Dialogue with Venerable Dhammaratana -- by Taferina Chua

On behalf of the For You Information, I would like to congratgulate Bhante on your new appointment as the Chief Sangha Nayake of Singapore. Bhante, could you briefly tell us more about the significance and role of the Chief Sangha Nayaka?

Bhante: This appointment is granted by the Sangha Council in Sri Lanka, which is mainly responsible for all the monk affairs, higher ordination and registration of monks and it is also involved in dealing with important religious issues and giving some of its views to the government. The Council has 54 members, one Chief High Priest and two deputy High Priests. Unlike secular organization, there is no regular election and so the membership is permanent. The position for the Chief Sangha Nayake in Singapore has been left vacant since the departure of the late Venerable M. Mahaweera. Its main responsibility is to work very closely with the Theravada Sangha community in Singapore. I felt very honoured to receive this new appointment. To me, it is also a kind of recognition to my long service and work in the Singapore Buddhist community.

What are your thoughts and feelings after receiving this appointment?

Bhante: Throughout my whole life, I have devoted my time and energy in Buddhist education and it has always been my top priority. After receiving this appointment, this priority will remain the same and will be so for the rest of my life. But with this new appointment and role, I would have more courage and determination to continue my Buddhist work.

What are your plans for the future?

Bhante:Right now, I am working closely with the Buddhist Library to organize more programmes for the young children. I realize that we lack activities for young children and teenagers. Somehow, it is very difficult to attract them to Buddhism, especially those above the age of 10. They may go with their parents to the temples when they are very young but they lose interest beyond this age. We see the urgent need to change the activities in such a way that they are suitable for them. We are discussing with the educationists and professionals to design the programmes to attract the teenagers and to keep them in the Buddhist community. This is the direction of the planning for the next few years.

In view of the recent tsunami disaster which affected Sri Lanka badly, what are your thoughts and how are you helping the victims?

Bhante: I used to teach history in college and monastery when I was in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has a long history of over 2000 years and we never had a single tragedy, and whole country and its people never thought that such event could ever happen. All the people were very unprepared and unequipped to deal with this crisis and people staying at the costal areas suffer the most. I was very saddened by this event. As a monk, I take this opportunity to help them by applying the Dharma. Being negative or sad does not help these victims.

Sri Lanka is a multi-racial and multi-religious society and we also had civil wars and conflicts in the past. Due to this mishap, everyone has to face this situation squarely regardless of race and religion. If everyone can understand the vulnerability and realize that suffering is equal and it can affect everybody, then there will be a good awareness under such circumstances. I hope everyone can accept the differences and work together to reduce the overall suffering. Life in vulnerable and no place is actually safe. I hope that people change their mentality and not to take things for granted. Hopefully after this experience, all the people in Sri Lanka will help each other more than ever.

This time round, I am helping to collect medical equipment, bed sheets, clothing and food and transport them over to Bellanwila Rajamaha Vihara in Sri Lanka. This temple has a Community Development Foundation which does social services to the needy. For example, they have free medical services every week and a day-care center for the elderly. Due to this crisis, all the resources will be diverted to help the distribution of relief aids to the victims. In the later stage, they will also help in the reconstruction of the areas and homes which would be a greater project in the future.