Mettavalokanaya_Buddhist_Magazine_December_2018.

Sugath Rajapakse
Formerly Senior Commercial
Manager at Sri Lankan Airlines and
presently Consultant to Air India GSA
in Sri Lanka.
These days with many TV
Channels and FM Radio channels
one has the opportunity of
listening to many a Dhamma
discourses in a single day. Yet,
in the early days our people had
only an opportunity to listen to
Dhamma discourses on Radio
twice a week, on Wednesday
at 8.00 PM and on Sundays at
8.00 AM through Radio Ceylon.
Despite having the opportunity
to listen to Dhamma 24 hours a
day or to watch discourses being
relayed in TV frequently on a daily
basis, the habits of our citizens in
relation to the for Brahma Vihar
of Loving-Kindness, Compassion,
Equanimity and Altruistic joy is
fast fading away into oblivion. In
our childhood days, if a student
was unable to attend school for
a day or even longer, on his/her
return to school almost all the
students will offer their note
books (we did not have Lap Tops
or IPads in those days) to the
student to note down the subject
matters he/she missed out.
If there is a Pooja in a city
such as Anuradhapura where
thousands of Eight Parishkar are
The Gift of Dhamma Excels
All Gifts….
offered or millions of flowers and
oil lamps are offered, one finds
busloads of devotees making the
trip from far way places and often
staying overnight as well. Also
with TV and Radio channels the
Dhamma discourses are booked
well in advance by lay people and
at times 5 to 6 months ahead.
Alms giving take place all the time
in homes, temples and various
other places. Thus given these
virtuous actions, one must expect
a nation of calm and peace and
tranquility. Yet only the opposite
is happening on a daily basis.
Killing of humans and animals are
taking place all the time as well
as thefts not just from homes but
even banks and other institutions,
bribery and corruption in high
places and well as in other places
and sheer absence of equanimity
be at family level, local level or at
national level.
To dwell deeper into this
matter we need to analyze the
process of sponsored Dhamma
discourses in TV or Radio.
Here the one who sponsors
the discourse must make the
necessary payment to the
channel and reserve the date and
time available. On the actual day
of the discourse the devotees
would attend the Dhamma
discourse in the recording room
and there the announcer will
make announcement of the
names of those sponsoring the
discourse. The Bhikku giving
the discourse often will quote
from the stanza, “Sabba Danan
Dhamma Danan Jinathi” meaning
the gift of Dhamma excels all gifts
(Dhammapada – 24. 354). Thus
it is obvious to us that the gift
of Dhamma excels all other gifts
such as robes, food, dwellings
or any other thing even if such
things are valued in Millions of
Dollars.
In the old day’s despite not
having the facilities to travel
to any place in the country in
a jiffy to attend a Pooja or give
alms to Bhikkus, or to listen to
Dhamma discourses, yet the
people were far more peaceful
and kind than today. Then where
has it gone wrong today? During
the days when the Enlightened
One was dwelling in Pavarika
Mango grove in Nalanda, in
response to a request from a
householder named Kewadda
that a Bhikku who can perform
miracles be appointed to his
area, Buddha refused to do
so and told him that there are
three miracles, two of which he
abhorred. The only miracle that
he said should be done is the
Miracle of Dhamma discourse
or Anusasana Prathihar. Just as
the first two miracles of walking
over water, flying through air or
diving into earth and the ability
to read other minds even this
miracle of Dhamma can only be
done by self and not by another.
Therefore, when a venerable
Bhikku expounds Dhamma be it
in a Temple, in a Radio Channel or
on Television it is that Bhikku who
having comprehended the inner
meaning of Dhamma taught by
the Enlightened One who would
perform the miracle and not
those who have sponsored the
Dhamma discourse. Of course
the people who sponsor such
discourses for self and others
to hear do gain merits but are
not performing the Anusasana
Prathihar. But the lay people too
can perform the expounding of
Dhamma miracle, how?
There are six aspects in
the Dhamma Miracle, 01 - Evan
vitakketa ma evan vitakkaita –
Think of these and do not think
of these. 02 - Evan manasikarotha
ma evan manasakaththa-
Contemplate these and do not
contemplate these. 03 - Idan
pajahatha idan upasampajja
viharatha – Jettison these and
develop and live as per these.
In the first two aspects,
the thoughts primarily can be
categorized under thoughts of
renunciation, free from malice
and free of thoughts of hurting
others physically or mentally.
Thus the Yogi will jettison any
thought of craving, aversion and
cruelty. In the second case, one
“Dhamma
expounded
by the
Enlightened
One”….
does not contemplate on the
negative actions such as hatred,
craving, greed, enmity, conceit,
ingratitude etc. and instead
would contemplate on those
that would enable self as well
as others to walk on the path to
purification. In the last one you
will jettison all things that are
not good for self, others and for
both but develop those that are
beneficial for self, other and for
both not from a lowly mundane
perspective but from a superior
perspective which will ultimately
enable the one performing the
Anusasana Prathihar (miracle of
Dhamma expounding) to achieve
at least the first level of the four
super-mundane levels of Stream-
Entry (Sothapaththi)
So we the lay people must
listen to the Dhamma attentively
and grasp the inner meaning of
the Dhamma expounded by the
Enlightened One. Then such a
person, even if he/she knows only
a few aspects of the Dhamma can
give that knowledge to others
as well. Thus to a person who
is going to gift the Dhamma to
others, then that person must at
least understand the very basics
and which can be taught to others
because there are hundreds of
millions of people in this world
who have no understanding of
the truth of Dhamma.
However, there is a
disturbing trend in our country
with regard to sponsoring of
Dhamma discourses on TV. While
the venerable Bhikku is giving
the discourse, crawlers can be
seen at the bottom of the screen
giving the names of the devotees
who are sponsoring same. Often
in these crawlers there are such
things as son living in an overseas
country or daughter living in an
overseas country. Then there
are other occasions where the
people sponsoring the discourse
would be with their job titles. Of
course there are others who only
give the name of the deceased
person and say the discourse is
sponsored by children & relatives
or the widowed husband or
wife with no names. When one
insists on having the titles or
the foreign countries where
children or siblings are residing
it can only lead to promoting the
first of the ten fetters, Sakkaya
Ditti or Personality view full of
conceit. Such things are not
conducive for the walking on the
path to purification as without
eliminating Personality View no
one can become a stream enterer.
During the days of the
Enlightened One while dwelling
in Rajgir, a beggar named
Suppabuddhakutti observing the
stream of people going though;
well they must be going to a
place giving alms and went along
with them. Arriving at the place
he realized that Enlightened One
was giving discourse in Dhamma.
Forgetting about the food he too
sat down away from the crowd
as he was shabbily dress and had
eczema. While the Enlightened
One was delivering the Dhamma
discourse he attained the first
stage of stream entry. His skin
was dirty and so were his cloths
but not the mind. So merely
getting dressed in white cloths is
not a prerequisite to walk on the
sublime path, but only a beautiful
mind. He belonged to the Chavi
papaka chiththa bhaddaka, dirty
skin but a beautiful mind.
40 l Mettavalokanaya l December l 2018 l www.mettavalokanaya.com www.mettavalokanaya.com l 2018 l December l Mettavalokanaya l 41