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Buddhist Spectrum
The Law of Cause and Effect
Ven Piyadassi Thera
‘Dependent Origination’ - Paticca-Samuppada - is a basic teaching of
the Buddha Dhamma (Buddhism). The doctrine therein being so deep and
profound, it is not possible within the limited scope of this essay to
make an extensive survey of the subject. Based solely on the teaching of
the Buddha an attempt is made here to elucidate this doctrine, leaving
aside the complex details involved.
 Scholars and writers have in various forms rendered this term into
English. ‘Dependent Origination’, ‘Dependent Arising’, ‘Conditioned
Co-production’, ‘Causal Genesis’. ‘Conditioned Genesis’ are some
renderings. Throughout this essay the term ‘Dependent Origination’ is
used. Dependent Origination is not a discourse for the unintelligent and
superficial, nor is it a doctrine to be grasped by speculation and mere
logic put forward by hair-splitting disputants. Hear these words of the
Buddha.
‘Deep, indeed, Ananda,The attendant - disciple of the Buddha. is this
Paticca-Samuppada and deep does it appear. It is through not
understanding, through not penetrating this doctrine, that these beings
have become entangled like a matted ball or thread, become like munja
grass and rushes, unable to pass beyond the woeful states of existence
and ,sansara, the cycle of existence.’ Maha Nidhana Sutta. Digha N.
Those who fail to understand the real significance of this;
all-important doctrine mistake it to be a mechanical law of causality,
or, even a simple simultaneous arising, nay a first beginning of all
things, animate and inanimate. Be it remembered that there is no First
Cause with a capital ‘F’ and a capital ‘C’ in Buddhist thought, and
Dependent Origination does not attempt to dig out or even investigate a
first cause. The Buddha emphatically declared that the first beginning
of existence is something inconceivable Samyutta N., II. Anamatagga
Samyutta,. p. 179., and that such notions and speculations of a first
beginning may lead to mental derangementAnguttara N., IV. 77.. If one
posits a ‘First Cause’ one is justified in asking for the cause of that
‘First Cause;’ for nothing can escape the law of condition and cause
which is patent in the world to all but those who will not see.
Phenomena
According to Aldous Huxley, Those who make the mistake of thinking in
terms of a first cause are fated never to become men of science. But as
they do not know what science is, they are not aware that they are
losing anything. To refer phenomena back to a first cause has ceased to
be fashionable, at any rate in the West... we shall never succeed in
changing our age of iron into an age of gold until we give up our
ambition to find a single cause for all our ills, and admit the
existence of many causes acting simultaneously, of intricate corelations
and reduplicated actions and reaction.Ends and Means (London 1945), pp.
14, 15.
Let us grant for argument’s sake that ‘X’ is the ‘first cause’ Now
does this assumption of ours bring us one bit nearer to our goal, our
deliverance? Does it not close the door to it? Buddhism, on the other
hand, states that things are neither due to one cause (ekahetuka) nor
are they causeless (a-hetuka) the twelve factors of Paticca-Samuppada
and the twenty four conditioning relations (Paccaya) shown in the
patthana, the seventh and the last book of the Abhidhamma pitka, clearly
demonstrate how things are, ‘multiple-caused’ (aneka-hetuka); and in
stating that things are neither causeless nor due to one single cause,
Buddhism antedated modern science by twenty five centuries.
We see a reign of natural law-beginningless causes and effects-and
naught else ruling the universe. Every effect becomes in turn a cause
and it goes on for ever (as long as ignorance and craving are allowed to
continue). A coconut, for instance, is, the principal cause or near
cause of a coconut tree, and that very tree is again the cause of many a
coconut tree. ‘X’ has two parents, four grandparents, and thus the law
of cause and effect extends unbrokenly like the waves of the sea-ad
infinitum.
It is just impossible to conceive of a first beginning. None can
trace the ultimate origin of anything, not even of a grain of sand, let
alone of human beings. It is useless and meaningless to go in search of
a beginning in a beginningless past. Life is not an identity, it is a
becoming. It is a flux of physiological and psychological changes.
‘’There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at
all. The idea that things must have a beginning is really due to the
poverty of our imagination.
Therefore, perhaps, I need not waste any more time upon the argument
about the first cause.’’ Bertram Russel, Why I am not a Christian, p. 4.
Instead of a “First Cause”, the Buddha speaks of Conditionality. The
whole world is subject to the law of cause and effect, in other words,
action and result. We cannot think of anything, in this cosmos that is
causeless and unconditioned.
Combination
As Viscount Samuel says: ‘There is no such a thing as chance. Every
event is the consequence of previous events; everything that happens is
the effect of a combination of multitude of prior causes; and like
causes always produce like effects. The Laws of Causality and of the
Uniformity of Nature prevail everywhere and always.’ Belief and Action,
Penguin Books, 1939, p. 16.
Buddhism teaches that all compounded things come into being,
presently exist, and cease (uppada, thiti and bhaďga), dependant on
conditions and causes. Compare the truth of this saying with that
oft-quoted verse of Arahat Thera Assaji,An Arahat is one who has cut
himself off from all fetters of existence (Sansara) and attained to
perfect purity aud peace through, comprehending the Dhmma, the Truth.
one of the Buddha’s first five disciples, who crystallized the entire
teaching of the Buddha when answering the questions of Upatissa who
later became known as Arahat Thera Sariputta.
His question was: ‘What is your teacher’s doctrine? What does he
proclaim?’
And this was the answer:
‘Ye dhamma hetuppabhava tesan hetun tathagato aha
Tesan ca yo nirodho evan vadi mahasamano.P. T. S. Mahavagga p. 40,
Whatsoever things proceed from a cause,
The Tathagata has explained the cause thereof,
Their cessation, too, He has explained.
This is the doctrine of the Supreme Sage P. T. S. Mahavagga p. 54,
Though brief, this expresses in unequivocal Words Dependent
Origination, or Conditionality.
Our books mention that during the whole of the first week,
immediately after His enlightenment, the Buddha sat at the foot of the
Bodhi tree at Gaya, experiencing the supreme bliss of Emancipation. When
the seven days had elapsed He emerged from that Samadhi, that state of
concentrative thought, and during the first watch of the nightFirst
watch: from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. middle watch: from 10 p.m, to 2 a.m. and
the last watch: from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. thought over the Dependent
Origination in direct order thus: ‘When this exists, that comes to be;
with the arising of this, that arises, namely.. dependent on ignorance,
volitional formations; consciousness... and so on... Thus is the arising
of this whole mass of suffering.For the whole formula consisting of the
12 factors see the last pages of this essay.
Origination
Then in the middle watch of the night, He pondered over the Dependent
Origination in reverse order thus; ‘when this, does not exist, that does
not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases, namely; with
the utter cessation of ignorance, the cessation of volitional
formations... and so on... Thus is the cessation of this whole mass of
suffering.’
In the last watch of the night, He reflected over the Dependent
Origination both in direct order and reverse order thus; ‘When this
exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When
this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of
this, that ceases, namely; dependent on ignorance. volitional
formations... and soon... Thus is the arising of this whole mass of
suffering. But by the utter cessation of volitional formations... and so
on... Thus is the ending of this whole mass of suffering.Udana, p, 1.
One may justifiably be inclined to pose the question; Why did not the
Tathagata set forth the doctrine of ‘Dependent Origination’ in His first
discourseDhammacakka-pavattana Sutta Sanutta N., the sermon delivered to
the five ascetics, His erstwhile companions, at Saranath, Benares? The
answer is this; The main points discussed in that all-important sermon
are the four Noble Truths; suffering, its cause, its destruction, and
the way to the destruction of suffering, the Noble Eightfold Way. There
is no word in it about ‘Dependent Origination’; but he who understands
the philosophical and doctrinal significance of the Dependent
Origination certainly understands that the twelvefold Paticca-samuppada,
‘Dependent Origination’, both in its direct order (anuloma) and reverse
order (patiloma) are included in the four Noble Truths.
The Paticca-Samuppada in its direct order manifests the process of
becoming (bhava), in other words, the appearance of suffering (dukkha,
the first Truth); and how this Process of becoming or suffering is
conditioned (dukkha-samudaya, the second Truth). In its reverse order
the Paticca-Samuppada makes plain the destruction of this becoming
(dukkha-nirodha, the third Truth) and the cessation of conditions, or
the destruction of suffering (dukkha nirodha gamina patipada, the fourth
Truth).
To be continued
Meditation for daily life :
Sabba Loke Anabiratha Sanna - Part II
Dr Padmaka Silva
Start practicing it briefly. Sit comfortably, with the body erect.
Then the laziness in the body leaves you. Now realize “I am not seated”.
Close your eyes and realize where you are seated. Next become conscious
of your posture. Be well conscious of it. Understand well that you are
now seated on the floor. Now contemplate as follows:
This eye is impermanent. The eye that is impermanent and sorrowful
and is subject to change is not ‘I’. Not mine. Does not belong to me. It
is not my soul. The visual objects seen with the eye are impermanent.
The objects subject to change are not ‘I’. Not mine and not my soul.
 This ear is impermanent. The ear that is impermanent and sorrowful
and is subject to change is not ‘I’. Not mine. Does not belong to me. It
is not my soul.
Soul
The sound heard with the ears are impermanent. The sound subject to
change are not ‘I’. Not mine and not my soul. This nose is impermanent.
The nose that is impermanent and sorrowful and is subject to change is
not ‘I’. Not mine. Does not belong to me. It is not my soul.
The smell felt with the nose is impermanent. The smell felt with the
nose is not ‘I’. Not mine and not my soul. This tongue is impermanent.
The tongue that is impermanent and sorrowful and is subject to change is
not ‘I’. Not mine. Does not belong to me. It is not my soul.
The taste felt with the tongue is impermanent. The taste felt with
the tongue is not ‘I’. Not mine and not my soul.
This body is impermanent. The body that is impermanent and sorrowful
and is subject to change is not ‘I’. Not mine. Does not belong to me. It
is not my soul.
The touch felt with the body is impermanent ///. The touch felt with
the body is not ‘I’. Not mine and not my soul. This mind is impermanent.
The mind that is impermanent and sorrowful and is subject to change is
not ‘I’. Not mine. Does not belong to me. It is not my soul. The objects
felt with the mind are impermanent. The objects felt with the mind are
not ‘I’. Not mine and not my soul.
Wish for the Samadhi to leave you. Now open the eyes.
As you keep on practicing it will be possible to carry out the
meditation fully. Therefore it will be possible to do it completely
after some time when you do it with effort without getting in to a
hurry. At the same time think of generating an aversion to eye, ear,
nose, tongue, body and mind.
Quiet
If we get used to thinking of our sense organs in this manner don’t
we become quiet? Doesn’t the state of hurry get reduced? Why? We have
some work to do. Even if we are seated we are doing some work. We are
thinking of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind wisely. No one knows
what we are doing. No one sees what we are doing. Don’t you now see that
one’s internal matters are not visible to anyone? There is nothing to
keep talking. There is no time to keep on talking about unnecessary
things. Thus things like loneliness, solitude do not come up. If one
gets used to this you can think of the sense organs while remaining
seated where you are.
We need not get into a hurry thinking that there is a big crowd. A
quiet environment gets built up effortlessly. We are doing a correct
thing with the mind. If we do something wrong with the mind the noise
starts again. When you keep on doing the correct things with the mind
your mind gets quenched. Becomes calm.
Unnecessary words do not come out of him. A large group can remain
together. Why? Because we generate dislike for the eye. We generate
dislike for the visible object also. We are thinking in a manner which
generates disgust.
When you are idling do not keep on talking unnecessary things. Think
of the reality of your life. Misery has arisen in our life due to this
eye, ear, nose tongue, body and mind. Raga causes the mind to burn. Dosa
and Moha also cause the mind to burn. Various tormenting fires arise in
the mind. Inconveniences arise in the mind. Torments arise. Humans live
in torment. That is misery. If you do not have mindfulness, if you do
not use wisdom you get overcome by these agonies and suffer further. You
cannot escape. When there is no wisdom there are two torments. If you
use wisdom you can think of getting rid of those torments while
experiencing those torments.
You think how those torments arose. Then you develop dislike for the
entities that caused the torments so that you can prevent their coming
up again. That is what is called using wisdom. Torments can be there for
everyone. Repentance can be there. The mind can catch fire. Do not get
excited at such times. Think as to who caused the fire or who caused
this sorrow. That thought can be generated with the help of the Dhamma
preached by Buddha. Buddha has explained to us that the sorrow has
arisen due to the eye. That knowledge is necessary. What we mentioned is
a way to adapt that knowledge of Dhamma to our life. By thinking so, the
delight in the entire world ceases. The adaption of the Dhamma to our
life occurs. That is how the Dhamma gets adopted to one’s life.
Can’t this be done while standing? Can’t it be done while walking,
seated or lying down? It can be done while being in any of these four
postures. If one gets used to this will his life become calm or
disturbed? Life becomes calm. When you do this will the fire get
quenched instantaneously? No. It does not get quenched immediately. When
one starts doing it the fire begins to get quenched. The nature of fire
starting again starts getting obliterated.
Objects
Therefore generate mindfulness well and think in the manner of
getting rid of the liking for this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind,
visual objects, sounds, odors, tastes, touch and mind objects. A good
time to think in the manner of getting rid of this liking is when a
problem arises in mind. Then practice it. It can be practiced at other
times also. One is not inclined to do this when one is generally at
ease. When a discomfort arises, identify it and ponder on what
originated it. Any discomfort entering the mind is due to Raga, Dosa or
Moha. That is the fires of Raga, Dosa and Moha are caused by the sense
organs eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. We must accept that fact
through the Dhamma.
We were not aware of such a thing. We cannot imagine how Raga arises
due to the eye. How do we know? Can we think of it? We cannot. Is it
taught at school? No. From where did we learn it? From Dhamma. If there
is confidence in what one learnt in Dhamma, when Raga arises he thinks
“This is what Buddha explained to us about its arising due to the eye”.
He can recollect that. That is how thinking with wisdom is associated
with Saddha. That is why Suttas have to be studied over and over again.
That is why Dhamma has to be listened to again and again.
Discussions
That is why we should participate in Dhamma discussions again and
again. When we listen to Dhamma again and again, participate in Dhamma
discussions frequently, if there is some Saddha in us it gets enhanced.
If there is some Saddha which has not arisen it arises. It arises and
gets completed. Based on that Saddha we can develop the thinking with
wisdom. If Dhamma comes to our mind when some mental agony comes up,
isn’t it due to Saddha. Will an individual without Saddha think of
Dhamma when a problem arises? No. Sometimes Dhamma might not come to our
mind when a problem comes up. But the worthy friend reminds you the
reason for the problem is this and to think in such and such a manner.
Can’t he then seek refuge in the Dhamma? That is the assistance we get
from Saddha.
The individual in whom Saddha has been generated can generate
Yonisomanasikara (thinking according to Dhamma) himself. Or he can do so
when the worthy friend reminds him. In order to achieve the benefits of
Dhamma, think of this life as indicated in the Dhamma. An appropriate
time for it is when torments and repentance arise. At such times think
as to how that torment arose. Compiled with instructions given by Ven
Nawalapitiye Ariyawansa Thera. [email protected]
Introducing Buddhism to the West
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Olcott’s lectures profoundly inspired a young Sinhalese Buddhist from
a Colombo mercantile family named Don David Hewavitharana, who had
earlier attended sermons by Ven. Mohottiwatte Gunananda, the Panadura
orator. In 1884, at the age of nineteen, David joined the BTS and soon
became a favorite of Olcott and Blavatsky, who encouraged him to study
Pŕli and “to work for the good of Humanity.”
 In 1885, Hewavitharana vowed to live as a brahmacŕră, a full-time
celibate, and took the name Anagŕrika Dharmapŕla. The word anagŕrika
means “homeless one” and traditionally described the state of a Buddhist
monk. Dharmapŕla, however, did not take formal monastic ordination but
committed himself merely to observing full-time celibacy so that he
could work more freely for the cause of Buddhism than a monk, restrained
by the rules of the monastic code, could do.
Before long, Dharmapŕla became the most articulate spokesman for the
Sinhala Buddhist renaissance. His lectures and writings linked together
the themes of Buddhism, Sri Lankan nationalism, and Sinhalese ethnic
identity, in a way that motivated Sinhalese Buddhists to rediscover the
greatness of their ancient history, including its Buddhist heritage.
In 1891, Dharmapŕla visited the holy places of Buddhism in northern
India and found, to his dismay, that they were all in decrepit
condition. He was particularly disturbed at the condition of the
Mahŕbodhi temple at Bodhgaya, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment,
which was then under the control of a Hindu priest. Having vowed to
struggle for the transfer of control over the temple to the Buddhists,
he founded the Mahŕbodhi Society, with branches in both India and Sri
Lanka, to support him in his work. He also commenced publication of a
Buddhist magazine, the Mahŕbodhi Journal (1892). We should remember that
it was for the Mahŕbodhi Society that Bhante G worked during his sojourn
in India.
Though his base was in India, Dharmapŕla regularly visited his home
country and his speeches and writings continued to exercise a strong
influence there and beyond.
In 1893, he attended the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago as
a representative of Theravŕda Buddhism. Here, Dharmapŕla argued
passionately against the claims of Christianity, defending Buddhism as
the religion of science and rationality. Perhaps most significant for
future trends, Dharmapŕla did not rest content merely calling for a
revival of Buddhism in its traditional lands and for a Buddhist
renaissance in India. Rather, he saw Buddhism as having a new universal
message for all humankind, and he called on the young Buddhists of Asia
to share this message with the world:
Young Buddhists of Asia! The time is come for you to prepare yourself
to enter the battlefield of Truth, Love and Service and carry the
message of Equality, Brotherhood, Compassion, Selflessness, Renunciation
to the energetic people of England, Germany, United States, France and
other countries.... These countries should know of the supreme Truths
promulgated by the Buddha, who taught them 2500 years ago to the most
enlightened people of Aryan India.... Let the People of these countries
know the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the seven
Principles of Enlightenment, and the 12 bases of the Law of Causality.
This article was published in 1927. One could well imagine that the
mother of one “young Buddhist of Asia” who was to take birth towards the
end of that year had somehow heard Dharmapŕla’s speech and had vowed
that her son-to-be would one day convey “the supreme Truths promulgated
by the Lord Buddha” to the energetic people of the United States.
Sri Lanka gained its independence from Britain in 1948. Hardly eight
years later, a major milestone in Theravŕda Buddhism’s interpretation of
its own history was due to arrive: the 1956 Buddha Jayanti. This year
was to mark the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha’s parinibbŕna, the
theoretical midpoint of the “Buddha Sŕsana,” the full lifespan of
Buddhist history. For Sinhalese Buddhists, moreover, the Buddha Jayanti
meant the completion of 2500 years of Sri Lanka’s own history, which
according to tradition began with the arrival of Vijaya on the island at
the same time that the Buddha passed away.
While Buddhists generally understood the passage of time to bring a
gradual decline in the fortunes of Buddhism, popular belief held that
the halfway mark in the history of their religion was to be accompanied
by a worldwide Buddhist revival and the spread of the Dhamma to many
lands where it had never previously flourished. Within Sri Lanka,
Buddhist activists emphasized the need to restore Buddhism to its
“rightful place” in the life of the nation. The Sinhalese Buddhists,
both monks and laity, perceived themselves as a disadvantaged majority,
outranked by an English-educated Christian elite that gave a privileged
status to Christianity. But the Sinhalese Buddhists also believed that
the Buddha Jayanti provided an opportunity, not only to restore to
Buddhism the pristine glory that it had previously enjoyed within Sri
Lanka, but also to spread the light of the Dhamma all over the world.
They had already seen Buddhists from the West come to their country,
ordain as Buddhist monks, and achieve eminence in the Sangha. So there
seemed to be no reason why Buddhism could not be successfully propagated
in the Western countries themselves, with Sri Lanka as the source of
propagation. As one prominent Sinhalese Buddhist intellectual formulated
these hopes: “Buddhism will rise to great heights again and blossom
forth once more in Sri Lanka. From there it will spread all over the
world.”
One project taken up in connection with the Buddha Jayanti was the
sending of missionaries, or dhammadutas, to other countries. The idea of
setting up Buddhist temples in the West, however, hardly needed to be
inspired by the approach of the Buddha Jayanti. Already as far back as
1926 a Buddhist vihŕra or temple had been established in London, the key
figure behind this project being none other than Anagŕrika Dharmapŕla.
Through the years the London Buddhist Vihŕra has been occupied by
prominent Sri Lankan monks, among them Ven. Nŕrada Mahŕthera, Ven.
Saddhŕtissa Nŕyaka Thera, and Ven. Medagama Vajiragnŕna Nŕyaka Thera,
the present chief incumbent. Under the stewardship of the Anagŕrika
Dharmapŕla Trust, the Vihŕra continues to exist today in spacious
premises in Chiswick.
In 1952, the Colombo businessman Asoka Weeraratna founded the German
Dharmadĺta Society in the back room of his family shop, later moving it
to separate premises purchased with funds he acquired through a zealous
fund-raising drive. Weeraratna’s burning ambition was to promote the
spread of Buddhism in Germany and he saw the need to have a Buddhist
center right in the heart of Germany itself. Having searched for
suitable premises throughout Germany, he found the ideal site he wanted
in the lovely Frohnau district of Berlin. The place he discovered was
Das Buddhistische Haus, an old Buddhist compound built by the German
Buddhist pioneer Paul Dahlke in 1924. Under Weeraratna’s initiative the
German Dharmadĺta Society purchased the compound, renovated it, and in
1957 brought it back to life as the Berlin Buddhist Vihŕra. In the same
year, Asoka Weeraratna organized the first Buddhist mission to Germany,
led by three Sri Lankan bhikkhus whom he accompanied on their journey.
From that time to the present, the Berlin Vihŕra has helped to maintain
a Theravŕda presence in Germany.
When Sri Lankan-based vihŕras already existed in Britain and Germany,
the inevitable next target in the spread of the Sri Lankan monastic
missions to the West was the United States. To fulfill this mission was
the task taken up by Ven. Madihe Pannasiha Mahŕnŕyaka Thera, a highly
respected monk from the Vajirŕrŕma Monastery in Colombo. Vajirŕrŕma was
one of the elite monasteries that in the 1930s and 1940s had attracted
educated young men inspired by a reformist vision of Buddhism similar in
many ways to that preached by Anagŕrika Dharmapŕla, but with a much
softer and mellower flavor.
Its founder, Ven. Pelene Vajiragnŕna, was an erudite scholar-monk
highly respected among the educated classes in Colombo and its suburbs.
Though Ven. Vajiragnŕna did not speak English himself, he attracted
English-educated pupils who became known under such monastic names as
Nŕrada, Piyadassi, Bope Vinăta, and Ampitiye Rŕhula. Madihe Pannasiha
hailed from Matara, in the deep south, and was not fluent in English,
but he impressed his teacher and fellow monks with his erudition,
leadership qualities, innovative ideas, and concern for the protection
of Buddhist interests in the newly independent nation.
In the run-up to the Buddha Jayanti, he served on the Committee of
Inquiry charged with rectifying the grievances of the Buddhists. After
Vajiragnŕna’s death in 1955, he became the chief monk or Mahŕnŕyaka
Thera of the Amarapura Dharmarakshita Nikŕya, the monastic fraternity to
which Vajirŕrŕma belonged. In 1958, he established the Vajiragnŕna
Bhikkhu Training Centre near the town of Mahŕragama, a short distance
from Colombo, to train young monks in accordance with the traditions of
his teacher. In this endeavor he was supported by the affiliated lay
organization that he had created, the Sŕsana Sevaka Society.
In 1964, Ven. Pannasiha visited the U.S., accompanied by Olcott
Gunasekera of the Sasana Sevaka Society.6 While in Washington, D.C., the
two attended a Vesak celebration conducted in traditional Sri Lankan
style on the grounds of the Textile Museum, organized by Dr. Kurt F.
Leidecker, a scholar of Buddhism and professor of religious studies at
Mary Washington College, and Nimalasiri Silva of he Embassy of Ceylon
(then the name for Sri Lanka).
On their return to Sri Lanka, Ven. Pannasiha decided to establish a
Theravŕda vihŕra in Washington, the capital of the most powerful country
on earth. Together with Gunasekera, he formed a new branch of the
international service division of the Sasana Sevaka Society which was to
oversee the launching of the Washington Buddhist center.
They requested Ven. Bope Vinăta, another Vajirŕrŕma monk, to take
responsibility for the project. Ven. Vinăta had spent the past two years
studying at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard
University and thus was familiar with the American social and
intellectual landscape. He had previously helped establish Buddhist
temples in Germany and Great Britain and therefore seemed eminently well
qualified for the job.
Ven. Vinăta accepted the assignment and departed for Washington,
taking along a Buddha statue and a relic of the Buddha. He arrived in
June 1965 and soon after moved into a first-floor apartment in an
apartment building on Harvard Street, in northwest Washington, which was
to serve as the first headquarters for the new vihŕra. On July 23rd,
soon after moving into the apartment, Ven. Vinăta held the inaugural
meeting of the fledgling Buddhist Vihŕra Society. At every step he was
given the full support of the Ceylon Government through its embassy in
Washington.
According to its constitution, Ven. Madihe Pannasiha, as the patron
of the Buddhist Vihŕra Society, was responsible for appointing the abbot
or “chief incumbent monk” of the vihŕra, who then by virtue of his
position as abbot became the president of the society.
Ven. Vinăta served as the abbot or “chief incumbent” of the vihŕra,
and first president of the Buddhist Vihŕra Society, until May 1967. In
that month Ven. Dickwela Piyananda Mahŕthera, a scholar-monk with a
specialization in Sanskrit literature, arrived. At the request of Ven.
Vinăta, Ven. Pannasiha appointed Ven. Piyananda the next abbot of the
vihŕra and thus the second president of the society. The two monks
continued to dwell in the “apartment vihŕra” on Harvard Street. But
earlier, in 1967, Ven. Vinăta and the Ceylon Embassy had arranged to
purchase from the Government of Thailand a house at 5017 16th Street NW
that the Thai Embassy had used as its education counselor’s office and
as a dormitory for Thai college students. Before the deal was completed,
in February 1968, Ven. Vinăta left the U.S. on account of ill health,
and Ven. Piyananda became the sole resident monk.
On May 26 of that year he moved to the building on Sixteenth Street,
which became the new home of the Washington Buddhist Vihŕra and the
first proper Theravŕda vihŕra in America.
But, with Ven. Vinăta gone, Ven. Piyananda needed a younger monk to
help him with his heavy burden of work. The Sasana Sevaka Society back
in Sri Lanka thus sent out feelers for a Sri Lankan monk who knew
English well, was interested in missionary work, and could adapt to the
sometimes difficult conditions that an Asian monk would have to face
when attempting to propagate the Dhamma in the West.
Courtesy: Preserving the Dhamma - Writings in
Honour of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana Maha Thera
Animals released
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Eight cows and four goats have been
released to commemorate the four-month death anniversary of
L P Mahesh Pathmalal. The meritorious event took place at
Kuda Uduwa Sri Bodhimalu temple under the patronage of its
Chief Incumbent. Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe |
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