Buddhist stories for transition in a strange land (keynote presentation)

Copyright belongs to the author. Permission to reproduce this work has been obtained.This paper is a keynote presentation for a conference on pastoral care and counselling. The author uses story-telling to present Buddhism as a religion whose basic philosophy is to recognize suffering and provide a healing path to self-awareness. He discusses the Buddha in his role as 'the Great Physician' and meditation as the process for self-healing, writing that "what a Buddhist would offer as the primary tool in pastoral care would be meditation." (p. 16). The author concludes by demonstrating meditation as mind-cultivation to care-givers so that they may better help others

Buddha Launches Literary Realism

While the paper is at an academic level, it is written in a way to be accessible to the average reader, Buddhist or other. It introduces a little known dimension of Buddhism, East or West.Buddhism is a Religion, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Science and so on. But, outside of the Academy, few are aware that it also has a rich literary history, dating back from the Buddha’s time itself, and later flowering within the various Inherited Buddhist traditions – Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, written in the Classical Buddhist languages of Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan, not to mention other languages - Burmese, Japanese, Korean, Sinhala (in Sri Lanka), Thai, Vietnamese, etc. Then there are increasingly the modern day works by Acquired Buddhists in Western Buddhism, either adaptations of classical works (such as Jàtaka (Birth) tales for children), novels, poetry, drama, etc. This paper explores how the Buddha introduces a literary realism in getting his message across, and how it has opened the sluice doors of creativity, resulting in a whole Buddhist literature lasting two and half millennia, across lands and oceans around the world. Additionally, we show how post-Vedic Sanskrit literature itself came to be influenced by the Buddha’s realism, diverging from an earlier Vedic literary mythicism .This paper marked the Opener of the Buddhist Literary Festival, the first ever in Canada, on Sept. 24 2017 as part of Word on the Street Festival at the Toronto Harbourfront

Buddhism: putting suffering to work for wellness - psychophysical and spiritual

Copyright belongs to the author. Permission to reproduce this paper was granted.This paper presentation presents a Buddhist point of view on suffering, illness, health, and their interrelationship. The author outlines what suffering means in Buddhism, shows how this concept can be used to promote both physical and spiritual wellbeing, how meditation is used as the process for this positive actualization, and finally outlines some practical applications, such as Tibetan medicine, as useful to this discussion on suffering and wellbeing. The author shows how, in Buddhism, physical and psychological health are interconnected, and how this may be applied progressively to Western medicine

Humanistic Nationism: A Language-Based Model of National Development, with Particular Reference to Post-Colonial Nations

Ph.D

"Sri Lankan Canadian Poets": the Bourgeoisie that Fled the Revolution

This article was first published in Canadian Literature. The copyright belongs to the author. Permission to reproduce this paper was granted.This essay examines the validity of Arun Mukherjee's criticism of Michael Ondaatje's poetry, mainly Running in the Family, as well as the poetry of three other Sri Lankan poets, Rienzi Crusz, Asoka Weerasingha, and Krisanta Sri Bhagiyadatta. Disagreeing with Mukherjee's critique of these poets, this essay argues that Mukherjee herself has been trapped in the western dualistic worldview and her critique is out of balance

Triune Mind in Buddhism: A Textual Exploration

There are three terms for ‘mind’ in the Buddhist Canon – Mano, Citta and Viññāna. But there does not seem to be much clarity on them in their Canonical usage. In translating the concepts, contemporary scholars, East and West, do not seem to be much clearer either. Exploring what we eventually come to call the ‘Triune mind’ – i.e., three-in-one mind, this limited research delineates the three minds functionally – Mano as R-Mind (Receiving- Mind), Citta as J-Mind (Judging-Mind) and Viññāna as E-Mind (Executive-Mind). Characterizing this view of mind as a M(ind)-Simplex, each of them, as well as all three taken together, however, come to be seen as a M(ind)-Complex, too, given their multifunctionality and interrelationality. By way of coming out of the confusion relating to the word trio, a general criterion is proposed to be used in seeking clarity – to consider the context. Is it localized or generic? The paper benefits from Western Science and Linguistics, as well as from some creative and unconventional thought on the part of the author. Along these lines are a few new terms and concepts introduced (see end of paper)