anagarika dharmapala essay grade 5

Sunday, 25 May 2014

As he turned 20, he chose to lead an "Anagarika life" (celibate life) and to dedicate himself to national and religious service. He thus obtained permission from his parents and took up residence at the Theosophical Society Headquarters as he earnestly believed that the society was working for the welfare of Buddhism.

Interpreter

Being a junior clerk in the Education Department, he obtained three months' leave and joined Colonel Olcott and C.W. Leadbeater in their campaign to raise funds for Buddhist education. Anagarika Dharmapala became the interpreter for them. For two months, they travelled islandwide with Dharmapala interpreting Colonel Olcott's lectures.

This was definitely a sound training for him as it offered him a fine opportunity to obtain first hand knowledge about the true conditions of his fellow countrymen.

Dharmapala became aware of the people's weaknesses and backwardness and he painfully noted how a nation with proud tradition had been reduced to a sluggish pace. Realising this significant national need, he not only translated Colonel Olcott's and Leadbeater's ideas but also gave free expression to his own independent views.

By this time, Anagarika Dharmapala noted how the alien influence was eroding into the general aspects of national character and he struck the keynote of his fierce opposition to the forces detrimental to national reawakening.

He attacked people for adopting degenerate and un-Buddhistic practices such as consuming liquor etc.

He wanted to popularise Sinhala weekly Sandaresa with an English counterpart and accordingly by obtaining English type from Madras with money collected from contributions, the first English Buddhist journal appeared in 1888 as The Buddhist. This English newspaper contained thought provoking discussions on Dhamma in relation to western science and psychology. The paper remained in broader circulation in India, Europe, America, Japan and Australia and created a new interest about Buddha's teachings.

He changed his original name (David) to Dharmapala and continued his preaching in Colonel Olcott's bullock cart. In 1891, he went on a pilgrimage to Buddhist Shrines in India with a Japanese friend.

His visit to Buddhagaya made him resolute on dedicating his life to rescue the place from centuries of neglect.

He was so much moved by the lamentable condition of Buddhism in India that he decided to stay there with his Japanese friend till some bhikkhus came to be in charge of the place. Buddhagaya had been entirely neglected with its sculptures removed, images destroyed. He wrote a series of letters to Buddhist countries explaining the situation and appealing for help.

On his return to Sri Lanka, he established the Mahabodi Society (in 1891) with Hikkaduwe Sumangala Thera as the President and Colonel Olcott as the Director, in 1891, Dharmapala delivered his maiden public lecture in India at the Albert Hall in Culcutta on "Kinship between Buddhism and Hinduism.

A year later, the office of the Mahabodhi Society was moved to Calcutta from Colombo and he launched the Mahabodhi journal to exchange views and news among Buddhist countries.

Anagarika Dharmapala was invited by the Parliament of World, Religions held in Chicago in September 1893 to participate as the representative of Theravada Buddhism. He sailed by ship through London where he was given a warm welcome by Sir Edwin Arnold, his English guru. His historic speech in New York impressed C.T. Strauss, the first convert to Buddhism on American soil and a staunch supporter of Mahabodhi Society.

He left for America for the second time at the invitation of Dr. Paul Camus the founder of the American Mahabodhi Society. He spent one year in America lecturing and visiting all important cities. During the year 1898, he travelled all alone by bullock cart from village to village in Sri Lanka championing the national, religious and cultural regeneration of the people. Here, he was capable of generating a fresh wave of enthusiasm among the people.

In the meantime, he wanted to know about the technological advances of the West and accordingly, we alternated his lectures with visits to laboratories and technical institutions as well. At Harvard University, Boston, he attended a class organised by eminent American psychologist William James who invited Anagarika Dharmapala to take the chair. William James was highly inspired by Dharmapala's own account of Buddhist psychology and stressed that future psychological studies would concentrate more on Buddhist psychology.

He was back in the campaign of touring the country in the bullock cart to educate the Sri Lankans about the industrial advances of the West and accordingly, his lectures included this aspect as a theme. Under his guidance, the first weaving school was established at Hiniduma and another at Rajagiriya.

Anagarika Dharmapala was a national revivalist who reminded the Sri Lankan people of the greatness of their religious and national heritage. His writings and public speeches show that he had realised that the British rule of the country was a major cause of national degeneration.

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Ideas Magazine | Ancestors

Anagarika Dharmapala

Born to a devout Buddhist family in 1864, David Hewivitarne became Anagarika Dharmapala, the leading light of the Buddhist Renaissance Movement in Sri Lanka. As a child, Dharmapala was sent to Christian missionary schools, where his education, if comprehensive by European standards, showed little respect for Buddhism. By the age of nineteen, he had mastered the rudiments of Christian theology and knew more than half the Bible by heart, knowledge he used to highlight the hypocrisy he perceived in his missionary instructors. When a mob of Sri Lankan Catholics attacked a Buddhist procession in 1883, Dharmapala left school and turned his intellectual pursuits to Buddhism instead. Soon afterwards Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, founders of the Theosophical Society in New York, arrived in Sri Lanka and filed suit on behalf of the Buddhists who were injured in the attack. Dharmapala, who felt that the Society’s aims were identical to those of a Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka, became a member. Madame Blavatsky took the young man under her tutelage, and he remained her loyal supporter for the rest of his life.

Following the Theosophical Society Convention of 1890 in Adyar, South India, Dharmapala traveled to Japan on behalf of the Society, and later returned to India, where he was to find Bodh-gaya, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, in a state of ruin. Resolved to restore Bodh-Gaya to its former status as a Buddhist holy site, Dharmapala began an international campaign that was to last until his death in 1933.

In 1893, Dharmapala was invited to Chicago to address the World Parliament of Religions. His address, along with that of Japanese Zen master Soyen Shaku, catalyzed the first wave of interest in Buddhism among European-Americans. The following portion of Dharmapala’s address is excerpted from The Dawn of Religious Pluralism: Voices from the World’s Parliament of Religions, 1893,  edited by Richard Hughes Seager (Open Court Publishing Company, 1993). Dharmapala’s original spellings and usage have been preserved throughout the text.

The Dawn of a New Era

History is repeating itself. Twenty-five centuries ago India witnessed an intellectual and religious revolution which culminated in the overthrow of monotheism, priestly selfishness, and the establishment of a synthetic religion, a system of life and thought which was appropriately called Dhamma —Philosophical Religion. All that was good was collected from every source and embodied therein, and all that was bad discarded. The grand personality who promulgated the Synthetic Religion was known as BUDDHA. For forty years he lived a life of absolute purity, and taught a system of life and thought, practical, simple, yet philosophical, which makes man—the active, intelligent, compassionate, and unselfish man—to realize the fruits of holiness in this life on this earth. The dream of the visionary, the hope of the theologian, was brought into objective reality. Speculation in the domain of false philosophy and theology ceased, and active altruism reigned supreme.

Five hundred and forty-three years before the birth of Christ, the great being was born in the Royal Lumbini Gardens in the City of Kapila-vastu. His mother was Maya, the Queen of Raja Sudohodana of the Solar Race of India. The story of his conception and birth, and the details of his life up to the twenty-ninth year of his age, his great renunciation, his ascetic life, and his enlightenment under the great Bo tree at Buddha Jaya, in Middle India, are embodied in that incomparable epic,“The Light of Asia,”by Sir Edwin Arnold. I recommend that beautiful poem to all who appreciate a life of holiness and purity.

Six centuries before Jesus of Nazareth walked over the plains of Galilee preaching a life of holiness and purity, the Tathagata Buddha, the enlightened Messiah of the World, with his retinue of Arhats, or holy men, traversed the whole peninsula of India with the message of peace and holiness to the sin-burdened world. Heart-stirring were the words he spoke to the first five disciples at the Deer Park, the hermitage of Saints at Benares.

His First Message

“Open ye your ears, O Bhikshus, deliverance from death is found. I teach you, I preach the Law. If ye walk according to my teaching, ye shall be partakers in a short time of that for which sons of noble families leave their homes, and go to homelessness—the highest end of religious effort: ye shall even in this present life apprehend the truth itself and see it face to face.” And then the exalted Buddha spoke thus: “There are two extremes, O Bhikshus, which the truth-seeker ought not to follow: the one a life of sensualism, which is low, ignoble, vulgar, unworthy, and unprofitable; the other the pessimistic life of extreme asceticism, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable. There is a Middle Path, discovered by the Tathagata [Shakyamuni Buddha]—the Messiah—a path which opens the eyes and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to eternal peace. This Middle Path, which the Tathagata has discovered, is the noble Eight-fold Path, viz.: Right Knowledge—the perception of the Law of Cause and Effect, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Profession, Right Exertion, Right Mindfulness, Right Contemplation. This is the Middle Path which the Tathagata has discovered, and it is the path which opens the eyes, bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to perfect enlightenment, to eternal peace.”

Continuing his discourse, he said: “Birth is attended with pain, old age is painful, disease is painful, death is painful, association with the unpleasant is painful, separation from the pleasant is painful, the non-satisfaction of one’s desires is painful, in short, the coming into existence is painful. This is the Noble Truth of suffering. “Verily it is that clinging to life which causes the renewal of existence, accompanied by several delights, seeking satisfaction now here, now there—that is to say, the craving for the gratification of the passions, or the craving for a continuity of individual existences, or the craving for annihilation. This is the Noble Truth of the origin of suffering. And the Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering consists in the destruction of passions, the destruction of all desires, the laying aside of, the getting rid of, the being free from, the harboring no longer of this thirst. And the Noble Truth which points the way is the Noble Eight-fold Path.” This is the foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness, and from that center at Benares, this message of peace and love was sent abroad to all humanity: “Go ye, O Bhikshus and wander forth for the gain of the many, in compassion for the world for the good, for the gain, for the welfare of gods and men. Proclaim, O Bhikshus, the doctrine glorious. Preach ye a life of holiness, perfect and pure. Go then through every country, convert those not converted. Go therefore, each one traveling alone filled with compassion. Go, rescue and receive. Proclaim that a blessed Buddha has appeared in the world, and that he is preaching the Law of Holiness.”

The essence of the vast teachings of the Buddha is:

The entire obliteration of all that is evil. The perfect consummation of all that is good and pure. The complete purification of the mind.

The wisdom of the ages embodied in the Three Pitakas—the Sutta, Vinaya, Abhidhamma, comprising 84,000 discourses, all delivered by Buddha during his ministry of forty-five years. To give an elaborate account of this great system within an hour is not in the power of man.

A systematic study of Buddha’s doctrine has not yet been made by the Western scholars, hence the conflicting opinions expressed by them at various times. The notion once held by the scholars that it is a system of materialism has been exploded, The Positivists of France found it a positivism; Buchner and his school of materialists thought it was a materialistic system; agnostics found in Buddha an agnostic, and Dr. Rhys Davids, the eminent Pali scholar, used to call him the “agnostic philosopher of India”; some scholars have found an expressed monotheism therein; Arthur Lillie, another student of Buddhism, thinks it a theistic system; pessimists identify it with Schopenhauer’s pessimism, the late Mr. Buckle identified it with [the] pantheism of Fichte; some have found in it a monism; and the latest dictum of Prof. Huxley is that it is an idealism supplying “the wanting half of Bishop Berkeley’s well-known idealist argument.”

In the religion of Buddha is found a comprehensive system of ethics, and a transcendental metaphysic embracing a sublime psychology. To the simple-minded it offers a code of morality, to the earnest student a system of pure thought. But the basic doctrine is the self-purification of man. Spiritual progress is impossible for him who does not lead a life of purity and compassion. The rays of the sunlight of truth enter the mind of him who is fearless to examine truth, who is free from prejudice, who is not tied by the sensual passions and who has reasoning faculties to think. One has to be an atheist in the sense employed by Max Muller: “There is an atheism which is unto death, there is another which is the very life-blood of all truth and faith. It is the power of giving up what, in our best, our most honest moments, we know to be no longer true; it is the readiness to replace the less perfect, however dear, however sacred it may have been to us, by the more perfect, however much it may be detested, as yet, by the world. It is the true self-surrender, the true self-sacrifice, the truest trust in truth, the truest faith. Without that atheism, no new religion, no reform, no reformation, no resuscitation would ever have been possible; without that atheism, no new life is possible for any of us.”

The strongest emphasis has been put by Buddha on the supreme importance of having an unprejudiced mind before we start on the road of investigation of truth. Prejudice, passion, fear of expression of one’s convictions, and ignorance are the four biases that have to be sacrificed at the threshold.

To be born as a human being is a glorious privilege. Man’s dignity consists in his capability to reason and think and to live up to the highest ideal of pure life, of calm thought, of wisdom without extraneous intervention. In the Saimanna phala Sutta  Buddha says that man can enjoy in this life a glorious existence, a life of individual freedom, of fearlessness and compassionateness. This dignified ideal of manhood may be attained by the humblest, and this consummation raises him above wealth and royalty. “He that is compassionate and observes the law is my disciple,” says Buddha.

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Return to righteousness - A collection of Speeches, Essays and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala

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ශ්‍රීමත් අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා (සංක්‍ෂිප්ත චරිතාපදානය)

Sep 26, 2019 | අක්මුල් සොයා | 1

රට – දැය – සමයට මහෝපකාරී වන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ගණයේ උතුමන් පහළ වන්නේ ඉතාමත් කලාතුරකින් නිසා එබඳු උතුමන් හඳුන්වන්නේ යුග පුරුෂයන් කියා ය. 19 වන සියවසේ මැද භාගයේ දී එබඳු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ගණයේ යුග පුරුෂයෙකු පුරාකෘත පුණ්‍ය මහිමයෙන් ලක්දිව පහළ වූ අතර ඒ අන් කිසිවෙක් නොව ශ්‍රීමත් අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා ය.

පින්වන්ත මා – පිය යුවළක් ලබා…

දකුණුලක මාතර සිට කොළඹට පැමිණ ගෘහභාණ්ඩ සම්පාදනයෙන් මහ ධනවතෙකු ද බෞද්ධ ප්‍රභූවරයෙකු ද වූ දොන් කරෝලිස් හේවාවිතාරණ මුදලිතුමා එතුමන්ගේ පියා ය. සැදැහැවත් පරිත්‍යාගශීලි උපාසිකාවක් වූ මල්ලිකා හේවාවිතාරණ මෑණියන්ගේ කුසින් 1864 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 17 දින උපන් ධර්මපාලතුමාට දොන් ඬේවිඞ් හේවාවිතාරණ ලෙස නම් තැබිණි. මේ සම්භාවනීය බෞද්ධ ප්‍රභූ කුටුම්බියේ අනුශාසකයන් වූයේ විද්‍යෝදය පිරිවෙන පිහිටුවා ධර්ම – ශාස්ත්‍රීය ආලෝකය යළි පැතිර වූ පණ්ඩිත ශිරෝමණී හික්කඩුවේ සුමංගල ශ්‍රී පාදස්ථානාධිපති නාහිමිපාණෝ ය. උන්වහන්සේගේ දූරදර්ශී බුද්ධිමත් අවවාද අනුශාසනා ද සිය ආදර්ශවත් මාපිය යුවළගේ මග පෙන්වීම ද ළමා වියේ ධර්මපාලතුමා ලද ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ දායාද විය.

වාසනාවන් කලණ මිතුරු ඇසුර…

එවකට තිබූ සමාජ පසුබිම තුළ ක්‍රිස්තියානි පාසල්වල අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට දොන් ඬේවිඞ් දරුවාට ද සිදු විය. එනමුත් විද්‍යෝදය පිරිවෙනේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ආචාර්යවරයන් වහන්සේලා ඇසුරින් සිංහල – පාලි – සංස්කෘත භාෂාවන් ද ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්මය ද මැනවින් හදාරන්නට අවස්ථාව සැලසුණි. පසුකාලීන ව සිංහල දේශයත්, සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනයත් උදෙසා ඒ සා මහත් විශිෂ්ට සේවාවක් ඉටු කරන්නට ගුරු – හරුකම් ලැබුණේ ඒ තුළිනි. නිරන්තරයෙන් ම පොතපත කියවීමට දැඩි රුචිකත්වයක් දැක්වූ ඬේවිඞ් හෙවත් ධර්මපාලතුමා ඒ නිසා ම ඉංග්‍රීසි – දෙමළ – හින්දි භාෂාවන් ද ප්‍රගුණ කර ගත්තේ ය.

හෙළ බොදුනුවන් පුබුදු කළ බොදු පුනරුදය…

ධර්මපාලතුමා උපත ලබන වකවානුව වන විට ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසින් 1815 දී ලක්දිව සපුරා යටත් කරගෙන වසර 50කට ආසන්න ය. පෘතුගීසි – ලන්දේසි – ඉංග්‍රීසි යන යටත්විජිතවාදීන්ගේ බලපෑමට වසර සිය ගණනක් නතු වීම හේතුවෙන් දේශපාලනික, ආගමික, ආර්ථික, සාමාජයීය, සදාචාර යන සෑම අංශයකින් ම සිංහලයන් මේ අවධියේ පරිහානියට පත්ව සිටියහ.

එසේ නමුදු ශ්‍රී සද්ධර්මයෙහි අකාලික සත්‍යතාවය ප්‍රකට කරමින් බුදු දහමේ යශෝකීර්තිය දසත පතුරුවමින් හෙළ – බොදුනුවන් විසින් විජයග්‍රහණය කළ සුප්‍රකට පානදුරාවාදය සෙන්පති හෙන්රි ස්ටීල් ඕල්කට්තුමා මෙරටට කැඳවන්නට සමත් විය. ඇමරිකන් ජාතික ඕල්කට්තුමාත්, රුසියන් ජාතික බ්ලැවැට්ස්කි මැතිණියත් ගාල්ල විජයානන්ද පිරිවෙනේ දී තිසරණ සරණගත උපාසක – උපාසිකාවන් වීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඇරඹි බෞද්ධ පුනරුද ව්‍යාපාරය ඬේවිඞ් හේවාවිතාරණයන්ගේ දිවියෙහි ද හැරවුම් ලක්‍ෂයක් ඇති කළේ ය. සෙන්පති ඕල්කට්තුමා පරම විඥානාර්ථ සමාගම පිහිටුවා ‘සරසවි සඳරැස’ පුවත්පත ද අරඹා බෞද්ධ ප්‍රබෝධය උදෙසා ගත් වෑයම තරුණ හේවාවිතාරණයන් තුළ පැවති ජාත්‍යාලයට ද දේශානුරාගයට ද ආගමාලයට ද නව ජීවයක් ගෙන දුනි. එම යටත්විජිත යුගයේ ලාංකිකයෙකුට ලද හැකි උසස් ම තනතුරක් වූ අධ්‍යාපන දෙපාර්තමේන්තු ලිපිකරු තනතුරෙන් ද අස් වූ හෙතෙම 1836 දී පරම විඥානාර්ථ සමාගමට බැඳුණි. එම සමාගමේ බෞද්ධ අංශයේ ප්‍රධාන ලේකම් ලෙසත්, සරසවි සඳරැස පුවත්පතේ හා බෞද්ධ යන්ත්‍රාලයේ කළමණාකරු හැටියටත්, බෞද්ධ පාඨශාලාවල කළමණාකරු හැටියටත්, බෞද්ධාරක්‍ෂක සභාවේ සහකාර ලේකම් හැටියටත් අප්‍රතිහත ධෛර්යයෙන් දිවා රෑ නොබලා වෙහෙසෙමින් අනුපමේය සේවාවක් සිදු කළේ ය.

අනගාරික ව රට – දැය සමයට දිවි පුදයි..

විසි එක්වෙනි වියේ දී හෙවත් 1885 දී ගෘහස්ථ ජීවිතය, සිය පරාර්ථකාමී ජාති හිතෛශී ශාසනික ප්‍රබෝධී අභිමතාර්ථයන්ට බාධාවක් බැවින්, මාපිය ආශීර්වාදය ඇතිව අනගාරික දිවියට පිවිස පාරිශුද්ධ බ්‍රහ්මචාරී දිවියක් ඇරඹීය. එතැන් පටන් ඬේවිඞ් යන පාරභාෂික බයිබල් නාමය අතැර ‘ධර්මපාල’ නම් ආර්ය නාමය භාවිත කරමින් අනගාරික ධර්මපාල නමින් කීර්ති ගුණ ඝෝෂාව දසත විහිදුවීය.

ලක්දිවින් බිහි වූ අති දක්‍ෂ කථිකයා..

මේ අවධියේ ධර්මපාලතුමන් කළ ප්‍රමුඛ කාර්යයක් වූයේ ඕල්කට්තුමා සමඟ ලක්දිව පුරා ගමන් කරමින් එතුමාගේ ව්‍යක්ත කථා සිංහලයට පරිවර්තනය කිරීම යි. එම දේශනාවන් මෙන් ම, ගම් නියම් ගම් සිසාරා සිදු කළ සංචාරයේ දී අත්දුටු සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනයාගේ අසරණ, ශෝකී, පරාධීන ස්වභාවය ධර්මපාලතුමාගේ හද කම්පා කළේය. එමෙන් ම සිය හදෙහි ඇවිළෙමින් තිබූ දේශාභිමානී, ශාසනකාමී, අවංක හැඟීම් නව ජවයකින් පුබුදුවන්නට ද එකී අත්දැකීම් සමත් විය. සුදු අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ගෙන් රට – දැය – සමය මුදවාගෙන ජාතිය ප්‍රකෘතිමත් කිරීමේ පරම අදිටන ධර්මපාලතුමාගේ චිත්ත සන්තානයේ මුල් බැස ගත්තේ එකල ය.

ජපන් රටට ගිය ධර්ම දූතයෝ…

ජපන් බෞද්ධයන්ගේ ගෞරවණීය ඇරයුම පිට විශේෂ ධර්මදූත ගමනක් ලෙසින් ඕල්කට්තුමා සහ අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා 1889 දී ජපන් රටට ගියහ. එහි දී මිෂනාරී දුර්මත විදාරණය කරමින්, මිෂනාරී බලමුළු දෙදරවමින් දේශනාවන් පැවැත්වූ ඔවුහු ජපානයේ විශිෂ්ට බෞද්ධ පුනරුදයක් ඇති කළහ.

එකල පරම විඥානාර්ථ සමාගම මගින්, බෞද්ධ අධ්‍යාපනය නගා සිටුවීම පිණිස සිදු කෙරුණු මහත් කාර්යභාරයෙන් වැදගත් කොටසක් ඉටු කෙරුණේ ධර්මපාලතුමන් අතිනි. විශේෂයෙන් ම කොළඹ ආනන්ද, මහනුවර ධර්මරාජ, ගාල්ල මහින්ද, පන්නිපිටිය ධර්මපාල වැනි ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේ බෞද්ධ පාඨශාලා ලක්දිව පුරා පිහිටුවීමෙහිලා ධර්මපාලතුමාගෙන් ඉටු වූයේ පුරෝගාමී මෙහෙවරකි.

දඹදිව සම්බුද්ධ පුණ්‍ය භූමි යළි පුබුදුවයි…

අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමන් ශාසනික වශයෙන් කළ උදාර සේවාවෙන් වැඩි ඉඩක් වෙන් කෙරුනේ දඹදිව සම්බුද්ධ භූමීන් සුරක්‍ෂිත කරලීම පිණිස ය. 1890 දෙසැම්බර් 05 වන දින බුද්ධගයා මහ බෝමැඬ වන්දනා කරන්නට ගිය එතුමා තථාගත වජිරාසනය අභියස නළල තබා වැඳ බුද්ධගයා බෞද්ධ උරුමය සුරැකීම පිණිස දිවිහිමියෙන් කැප වීමට ස්ථිරසාර අධිෂ්ඨානයක් ඇති කර ගත්තේය. එකල බුද්ධගයාවට දානව රාක්‍ෂසයන් සේ අරක්ගෙන සිටි මහන්තාගෙන් එම ශුද්ධ භූමිය මුදාගෙන, බොදුනුවන්ගේ අයිතියට ලබා ගැනීමට, වචනයේ පරිසමාප්ත අර්ථයෙන් ම එතුමන් සිදු කළේ දුෂ්කර, දැවැන්ත සටනකි. ඒ පිණිස බුරුම ප්‍රභූන්ගෙන් ද සහාය ලබා ගත් ධර්මපාලතුමා ඉක්බිති මෙරටට පැමිණ “සිංහලයිනි නැගිටිව්! බුද්ධගයාව බේරා ගනිව්!” යන අභීත නාදය නගමින් ගම් දනව් පුරා සැරිසරමින් හෙළ බොදුනුවන් අවදි කරවීය. එම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ප්‍රයත්නය සඵල කර ගනු පිණිස, 1891 මැයි 31 වනදා, විද්‍යෝදය පිරිවෙනේදී අති ගෞරවාර්හ හික්කඩුවේ සුමංගල නා හිමියන්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ‘මහාබෝධි සමාගම’ ඇරඹීය. ඕල්කට්තුමා විසින් දළදා වහන්සේට අපහාස වචන ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමක් මූලික කරගෙන, පරම විඥානවාදීන් කෙරෙහි කලකිරුණු ධර්මපාලතුමා ඔවුන්ගෙන් වෙන් වූයේ ද මේ සමයේ දී ය.

සම්බුදු දහමේ ගුණ සුවඳ අපරදිගට විහිදුවයි…

අනගාරික ධර්මපාතුමාගේ ව්‍යක්ත කථිකත්වයත්, ගැඹුරු ධර්ම ඥානයත් නිසා සම්බුදු දහමේ ගුණ කඳ ජාත්‍යන්තරයට විහිදී ගියේ 1893 සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේ දී දෘෂ්ටි සම්මේලනයේ දී කළ විශිෂ්ට දේශනයෙනි.

එවකට විසිනව හැවිරිදි වියෙහි පසු වූ ධර්මපාලතුමා සම්බුද්ධ චරිතය ද චතුරාර්ය සත්‍යය ද පාදක කරගෙන එහි දී කළ මධුරතර චතුර දේශනය ලෝක විද්වතුන්ගේ ගෞරවණීය සුවිශේෂී අවධානය බුදු දහම කෙරෙහි ඇදබැඳ ගැනීමට සමත් විය.

සම්බුද්ධ භූමියට කළගුණ පුදයි…

බුද්ධගයාවෙහි පමණක් නොව සමස්ත දඹදිව ම සම්බුද්ධාලෝකය පතුරුවා හැරීමෙහි නියුක්ත වූ ධර්මපාල ශ්‍රීමතාණන් බරණැස ඉසිපතනයේ මූලගන්ධ කුටි විහාරය ද කල්කටාවේ ධර්මරාජික විහාරය ද ඉදිකරවා බුදු සසුනට පිදීය. තව ද බුද්ධගයාවේත්, මදුරාසියේත් බෞද්ධ විශ්‍රාම ශාලා ද ගොඩ නැගුවේ ය. එමෙන් ම දිල්ලිය, බොම්බාය, සාංචිය, ලක්නව් ආදී නගරවල ද මහාබෝධි මධ්‍යස්ථාන පිහිටවූ අතර එමගින් දඹදිව වන්දනාවේ යෙදෙන ලෝවාසී බෞද්ධයන්ට උදාවන්නේ මහත් සැනසිල්ලකි. එමෙන් ම භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ සදහම් සන්දේශය පතුරුවා හැරීම පිණිස ධර්මදූතයන් ලෙස සාමණේරයන් වහන්සේලා පුහුණු කිරීම ද එංගලන්තයේ ලන්ඩන් බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යස්ථානය ඇරඹීම ද එතුමාගේ සුවිශේෂී ශාසනික කර්තව්‍යයන් ය.

සිංහල ජාතියට පහළ වූ ඉසිවරයා…

ශ්‍රීමත් අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමන් සිංහල ජාතිය උදෙසා සිදු කළ මහානීය මෙහෙය නම් අධිරාජ්‍යගැති පරාධීන චින්තනයෙන් මුදවා, සිංහල ජාතියට සිය ප්‍රෞඪ ඉතිහාසයත්, අභිමානවත් හෙළ පරපුරේ යශෝරාවයත් සිහි කර දී අදීන ජාතියක් බිහි කිරීමට කළ දැවැන්ත ආකල්පමය පරිවර්තනය යි. මෙම චින්තන විප්ලවය උදෙසා එතුමන් යොදා ගත් සාධනීය ප්‍රබල ප්‍රවේශයක් වූයේ 1908 මැයි මස ආරම්භ කළ ‘සිංහල බෞද්ධයා’ සතිපතා පුවත්පත යි. එහි ප්‍රධාන කර්තෘ පදවිය හොබවමින් සිංහල බෞද්ධයාගේ භෞතික ආධ්‍යාත්මික සමෘද්ධිමත් බව පිණිස ද මෙලොව පරලොව යහපත පිණිස ද අනර්ඝ උපදේශන මාලාවක් සැපයුවේය.

ජාතිය, ශාසනය, සදාචාරය, ආර්ථිකය ආදී සියලු ම වැදගත් ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් සංවර්ධනය කොට සුරක්‍ෂිත කළ යුතු ආකාරය පිළිබඳ විශිෂ්ට දැක්මක් ධර්මපාලතුමා එළි දැක්වූයේ සිංහල – බෞද්ධයා පුවත්පතේ ‘දැනගත යුතු කරුණු’ විශේෂාංගය තුළින් ය. එමෙන් ම ඉතා හරවත් වූ එම න්‍යායන් හැකි උපරිම අයුරින් සමාජගත කිරීමට ද ප්‍රායෝගික ව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ද අඩ සියවසක් පුරා එතුමා ඇපකැප විය.

දේශය අවදි කළ කාහල නාදය…

ජාතිය නගා සිටුවීමේ යුග මෙහෙවරේ දී ධර්මපාලතුමා භාවිත කළ අනෙක් සාධනීය ක්‍රමවේදය වූයේ ලක්දිව ගම් දනව් සිසාරා සැරිසරමින් කාහල නාදයක් බඳු සිය දේශනා චතුරත්වයෙන් සැම සිත් වසඟ කරමින් අනුශාසනා කිරීම යි. 1912 දී ඇරඹි පරාර්ථකාමී මේ සත්කාර්යය සඳහා ‘ශෝභන මාලිගාව’ නම් විශේෂිත රථය යොදා ගැනුණි. යහපත කැමති දයාබර පියෙකු සිය දරුවන්ගේ නොපනත්කම් දැක තරවටු කරන්නා සේ, තත්කාලීන සිංහල ජනයාගේ නිවට, නියාලු, බියගුලු, අලස ගති දුරලීමටත්, අභිමානවත්, සදාචාර සම්පන්න දූරදර්ශී ‘සිංහල – බෞද්ධයන්’ බිහි කිරීමටත් එතුමා තරාතිරම නොබලා වචන නමැති අසිපතින් සැමට ම පහර දුන්නේය. සැර පරුෂ වුව ද අවංක යහපත් fචිතනාවෙන් සිදු කළ එම දෙසුම් නිසා නින්දෙන් පිබිදි සිංහලයා සංකර, පරගැති සිරිත් අතහැර දමා සිංහල ඇඳුම් අඳින්නටත්, සිංහල නම් භාවිත කරන්නටත්, සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් ලෙස සිතන්නටත් හුරු පුරුදු වූහ. මෙය ධර්මපාල ශ්‍රීමතාණන් නිසා ම සිදු වූ චින්තන විප්ලවයක් බව පැවසීම අතිශයෝක්තියක් නො වේ.

ආර්ථික සමෘද්ධිය පිණිස ධර්මපාල දැක්ම…

ජාතියක් ස්වාධීන වන්නට නම්, ආර්ථික සමෘද්ධිමත් භාවය ද අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සාධකයක් බව මැනවින් පසක් කළ ධර්මපාලතුමා ශිල්පීය ඥානය ඉහළ නංවන්නට ද දේශීය කර්මාන්ත සංවර්ධනයට ද මංපෙත් විවර කළේ ය. සිංහල තරුණයන්ට ශිෂ්‍යත්ව ලබා දී ජපානයට යවා පේශ කර්මාන්තය, ගිනි පෙට්ටි කර්මාන්තය, පෝසිලේන් පිඟන් සෑදීම ආදී ශිල්පීය පුහුණුව ලබා දුන්නේය. එමතු ද නොව ඔවුන් පුහුණුව ලබා ආපසු ඒ ඒ ක්ෂේත්‍රයන්හි කර්මාන්තශාලා අරඹා ආර්ථිකය සවිමත් කරවන්නට ද කටයුතු සැලැස්වී ය.

මව්බිමෙන් සමුගෙන දඹදිව්තලය කරා…

අඩ සියවසකට ආසන්න කාලයක් රට දැය සමය නගන්නට අප්‍රතිහත ධෛර්යයෙන් දිවා රෑ නොබලා දැවැන්ත යුග මෙහෙවරක් ඉටු කළ ලක්මාතාව ජනිත කළ මේ අති ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ පුත්‍ර රත්නය 1931 දී මාතෘභූමියෙන් සමුගත්තේය. කොළඹ විද්‍යෝදය පිරිවෙනේ දී ගිහි – පැවිදි පිරිසට මෙරට දී අවසන් දේශනය පැවැත්වූ ධර්මාපලතුමා තමන් භාරයේ පැවති සියලු වත්කම් ජාතික – ශාසනික උන්නතිය පිණිස පොදු කමිටුවකට පවරා ගෞතම බුදු සසුනේ උතුම් පැවිදි බව ලබන අපේක්‍ෂාවෙන් සම්බුද්ධ භූමිය බලා පිටත්ව ගියේ ය. එම වසරේ දී ම සිරි දේවමිත්ත ධම්මපාල නමින් උතුම් පැවිදි බව ලබා, 1933 ජනවාරි දහසය දින බරණැස ඉසිපතනයේ මූලගන්ධ කුටි විහාරයේ දී අධිසීල සංඛ්‍යාත උපසම්පදාව ලැබූහ. එවකට ලක්දිව වැඩ සිටි ධර්මධර – විනයධර ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ යතිවරයන් වහන්සේලා වසර 700කට පමණ පසු දඹදිව සිදු වූ ඒ උත්කෘෂ්ට විනය කර්මයට සහභාගී වීම පිණිස එහි වැඩම කළහ.

සත්පුරුෂයන් ලෙස කෙළෙහිගුණ දක්වමු…

ජාතිය – ශාසනය වෙනුවෙන් සිය දිවිය ම කැප කළ ඒ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ යුග පුරුෂයාගේ – ජාතියේ පියාණන්ගේ අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමාගේ උදාර ගුණ සම්පත්තිය අප නිරන්තරයෙන් සිහිපත් කළ යුතු ය. සිංහල ජාතියට පහළ වූ ඉසිවරයාට කෙළෙහිගුණ දැක්විය යුතු ය. ඒ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ධර්මපාල චින්තනය හැකිතාක් සමාජගත කළ යුතු ය. ඒ දූරදර්ශී අදීන නිවහල් චින්තනය සෑම කෙනෙකු ම සෑම අංගයකින් ම ප්‍රායෝගික ව ක්‍රියාවට නැංවිය යුතු ය. එතුමන් බලාපොරොත්තු වූ පරිද්දෙන් ම සිංහල ජාතියත්, සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනයත් උද්දීප්තියට පත් කරවා ගෞතම සම්බුද්ධ සන්දේශය ලොව පුරා පතුරුවා හැරිය යුතු ය. අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමාගේ හෘදයාංගම වදන් පෙළක් වූ “සිංහල ජාතිය සුරැකේවා”, “සම්බුදු සසුන බැබළේවා” යන්න යථාර්ථයක් වන්නේ එවිට පමණි.

(මහමෙව්නාව අසපුවාසී පින්වත් ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේනමක් විසිනි)

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Anagarika Dharmapala

Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) was born in an affluent Sri Lankan family. When he went to Sarnath and Bodhgaya he was shocked at the absence of care given to the holiest places of Buddhism. He create the Mahabodhi Society in order to restore and take care of them, organized pilgrimage and toured extensively in order to raise awareness and funds to support to his projects among Buddhists. He went as far as Chicago where in 1893 he addressed the first parliament of religions, thus giving the first Buddhist teaching in the West. He was also responsible for the first contacts in centuries between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists. Just before he died in Sarnath in 1933, he said “I would like to be reborn twenty-five more times to spread the teachings of the Buddha.”

Further Reading

• Anagarika Dharmapala, Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays and Letters of Anagarika Dharmapala , ed. Ananda Guruge, The Anagarika Dharmapala Birth Centenary Committee, Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, Ceylon 1965.
• Sangharakshita, Flame in Darkness: The Life and Sayings of Anagarika Dharmapala , Triratna Grantha Mala, Poona 1995.
• The Arya Dharma by Anagarika Dharmapala - Free eBook
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Anagarika Dharmapala

Anagarika Dharmapala was born as David Hevavithana in Sri Lanka in 1864. Educated in a Christian school and then influenced by the Theosophical movement, he renounced the world in his late teens to become a ‘homeless one’ (anagarika) and took the name Dharmapala, meaning ‘Defender of the Dhamma.’ He founded the Mahabodhi Society in 1893 with the aim of getting Buddhist control of the Maha Bodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya , which had been a taken over by Hindu priests. Gradually the Society took on a social service and missionary role and became the first modern Buddhist organization with an international presence and influence. Anagarika Dharmapala was a fearless critic of superstition and monastic indolence and worked tirelessly to revive close relations between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists. Just before he died in Sarnath in 1933 he said, I would like to be reborn twenty-five more times to spread Lord Buddha’s Dhamma .

• Anagarika Dharmapala quotes

Anagarika Dharmapala – A Biological Sketch , Bhikkhu Sangharakshita, 1964.

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Anagarika Dharmapala

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Anagārika Dharmapāla ( Pali : Anagārika , [ɐˈnɐɡaːɽɪkɐ] ; Sinhalese: Anagarika, lit., Sinhalese : Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Lang/ISO 639 synonyms' not found. ; 17 September 1864 – 29 April 1933) was a Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Buddhist revivalist and writer. He was the first global Buddhist missionary. He was one of the founding contributors of non-violent Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism and a leading figure in the Sri Lankan independence movement against British rule [1] . He was also a pioneer in the revival of Buddhism in India after it had been virtually extinct there for several centuries, and he was the first Buddhist in modern times to preach the Dharma in three continents: Asia , North America , and Europe . Along with Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky , the creators of the Theosophical Society , he was a major reformer and revivalist of Sinhala Buddhism and an important figure in its western transmission. He also inspired a mass movement of South Indian Dalits including Tamils to embrace Buddhism, half a century before B. R. Ambedkar . [2] At the latter stages of his life, he entered the order of Buddhist monks as Venerable Sri Devamitta Dharmapala. [3]

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Buddhist revival
• 3 Religious contribution
• 4 Dharmapala, science, and Protestant Buddhism
• 5.1 The World's Debt to Buddha (1893)
• 5.2 The Constructive Optimism of Buddhism (1915)
• 5.3 Message of the Buddha (1925)
• 5.4 Evolution from the Standpoint of Buddhism (1926)
• 6 Contributions to Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism
• 9 References
• 10 Cited sources
• 11.1 Genealogy

Early life and education [ edit ]

[[File:Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala At The Age Of 29 (1893).jpg|right|thumb|Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala at the age of 29 (1893)] Anagarika Dharmapala was born on 17 September 1864 in Matara , Ceylon to Don Carolis Hewavitharana of Hiththetiya, Matara and Mallika Dharmagunawardhana (the daughter of Andiris Perera Dharmagunawardhana ), who were among the richest merchants of Ceylon at the time. He was named Don David Hewavitharane. His younger brothers were Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana and Edmund Hewavitarne . He attended Christian College, Kotte ; St Benedict's College, Kotahena ; S. Thomas' College, Mutwal [4] [5] and the Colombo Academy (Royal College).

Buddhist revival [ edit ]

In 1875, during a period of Buddhist revival, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott had founded the Theosophical Society in New York City . They were both very sympathetic to what they understood of Buddhism, and in 1880 they arrived in Ceylon, declared themselves to be Buddhists, and publicly took the Refuges and Precepts from a prominent Sinhalese bhikkhu . Colonel Olcott kept coming back to Ceylon and devoted himself there to the cause of Buddhist education, eventually setting up more than 300 Buddhist schools, some of which are still in existence. It was in this period that Hewavitarne changed his name to Anagarika Dharmapala.

'Dharmapāla' means 'protector of the dharma'. ' Anagārika ' in Pāli means "homeless one". It is a midway status between monk and layperson. As such, he took the eight precepts (refrain from killing, stealing, sexual activity, wrong speech, intoxicating drinks and drugs, eating after noon, entertainments and fashionable attire, and luxurious beds) for life. These eight precepts were commonly taken by Ceylonese laypeople on observance days. [6] But for a person to take them for life was highly unusual. Dharmapala was the first anagarika – that is, a celibate, full-time worker for Buddhism – in modern times. It seems that he took a vow of celibacy at the age of eight and remained faithful to it all his life. Although he wore a yellow robe, it was not of the traditional bhikkhu pattern, and he did not shave his head. He felt that the observance of all the vinaya rules would get in the way of his work, especially as he flew around the world. Neither the title nor the office became popular, but in this role, he "was the model for lay activism in modernist Buddhism." [7] He is considered a bodhisattva in Sri Lanka. [8]

His trip to Bodh-Gaya was inspired by an 1885 visit there by Sir Edwin Arnold , author of The Light of Asia , who soon started advocating for the renovation of the site and its return to Buddhist care. [9] [10] Arnold was directed towards this endeavour by Weligama Sri Sumangala Thera. [11] [12]

At the invitation of Paul Carus, he returned to the U.S. in 1896, and again in 1902–04, where he traveled and taught widely. [13]

Dharmapala eventually broke with Olcott and the Theosophists because of Olcott's stance on universal religion. "One of the important factors in his rejection of theosophy centred on this issue of universalism; the price of Buddhism being assimilated into a non-Buddhist model of truth was ultimately too high for him." [14] Dharmapala stated that Theosophy was "only consolidating Krishna worship." [15] "To say that all religions have a common foundation only shows the ignorance of the speaker; Dharma alone is supreme to the Buddhist" [16]

At Sarnath in 1933 he was ordained a bhikkhu, and he died at Sarnath in December of that year, aged 68.

Religious contribution [ edit ]

The young Dharmapala helped Colonel Olcott in his work, particularly by acting as his translator. Dharmapala also became quite close to Madame Blavatsky , who advised him to study Pāli and to work for the good of humanity – which is what he did. It was at this time that he changed his name to Dharmapala (meaning "Guardian of the Dharma ").

In 1891 Anagarika Dharmapala was on a pilgrimage to the recently restored Mahabodhi Temple , where Siddhartha Gautama – the Buddha – attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India. [17] Here he experienced a shock to find the temple in the hands of a Saivite priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship. As a result, he began an agitation movement. [18]

The Maha Bodhi Society at Colombo was founded in 1891 but its offices were soon moved to Calcutta the following year in 1892. One of its primary aims was the restoration to Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya , the chief of the four ancient Buddhist holy sites. [19] [20] To accomplish this, Dharmapala initiated a lawsuit against the Brahmin priests who had held control of the site for centuries. [19] [20] After a protracted struggle, this was successful only after Indian independence (1947) and sixteen years after Dharmapala's own death (1933), with the partial restoration of the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1949. It was then the temple management of Bodh Gaya was entrusted to a committee comprised in equal numbers of Hindus and Buddhists. [19] [20] A statue of Anagarika Dharmapala was established in College Square near Kolkata Maha Bodhi Society.

Maha Bodhi Society centers were set up in many Indian cities, and this had the effect of raising Indian consciousness about Buddhism. Converts were made mostly among the educated, but also among some low caste Indians in the south. [21]

Due to the efforts of Dharmapala, the site of the Buddha's parinibbana (physical death) at Kushinagar has once again become a major attraction for Buddhists , as it was for many centuries previously. Mahabodhi Movement in 1890s held the Muslim Rule in India responsible for the decay of Buddhism in India. [17] [22] [23] Anagarika Dharmapala did not hesitate to lay the chief blame for the decline of Buddhism in India at the door of Muslim fanaticism. [24]

In 1893 Dharmapala was invited to attend the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago as a representative of "Southern Buddhism" – which was the term applied at that time to the Theravada . There he met Swami Vivekananda and got on very well with him. Like Swami Vivekananda, he was a great success at the Parliament and received a fair bit of media attention. By his early thirties he was already a global figure, continuing to travel and give lectures and establish viharas around the world during the next forty years. At the same time he concentrated on establishing schools and hospitals in Ceylon and building temples and viharas in India. Among the most important of the temples he built was one at Sarnath , where the Buddha first taught. On returning to India via Hawaii, he met Mary E. Foster, a descendant of King Kamehameha who had emotional problems. Dharmapala consoled her using Buddhist techniques; in return, she granted him an enormous donation of over one million rupees (over $2.7 million in 2010 dollars, but worth much more due to low labor costs in India). In 1897 he converted Miranda de Souza Canavarro who as "Sister Sanghamitta" came to establish a school in Ceylon.

Dharmapala's voluminous diaries have been published, and he also wrote some memoirs.

Dharmapala, science, and Protestant Buddhism [ edit ]

The term 'Protestant Buddhism,' coined by scholar Gananath Obeyesekere, is often applied to Dharmapala's form of Buddhism. It is Protestant in two ways. First, it is influenced by Protestant ideals such as freedom from religious institutions, freedom of conscience, and focus on individual interior experience. Second, it is in itself a protest against claims of Christian superiority, colonialism, and Christian missionary work aimed at weakening Buddhism. "Its salient characteristic is the importance it assigns to the laity." [25] It arose among the new, literate, middle class centred in Colombo.

The term ' Buddhist modernism ' is used to describe forms of Buddhism that suited the modern world, usually influenced by European enlightenment thinking, and often adapted by Asian Buddhists as a counter to claims of European or Christian superiority. Buddhist modernists emphasize certain aspects of traditional Buddhism, while de-emphasizing others. [26] Some of the characteristics of Buddhist modernism are: importance of the laity as against the sangha; rationality and de-emphasis of supernatural and mythological aspects; consistency with (and anticipation of) modern science; emphasis on spontaneity, creativity, and intuition; democratic, anti-institutional character; emphasis on meditation over devotional and ceremonial actions. [26]

Dharmapala is an excellent example of an Asian Buddhist modernist, and perhaps the paradigmatic example of Protestant Buddhism. He was particularly concerned with presenting Buddhism as consistent with science, especially the theory of evolution. [27]

Survey of writings [ edit ]

Most of Dharmapala's works are collected in Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays, and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala . (Edited by Ananda Guruge. Colombo: Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, 1965).

The World's Debt to Buddha (1893) [ edit ]

[[File:Swami Vivekananda at Parliament of Religions.jpg|thumb|right|Anagarika Dharmapala at the Parliament of World Religions . From left to right: Virchand Gandhi , Anagarika Dharmapala, Swami Vivekananda , and G. Bonet Maury .]] This paper was read to a crowded session of the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, 18 September 1893. At this early stage of his career, Dharmapala was concerned with making Buddhism palatable to his Western audience. This talk is full of references to science, the European Enlightenment, and Christianity. While presenting Buddhism in these familiar terms, he also hints that it is superior to any philosophy of the West. In addition, he spends considerable time discussing the ideal Buddhist polity under Asoka and the Buddha's ethics for laypeople.

The Constructive Optimism of Buddhism (1915) [ edit ]

Buddhism was often portrayed in the West, especially by Christian missionaries, as pessimistic, nihilistic, and passive. One of Dharmapala's main concerns was to counter such claims, and this concern is especially evident in this essay.

Message of the Buddha (1925) [ edit ]

In the later stages of his career, Dharmapala's vociferous anti-Christian tone is more evident. Dharmapala must be understood in the context of British colonization of Ceylon and the presence of Christian missionaries there. This work is a good example of "Protestant Buddhism," as described above.

Evolution from the Standpoint of Buddhism (1926) [ edit ]

Darwin's theory of evolution was the cutting edge of science during Dharmapala's life. As part of his attempt to show that Buddhism is consistent with modern science, he was especially concerned with evolution.

Contributions to Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism [ edit ]

Dharmapala was one of the primary contributors to the Buddhist revival of the 19th century that led to the creation of Buddhist institutions to match those of the missionaries (schools, the YMBA, etc.), and to the independence movement of the 20th century. DeVotta characterizes his rhetoric as having four main points: "(i) Praise – for Buddhism and the Sinhalese culture; (ii) Blame – on the British imperialists, those who worked for them including Christians; (iii) Fear – that Buddhism in Sri Lanka was threatened with extinction; and (iv) Hope – for a rejuvenated Sinhalese Buddhist ascendancy" (78). He illustrated the first three points in a public speech:

This bright, beautiful island was made into a Paradise by the Aryan Sinhalese before its destruction was brought about by the barbaric vandals. Its people did not know irreligion ... Christianity and polytheism [i.e. Hinduism] are responsible for the vulgar practices of killing animals, stealing, prostitution, licentiousness, lying and drunkenness ... The ancient, historic, refined people, under the diabolism of vicious paganism, introduced by the British administrators, are now declining slowly away. [28]

He once praised the normal Tamil vadai seller for his courage and blamed the Sinhalese people who were lazy and called upon them to rise. He strongly protested against the killing of cattle and eating of beef. In short, Dharmapala's reasons for rejecting British imperialism were not political or economic. They were religious: above all, the Sinhala nation is the historical custodian of Buddhism. [ citation needed ]

One of the manifestation of the new intolerance took place in 1915 against some Ceylonese Muslims. Successful retail traders became the target of their Shinhala competitors. [29] In 1912 Darmapala wrote:

The Muhammedans, an alien people, ... by shylockian methods become prosperous like Jews. The Sinhala sons of the soil, whose ancestors for 2358 years had shed rivers of blood to keep the country free of alien invaders ... are in the eyes of the British only vagabonds. The Alien South Indian Muhammedan come to Ceylon, sees the neglected villager, without any experience in trade ... and the result is that the Muhammedan thrives and the sons of the soil go to the wall. [30]

In short, Dharmapala and his associates [ who? ] very much encouraged and contributed to something aptly called the "ethnocratic state." [29]

Dharmapala believed that Sinhalese are a pure Aryan race with unmixed blood. He claimed that Sinhalese women must take care and to avoid mixing with minority races of the country. [31]

Legacy [ edit ]

In 2014, India and Sri Lanka issued postage stamps to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Dharmapala. [32] In Colombo , a road has been named in his honour as "Anagarika Dharmapala Mawatha" (Angarika Dharmapala Street). [33] [34]

The biographical film on life history of Dharamapala was released in 2014, where Palitha Silva played the role. [35]

See also [ edit ]

• Buddhism and Theosophy
• Humanistic Buddhism
• Neo-Vedanta
• Walisinghe Harischandra

References [ edit ]

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

• ↑ http://www.sundaytimes.lk/060917/Plus/pls4.html [archive]
• ↑ "Taking the Dhamma to the Dalits" [archive] . The Sunday Times . Sri Lanka. 14 September 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ Epasinghe, Premasara (19 September 2013). "The Dharmapala legacy" [archive] . Daily News. Archived from the original [archive] on 12 September 2014 . Retrieved 18 September 2014 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ Anagarika Dharmapala – a noble son of Sri Lanka [archive] Archived [archive] 25 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine .
• ↑ Anagarika Dharmapala :The patriot who propagated Buddhism [archive] Archived [archive] 3 July 2013 at Archive.is
• ↑ Harvey , p. 208.
• ↑ Harvey , p. 205
• ↑ McMahan , p. 291.
• ↑ Harvey , p. 303
• ↑ Maha Bodhi Society: Founders [archive]
• ↑ India Revisited by Sri Edwin Arnold [archive] Archived [archive] 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine .
• ↑ Barua, Dipak Kumar (1981). Buddha Gaya Temple: Its History [archive] . Buddha Gaya Temple Management Committee. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ Harvey , p. 307
• ↑ McMahan , p. 111
• ↑ Prothero , p. 167.
• ↑ Prothero , p. 172
• ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 205)
• ↑ O'Reilly, Sean and O'Reilly, James (2000) Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Spirit , Travelers' Tales. pp. 81–82. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css" /> ISBN   978-1-885211-56-9 .
• ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Wright, Arnold (1999) Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources , "Angarika Dharmapala", Asian Educational Services. p. 119. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css" /> ISBN   978-81-206-1335-5
• ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Bleeker, C. J. and Widengren, G. (1971) Historia Religionum, Volume 2 Religions of the Present: Handbook for the History of Religions , Brill Academic Publishers. p. 453. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css" /> ISBN   978-90-04-02598-1
• ↑ Harvey , p. 297
• ↑ "A Close View of Encounter between British Burma and British Bengal" [archive] (PDF) . Archived from the original [archive] (PDF) on 7 June 2007 . Retrieved 27 September 2015 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 58)
• ↑ Wadia, Ardeshir Ruttonji (1958). The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi: And Other Essays Philosophical and Sociological [archive] . University of Mysore. p. 483. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ Gombrich, Richard F. (1988). Theravada Buddhism; A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo [archive] . New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. p. 174. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css" /> ISBN   978-0415365093
• ↑ 26.0 26.1 McMahan , pp. 4–5
• ↑ McMahan , pp. 91–97
• ↑ Dharmapala, Anagarika (1965). Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays, and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala [archive] . Anagarika Dharmapala Birth Centenary Committee, Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, Ceylon. p. 482. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ 29.0 29.1 Little, David (1994). Sri Lanka: The Invention of Enmity [archive] . United States Institute of Peace Press. p.  32 [archive] . ISBN   978-1-878379-15-3 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ Jayawardena, Kumari (1985). Ethnic and Class Conflicts in Sri Lanka: Some Aspects of Sinhala Buddhist Consciousness Over the Past 100 Years [archive] . Centre for Social Analysis. pp. 27–29. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ Sunil, Wijesiriwardhana (2010) Purawasi Manpeth . FLICT. pp. 222–223. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css" /> ISBN   978-955-1534-16-5
• ↑ "India, Sri Lanka issue stamp in honour" [archive] . The Sunday times . 21 September 2014 . Retrieved 25 September 2015 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ "Dharmapala Mawatha (Colombo)" [archive] . WikiMapia . Retrieved 25 September 2015 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ "Brown's Road (Anagarika Dharmapala Mawatha)" [archive] . OpenStreetMap . Retrieved 25 September 2015 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• ↑ "Cinematic revival of Buddhist revivalist" [archive] . The Sunday Times . Retrieved 27 February 2017 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Cited sources [ edit ]

• Harvey, Peter (1990). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History, and Practices [archive] . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521313339 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• McMahan, David L. (2009). The making of Buddhist modernism . Oxford University Press US. ISBN   978-0-19-518327-6 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• Prothero, Stephen R. (1996). The white Buddhist: the Asian odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott [archive] . Indiana University Press. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Sources [ edit ]

• Trevithick, Alan (2006). The revival of Buddhist pilgrimage at Bodh Gaya (1811–1949): Anagarika Dharmapala and the Mahabodhi Temple . ISBN   978-81-208-3107-0 . <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
• Anagarika Dharmapala Archive at Vipassana Fellowship [archive]
• WWW Virtual Library: ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA [archive] at www.lankalibrary.com
• Anagarika Dharmapala, The Arya Dharma – Free eBook [archive]
• DeVotta, Neil. "The Utilisation of Religio-Linguistic Identities by the Sinhalese and Bengalis: Towards General Explanation". Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Vol. 39, No. 1 (March 2001), pp. 66–95.
• Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero, 'Budu Sasuna Bebala Wu Asahaya Dharma Duthayano', Divaina , 17 September 2008 [archive] [ permanent dead link ]
• Sangharakshita, Flame in Darkness: The Life and Sayings of Anagarika Dharmapala , Triratna Grantha Mala, Poona 1995
• Sangharakshita, Anagarika Dharmapala, a Biographical Sketch, and other Maha Bodhi Writings , Ibis Publications, 2013
• Daya Sirisena, 'Anagarika Dharmapala – trail-blazing servant of the Buddha', Daily News , 17 September 2004 [archive]
• Anagarika Dharmapala A religio-cultural hero [archive]
• Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. 1993. "Dharmapala at Chicago : Mahayana Buddhist or Sinhala Chauvinist?" Museum of Faiths . Atlanta : Scholars Pr. 235–250.
• Kloppenborg, Ria. 1992. "The Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933) and the Puritan Pattern". Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift , 46:4, 277–283.
• McMahan, David L. 2008. The Making of Buddhist Modernism . Oxford: Oxford University Press. 91–97, 110–113.
• Obeyesekere, Gananath 1976. "Personal Identity and Cultural Crisis : the Case of Anagārika Dharmapala of Sri Lanka." Biographical Process . The Hague : Mouton. 221–252.
• Prothero, Stephen. 1996a. "Henry Steel Olcott, Anagarika Dharmapala and the Maha Bodhi Society." Theosophical History, 6:3, 96–106.
• Prothero, Stephen. 1996b. The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Saroja, G V. 1992. "The Contribution of Anagarika Devamitta Dharmapāla to the Revival of Buddhism in India." Buddhist Themes in Modern Indian Literature, Madras : Inst. of Asian Studies. 27–38.
• Amunugama, Sarath, 2016 " The Lion's Roar: Anagarika Dharmapala & the Making of Modern Buddhism" Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.

Genealogy [ edit ]

• Genealogical Charts of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Families: Family #3006 (Wijeyaguneratne) Don Carolis Hewavitharana [archive]
• Genealogical Charts of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Families: Family #3007 DHARMAGUNEWARDENA, Lansage Andiris Perera [archive]

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Anagarika Dharmapala (1864 - 1933)

"The Blessed One made no distinction of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis, upasakas and upasikas. They were all to learn the Pali Dhamma and study it and proclaim it for the welfare of others. The consummation of the Brahmachariya life was not only for the Bhikkhus and the Bhikkhunis, but also for upasakas and upasikas. The door to Nibbana is open to all."

The purpose of the Anagarika Dharmapala Archive is to honour this Sinhalese Buddhist activist who contributed so greatly to the revival of Theravada Buddhism in the latter part of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century. His passion for maintaining the purity of the Dhamma and for ensuring its effective dissemination remains an inspiration for Buddhists of today. Anagarika Dharmapala's written legacy has not been widely available outside of Sri Lanka. This site hopes to rectify this by making his essays and speeches more widely available. It is a long term project and new material will be added as it is sourced and formatted.

• An Introduction to Buddhism
• What is Buddhism?
• What Buddhism is Not
• The Religion of the Householder
• The Duty of the Bhikkhus and Laymen
• Why we should take the Buddha as our Example and Guide
• The Religion of Religions
• The Foundation of the Empire of Truth
• The Constructive Optimism of Buddhism
• Our Duty to the Peoples of the West
• The Development of Spiritual Emotions

The Anagarika Dharmapala Archive is a Vipassana Fellowship project. For Free Distribution Only. Please acknowledge this site when using its material. We acknowledge our debt to Ananda Guruge's earlier work in sourcing these texts and to the staff of the British Library for their help in locating original documents in the Library's collection. The spelling, grammar and names used in the original printed texts have normally been retained. These do not always accord with modern usage.

Dhamma Essay: Aims of Buddhist Education by Bhikkhu Bodhi

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• Don David Hewavitarne
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“Wherever I went I have worked for the public good”

Anagarika Dharmapala - 1915

“My comfort is the Buddha, His Dhamma and the Holy Ones”

“my life will be given birth after birth to humanity”.

Anagarika Dharmapala - 1897

“The householder must follow the Middle Way…. Above all he must practice charity and love”

Anagarika Dharmapala - 1910

Life Of Anagarika Dharmapala

• Sri Dewamitta Dhammapala
• The Battle For Buddha Gaya
• sep 03, 2020

The Anagarika Dharmapala

From the age of 21 years, the young Don David called himself the Angarika ("the homeless one") and began a new phase of his life as a renunciant, i.e. a life betwixt that of a lay individual and a monk.

He took up residence at the Buddhist Theosophical Society in Colombo and worked tirelessly to promote the work for the betterment of society and the promulgation of Buddhism.

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publications and Research

The Anagarika Dharmapala Trust renovated the shrine room and several other dilapidated sections of the Parakrama Boys Development Centre run by Mallika Nivasa Samithiya

New computers given by the RATNATUNGA Charity, Australia, through the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust to the Parakrama Boys Development Centre run by Mallika Nivasa Samithiya

“President Ranil Wickremasinghe visited the London Buddhist Vihara in May 2023 following his visit to the Coronation of King Charles III”

london Buddhist Vihara

The british maha bodhi society, simon hewavitarne trust & somavati hewavitarne trust, our mission.

The Anagarika Dharmapala Trust has been responsible for continuing the work of the Anagarika Dharmapala by carrying the message of the Buddha to India, Britain and other countries by sending Bhikkhu missionaries on Dhammadutha (Buddhist missionary) service.

It also supports the Maha Bodhi Societies of Sri Lanka, India and Britain, and the viharas (temples), centres and pilgrims’ rests that are under its management. In Sri Lanka, the Trust manages a Free Ayurvedic Hospital in Colombo; finances and supports temples, conducts an Education programme for novice Bhikkhus (samanera monks); manages orphanages and schools; prints and publishes Buddhist Literature, and implements such matters as are provided for in the Trust Deed.

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3 Situating Dharmapala

• Published: October 2019
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This chapter examines the traditional relationship between the Sangha and the Buddhist laity and the role of the king as a protector of the Sāsana (the Buddhist order). It briefly traces the vicissitudes of the Buddhist order in Sri Lanka from the fifteenth century. A decline in the status of the Sangha was arrested by the intervention of the monk Welivita Saranankara under royal patronage—the pupils of Saranankara initiated a religious and literary resurgence. A setback occurred when the British, who annexed the Kandyan kingdom in 1815, pledging to uphold the traditional status of Buddhism, went back on their promise at the insistence of Christian missionaries. The Buddhist order lost its traditional state patronage. However, the Saranankara tradition continued through his line of pupils in southern Sri Lanka. Prominent scholar monks of this tradition are identified in this chapter, followed by a brief account of Dharmapala’s career highlighting his role in the Buddhist revival.

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