Peace and harmony through literature: Buddhism and Thirukkural Following is the Valedictory Speech delivered by Venerable Galkande Dhammananda at the Sydney University, Australia on 31 July Source: Daily FT Sri Lanka It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to have this opportunity to deliver the valedictory speech at this international conference on ‘Peace and harmony through literature: Thirukkural,’ a universal literature. Thank you for inviting me.  I like to acknowledge here with appreciation, your conference director, Dr. Chandrika Subramanian who along with Sris Ponniahpillai, one of the active organisers of this conference who were instrumental in my being here today. In my mind, Thirukkural is a recital about life; what is and what should be. It is a guide to develop one’s mind with the aim of making an individual a better human being who understands and loves others. Such an individual will naturally influence others in ...

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Venerable Galkande Dhammananda’s visit to Australia Venerable Galkande Dhammananda, Executive Director of the Walpola Rahula Institute of Sri Lanka visited Australia in early February and participated in several events in Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. His visit was prompted by the invitation he had received to address a symposium on Australia and Buddhism in Perth. During his visit, he met with Sri Lankans of all ethnicities and religions, as well as many other Australians. His message throughout his presentations was that real and lasting peace amongst individuals, and communities, could not be achieved without first healing the mental wounds everyone suffers from to varying degrees of intensity. Through such a healing process, first by healing oneself, and then extending that to others through a better understanding of the wounds others may be suffering from, and assisting them in the healing process, equanimity and peace with oneself and with others ...

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