Profiles and reminiscences
 With the dawn of September quite a number of literary events took
place, inclusive of the much discussed International Book Fair. The
trend is continued to the month of October as well. A very rare
occurrence took place in the first week of October in the convention
hall of Kotte Sri Naga Vihara. Two books on religious-spiritual matters,
published by Samudra Wettasinghe Publishers of Horana, were launched
before a crowd of well wishers and devotees who happened to visit the
temple premises.
One book is a newly written biography of the well known Thai Buddhist
monk Ajahn Chah by Sachitra Mahendra and the other in two volumes is a
spiritual manual on Buddhist meditation as documented by Venerable Ajahn
Brahmavamso, the pupil of the former, translated from English by well
known translator Cyril Chandrasekara Gunawardhana.
The audience consisting of a packed house, seen only on Poya days,
perhaps had the chance of taking glimpse on the contents of the books
and to perceive perhaps as briefly as possible some matters pertaining
to Thai Buddhist tradition. It is a well known fact that with the
establishment of Mahabodhi Vihara in India by the devoted lay Buddhists
of Sri Lanka, there was a chance to send Buddhist messengers globally.
 Perhaps this was a central point from which the Buddhist Dhamma
message was disseminated during the late 19th century. Though Buddhism,
as a doctrine, was spread globally one could see the issues of
challenges, constraints and impediments that lay side by side.
I could cite the example of the spread of Buddhism to Great Britain
where the impact was visibly received especially via the publication of
textual documents on the part of some of the writers who accepted the
doctrine by way of a practical guidance to their lives. Personalities
like Max Muller, Rhys Davids, Sir Edwin Arnold and Christmas Humphreys
paved the pioneer path to lead others interested in the textual
knowledge. Perhaps with the establishment of the Pali Text Society there
happened nucleus for the study of the Dhamma due to the consistent hard
work of devoted Buddhist scholars who included both lay and clergy, the
life of PTS (Pali Text Society) remained steady. The Maha Bodhi
publications and the PTS texts created an indelible mark
The impact of the PTS was immense. Several Pali scholars of the
calibre of Fansboll translated the entire bulk of Jataka stories into
English now known as a pioneer work. This gave way to several other
translations of the calibre of Buddhist legends written by Burlingame
and published by the Harvard oriental series in America. Buddhist
studies came to limelight towards the middle of 19th century.
Then the trend was followed by the scholars of the calibre of Marie
Museus Higgins, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott to establish former
units of Buddhist studies which resulted in the establishment of
Buddhist temples in the orient as well as occident. In the orient,
Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand formulated study centres not
only geared to the Dhamma Duta (or messenger) function but also to the
ceremonies centred round higher ordination of monks.
Perhaps at this juncture a visible factor was the carving of two
forms of Buddhist units named as Mahayana and Theravada. Mahanaism
spread and got rooted in such countries as Japan and China. One of the
foremost features that sprouted out of Mahayanist is the creation of
literary genres such as Zen and Haiku creative traditions. Though
written originally in Japanese and Chinese, mostly these literary
creations were subsequently translated into English. They were accepted
widely as spiritual creations, giving vent to interpretation of varying
forms.
Professor D T Suzuki is one of scholars who shouldered the task of
popularising the Zen literary and creative tradition to the western
world. But this does not mean that the Theravada tradition of Buddhism
was undermined. Thailand is one country where it was implanted firmly.
Those western scholars who so visited Thai temples knew the calibre of
dedication on the part of the lay and clergy in the spiritual exercises.
If a long story is to be shortened, it was a Thai Buddhist monk named
Ajahn Mun who had been instrumental in the spread of the now existing
Thai Buddhist tradition, a section one should try to trace.
Perhaps there a certain missing links in the Thai-Sri Lankan Buddhist
traditions. It would be interesting and resourceful to understand the
links that had existed between the two countries. I have not come across
a book on the subject. At this juncture my mind goes back to the day I
visited the Thai temple cum forest sanctuary in Hamal Hampstead in
London. The picture that was drawn in my mind was one quite different
from the ones I have seen up to that day.
There were monks ordained from English-speaking countries like
England, Australia and Canada. But some of their teachers or masters who
helped them in the path of bliss happened to be Thai Buddhist monks.
Quite a number of English books were available as free gifts. They
included major as well as minor compilations on spiritual subject areas.
Those who were well versed in Thai and English languages were in a
position to help the English reader to gain knowledge on the Buddhist
doctrine.
On one side was the building block known as Christmas Humphreys
library, where one could read and borrow books. I happened to pick up a
rare collection of 101 Zen stories compiled in English by one Paul Reps.
I was so enmeshed in the collection that I wanted to get a photocopy of
the same in order to bring out a Sinhala translation. (Fortunately I
succeeded in this project as the 101 Zen stories came out as two slim
volumes)
All these events came one by one into my mind as I was seated at the
Naga Vihara convention hall as a participant of the gathering. I was
pleased to see how people flocked to buy the two books of the new
publisher. A vein of pleasure sieved in me when I came to know that the
book launch was organized by a group of young people known as ‘spiritual
friends’ (Adhyatmika Mithuro) and amalgamated with the Youth Temperance
Movement. The day happened to be the Temperance Day. This may have been
a coincidence, but may it be said in good earnest that books of this
calibre should be launched more and more in temple premises.
[email protected]
|
