Dear Everybody—
Warm greetings from Sri Lanka
One and a half years, nearly – this is how long I have been waiting for a chance to return to a Buddhist country. Burma had long been my aim, Burma which attracted me so much as a teenage boy that I even found out about a post-graduate student of medicine pursuing his higher studies in Budapest – this was early 1972 … Dr. Maung Thin – this was his name – started to teach me some Burmese. I also had some pen-friends there – and still possess two or three cards from them, from the very same year of 1972.
It was in Burma where I started with meditation practice this time 17 years ago when I realised that this will be my way once bereft of my dearest and to me nearest ones, namely my beloved Mum who passed away in 2009, and her elder sister who passed away in 2008. Indeed, I was there by November 2010, only to be rejected and sent away until I found the right person in the right place at the right time, namely Sayadaw U Tejaniya at Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Tawya Yeiktha, late August 2012. This is where I eventually ordained as a monk late January 2013. (And then my studies at the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University, ITBMU, in Rangoon …)
Also, during the years I have come to know the differences between meditation centres across Burma and Thailand, only to some extent Sri Lanka, then Malaysia and, finally, Italy, and found that Burmese centres are simply the most ideal and most appealing places for undisturbed intensive practice.
Unfortunately for meditators, by early 2020 there was no way to go to meditation centres in Burma, Thailand and Taiwan, as they were not allowed to accept foreign newcomers, arriving from abroad, even though Thailand, for instance, introduced special quarantines to boost regular tourism. The total ban in case of monasteries / meditation centres was still in force.
I then started thinking in terms of a return to Sri Lanka where conditions in general are indeed conducive to the practice, and where there are richly equipped monastery libraries for study. Like all foreign monks here, I had the honour to be issued a generous five-year residence permit while staying at famous Nā Uyana Forest Meditation Centre in 2019, a moving privilege offered by the State which I could now make good use of, as there was no need for me to apply for any permit.
Anyhow, the only chance summer 2020 was to go and spend
the rains retreat in Italy in the hope that things would sooner or later take a
positive turn making travels easier again.
I was then at Santacittarama, a well-known and
popular centre of the Thai forest tradition in Italy. As Burma kept its
monasteries and centres closed, with Thailand being too complicated and too
expensive plus risky (as regards visas and residence permits), we turned to the
embassy of Sri Lanka.
As there was no response, I went back to Hungary, willy-nilly.
Of course, planning an escape from there by March this year turned out to be unrealistic. Not wishing to treat you with much more detail, let it suffice to add that Nā Uyana being silent, too, my faithful and helpful Bhutanese monk friend suggested to me to contact the Most Ven. W. Dhammawasa Thero, abbot of Sri Subodharama Maha Viharaya, that is, Sri Subodharama (International) Buddhist Centre, SSBC, in the vicinity of Kandy, Sri Lanka.
I followed his advice. And lo, already two days later there was a warm-hearted, friendly letter of welcome from the Most Venerable Thero, reiterated now in his latest response today.
This was early April. Yet seemingly, all protective devatā were off duty, as wherever I turned for guidance and help, nobody replied until I happened to contact yet again the right person in the right place at the right time. Soon everything was cleared, and on the 1 July I could embark on my 24-hour journey from Budapest via Istanbul and Malé (stopover in the Maldives where 190 of 250 passengers left the plane), all the way to Colombo, then on, until I got here by the evening of 2 July.
History actually knew better, in that, sadly, Burma is no longer an option now.
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What a relief it was for me to be able to leave Hungary behind, a country whose prime minister, along with his oligarchs, his clan, and all his greedy henchmen not only dispossesses the whole country little by little, but poses the biggest security threat to Europe and the western world altogether – even declared the Trojan horse of Russia and China, keenly serving their interests, undermining the very fundaments of the EU as well. This is a dirty and ugly, irresponsible very dangerous political gambling the outcome of which is a highly probable new defeat of resurrecting Hungarian assertiveness which led to useless bloodshed and total ruin in two successive world wars.
No, there is no willingness to learn from history: maddened BIG ME uncontrollably driven by more and more thirst for power, wealth, influence and dominion (the usual stuff!) shuns any critical confrontation with the past, blaming everybody and everything instead for failure in history. Hungary did not dare looking inside, seeing their own responsibility – and uncovering all the lies of the past.
In this regard, too, Hungary is hopeless, absolutely hopeless as much as there isn’t much hope for an alarmingly evil, criminal, rotten and corrupt, dictatorial cleptocracy to move towards good governance. No. Evil prevails, because there is no trace of hiri, no trace of ottappa, the two together referred to by the Buddha as lokapāladhammā, ’guardians of the world’. Yes, they are indeed, for hiri stands for ’moral shame’, meaning that one feels deep shame for having carried out evil deeds, immoral acts, whereas its inseparable Siamese twin sibling ottappa signifies ’moral dread’, that is, fear of the consequences. Needless to say, karmic consequences in the first place, as they are much more dreadful, there is much more to fear. Without hiri-ottappa, the world would sink into a desperate state of lawlessness where the rules of the jungle take over.
Future will tell how and, if at all, what comes next. For the time being the country is neither a liveable nor a safe place to live, especially for those who understand the language, know Hungarian history well, have and idea of how Hungarian mentality works, and follow with everything. It is frightening and alarming, this insane man’s race against everything and everybody in the western world. With no one to halt him. The collaborators, reckless, unscrupulous, and unsatisfiable, have always been too numerous throughout the history of the country, swiftly changing sides, ruthlessly. This will hardly change with time, it is too deeply ingrained. – Human nature at its best, verily! With all possible defilements of the mind in action.
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On the other hand, it is much relief and comfort to be here, in Sri Lanka, far from all these threatening prospects. Sure: the way we judge something or somebody is just an opinion, a view, and as such, they are but the extension of the ego, of BIG ME.
Nevertheless, by the 15 July I may be given the approval of the health authorities to leave quarantine if the result of the second test will be positive, too. Until then I am in a bushy green, quiet, beautiful tropical setting somewhere close to Habarana, Sigiriya and Dambulla, near Trincomalee Highway.
Sat Nam Village Eco-Hotel is the name of this small and cosy „eco-village” where I happen to be the only guest now. Part of the family are a friendly white dog, Chakra, and a not less friendly white cat, Isi. Needless to say, it is Sri Lankan nature around with its lush vegetation and rich animal life. I am happy to encounter gekkos, huge lizards, chameleons, koels, giant squirrels, mynahs, kingfishers and many, many others here again, and am happy to be immersed in their sounds!
See:
Sat NamVillage Eco Hotel Sri Lanka
(2)Sat Nam Village Eco-Hotel | Facebook
I have taken photos which will be posted on Facebook. If you wish, I can send some of them directly to you.
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NB. Last but not least: please understand that the keyboard of my laptop has partly ceased to function in that even six keys stopped responding. This means that if I want to write something, I have to use the on-screen keyboard in order to insert the missing letters and signs clicking with the mouse, one by one … which is very, very time-consuming. (Albeit, at the same time, an excellent exercise in patient endurance which, as you certainly know, leads to Nirvana!)
I wonder if anything can be done during my stay here at Sat Nam, but I hope that there will be someone around later at SSBC to fix it for me. Until then, please be patient if there is no response from me, or a far much less satisfactory one than both you and me would expect!
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I truly hope that you are fine and doing well, at the best of
health!
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