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Well awakened one
Well awakened the disciples of Gotama ever arise - they who by day and night always contemplate the Dhamma.
Pakinnaka Vagga - The Dhammapada

Four boulders keep rolling

Four boulders: Once the Buddha was living at the Monastery in Jeta's grove at Savatthi. It had been customary that most of the people of Savatthi paid courtesy visits to the Buddha twice daily and paid homage.

The ruling monarch at the time in the kingdom of Kosala too routinely visited the Buddha at the Jeta's grove whenever time permitted on days with no special royal assignments were taking place.

At this time, a group of thieves who had encroached in the territory of the kingdom conspired to kill the king of Kosala, but one of the thieves revealed of the plot to the king in betrayal of his clan. The king thus sensing the imminent danger to his life and in deep anguish, got the thieves rounded up by his detachment of soldiers, captured and spiked them to death in compliance with one of the thirty two tortures (Dethis Vadha) which prevailed in the law of ancient times.


The Buddha statue at the Pettah, Colombo. Photograph: Janaka Wettasinghe

Thus wielding of kingly authority on the thieves delayed the king from calling on the Buddha as usual but visited Him at an odd hour. The Compassionate Teacher saw through His Divine Celestial-Eye (Dibba-Cakku) the reasons which led to the kings untimely arrival but intending to preach the Doctrine inquired from the king as to the purpose of his delayed visit at the monastery.

The king Kosala was reluctant to disclose the truth but replied: "Venerable Sir A ruling monarch has many a royal duty to perform under his command. My attending to one such matter was the cause of my delay."

At that moment the Buddha addressed the king Kosala;" If ever, Great King, a veracious principal minister of yours who always abides by the truth would suddenly appear from the Eastern quarter and confides a dire warning that a solid mountain rock or a heavy boulder of great magnitude reaching almost sky-high, rolls down from the East and that it ruins everything on its path, the trees, dwelling-places, even humans are crushed to death.

And the principal minister would urge you to act briskly and wield whatever royal powers you possess to stop this grave disaster to save the country from this misery. Further, Great King, if at the same moment three other honourable ministers of his calibere would appear from Western, Southern and Northern quarters of the country to reveal of similar dreadful occurrences advancing from each of those other three quarters too, to what measures would you promptly accede at that critical juncture to stop this scary experience?" The king of Kosala confessed: "Venerable Sir, There is no intensive method to prevent such disaster, it is beyond my power.

Practice of virtue, indulge in activities of supreme merit and to live by the Dhamma that will condition the future births would be the only solution at a decisive moment as this." "Great King, I shall expound the Dhamma to you in this regard," said the Buddha.

"The life of every sentient being is subjugated by four massive 'boulders' of decay, death, disease and disaster which continuously flow rolling on them.

A longer life-span is suppressed by all of the four 'boulders' while a shorter span of life is subjected to just one or two.

Decay and Old Age (Jara) which lead to the formation of wrinkles in the flesh, gradual greying of hair, weakened limbs, failing eye-sight, inability to hear clearly, tottering as one walks etc. are the decaying of the mental aggregates and the physical aggregate (Khandhas). Longevity is prone to the common law of decaying irrespective of one's status, whether one is in poverty or in riches, literate or illiterate or even regardless of ones virtues and vices.

Nobody who lives to a ripe old age could escape from suppression by this huge 'boulder' of decay which in turn destroys ones quality, form, strength and contentment. Death follows every sentient being from birth.

Being struck to death by this massive solid rock is unavoidable. All bounds of power and pride are subdued by this 'boulder' of death. Now and again every being has to battle against hundreds of diseases where one vigour and contentment are destroyed.

Majority are subjected to various calamities during their long life-spans. Countries too are endangered by untold miseries and to be relieved of these miseries is an impossible task."

The Buddha then asked the king Kosala what needs to be done by the living beings who are constantly overpowered by four heavy boulders-decay, disease, death and disaster to which the king replied: "Most Venerable Sir, what more has to be done other than to perform acts of merit and practise of virtue?".

The Blessed One then preached the Doctrine to the king. "Great King, Having been born amidst suffering in the human sphere, for the good and well-being, the wise should develop Faith (Saddha) which is confidence based on knowledge placed in the Buddha, the Dhamma (Teaching) and the Sangha (The Order), there being no alternative other than to focus on meritorious deeds to overcome their perils of decay, death etc.

Thus with devotion to the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha one abstains from the ten kinds of evil committed through thought, word and deed. The Three evil actions being killing, stealing and sexual misconduct and the evil words are lying, slandering, harsh speech and frivolous talk all which should be heedfully avoided.

Furthermore, the evil thoughts being Covetousness (Abhijjha), consciousness rooted in greed and craving for luxuries similar to those possessed by others, Hatred (Vyapada) which is consciousness rooted in ill-will that prompts the destruction of lives of others and False View (Micchaditthi) where the evil-doer disbelieves that all consciously performed actions (Kamma) bring about resultants (Vipaka) and he is also unconvinced about wholesome and unwholesome actions.

Having abstained from evil the lay-disciple should accomplish good deeds by paying obeisance to the Triple Gem, perform one's duties by the parents, teachers and the elders etc.

He should also respectfully recite and focus on the great virtues of the Triple Gem, have discussions listening to the Dhamma and lead a righteous life establishing oneself in Morality (Sila). Furthermore one's mental concentration should be developed (Samadhi) through reflecting on the great Virtues of the Buddha (Buddhanussathi) and on the qualities of the Doctrine (Dhammanussathi). He must also contemplate on the Virtues of the ariya Sangha, the Order (Sanghanussati).

An exemplary person of such praiseworthy conduct has benn extolled by the Buddhas and the noble-minded.

After death he will be reborn on the human plane or in other higher realms of Devas or Brahmas possessed of immense comfort and contentment.

Should the devotee at any time expresses a desire (Aditthana) that by his moral restraint he should attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana through Samma-Sambodhi, Pacceka-Bodhi or Arhant-Bodhi, be it any one of the three Bodhis in Buddhism, he can expect the fulfilment of that desire by the very force of his meritorious deeds at some future time." said the Buddha.

"Therefore a person, wise and heedful, who intents on his own spiritual progress establishes Saddha in the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha.

If one lives according to the Dhamma in thoughts, words and deeds that person will find comfort and contentment in this world as well as in the heavenly realms beyond where he greatly rejoices. The Exalted one thus preached the relevant stanzas to king Pasenadi Kosala.

(Translated from Sinhala by Chandani Abeynayake from a Dhamma leaflet distributed by the well-known philanthropist madame Jeramius Dias in 1929.)

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History of the 'Encyclopaedia of Buddhism' project

Encyclopaedia of Buddhism : The compilation of an Encyclopaedia of Buddhism in the English medium was one of the several undertakings of the Lanka Bauddha Mandalaya (Buddhist Council of Sri Lanka) which was set up by the government of Sri Lanka in 1955, in connection with the celebration of Buddha Jayanthi, the 2500th Anniversary of the Buddhist Era, as traditionally accepted in countries of South Asia where Theravada form of Buddhism prevails.

The Mandalaya appointed a sub-committee for the task of compiling the Encyclopaedia. The sub committee appointed Professor G.P. Malalasekera as its Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopaedia.

When in 1956 the Government of Sri Lanka created a Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the administration of the Encyclopaedia was transferred to that Ministry while Professor Malalasekera continued to be the Chairman of the Editorial Board and the Editor-in-Chief.

When the Ministry of Buddhasasana was created in 1990 the administration of the Encyclopaedia was affiliated to the Department of Buddhist Affairs under that Ministry.

When the Ministry of Religious Affairs was created in 2005 the administration of the Encyclopaedia became affiliated to the Department of Buddhist Affairs under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Buddhism covers a vast expanse, both in time and space. The Encyclopaedia aims at giving a comprehensive account of the origins of this World-Religion and of the developments that have taken place during a period of more than 25 centuries.

A satisfactory treatment of the subject should, thus, include information on the doctrines of Buddhism and their growth, the story of their spread and expansion, accounts of the numerous Buddhist Schools and Sects and of their origins and subsequent ramifications, descriptions of Buddhist rites and ceremonies as found in many countries, the history of the fine arts - paintings and sculpture, music, dance and drama - under the influence of Buddhism in various countries, details of Buddhist shrines and places of pilgrimage and of the vast literatures connected with Buddhism which developed in many languages, both ancient and modern, in original works as well as in translations, and biographies of persons who, in the course of Buddhist History, played important roles in their own countries and made contributions to the development of Buddhist culture.

The Encyclopaedia has been planned to be completed in eight volumes, and each volume to contain around 800 pages.

For convenience of printing the Ecyclopaedia is released in Fascicles, each containing around 200 pages and four such fascicles form one volume.

The first fascicle was released in 1961 and up to date 28 fascicles have been completed. The 28 fascicles already compiled contain articles on Headwords from letter A to letter S.

Articles that go into Fascicle 1 of Vol. VIII are complete now. Printing of this fascicle will commence towards Nov. 2006.

Articles for fascicles 2, 3 and 4 of the final volume (Vol. VIII) are now being collected and edited simultaneously. It is hoped to complete these articles for the last three fascicles of Vol. VIII before the end of year 2007 and print them by the end of year 2009.

Professor G.P. Malalasekera, the pioneer Editor-in-Chief passed away in the year 1973.

Since then up to 1987 Dr. Saddhamangala Karunaratne, Professor O.H. de A. Wijesekera, Professor J.D. Dheerasekera and Mr. Bandula Jayawardhana functioned as Editors-in-Chief of the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism.

The present Editor-in-Chief, Dr. W.G. Weeraratane assumed duties in the office as Editor-in-Chief in the year 1987 and continues in that position up to date.

The annexed chart indicates how the fascicles of the Encyclopaedia were released from the inception of the project.

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Ageing and death

Delighting in the Venerable Sariputta's words
The bikkhus asked him
Might there be another way,
Another way to right view
To the true Dhamma.

***

Yes, friends, when a noble disciple
Understands ageing and death,
It's origin, its cessation, and the way
To its cessation,
He is one of right view,
And has come to the true Dhamma.

***

And what is ageing and death?
What is the origin of ageing and death?
What is the cessation of ageing and death?
And what is the way
To its cessation?

***

Ageing brings broken teeth,
Grey hair, wrinkles to the skin,
Decline and weakness, and passing away.

***

Passing away, dissolution
Of the five components of being
Is ageing and death.
With birth comes ageing and death.
With cessation of birth is cessation
Of ageing and death.

***

The way leading to cessation,
Of birth, ageing, and death,
Is the Noble Eight fold path.
Right view, Right Intention,
Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Mindfulness
and Right Concentration.

***

When a disciple thus understands,
Ageing and death, its origin, its cessation,
And the way
Leading to its cessation,
He makes, here and now
An end of suffering, is of right view,
And has arrived
At the true Dhamma.

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