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Fa-Hsien: Scholar monk par excellence

Fa-Hsien was born in 374 AD in the village of Wu-yang in China’s Shansi province. His surname, it is said, was Kung. Because his three older brothers had all died in childhood, his father dedicated him to a Buddhist monastery in the hope of safeguarding his life. When Fa-Hsien was ten his father died, and his uncle urged him to return home but he decided to continue the religious life his father had chosen for him.

Abhayagiri chaitya

There are many stories attributed to him to show his wisdom and courage even during his Samanera period. On one occasion he was harvesting paddy with a score of his fellow-disciples, when some thieves came upon them to take away their grain by force. The other Samaneras all fled, but Fa-Hsien stood his ground, and said to the thieves, “If you must have the grain, take what you please. But, Sirs, it was your former neglect of charity which brought you to your present state of destitution; and now, again, you wish to rob others.

I am afraid that in the coming ages you will have still greater poverty and distress;—I am sorry for you beforehand.” With these words he followed his companions into the monastery, while the thieves left the grain and went away.

Intelligence

At the age of twenty, Fa-Hsien was ordained as a fully fledged monk. By that time he has already become a respected young and enterprising Buddhist scholar. However, Fa-Hsien felt that the Chinese translations of the Buddhist texts were of poor quality and wished to make his own translations from the original texts, which were written in Sanskrit. In A.D. 399, when he was about twenty-five years old, he decided to set off on a hazardous quest to India to discover the authentic Buddhist writings. He planned to cross central Asia into India, following an ancient spice trading route.

Travelling with few other monks, Fa-Hsien began his journey towards northern China and after months of walking he made his way town of Khotan located on the southern part of the “Silk Road” trading route that ran between China and India. He crossed present Turkestan and then passed with difficulty through the Pamir Mountains on his way to the Indus River. A second mountain range gave the travellers even more trouble, for it had frequent storms and was deep with snow. Later, in his memoirs, Fa-Hsien would write of the mountains: “There are also among them venomous dragons, which, when provoked, spit forth poisonous winds, and cause, showers of snow and storms of sand and gravel.”

Fa-Hsien and his party managed to reach the great city of Peshawar. Now closer to his destination, he crossed the Punjab plains into northern India. In the holy city of Magadha (near modern-day Patna), he spent the next three years collecting and copying Buddhist texts. During that time he also visited many shrines and holy sites where important events in Buddha’s life had taken place. He is most known for his pilgrimage to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Travelling down the Ganges River, Fa-Hsien reached the port of Tamralipti, where he spent another two years.

Leaving India, Fa-Hsien sailed to the nearby Sri Lanka, which was an important centre of Buddhism at that time. He spent two more years in Sri Lanka doing extensive research in Anuradhapura and other areas. In 413 AD Fa-Hsien began his journey back to China by sea. It was not destined to an easy trip.

Disasters

Heading eastward across the Indian Ocean, Fa-Hsien’s ship was wrecked on a small island near Sumatra. He managed to make it to the nearby island of Java, where he spent the next five months waiting for a second ship to China. That boat, which was headed for the south Chinese city of Canton, got blown off its course and was adrift for seventy days. Finally, it touched land on the Shantung Peninsula in northern China. The year was 414 AD.

Upon his return, Fa-Hsien went to Nanking (Nanjing), then China’s capital city. He spent the next several years working on Chinese translations of the Sanskrit texts he had brought back. He then retired to a monastery in the province of Hupei, where he wrote the story of his travels, titled Fo-Kwe-Ki (Memoirs of the Buddhist Realms). It was an excellent geographic account of his journey along the Silk Roads, and an comprehensive report of the history and customs of Central Asia and India and Sri Lanka. Fa-Hsien stayed at the monastery until his death at the age of eighty-eight.

About Sri Lanka

Fa-Hsien mentions several events and customs he has seen and experienced during his stay in Sri Lanka. The following are few extracts.

“When Buddha came to this country wishing to transform the wicked nagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of the royal city. Over this footprint the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned with gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the precious substances.

By the side of the top he further built a monastery, called the Abhayagiri, where there are (now) five thousand monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid works of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those substances, and having an appearance of solemn dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a priceless pearl”.

“The king practices the religious purifications, and the sincerity of the faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also great. Since the establishment of government in the kingdom there has been no famine or scarcity, no revolution or disorder.” “In the city there are many elders and merchants, whose houses are stately and beautiful.

The lanes and passages are kept in good order. At the heads of the four principal streets there have been built preaching halls, where, on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the month, they spread carpets, and set forth a pulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all quarters come together to hear the sermons.

The people say that in the kingdom there may be altogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their common stores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common supply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take their great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as much as the vessels will hold, all returning with them full”.

“The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third month. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large elephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is dressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following proclamation “Behold! ten days after this, Buddha’s tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the Abhayagiri-vihara. Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who wish to amass merit for themselves, make the roads smooth and in good condition, grandly adorn the lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant store of flowers and incense to be used as offerings to it.”

“When this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both sides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which the Bodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared. All these figures are brightly coloured and grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle of the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and thus it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vihara.

There monks and laity are present. They burn incense, light lamps, and perform all the prescribed services, day and night without ceasing, till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is returned to the vihara within the city. On fast-days the door of that vihara is opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed according to the rules”.

“Forty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vihara there is a hill, with a vihara on it, called the Chaitya, where there may be 2000 monks”.


Mahiyangana Chaitya, the first stupa

Sakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha after attaining supreme enlightenment, the summit of perfection or the Buddhahood at Bodh Gaya, the second sacred place where he gifted the unique teaching to humanity was the charming city of Isipatana in Baranasi, the capital of Kasi kingdom. It was here that he preached his first sermon to the five ascetics, his former companions before his spiritual achievement. They became the first disciples establishing the Buddha sasana.

Subsequently a large number of disciples who listened to him and attained arahantship were sent in different directions to preach the doctrine of the Dhamma for the well being of the mankind. Having sent them on this noble mission the Buddha himself set out for Rajagaha where on his way he met the three brothers the hermit monks who had the good fortune to attain Arahantship with their 1,000 disciples.

Mahiyangana Chaitya

After this celebrated religious event Buddha is said to have focused his attention towards Sri Lanka.

Landmark Gift

It is the most significant and precious event to find that Sri-Lanka was blessed with the presence of Thathagatha the perfect one. His visits are a landmark gift to Buddhist heritage, reflecting the most memorable events of the Buddhist era – the time of the living Buddha. This is certainly a proud moment in the history of the island and the sasana. This sacred event has preceded the introduction of Buddhism to the island by Thera Mahinda in 27 BC. Exactly after 236 years after Mahaparinibbana the sublime message he proclaimed in Jambudweepa appeared here in Dharmadweepa in the month of Poson in 247 BC.

The first visit of Sakyamuni

The very blissful message of the Buddha was brought to the place sanctified by Buddha three centuries after his visit to the island. With the passage of time the sanctity and serenity bestowed by the Thathagatha during his visits had disappeared until it was renewed by Mahindagamanaya as mentioned earlier.

In the pre-Mahinda era however, the greatest blessing to the island was Buddha’s first visit to the island to Mahiyangana on the ninth month of his enlightenment. It was on the first poya in the Buddhist calendar (Duruthu) that the supreme Master had blessed our paradise isle which led it to be identified as Dharmadweepa.

Ancient chronicles reveal that Sakyamuni Gautama Buddha arrived in the Mahanagawana, the splendid park in Mahiyangana located in the vicinity of Mahaweli ganga. Here the inhabitants who belonged to various tribes such as Yakka and Naga opposed vehemently the arrival of the Buddha. But his spirit of tolerance, sympathy and boundless compassion towards all living beings helped them to be good and righteous citizens with the teachings of Dhamma.

They were all miraculously won over by his overflowing Melta. Finally having listened to sermons emphasizing harmony, they worshiped the Buddha with great love. The most significant event at this juncture was the presence of Deva Mahasumana the guardian god of Mount Samanala who attained the state of Sotapanna graspings the sermons of the Buddha. According to Mahavamsa the earliest Buddhist Relic was the Hair Relic, offered to anxious Deva who pleaded the Buddha to give something to worship on his first visit to the island. The Buddha complying with his request gave him a handful of hair from his head.

The overjoyed Deva placed it in a golden casket and later enshrined in a stupa, the biggest milestone in marking the event was this stupa which later came to be called Mahiyangana Chaitya. The greatest event of great historical importance in Buddha Sasana.

Mahiyangana Chaitya

The honour of laying the foundation for the first chaitya in Dharmadweepa goes to Deva Mahasumana. This is given much significance not only because it is the first one built in Sri Lanka, but also the first one built by a devine being on the spot where the Buddha made his first visit to the island. History records that the royalty extended their utmost support and patronage at various times to build up this sacred spot, sanctified by the Buddha. After the Parinibbana of the Buddha and the distribution of the sacred relics the remaining neck relic (Greeva Dathu) was brought to Sri-Lanka by Arahant Sarabhu – a pupil of venerable Sariputta and enshrined in the stupa.

It is said to have been built in stages. First of all Deva Mahasumana had placed the golden casket in the stupa embedded with blue stones and built it to the height of seven riyanas (a measure). Later it was raised to 12 riyanas, enshrining the neck relic. Later it had been raised to a height of 30 riyanas by king Uddachulabhaya, the brother of king Devanampiyatissa.

Still later it had been completed to a height of 80 riyanas by king Dutugemunu hailed as the greatest patron of Buddhism during that era the national hero of Sri Lanka as well as Mahavamsa as mentioned by its author thera Mahanama.

The Chetiya elaborately completed by him, stands as testimony to his lasting contribution to Buddhism. He is said to have constructed a mantle chetiya which exists to this day as an amazing marvel and a landmark gift to Buddhist heritage. Today it has become the most sanctified and venerated place of worship by the devotees and also a national treasure in this Dharmadweepa, blessed with a path leading to peace.


Meet the divine messengers

The traditional legend of the Buddha’s life tells us that throughout his youth and early manhood Prince Siddhatta, the Bodhisatta, lived completely unaware of the most elementary facts concerning human mortality. His father, anxious to protect his sensitive son from exposure to suffering, kept him an unwitting captive of ignorance.

Incarcerated in the splendour of his palace, amply supplied with sensual pleasures, and surrounded by merry friends, the prince did not entertain even the faintest suspicion that life could offer anything other than an endless succession of amusements and festivities. It was only on that fateful day in his twenty-ninth year, when curiosity led him out beyond the palace walls, that he encountered the four ‘divine messengers’ that were to change his destiny. The first three were the old man, the sick man and the corpse, who taught him the shocking truths of old age, illness and death, the fourth was a wandering ascetic, who revealed to him the existence of a path whereby all suffering can be fully overcome.

This charming story, which has nurtured the faith of Buddhists through the centuries, enshrines at its heart a profound psychological truth. In the language of myth, it speaks to us not merely of events that may have taken place centuries ago but of a process of awakening through which each of us must pass if the Dhamma is to come to life within ourselves. Beneath the symbolic veneer of the ancient legend, we can see that Prince Siddhartha’s youthful stay in the palace was not so different from the way in which most of us today pass our entire lives - often, sadly, until it is too late to strike out in a new direction.

Our homes may not be royal palaces, and the wealth at our disposal may not approach anywhere near that of a north Indian rajah, but we share with the young Prince Siddhatta a blissful (and often wilful) oblivion to stark realities that are constantly thrusting themselves on our attention.

If the teachings are to be more than the bland, humdrum background of a comfortable life, if they are to become the inspiring, sometimes grating, voice that steers us on to the great, path of awakening, we ourselves need to emulate the Bodhisatta in his process of maturation. Joining him on his journey outside the palace walls - the walls of our own self-assuring preconceptions - we must see for ourselves the divine messengers we so often miss because our eyes are fixed on ‘more important things,’ i.e. our mundane preoccupations and goals.

When we meet the divine messengers at this level, they become catalysts that can induce in us a profound internal transformation. We realize that because we are frail and inescapably mortal we must make drastic changes in our existential priorities and personal values. Instead of letting our lives be consumed by transient trivia, by things that are here today and gone tomorrow, we must give weight to ‘what really counts,’ to aims and actions that will exert a lasting influence upon our long-range destinies and our ultimate aim as we meander through the cycle of repeated birth and death.

Before such a revaluation takes place, we generally live in a condition that the Buddha describes by the term pamada, negligence or heedlessness. Imagining ourselves immortal and the world our personal playground, we devote our energies to such ‘worldly dhammas’ as the accumulation of wealth, the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, the achievement of status, and the quest for fame and renown. The remedy for heedlessness is the very same quality that was aroused in the Bodhisatta when he met the divine messengers in the streets of Kapilavatthu.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1972, served as longtime editor for the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He has translated many texts from the Pali Canon and presently resides at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York.

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