Department of Buddhist Philosophy

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Buddhism as Bridge to Cross-cultural relationships: A Case Study
(Nāgānanda 2nd International Research Conclave on Buddhist Studies & Humanities (NIRCBSH2019), Nāgānanda International Institute for Buddhist Studies, Manelwatta, Bollegala, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Rev. Dr. Wadinagala Pannaloka.
Since ancient times, through Buddhism, many countries from Asia to Europe, became mutual friends and worked as brothers. Today, in the twenty first century, the earth is becoming one village through the achievements of modern science and technology, especially due to information technology. Even though, there are multi-approaches to build relationships with the other countries and cultures, due to certain diplomatic factors it has been still difficult to reach some part of the world without barricades. In the present paper, I will attempt to investigate how Buddhism is functioning as a bridge to build relations among nations going beyond constrains imposed by diplomatic or other factors. For this I will select three agents, one Buddhist organization, the Theravada Buddhist Association in Taiwan, two countries, Taiwan and Myanmar. In the late 1980’s, due to diplomatic reasons, the state level relations between Sri Lanka and Taiwan were severed. In 1999, Venerable Bodagama Chandima, a Theravada Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, with the help of group of Taiwanese Buddhists established a Buddhist association under the title ‘Theravada Samadhi Education Association’ in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Ever since the establishment of Theravada Samadhi education, irrespective of the severed diplomatic relations, the two countries were in an active exchange. Particularly, the relation took the form of cultural and has been continuing till today. The interaction between the two nations covers several aspects, health, education and disaster relief to mention a few. The next part of relation building by the Samadhi association is connected with Myanmar, a Theravada Buddhist country. In 2008, the cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar victimizing hundred thousand of people in three townships. Due to the state constraints, reaching Myanmar was difficult. However, the Theravada Samadhi education with the help of Sri Lanka government could reach the people with relief aids in the first stage. And in the second, a village with thousands of houses and other facilities like school renovated with new buildings and donated to the villagers. Through the analysis of the information relevance to the two lines of building cross-cultural relations, I will reach the conclusion that Buddhism is of potential in extending the relations among people where conventional practices of building and keeping relations fail
Light in the Buddhist Philosophical Tradition
(International Symposium on ‘Light in Life’. The Orthodox Academy of Crete, Greece, 2018) Rev. Dr. Wadinagala Pannaloka.
Light is inseparable from life in the universe. Thus, many branches of human study have been devoted to this subject. Buddhism, a religious-philosophical system, has also discussed various aspects of light. One of the traditions of Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, produces its textual tradition in the Pali language, a Middle Indic dialectic. Inside Pali literature, the treatment of light as a phenomenon has been presented in relation to two dimensions: the physical and the spiritual. The first section of this paper is devoted to understanding the nature of light as a physical phenomenon. The Pali terms aloka, obhasa, abha and teja offer meanings to light. Conceptually, the physical aspect of the world (both sentient beings and physical objects) is analysed under the term ‘rupa’ (translated as matter or body). Matter is composed of four elements: earth, water, heat and wind. Light is mainly associated with heat (teja) and every physical entity is a combination of all four elements. The Buddhist analysis of matter is undertaken, not for the sake of physical scientific analysis but, as a way of explaining the psycho-physical complex from which the human being is composed through the synergistic workings of several factors. Furthermore, this section will introduce the idea that light is not a ‘substance’ that exists individually, but that it depends on other elements. In Buddhist cosmology, the first beings on earth came down from a world of radiant beings (abhassaraloka). The aliens on earth lost their light in the body as desire grew in the mind. The use of light in meditation practice is also extremely important and the second part of this paper will examine how light is used by meditation practitioners and discuss the appearance of light during meditation. The last section is dedicated to discussing the use of light as a metaphor for wisdom. The Buddhist tradition maintains the view that Buddha (enlightened being) is the ‘light bringer to human-kind’ (ukkadharomanussanam). This statement is made against the backdrop of the ordinary human condition in which human experience, under the influence of psychological factors such as greed, hatred and ignorance, is perceived as darkness. The role of an enlightened person is to break through this darkness. Buddhism provides a gradual path to the attainment of wisdom, or “light”. The “light of wisdom” surpasses all other forms of physical light from such entities as the sun and the moon. The “light bringer” is not only beneficial to him or herself but also to the entire humanity. Treating light within the Buddhist texts in these two ways, namely as a physical dimension and as a metaphor for wisdom, Buddhism has produced a theory in which “light” can be seen as an interdependent phenomenon. The main objective in Buddhist philosophy is the attainment of inner enlightenment (cognitive clarity), the highest achievement possible for a human being.