Enlightening read on the Buddha and Colombo of yore
View(s):Age has not diminished the vigour of writer Upali K. Salgado. At 85, Salgado continues writing on Buddhism – a subject that fascinates him. Probably, there had not been a Poya day on which we have not seen his thoughts in print.“Vesak Lipi” which Salgado had been editing for many years, is a leading annual Buddhist Digest today with a huge readership here and overseas.
His specialised skills are once again evident in his latest literary venture “Selected Writings of an Octogenarian” – a collection of 25 of his published essays in newspapers and journals which cater to the inquiring minds on varied aspects of Buddhism. His articles are in three groups – Buddhist Philosophy and its associated events, a portrait gallery of leading personalities “who have left behind them their indelible footprints in Samsara” and of landmarks of Colombo as he knew once, its customs, people and events which reflect the thinking of an eager mind, a lively memory and an abiding interest in a Sri Lanka that has gone by.
The first group – “A Periscopic View of Buddhism,” is not merely a compilation of his published articles. The articles are lined-up to unfold in sequence the story of Buddhism starting from the Birth of Sakyamuni Gotama Buddha and followed up with the development of events of religious significance. In between you find discussions of thought-provoking issues which will no doubt interest readers. Why was Buddha called “Maha Purusha?” The author presenting diverse views says that the seers who arrived at the Royal Court of Kapilavasthu at the birth of the royal prince, on seeing the 32 signs visible on Siddhartha said : He is a “Maha Purusha” and would be a Chakravarthi or a benevolent religious leader. Scholars of the Royal Court had agreed with the seers on the proclamation. The Mahayana view however differed as it said that Siddhartha was a divine character or a super human. The author in the meantime states that the “Maha Purusha” concept, originated from Vedantic thought in North India and applied to Indian heroes in epics.
On the issue of the difference between the Buddha and Arahants, the author states that the Buddha was the Pathfinder of the Arahants who showed the way which one could find through self-realization. An Arahant was a being who was free of passion, was pure and had shed fetters of renewed existence.
Tracing as to how the Buddha icon came to be sculptured, the author enlightens, “many eons after the demise of the Gotama Buddha, it became necessary for devotees to know what the Great Master physically looked like.” Identifying the Greeks as the pioneer sculptors of the Buddha icon the author says, “Greeks who arrived in NW India, sculptured the figures of the Gotama Buddha. The Ghandara civilization as such was the cradle of Buddhist art and a veritable oasis of Buddhist culture.”
This led him to relate the role of the intellectual monk Nagasena in the conversion of Greek Bactrian King Milander to Buddhism , the appearance of large monasteries in the upper Kashmir region and the siting of Bamiyan statues on the silk route between China and Persia. “Travellers who were traders of carpets and fine chinaware, arrived here on camelback and rested. They were reminded of the Buddha’s compassionate ways when they saw the giant Buddha statues.” These religious masterpieces were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 to the horror of the world. The Buddha image over the years, underwent modifications varying according to cultural tastes, demands of Buddhist countries and according to Theravada and Mahayana traditions. The oldest Buddha image the author says was at Nirvana Vihara in Kushinara. The 16-metre long Image discovered by archaeologist Archibald Carlyle around 1880, had been sculptured during the Guptha period.
The author identifies the Buddha as the world’s first known missionary when He, three months following His first sermon to the five ascetics at Isipathana, Sarnath, sent forth 60 well-instructed dharmadutha monks in all directions to spread the Dhamma. Three hundred years later, Buddhsim spread to distant Syria, Albania, Afghanistan, China, Japan, Korea and Java.
He also identifies the Buddha as the world’s first revolutionary as He freed people from the grips of priest craft and unquestionable tradition. Did the Buddha smile when expounding His Dhamma? Quoting Aggha Maha Panditha Walpola Rahula Maha Thera the author writes that the Buddha had not appreciated moderate laughter, gaffing and showing one’s teeth. But had remarked that it was proper and also sufficient if the Sangha just smiled.
The book covers the development of Buddhism in India up to early 1990s at the time when Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits embraced Buddhism and led the revival of Buddhism in modern India. In Sri Lanka, he gives credit for the Buddhist renaissance to the roles played by both westerners such as Henry Steele Olcott and Lankans such as Anagarika Dharmapala.
| Book facts
“Selected Writings of an Octogenarian” by Upali K. Salgado. Reviewed by Rajitha Weerakoon |