Righteous living for Righteous Governance in Sri Lanka: A multi religious initiative

By Raj Gonsalkorale

The latest venture in which Ven Galkande  Dhammananda Thero of the Walpola Rahula Institute plays a major role is the initiative called the Religion for Rightful Governance started by a group of social conscious individuals. Three sessions have been held so far and more are planned. These sessions are aimed at focusing one’s mind through meditation, for removing barriers that human beings themselves have made to divide themselves, and calling for responsible, fair and just governance. The session is also intended to be an inner reflection for all responsible citizens, to collectively and spiritually evaluate where and how we have failed in achieving this goal of peaceful co-existence.

This is a multi-religious effort and it is focused on improving governance through self- reflection and cleansing oneself of negative thoughts an action, before attempting to extend this to others. The basic humanitarian teachings of the major religions and meditation forms the backdrop of this initiative. 

The meditation sessions have been led by Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero, Swami Gunatitanada Sarawvati, Sheikh Siyad Ibrahim and Bishop Duleep de Chickera, to collectively promote peacebuilding and good governance through adherence to the real teachings of the religions represented by these eminent individuals.

Venerable Galkande Dhammananda who heads the Walpola Rahula Insitute (WRI) in Sri Lanka, along with many well-wishers is breaking fresh ground to influence the public to re think about Buddha’s real teaching and how it should apply to contemporary Sri Lanka. Venerable Dhammananda is no stranger to Sri Lankans living in Sri Lanka, in Australia or elsewhere. He is the only Monk pupil of the late scholar, Venerable Walpola Rahula. Besides being the Chairman and Executive Director of WRI, he is also the Chairman of the Walpola Rahula Foundation Trust, and he is the acting head of the Department of History at the University of Kelaniya.

Many readers are probably aware of one of significant works by late Venerable Walpola Rahula titled Sathyodaya or the Dawn of Truth. This was available only in Sinhala and now it has been translated to English by Niranjan Selvadurai from Sydney who is closely associated with the WRI. The book will be available for distribution from end of March this year.

Readers may recall Venerable Dhamananda’s visit to Sydney in February 2018 and the many talks he gave and the interaction he had with numerous organisations in Sydney and Canberra.

The WRI organises several programs including the

 Monthly Metta Day Program (to reintroduce loving-kindness as a tool for inner healing and conflict transformation at personal, family and at social level)

Buddhist approaches to Conflict Transformations – training programs for Venerable nuns and monks,

 Sangha dialogues – Intra religious dialogue program

 The Rahula- Thangaraja Twin Schools program which is a social healing program that aims to heal divided communities in the north of Sri Lanka through school children

 Mindful Children and Teens for social healing,

 Inter-religious dialogue on Social Healing,

 Disaster preparedness and community resilience

 Healing of Memories programs that support to heal from painful memories of those who directly affected by conflict

 The Rahula – Thangaraja Twin Schools programme is one such programme that has been successful in creating an awareness in Sri Lanka as well as in some other countries on how an approach based on Buddha’s teachings could advance a better understanding of each other within a community and thereby assist them to overcome prejudices and exclusions.

Both schools are being assisted to progress in tri linguism, through an online English language teaching opportunity provided by the Kelaniya University Department of English Language Teaching and providing assistance for Sinhala and Tamil language teaching in both schools under the auspices of the WRI until a more permanent arrangement could be done by the provincial education authorities. Oline teaching of Sinhala and Tamil will also be introduced shortly. Venerable Dhammananda’s intention is to publish a document outlining the Twin Schools program and present it to the public early next year so that the concept could be used as a model to promote peace building and reconciliation.
Another project being advocated by the WRI is to promote an awareness and training program to improve the health and well-being initially among the students in Halmillawetiya Vidyalaya, Kebitigollewa on selected health issues through a program that imparts awareness through enhanced knowledge, attitudes and life skills. The template for this project is being developed in such a way that it could be utilised for similar programs in other schools.
The WRI monthly Poya Day Metta session that is conducted in the morning is now followed by an Open Forum discussion in the evening on topics of relevance.

The monthly WRI Open Forum discussion program is intended to encourage & foster liberal and innovative thought and action amongst participants on topics relevant to transforming our society to a more tolerant, value based, and culturally rich; and one that is respectful and appreciative of the country’s diversity. The need for new pathways to achieve these in keeping with Buddha’s message of loving kindness, tolerance and respect for humans is very relevant more than ever.

The speaker at the last session conducted on the 19th of this month was Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy. This session was well attended by people from many walks of life. The full text of her speech will be published soon.
Several other prominent individuals including Professor Hemantha Senanayake, Rev Aloysius Pieris of Thulana Research Center, Mr Anura De Silva, Visharada Ranjana Amaeadeva, Mr Larry Marshall from Melbourne, Australia have addressed this Forum in the recent past.
Those who are interested in knowing more about the WRI and its activities may log into their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/walpolarahulainstitute/), or contact the WRI Program Coordinator on wriprogcoordinator@gmail.com