Continued from yesterday <\/p>\n
Dharmapala decided to join Colonel Olcott and C.W.Leadbeater in their campaign to raise funds for the activities of the campaign and acted as a junior clerk. From this juncture, he renounced wealth, the comforts of a secular life and became known as Anagarika Dharmapala homeless one, celibate, fulltime worker for Buddhism. <\/p>\n
His frequent trips abroad to India, Siam, Japan, UK and the USA started soon after he became involved in the activities of the Theosophical Society. His trip to Buddha Gaya in January 1891- the place the Buddha attained Enlightenment gave him a shock when he realised that the sacred place was in the hands of a Shiva priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu God and the Buddhist pilgrims barred from offering pooja and paying respects. When Dharmapala arrived at the sacred place, he experienced a sense of mission that would occupy the rest of his life: As soon as I touched with my forehead the Vajirasana (the diamond throne of the Buddha), a sudden impulse came to my mind to stop here and take care of this sacred spot. <\/p>\n
The most of the remainder of Dharmapalas devoted life was spent on reclaiming this most sacred Buddhist site from Hindu occupation. <\/p>\n
In 1884, when Dharmapala accompanied Colonel Olcott on a trip to Japan, he read Sir Edwin Arnolds epic work Light of Asia. This book which was a poetic account of the life of the Buddha and in which the sacred Bodhi tree was described as the tree of wisdom was published in 1879. It appears that Dharmapala was aware of the Light of Asia soon after it was published. He wrote: I thought it was light from heaven. The idea of restoring Buddha Gaya into Buddhist hands was first expressed and disseminated by Sir Edwin Arnold after having visited the sacred place in 1886. <\/p>\n
Anagarika Dharmapala acknowledged this: It was he who gave me the impulse to visit the shrine <\/p>\n
Anagarika Dharmapala travelled extensively in Europe, America and the Far East and addressed hundreds of meetings, wrote thousands of letters and published hundreds of articles in various parts of the world with his avowed aim of disseminating the sublime teachings of the Buddha and to create a unified, righteous and peaceful society. <\/p>\n
One of the major developments of Dharmapalas campaign was meeting with Mary Foster Robinson in 1893, a rich Hawaiian woman who became his main benefactress throughout his later life without whose extremely generous donations, most of his ambitious work such as London Buddhist Vihara, and the Buddhist activities in India including the Maha Bodhi Society would not have been possible. <\/p>\n
In 1906, his father passed away. In 1915, riots between the Muslims and the Sinhalese erupted and internment was imposed on Anagarika by the British Government so that he could not leave India. After he returned from India (1922), he continued his Dhamma duta campaign in Europe and the USA even though he was suffering from a severe illness. Dharmapala blamed the British government for imposing a five year internment on him without any evidence of an offence committed by him. The restrictions imposed on his movements in India and travelling abroad interrupted his campaign in reclaiming Buddha Gaya and his Buddhist activities. Further, it greatly affected his health. As Dharmapala has mentioned in his diaries: The British government took every effort to get rid of me by keeping me as prisoner in India for five years. <\/p>\n
To fulfil his long awaited sacred ambition, he became a monk on June 13, 1931 by the name of Sri Devamitta Dhammapala. Ven. Sri Devamitta Dhammapala received upasampada (higher ordination) in 1933 at Saranath. For this ceremony, three senior monks from Ceylon Madugalle Siddhartha, Kahawe Sumangala and Lunupokune Dharmakirthi were invited. Ven. Sri Devamitta Dhammapala passed away in April of the same year at the age of 68. <\/p>\n
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Read the rest here:<\/p>\n
Selfless spiritual seeker, greatest revivalist and propagandist of Buddhism in modern times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Continued from yesterday Dharmapala decided to join Colonel Olcott and C.W.Leadbeater in their campaign to raise funds for the activities of the campaign and acted as a junior clerk. From this juncture, he renounced wealth, the comforts of a secular life and became known as Anagarika Dharmapala homeless one, celibate, fulltime worker for Buddhism Continue reading