Officiated by several senior bhikkhus, academics and literary critics, a ceremony was held recently at the Piliyandala Wewala Udyogipura Sri Wijayaramaya Buddhist Temple to discuss the book Maithri Sagaraya authored by renowned novelist, poet, short story writer and former Lake House journalist, Denagama Siriwardena.
The event was organised under the direction of the Chief Incumbent of the Wewala Udyogipura Sri Wijayaramaya, the Ven. Wepathaira Hemaloka Thera of the Shamopali Mahanikaye Sri Rohana Parshawaya and former academician at the Ananda Vidyalaya.
Maithri Sagaraya, published in September 2022, is the culmination of a lifetime of a research undertaken by Denagama Siriwardena, 78, on the noble life of the Gautama Buddha. This is a quest Denagama Siriwardena had begun from his youth, to research and understand deeply from a scholarly and emotional standpoint different aspects and incidents from the life of the Thathagatha. Written in literary narrative style, akin to separate short stories, the book is a tapestry of challenges, victories and everyday incidents the Buddha faced in his life.
Ven. Wepathaira Hemaloka Thera who hails from the same village as the author and familiar with his earliest dedication from the days of his youth towards a life of thought, reflection as well as teaching and as a writer, spoke in detail how Siriwardena’s deep respect and love for the Buddha and his teachings made him relentlessly pursue this task.
Hemaloka Thera explained how Siriwardena overcame illness that struck him in the past few years to persist in carrying out the offering of a lifetime spiritual mission.
Pragmatism and compassion
 Ven. Wepathaira Hemaloka Thera addressing the gathering |
 Author Denagama Siriwardena speaking at the event |
“It is works such as these that define the aesthetic as well as actual lived in space of a society. It is such work that makes children and youth grow up to be sensitive, caring and dharma centric human beings. These kinds of books are needed to ensure the people of the country as well as the policies that are made are created in line with the core principles of pragmatism and compassion as taught by the Buddha,” Ven. Hemaloka Thera said.
The Thera said that the social consciousness of a people is shaped by literature which in turn signifies the environs, forests, lifestyle, beliefs, traditions and ethics of a civilisation. He referred to Rev. Marcelline Jayakody being asked how he came to integrate the Buddhist philosophy into his literary inspiration while being a Catholic priest and his answer that he had grown up listening to his mother reciting Buddhist scriptures, verses, narratives and literature. By using this example, Ven. Hemaloka Thera showed how the ideal Sri Lankan consciousness could be.
This country offers full religious freedom for a person to profess the faith of choice, can do much to maximise the potential for the core Buddhistic principles to be enshrined in national decisions, he said.
Detailing Denagama Siriwardena’s commitment to serving humanity through literature and his striving to bring the life of the Buddha within the literary framework that could be appreciated by diverse age groups, the Thera mentioned the vast potential for the Buddhistic teachings and wisdom to be ingrained into literature from practical dimensions.
For example, Ven. Hemaloka Thera said that the concept of the Chuthisitha (which could be described in English as the under-laying sub-consciousness which surfaces with the last breadth of a human being) would serve as a vast library of experiential information as described theoretically in Buddhism when witnessed in actual practice. This pertains to how diverse human beings detach their breath driven energy consciousness from their bodies, with diverse levels of attachment and how memories of their actions are reflected in their last moments.
“When we visit to chant Pirith at the deathbeds of those about to depart, we witness firsthand how this dying consciousness becomes active and manifests in different people according to how they have conducted themselves in their life,” the Thera said.
Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abayatissa, head of the Faculty of Pali and Buddhist Studies of Jayewardenapura University, said that although many books have been written revolving around the life of the Buddha, many more could be written that speak afresh, as Denagama Siriwardena had done, on the life that illuminated the world.
Renewed insight
The purpose of a book such as Maithri Sagaraya was described as being similar to the work Buddhacharithaya by Ven. Balangoda Anandamaithreya Thera, where society is given renewed light to attune themselves through awakening an internal mental process of comprehension to seek awareness about the life of the Buddha, where they will be influenced to use this understanding as applicable to current times, for it to be a healing presence in society.
The vicissitudes of the events of the Buddha’s life such as the one connected with Maraya and his three daughters which speaks of a vain attempt of distraction was explained by the Thera. He said that the ‘Maraya’ could well have been an actual person who existed at the time although there are some theoretical explanations that refer to it as a phenomenon that may be connected to thought processes.
Yet as Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abayatissa Thera, said, this argument could not be accepted as the enlightenment process was fully completed and fully attained in the Buddha when the failed temptation attempt occurred. Therefore, it cannot be concluded as part of an internal mental process of the Buddha, he said.
In a similar vein, it was clarified that the death of the Buddha’s mother seven days after he was born was something that was preknown by the Buddha who entered his destined life cycle and chose the carrier of it in the person of Mahamaya Devi whose life span was karmically meant to be short. In the same way, the debate whether the Buddha’s passing away (attaining parinirvana) was a result of poisoning due to consumption of last alms offering was analysed to be a childish argument when speaking of an enlightened being. It was clarified that the Buddha had indicated the end of his Samsaric journey three months prior.
As Buddhism is the only religion based on a philosophical premise that is understood purely by pragmatic intellectual query and debate, and no other dogmatic pre-conditions or belief, it was praiseworthy to see the event laying a truly scholastic base to understand the literary dimensions of diverse Jataka stories, folklore, interpretations and writings on the Buddha.
Veteran Anthropologist and renowned authority on heritage, culture and aesthetic studies as well as a committed promoter of peace and tolerance, Prof. Praneeth Abeysundara of the Department of Anthroplogy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Sri Jayewardenapura University delivered the keynote speech.
Cultural deterioration
The recent slitting of the throat of a young woman by a youth who professed to love her was used by Prof. Abeysundara as an example of the deterioration of Buddhistic attributes in the country and said that historically, in the country, literature encompassed a way of life that was enmeshed in everyday living, which spoke of a people living close to nature and respecting it as they did each other.
He spoke of the realms of language and explained how language is linked with culture and tradition, adding that much of this link is, today, eradicated because parents are obsessed with teaching their children English without the cultural base of their mother tongue (Sinhala and Tamil as per the ethnicity of the Sri Lankans).
“Language holds the core of culture. The Sinhala language is an intricate network of these cultural roots. These roots were webbed into how people lived their life as an integral part of the natural environs and within the textual framework of Buddhistic thought put into practice in the lives of people,” Prof. Abeysundara said.
“Trees were treated with utmost reverence and associated with deities and goddesses (ruk dewathawan) who lived in them. The earth was treated with reverence as it fed human beings. Water was treated with respect and was part of the priorities of the agrarian civilisation of the country. The lifestyle of the people was based on the earth’s resources and the language was formed accordingly as seen in the formation of words and phrases such as hatti-mutti, awathum pawathum and wanamal. Poetry such as pel kavi was associated with traditional farming of the land,” Prof. Abeysundara said.
It was mentioned that Denagama Siriwardena was the son of a renowned farmer and that this laid a solid foundation for him to understand the crux of Sinhala literature as associated with the earth and all of biodiversity that the village was known for.
He stressed the importance of literature in forming empathy in children and youth. He lamented the current thinking among most teachers and parents that arts and all that is aesthetic as ‘useless’ subjects and said that this was the reason that society was increasingly mercenary and producing heartless youth who now increasingly carry out violent acts.
Denagama Siriwardena said, “At one point I felt that I may depart from this life before I could write what mattered most to me. I was very sick for sometime and felt that I was at death’s door. But with deep commitment, I started writing this book and completed it in five months, writing at a stretch. My family provided me the background needed for this task and of my entire life, the time spent writing this book on the life of the Buddha was the happiest five months.”