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Esala Poya reflections
By Upali Salgado
Esala Poya is considered important because several happenings took place on this day. It was on this day that Queen Mahamaya, conceived the future Buddha.
It was also on this day that Prince Siddhartha renounced His worldly life, and wandered for seven years to seek for Himself the cause of all forms (or facets) of suffering on earth, and also the way out of ills or dukkha (in Pali). Dukkha refers to the inherent unsatisfactoriness of everything conditioned. This the Great Master said, was due to impermanence (anicca).

Inextricably connected with impermanence and suffering is the phenomena of existence. This is the characteristic of non-self (annatha). It was also on this poya day that Sakyamuni Gothama Buddha, having accepted an invitation to preach His glorious dharma, met his ascetic friends Kondanja, Assaji, Baddya, Mahanama and Vappa at the Isipathana deer park, situated (close to Varnasi) to deliver the famous Dhamma-chakku pavatvana sutta. This set in motion the Wheel of Truth as expounded by the Master, the All Knowing One. The Master said, a life given to attractive pleasures, low and vulgar of the average folk, ignoble and unprofitable and one of self torment should be avoided.

He implored that his disciples follow the Noble Eight-fold Path and life with Right Understan-ding: Right Thinking ; Right Speech; Right Action; Right Livelihood, Right Effort; Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. This is in the first three stanzas of the Dhamma chakku pavathvana sutta.

The Master further referred to the Four Noble Truths, which when accepted dispels ignorance. These two discourses are the bedrock of the Buddha's teaching. On this Esala Poya day, let us also reflect on the missionary work done with zeal by Anagarika Dharmapala who established the Maha Bodhi Society of India.

He worked single handedly with a view to taking control of Buddha Gaya from a Hindu Mahantha and also to develop Saranath, where the Buddha preached His first sermon. The tall stately looking Mulagandhi cuta Vihare at Saranath was the work of Anagarika Dharmapala. Together with the Ven. Metiwela Sangharatana Maha Thera and several other monks, they were responsible during colonial times for safeguarding and spreading Buddhism, in India.

Establishment of the Siam Nikaya
In Sri Lanka, it was also on an Esala Poya day, in 1753, exactly 250 years ago that, the great revival or a Theravada Buddhist Reformation of the Maha Sangha took place at the Kandy Pushparama Maha Vihare (better known as the Malwatte Temple). In a Seema-malaka built there, the Most Venerable Upali Maha Thera, and his assistant monks who came to Kandy (Siriwardenapura) from Siam, Thailand on an invitation from King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1781) administered a valid Upasampada (Higher Ordination) to purify the Sangha. It meant the age of the gunnin-nanses, who led worldly lives in temples was over.

The Ven. Welivita Saranankara who spearheaded this great event, was conferred the ecclesiastical title of "Sangharaja" by the royal court. As the historic Upasampada was conducted in the Siamese tradition by the most Ven. Upali Maha Thera on July 17, 1753, the new order of monks came to be known as the Shyampoli Maha Nikaya.
This significant historic event signalled that the torch of Sakyamuni Gothama Buddha's noble dharma was again lit, after the visit of the sage Maha Mahinda. The decadent moral conduct of the Gunninnanses was replaced in temples with Buddhist monks who observed the vinaya rules.

Several temples were built around the capital city with Buddhist painting and frescoes of the Kandyan style as seen at Degoldoruwa, Hanguranketa, and Hindagala Temples. Paritta was recited daily and monks went out on pindapata, and counselled the villagers in time of need.

Following the "Great Revival" (or Buddhist Reform-ation) the lay and Bhikkhu custodians of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, have annually paraded The Tooth Relic for worship in the Esala perahera.

When truth saw light

Esala moon peeps to light up the skies,
Memories deeply revered long, arise.
In Saranath's Isipatana the deer park.
He, the wisest, Vanquisher of lust and hate,
Teacher of gods and men that spake,
His maiden discourse, Dhammachakka,
Wheel of Law, pleasing, in reality bound,
A sermon hither to unheard unknown by man.
Five ascetics sat, heard it to its end,
Doubts vanished, the Truth they found.
"The world" the Master said, "tis ever restless,
A puzzle a calamity, its cause - Desire
The urge to grab, to hold, to possess;
Dispel them, there lies the Bliss of Eternity.
This is the core, the axis on which
Profound Dhamma rotates, for the good
For the happiness and contentment of man
To fulfill this is the aim of Buddhahood."
For five and forty summers did he
The most Compassionate One set forth'
To traverse the land far and wide.
Seeking those worthy of reaching the TRUTH.
D.P.B. Ellepola

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