About the Book: It was left to Rhys Davids, virtually the first European scholar to devote himself exclusively to Pali and Buddhism, to unlock the key to Pali and point out to his contemporaries the rich vistas that lay beyond. In doing so he made it possible to begin the systematic study of Buddhism which had been undertaken sans consistency and method. Rhys David’s relationship to Sri Lankan Buddhism and Pali was broadly analogous to that of Max Muller to India and Sanskrit. He epitomized an enlightenment or attitude to emacipation altogether rare in the nineteenth-century European view of non-European cultures. The author has used Rhys Davids to investigate the nature of Western attempts – with implied Europocentric attitudes – to interpret characteristically Asian culture and religious institutions. The book focuses on Buddhism and the attempts of Westerners in the second half of the nineteenth century to interpret what was at the time regarded as a comparatively unknown oriental faith. Rhys Davids’ capacity for empathizing with alien cultures was remarkable. Rhys Davids, in short, was a pioneer in trans-cultural understanding and had a clear grasp of its issues. He saw that Indian religious ideas – especially Buddhism – would exert a powerful influence in the West to become part of the prevailing idiom and ideology. What is today a tiresome commonplace was not thought even remotely possible in his day. It is a curious fact that there has been no biography on Rhys Davids. He was of the very stuffVictorian biographies were made of, exemplifying in particular its grand delusive moral that misfortune, human frailties, social disabilities, and class distinctions can somehow be changed or overcome by the transforming power of character, perseverance, and of course, faith. This book is not, however, an act of biographical resurrection. It focuses instead on the work and ideas of Rhyms Davids and attempts to relate Rhys Davids to themes which continue to play a significant part in East-West cultural dialogue. About the Author: Ananda Wickremeratne, who graduated with honours in History from the University of Ceylon in 1961, won a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1963 to Oxford University where he received his doctoral degree in 1965. He re-visited England in 1974 on a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship to the School of Oriental and African Studies in London University. He came to U.S.A. early in 1979 following the award of visiting fellowship both to the Center for the Study of World Religions in Harvard University, as well as to the Department of Anthropology. Dr. Wickremeratne, who has been for several years a member of the teaching staff in the University of Sri Lanka, has a number of publications on social and cultural history. He is at present an Associate of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies in the University of Chicago, and is currently engaged in writing a book on the diffusions of Eastern religious ideas in America and their incorporation with the matrix of American religious consciousness. CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I England Chapter The English Prelude PART II Sri Lanka. A Youthful Proconsul in Sri Lanka Mostly Magisterial Functions A Journey to Anuradhapura: The Land of Temples and Tanks. Peasants, Tanks and Grain Not by Grain Alone Reflections in a Diary Facets of Administration and Relations with an Irascible Superior Old and Forgotten Alphabets An Unexpected Climax: The End of the Journey PART III The Embattled Scholar The Path of an Orientalist Orientalism and the Problems Thereof PART IV On Buddhism and Buddhists Questions of Faith: Beyond Man-made Identities Sri Lankan Buddhists Epilogue: Buddhism and the West

PART I England
Chapter

1. The English Prelude

PART II Sri Lanka. A Youthful Proconsul in Sri Lanka

2. Mostly Magisterial Functions
3. A Journey to Anuradhapura: The Land of Temples and Tanks.
4. Peasants, Tanks and Grain
5. Not by Grain Alone
6. Reflections in a Diary
7. Facets of Administration and Relations with an Irascible Superior
8. Old and Forgotten Alphabets
9. An Unexpected Climax: The End of the Journey

PART III The Embattled Scholar

10. The Path of an Orientalist
11. Orientalism and the Problems Thereof

PART IV On Buddhism and Buddhists

12. Questions of Faith: Beyond Man-made Identities
13. Sri Lankan Buddhists
14. Epilogue: Buddhism and the West

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උපෝසත අෂ්ඨාංග ශීලය

උපෝසත අෂ්ඨාංග ශීලය සමාදන් වීමෙන් ලැබෙන ආනිසංස දන්නවා නම් මාසෙකට එක සැරයක් නොවේ සමාදන් වෙන්නේ. භාග්‍යවතුන් වහන්සේ තමන්ගේ ඥාතීන්ට විශේෂ අනුග්‍රහ පිණිස සමහර විටක ඒ ශාක්‍යයන්ට දේශනා කර තිබෙනවා එක දිගටම අටසිල් වල සිටිනා ලෙසට. එක දවසක් හරියට අෂ්ඨාංග උපෝසත ශීලයක් පැය 24ක් රැකිය යුතු ය. එනම් උදේ 6ට සමාදන් වූවා නම් හෙට උදේ 6න් පසුව පැවෑරිය යුතු ය.

මෙසේ එක් එක් සිල් පදය මනාව විග්‍රහ කරමින් ආරම්භ කර, සිල් කැඩෙන ආකාරයන් සහ සිල් නොකැඩී තබාගැනීමට අප විසින් සැලකිල්ලට ගත් යුතු ධර්ම කොටස් පිළිබඳව විග්‍රහයක් මෙම දේශනයෙන් ඔබට ලබාගත හැක.

මෙම ශීලය එක දවසක් රැකීමෙන් අවුරුදු ලක්ෂකෝටි  ගානක් ඒකාන්ත සුවයෙන් සිටිය හැකිය. එසේ නම් මේ ශීලය කොපමන බලවත් ලෙස රැකිය යුතුද?

2600 සම්බුද්ධ ජයන්තිය සැමරුම වෙනුවෙන් 2011 මැයි 20 වෙනි දින කටාර් දේශයේදි සිදුකළ ධර්ම දේශනයකී.

[mp3]http://assets4.dhammikaweb.com/uploads/2011/09/Bana_FAQ_01_Qatar_Bana_-on_Sil_2011_May_20.mp3[/mp3]

Buddhism had its birth at Sarnath near the city of Varanasi (Benares), India. With only five followers at the beginning, it penetrated into many lands, and is today the religion of more than 600 million. Buddhism made such rapid strides chiefly due to its intrinsic worth and its appeal to the reasoning mind. But there were other factors that aided its progress: never did the dhammadutas, the messengers of the Dhamma, the teaching, use any iniquitous methods in spreading the Dhamma. The only weapon they wielded was that of universal love and compassion.

Furthermore, Buddhism penetrated to these countries peaceably, without disturbing the creeds that were already there. Buddhist missions, to which the annals of religious history scarcely afford a parallel, were carried on neither by force of arms nor by the use of any coercive or reprehensible methods. Conversion by compulsion was unknown among the Buddhists, and repugnant to the Buddha and his disciples. No decrying of other creeds has ever existed in Buddhism. Buddhism was thus able to diffuse itself through a great variety of cultures throughout the civilized world.

[pdf]http://www.dhammikaweb.com/pdfs/The_Buddha_VenPiyadassi_Thero.pdf[/pdf]