BUDDHIST BEAUTY AND PEACEFULNESS
Yesterday jet lag caught up with me and I went cross eyed by noon. But late in the afternoon as the day was cooling and the sun was setting on a cloudless day Winsor took me to the Ancient City, the ruins of the old Anuradhapura on the outskirts of the modern town. In the center of this parklike and very well tended ancient city is the Sri Maha Bodhi Temple and the Ruwanwaliseya Pagoda. The ancient city was the capitol city of Sri Lanka for 1500 years until abandoned in 933 AD after an invasion from India.
At the center of the Sri Maha Bodhi temple is the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, said to be the oldest continuously living tree in the world. It is a fig tree planted from a branch of the Bodhi tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment.
The feeling of being in the presence of the sacred is very strong here, brought on by the devotion of the worshippers, often groups of pilgrims, mostly dressed in white who come to pray and offer flowers.
As an outsider what struck me from the moment we entered the grounds, barefoot, was the quiet and the beauty of the temple and surroundings in contrast to the commercialization with sign above sign everywhere in the new city beckoning you in. Here there was silence except for the chanted prayers of worshippers, “sadhana, sadhana, sadhana, sadh”.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 