma" in this respect introduces the subject matter in a most impressive and easy to understand style. The question and answer style of introducing deep and difficult subjects has been well accepted for a long time. The question master and the author who have provided deep knowledge in an easy to understand and digest-style deserve to be congratulated on this excellent effort. There is a great deal of interest in studying the Dhamma and the traditional reading material available demands the spending of considerable time to read them. This offers a challenge to those engaged in other activities that take a good part of their time. In this respect the Dialogues on Dhamma offers a great opportunity for those interested to learn the Dhamma without devoting too much time. This style of presentation on a question and answer basis is extremely helpful and could be utilized to educate those interested in learning the Dhamma. These Dialogues cover a wide range of areas of the Dhamma and provides the reader a great opportunity to study some important areas of the Dhamma. There is a need for more presentations of this type. A whole chapter has been devoted to explain the techniques of Samatha and Vipassana Meditation. Meditation attracts many persons particularly those who need to relax their busy minds. In ancient times in India many persons who were tired of the problems of the day-to-day life took to meditation. This exercise certainly gave them relief and results. The average person interested in Buddhism may not be familiar with the Samatha and Vipassana Meditation processes and the differences between the two. The best process of understanding meditations by actual participation in Meditation subject to the various disciplines called for. This book is quite helpful in explaining the Meditation process and in giving knowledge on the differences between the Samatha and Vipassana Meditation techniques. This book also explains that Buddha has recommended meditation for all human beings. "Dialogues, on Dhamma" is a book that should be available in any library and should also be in the private collections of those persons who value possessing important reading material on the Dhamma. There is at present a deep interest among the intellectuals in the U.S.A. in Buddhism and if this book reaches the shelves of the Book stores there it would move very fast. - L. M. Samarasinghe. |
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