Sunday Times 2
Goodbye my good teacher, you are truly a ‘Bodhisattva’!
View(s):It is with the deepest of regret that I record the sad demise of Prof. Carlo Fonseka.
In 1962, and as a medical student, fortune smiled on me when I had this great man, as a lecturer and tutor in physiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo.
He was an erudite gentleman and his very personality, charm and sense of humour impressed me most. I was privileged indeed to meet this great human being. His very demeanor disseminated love, compassion and kindness to all!
He possessed the unique ‘gift’ of being able to take on the most complex problems and dissect it into fragments, so that it could be easily understood by all. Truly a brilliant teacher!
I had often heard of the immense respect and veneration he commanded from his patients, when he was a young medic, on the wards.
As time went by, I soon realised he was reputed to be a great exponent of the ‘Truth’, and a firm believer of the “Theory of Impermanence”. He discarded the belief in the ‘supernatural’ and viewed everyone as ‘equals’.
In respecting the true teachings of the Buddha, he dispelled rituals, false beliefs, fire walking, fasting and idol worship.
On a personal note: This supreme being and his charming wife, Pearl, stepped in to help me and my wife, at a very desperate juncture of our lives. With no food for sustenance, no fixed abode, and no income, they offered us our basic needs.
It was an old ‘storeroom’ with only a single bed! My wife and I remember so vividly his very words to both of us: “This is, and must be, the worst place for a future doctor and a future lawyer to live and sleep in, but, under the circumstances, it is a palace.” It certainly was!
We were given all our meals, and the use of all the household facilities, for a month, until we later moved on and found alternate accommodation.
When we could afford to pay them back, as an expression of gratitude, we offered payment for looking after us so well in our hour of need. They both accepted it in the true and traditional ‘Sinhala’ style, and then to our shock and surprise, returned it immediately, saying “thank you for the payment, and would you now please accept our Wedding gift for you.”
“Small men think they are great, but great men have no time for such small things.” I have no doubt that the many thousands of students’ lives you have touched, would agree with my sentiments. Your departure has left a vacuum in this world. May your journey in Sansara be short!
Goodbye, my good teacher and mentor, you are truly a ‘Bodhisattva’!
“Thousands of candles can be lit from just one candle,
Yet the life of the candle is not shortened.
Happiness never decreases from being shared.”
Siddartha Gautama.
Dr. Ranjith Dambawinna
Essex, England