Vol. 1 06/ 2001

Email: phutavanthu@yahoo.com Address: Nghia Do 4505 University Way NE mailbox 396, Seattle, WA 98105 USA

Venerable Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, doyen among the Sangha in Malaysia, has served Malaysian Buddhism for over 42 years, as spiritual leader, pundit, counselor, and friend. He was born on March 18, 1919, in the village of Kirinde, Matara Province, in Southern Sri Lanka.

He began his formal secular education at the age of seven and soon developed a keen interest in Buddhism. Helped in this early instruction by an uncle who was Chief Monk of the local temple, and the example of the devout mother, he was ordained a novice month at the of 12. At this time he was given the name “Dhammananda”, meaning, “one who experience happiness through the Dharma”

At the age if 26 he received a diploma in linguistics, philosophy, and the Pali Cannon from Vidyalandara Pirivena. His received a master’s degree in 1949 from Beneres Hindu University in Indian Philosophy. Venerable Dhammananda has been conferred with Honory Doctorates by many universities around the world, and bestowed with the royal title of Johan Setia Mohkota by the King of Malaysia. He also possesses what the Buddha described as the Seven Noble Qualities of a great Man in the Saka Sutta: he is lovable, respectable, cultured, a counselor and patient listener, profound in discourse and never exhorting groundlessly”.

Blame not Others

If you learn to guard your mind properly, external happenings cannot affect you. You must not blame circumstances when things go wrong. You must not think that you are unlucky, that you are the victim of fate, or that somebody has cursed you or had done some “charm” against you.

No matter what reason you give, you must not evade responsibility for your own actions. Try to solve your problems without sulking. Try to work cheerfully even under the most trying circumstances.

Be courageous to face any change if change is natural or necessary; so be brave enough to accept what you cannot avoid. Be wise enough to accept what you cannot avoid. Be wise enough to understand the uncertainty of worldly conditions, which affect everybody. Therefore, you must develop courage to face disappointments and problems without feeling frustrated. Difficulties abound in our life. We have to face them bravely. If you know how to overcome them without creating further problems, you are indeed wise.

Those who try to do some service to others also face problems. They even encounter more blame than those who do not serve others at all. You should not be discouraged; instead, have the understanding to realize that selfless service eventually brings happiness as its own reward. In rendering our service to others, there must be knowledge and understanding. Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher says:

“Love without knowledge and knowledge without love cannot produce a good life”

How to Face Criticism

You must learn how to guard yourself against unjust criticism and how to make sensible use of constructive criticism. If the criticism leveled at you is unjust, ill founded, given with a bad intention, you should not cowardly surrender your dignity. If you know that there is no conscientious guilt in you, your attitude is correct and appreciated by wise people, then you need not worry about ill-founded criticism. Your understanding of both constructive and destructive criticism is important for to adjust your way of life to live in any society. The Buddha says:

“ There is no one who is not blamed in their world”. Dh.

Home