Samadhi Journal of the London Buddhist Vihara the First and the Foremost Buddhist Vihara of the Western World Established in 1926 by the Anagarika Dharmapala
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SAMADHI JOURNAL OF THE LONDON BUDDHIST VIHARA THE FIRST AND THE FOREMOST BUDDHIST VIHARA OF THE WESTERN WORLD ESTABLISHED IN 1926 BY THE ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA ISSUE No. 41, 42 & 43 JAN-MAY 2013-JAN 2014 B.E. 2557-58 ISSN 1368-1516 150th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF (1864-2014) ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA, the Founder of the London Buddhist Vihara rrangements will be made to centres, Past Pupils Associations of Aorganise a number of pro- schools, and other Buddhist organi- grammes to commemorate on a sations will be obtained to organise grand scale the 150th birth anniver- the Anagarika Dharmapala com- sary of Anagarika Dharmapala who memoration on a grand scale. dedicated his life to the protection and promotion of Buddhism. The ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA programmes will be organised on Anagarika Dharmapala (17 September 1864 - 29 the instructions of Venerable Bo- April 1933) was a leading figure in Buddhism in the goda Seelawimala Nayaka Thera, twentieth century. He was a pioneer in the revival of Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Brit- Buddhism in India after it had been virtually extinct there for several centuries, and he was the first Bud- ain and Head of the London Bud- dhist in modern times to preach the Dharma in three dhist Vihara. continents: Asia, North America, and Europe. In 1891, he founded The Maha Bodhi Society. One The Vihara management commit- Hall on 21st September at 2.00pm. of its primary aims was the restoration to Buddhist control of the Maha Bodhi Temple at Buddhagaya in tee and coordinators of the London This will include other faith leaders, India. This was successful, with the partial restora- Buddhist Vihara decided to organise dignitaries and well wishers. The tion of the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi a week-long programme to com- Society in 1949. Maha Bodhi Society centres were keynote speech will be delivered by set up in many Indian cities, and this had the effect of memorate the 150th birth anniver- Dr Ananda Guruge who is a famous raising Indian consciousness about Buddhism. sary which falls on 17th September writer and an educationist. Due to the efforts of Dharmapala, the sites of the 2014. The programme will start Buddha's life have once again become a major at- with night-long chanting on 13th The organisers also decided that traction for Buddhists, as it had been many centuries previously. September by representatives of the a programme is to be launched by Sri Lankan Sangha from Viharas in the LBV Dhamma school to make In 1893 Dharmapala attended the World Parliament England. This will be followed by of Religions in Chicago as a representative of Bud- students aware of Anagarika Dhar- dhism. He continued to travel, give lectures and es- offering Dana to the Sangha on 14th mapala and his work for the protec- tablish viharas around the world including the Lon- September. don Buddhist Vihara. At the same time he established tion and promotion of Buddhism. schools and hospitals in Ceylon and built viharas in This will include essay writing, Pow- India. Among the most important of the temples he It was also proposed to arrange an erpoint presentation, art competition built was one at Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught. Anagarika Dharmapala's service is of much exhibition in order to educate the and speeches. The winners will be historical significance to India, Sri Lanka and the public on Anagarika Dharmapala’s felicitated at the ceremony held in western world. Even today we are guided by some life and work. This exhibition will of his mature views. He died at Sarnath in 1933 and the commemorative week. his last words were Let me reborn. I would like to be continue from 13th – 20th September born again twenty-five times to spread Lord Bud- in the Vihara Hall. A public meeting dha's Dhamma. His was a life of rich dedication The support of the Buddhist Soci- which every human being should strive to emulate. will be held at Hammersmith Town ety, all Buddhist temples, Buddhist Anagarika Dharmapala's Achievement 4 Wonderfull Things INSIDE Advice to Mahanama the Sakyan From Views to Vision The World's Debt to Buddha A-Z of Buddhism THIS ISSUE Programmes and activities Back to Basics 1 1 ISSUE No. 41, 42 & 43 JAN-MAY 2013-JAN 2014 SAMADHI Chief Executive: Ven. B. Seelawimala Nayaka Thera Editors: Ven. Tawalama Bandula, Mr. Richard Jones Anagarika Dharmapala's Achievement uch has been written about the have occurred only to a man of ex- to every continent. He was the first MAnagarika Dharmapala, and ceptional spiritual vision and out- Buddhist missionary ever to take the the main events of his career have of- standing courage. To revive in the whole world for his parish. ten been reviewed in these columns. land of its birth a religion that had Now that twenty-eight years have been dead there for a thousand years! Fifthly, the missionary was for the passed since his death perhaps it is 'The impracticable dream of a young longest and most active part of his time for us to take a broader view idealist!' scoffed his contemporar- care not a monk but a layman - tech- and try to ascertain the place of his ies. But undeterred Dharmapala set nically an Anagarika, one who, with- achievement in Buddhist history. In to work, fought vigorously to rescue out receiving monastic ordination, this connection five considerations Buddhgaya, reclaimed the sacred devoted himself to the life of a celi- are of outstanding importance. places, established centres, and kept bate full-time worker for Buddhism. up a continuous stream of propa- This marks another innovation. Firstly, his life and work represent, ganda with the result that before his Since the inception of the Sasana so far as the Buddhist world is con- death he was able to plant, and see the chief custodians of the Dharma, cerned, the first reactions of the age- beginning to sprout, the seed that is the missionaries and the teachers, old spiritual traditions of the East now fast growing into a noble tree. had with hardly any exception been against the industrial civilization of monks. Dharmapala's advent and ex- the modern West. This civilization, Thirdly, Dharmapala sought to focus ample mark the beginning of a new if it can truly be called such, was on the renaissance of Buddhism in tendency, not indeed to minimise in mainly imposed by force, the trader, India, and particularly on the legal- any way the role of the Sangha, but the Christian missionary and the ly complicated but morally simple rather to encourage an increased par- political adventurer each playing a question of the Maha Bodhi Temple ticipation in active Buddhist work by part. In some places, such as Ceylon, at Buddhgaya, the attention of the en- the laity. where Dharmapala was born, the tire Buddhist world. In other words, indigenous religion and culture had he tried to foster a sense of common These five considerations by no been crushed for centuries and when purpose, - and as a corollary thereof means do justice to an exceptionally Portuguese ferocity, Dutch brutality to formulate a plan of united action, many-sided career of one of the most and British indifference had done - among all followers of the Buddha. remarkable Buddhist personalities of their worst precious few traces of Thus he was the father of the various recent times. But as we remember them were left. Against conditions movements which, since his passing him on his birth anniversary this such as these Dharmapala protested away, have insisted on the oneness month they may help us to appre- with the whole force of his being and of the Buddhist world and sought to ciate the magnitude of his achieve- at every level of existence. Even in promote mutual understanding, har- ment and also to understand its place the schoolroom he rebelled against mony and cooperation between its in Buddhist history. Christianity. He was vehemently pa- various parts. triotic. Year in and year out he urged ( The Maha Bodhi, September 1961, Editorial) his fellow-countrymen to give up vi- Fourthly, Dharmapala's interests and cious foreign habits such as that of activities were not limited to the Bud- drink. But his reaction was positive, dhist countries of Asia and to India not merely negative. He also stood but overspread the whole earth. As "The essential principle that above all for the revival of Bud- far as we know, he was the first who, the Lord Buddha emphasized dhism. in his own words, girdled the globe is ceaseless activity—activity with the Message of the Master. His in destroying evil, activity in Secondly, he stood not merely for historic appearance at the World's generating good thoughts, the revival of Buddhism in Ceylon, Parliament of Religions, Chicago, in good words, good deeds— where it had been weakened for 1893 is described elsewhere in this thereby achieving the peace centuries, but for its renaissance in issue. He traversed the greater part and happiness of Nirvana." India, where it had been dead for a of Europe and the U.S.A preaching millennium. This was indeed an as- the Dharma. The Journal he started Anagarika Dharmapala tounding idea, and one which could found, and continues to find its way, 2 ADVICE TO MĀHĀNAMA THE SAKYAN Ven. B. Seelawimala Nayaka Thera Head of the London Buddhist Vihara ahanama was the leader of the Mahanama’s second question was: Mahanama’s third question to the MSakyans after the death of the “Bhante, in what way is a lay follower Buddha was: “Bhante, in what way Buddha’s father, Suddhodana.