Appreciations
View(s):Alec Robertson
A true man of the Dhamma he imparted his knowledge in many ways
It is 15 years since Deshabandu Alec Robertson – preacher, writer and broadcaster of the Dhamma and one-time Member of Parliament – passed away.
Alec Robertson was born in Gampola on October 30, 1928, and died on the last day of 2002, at the age of 74. His working life was dedicated mainly to the Buddhist cause – propagating the Dhamma through talks, discussions, books and articles to Buddhist journals and newspapers.
One of his most significant contributions was the popularisation of the weekly Dhamma discussions in English at Maitri Hall, Lauries’ Road, Bambalapitiya. He was closely associated with the Servants of the Buddha Society, which has conducted Buddhist discussions on Saturday evenings for almost half a century. He started taking part in these meetings while he was still at school. He became the society’s assistant secretary when he was just 21. Later, he became secretary, and served as president for an uninterrupted 30 years, from 1969.
He relinquished this office only when he realised that declining health would not permit him to discharge the duties of this office effectively. But he continued to be associated with the society as its adviser until his demise.
His voice and personality reverberated in the Maitri Hall, where he chaired the society’s meetings and gave a Dhamma talk every first Saturday of the month. When the scheduled speaker could not turn up, Alec Robertson would give the talk himself, often asking the audience to suggest a topic.
Mr. Robertson had a prodigious memory. His knowledge of the Dhamma was extensive, based on his studies of Pali, the Dhamma, the Abhidhamma, and commentaries, as well as through his association with Buddhist scholars, monks and laymen.
Mr. Robertson was also for many years associated with broadcasting, giving Dhamma talks on the radio and participating in Dhamma radio discussions. For several decades he participated in one of the most popular Buddhist radio programmes at that time, namely, the “Buddhist Forum”. In this forum, a number of Buddhist scholars discuss various aspects of the Dhamma and entertain subjects for discussions from listeners. Participants in this forum apart from Mr. Robertson included at that time the Late S. R. Wijayatilake, a former Judge of the Supreme Court and the late Austin De Silva, a dedicated Buddhist worker. Mr. Robertson became the Chairman of the Buddhist Forum later and continued to perform the task, except for brief intervals, until his death, a period of two and half a decades.
As a writer, Mr. Robertson had many Buddhist publications to his credit. These include the “Buddhist Attitude To Christianity”; “Nibbana – Happiness Supreme”, “The Triple Gem and the Uposatha”, and “Buddha, the Healer Incomparable”. He also regularly contributed articles to the newspapers, Buddhist journals and the Buddhist annual, “Vesak Sirisara”.
Although known largely as a promoter of the Dhamma among English-speaking people, Alec Robertson also had a good command of the Sinhala language. As a young man he travelled to different parts of the country giving talks, usually in Sinhala, at the invitation of Buddhist organisations in the outstations.
He strived at all times to share his knowledge about the latent power held within the human mind. His messages were directed at awakening people to recognize this great untapped and unseen capacity within them and to introduce the teachings of the Dharma as the path to greater self-awareness. He masterfully used the Dhamma to explain the most abstract concepts such as the doctrine of impermanency that has even posed challenges to Western psychologists.
He was well read in the discipline of Western psychology. He openly challenged eminent western scholars like Dr J. B. Reihn’s conceptualization of the human mind as inconclusive on the strength of the deeper understanding he had developed through the teachings of the Dhamma, continually asserting his belief that the Lord Buddha has been the greatest ever psychologist the world has ever seen.
His outstanding services in the cause of the Dhamma were recognised by the State when the J.R. Jayawardene administration conferred on him the title of Deshabandu. Later, the Premadasa government appointed him as a Member of Parliament.
He served for five years as an MP, focusing largely on Buddhism, social welfare and education. The UNP assigned him to the Avissawella electorate, and his addresses to the constituents were mainly on the Dhamma and its practice.
In recognition of the yeoman service he rendered to the nation and Buddha sasana, a commemorative stamp was issued on October 30, 2013 under the National Heroes category. This was arranged to mark his 85th birthday and 10th anniversary of his passing.
Mr. Robertson pursued his mission in life with determination, courage and commitment. May his onward journey in Samsara be smooth and brief, and may he realise early the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana.
Rajah Kuruppu
Anne Ranasinghe
As Atlas of our literary field, she dared us to achieve more
When Anne Ranasinghe accompanied her husband, Prof. Ranasinghe back to Ceylon from England as a young wife in the early ’50s, writing would have been the last thing on her mind.She had to adapt to a new environment, a totally different way of life ( to what she was accustomed to) and was soon involved in bringing up a family.
Born to a Jewish family, she lived through the turbulent years of the 1930s in Germany and experienced the horrors of the Holocaust first hand before escaping to England at the age of 13.
At a young age, she had experienced more than most of us do in a lifetime.
Her emotional reaction to the Holocaust would subsequently be depicted in her finest poems.
It was only in the ’70s that she started making an impact on the literary scene – initially locally and then internationally.
The women writers at the time who had made a name for themselves were Christine Wilson, Punyakante Wijenaike, Yasmine Gooneratne and Jean Arasanayagam. Anne released many of us by example from our circumscribed professional and domestic lives and made us dare to achieve something more.
No other writer had an impact on literary development here that she did.
It was her genuine interest and concern that made her together with Rajiva Wijesinha and Maureen Seneviratne start the English Writers’ Cooperative. She remained the livewire of the EWC until age and failing health forced her to relinquish her position of Atlas of the literary world.
If I may quote from a piece I wrote to the recently published ‘Channels’ magazine:
“I joined the EWC in the ’90s – at that time Anne was the only functioning founder member. Rather she was the foundation that supported Channels. Regular meetings were held at her charming residence in Rosmead Place…
“In those days it was no problem being the Editor of Channels. All we had to do was to hand over the manuscript to Anne( who no doubt finetuned it). She took over the onus of getting it published.”
Fame rested lightly on her shoulders. Hers was a complex and towering personality, combining brutal honesty, with concern, sincerity and simplicity. She was dearly loved by her close associates and subordinates and will be sorely missed by us all.
Premini Amerasinghe