Greetings of love and peace from Sri Lanka.
We left home at 5:30 AM this morning for a trip to Kandy, a city in the central highlands. It is now 10:30 PM and I’ve just made it back to my room. Quite a long day!
The drive to Kandy was beautiful, driving out of Colombo, which is at sea level, and, after some distance, beginning the slow climb into the mountains. The road was two lane the whole way and congested as it passed through the many towns between Colombo and Kandy. Traffic was so heavy that our trip grew from the expected 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours, which wouldn’t have been an issue except for the people waiting for us in Kandy.
Kandy is breathtaking in its beauty, nestled in the mountains, which, like everything else here in Sri Lanka, are lushly green. The spiritual, if not the geographic, center of Kandy is a large mountain lake. On one shore sits the vast compound that includes the Temple of Tooth, which houses a relic believed to be a tooth from the Buddha, which was reclaimed from the ashes of his funeral pyre, a museum and a presidential palace!
When we arrived, nearly 45 minutes late, to meet with local religious leaders, we were welcomed by a diverse group that included Muslims, Buddhists, Christians (mostly, if not exclusively, Anglican, including the first woman priest recently ordained in this diocese), Hindus, and at least one Baha’I and one devotee of Satya Sai Baba. While most of the leaders present were men, there was blessed a handful of women.
After the ceremonial lighting of many wicks in a large, freestanding golden ceremonial lamp with a golden rooster perched atop, opening prayers and a round of welcomes, Abraham and I were both invited to speak about URI globally and regionally. Summaries of our remarks were translated into Sinhala, which, with Tamil, are the two main languages spoken in Sri Lanka.
After our remarks, the leaders present offered a spirited and extended series of reflections, which like our remarks were summarized by a translator, who occasionally added his perspective to his translation. I should note that during the course of nearly 1-1/2 hours, in addition to the inevitable interruptions of cell phones, the Muslim leaders had to leave to lead Friday prayers, and the Buddhist leaders left to have their one meal of the day and then returned.
The nearly unanimous focus of people’s remarks was the importance of educating children about their spiritual neighbors and providing opportunities, including service projects, to help them develop an interfaith literacy and develop important relationships with peers of different faiths. They agreed that URI was a good vehicle to help spread this work much more broadly throughout Sri Lanka. Already, there is some work underway, and, led by the Anglican bishop emeritus, the Rt. Rev. Kumara Illangsingha, they are working on a curriculum that will ensure balanced and consistent instruction.
Another point, raised first by the Sai Baba devotee and echoed by the Baha’I leader (who happened to be a woman), was the importance of being broadly inclusive, so that people who follow spiritual paths that have been largely overlooked may be included. Again, URI was praised for creating the opportunity for this to happen.
One of the Anglican priests present had a well thumbed copy of URI’s charter. We discussed how this is an important resource for anyone seeking to do interfaith work because it provides helpful guidance and support through the compelling vision and clear values expressed in the Preamble, Purpose and Principles. One likely outcome of this discussion is that the charter will be translated into Sinhala and Tamil, which would make it available to anyone Sri Lankan who was interested in their native language.
Both Abraham and I were impressed by the passion and commitment these religious leaders exhibited. They are grateful for URI’s model, and grateful to Sarvodaya for taking the initiative to bring them together. The blossoming partnership between Sarvodaya and URI seems poised to enter a new phase. Ravi Kandage, director of Sarvodaya Shanti Sena, a founding URI CC, aims to establish a CC in each of Sri Lanka’s twenty-five regions. He believes having active CCs in each region can be immeasurably helpful in the healing and reconciliation work required if there is to be a meaningful and lasting peace after decades of civil war. He also feels these CCs can play important roles in building a new Sri Lanka that respects all her citizens.
After this energizing session, Venerable T. Ratanjoti Thero, a Buddhist monk who was riding back to Colombo with us, graced us with a tour of the Temple of Tooth and grounds. When you are hosted at a Buddhist shrine by a Buddhist monk, doors open and waiting in lines is not an issue. The carved stone and wooden building that was built nearly 1,000 years ago to house the relic is now artfully enclosed in a much larger building, which also houses a museum and “the Octagon”, an elevated balcony facing an expansive green space from which the president addresses the people once a year.
After our tour, we climbed into Ravi’s van. Our drive home was easy until we hit a massive and seemingly endless traffic jam. At times we scarcely moved for what seemed like minor eternities, only to lurch forward the length of a vehicle and sit motionless once more. We endured this for nearly three hours, as light drained from the day and, as darkness and headlights took over, the landscape vanished, narrowing our world to the back of the vehicle in front of us, the headlights of oncoming vehicles, sometimes in our lane, the shadowy figures of walkers and the dimly light stands in the villages we passed through.
At one point as we inched along, I realized it said something about my life and how my consciousness has developed over my fifteen years with URI that I found being in a van in an endless traffic jam with four Sri Lankan Buddhists and an Indian Christian, all of whom felt like dear friends, to be perfectly normal. I wish everyone in the world could share this experience and be part of this remarkable URI global community. I believe the world would be an infinitely better place if that were true.
Abraham will be up in a few hours to begin his journey homeward at 3 AM. I have tomorrow to relax a little, hopefully stretch out the kinks from today’s marathon, and have a few final meetings, including one set up by Sujitha, our Youth Ambassador, with several of his colleagues he is hoping will form a new CC. Then I’m off to the airport at 11 PM to begin the long journey homeward after a remarkable and blessed trip.
