THE OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISING OF BUDDHISM

Sayādaw U Sīlānanda, Venerable Nārada Mahāthera, KMSPKS.org

Book Size: 5.75” x 5.5”

Pages: 68

“There are many more features of Buddhism that are worthy of note, but I think we’ve got enough features, enough outstanding features of Buddhism to understand. So I think we are lucky to be Buddhists or to be the followers of the Buddha. And as Buddhists we are free to inquire. We are free to doubt. We are free to investigate. As Buddhists we are masters of ourselves. We are the architects of our own future. And we are those who rely on ourselves for our own good. So Buddhists can become responsible and good citizens who will contribute to the welfare of human society, as well as doing whatever they can for their own benefit which is the avoidance of unwholesome kamma and getting rid of mental defilements.” ~ Sayādaw U Sīlānanda

“Man is not meant for Buddhism. But Buddhism is meant for man.” ~ Venerable Nārada Mahāthera

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sayādaw U Sīlānanda (Burmese: သီလာနန္) was a Burmese Buddhist monk and scholar of vipassanā meditation. Born in Mandalay, he first ordained as a novice monk (sāmaṇera) on 14 April 1943 at the age of 16, during Thingyan celebrations. He was ordained under Sayādaw U Pannavata at the

Mahāvijjodaya Chaung Monastery on the Sagaing Hills and given the Dhamma name Sīlānanda. On 1947, he underwent higher ordination. In 1950, he got Master of the Dhamma and was conferred the title Sāsanadhaja Siripavara Dhammācariya. In 1954, he gained an honorific “Abhivaṃsa”. In 1960, he became the Chief Abbot of the Mahāvijjodaya Chaung Monastery and 1968 as Chief Abbot to Abyarama Shwegu Taik Monastery in Mandalay. In United State, he also served as the Spiritual Advisor of the Theravāda Buddhist Society of America (TBSA) and Abbot of TBSA’s Dhammananda Vihāra Monastery. He taught Buddhist scriptures at Sagaing’s Atothokdayone Pāḷi University and Mandalay Arts and Sciences University and compiled the Tipiṭaka Pāḷi-Burmese dictionary and became a distinguished Editor of the Pāḷi Canon at the Sixth Buddhist Council in Rangoon. More recently, he taught at Mandalay University and Inter-national Theravāda Buddhist Missionary University. He passed away on 13 August 2005 at the age of 78 in Northern California, USA.

Venerable Nārada Mahāthera (Sinhalese: නාරද මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ), born Sumanapala Perera (14 July 1898 – 2 October 1983) was a Theravādan Buddhist monk and translator, the Superior of Vajiraramaya in Colombo. He was a popular figure in his native country, Sri Lanka, and beyond.  He was born in Kotahena, Colombo to a middle-class family, educated at St. Benedict’s College and Ceylon University College, and ordained at the age of eighteen. In 1929 he represented Sri Lanka at the opening ceremony for the new Mulagandha-kuti Vihāra at Sarnath, India, and in 1934 he visited Indonesia, the first Theravādan monk to do so in more than 450 years. During this opportunity he planted and blessed a Bodhi Tree in Southeastern side of Borobudur on 10 March 1934, and some Upasakas were ordained as monks. From that point on he travelled to many countries to conduct missionary work: Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Nepal, and Australia. In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom and the United States, and addressed a huge crowd at the Washington Monument. On 2 November 1960,  Venerable Nārada Mahāthera brought a Bodhi Tree to the South Vietnamese temple Thích Ca Phật Đài, and made many visits to the country during the 1960s. Along with others (such as Venerable Piyadassi Mahāthera) he contributed to the popularization of the bana style dhamma talk in the 1960s and brought the Buddhist teachings “to the day-to-day lives of the Westernized middle class in Sri Lanka.”

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