Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL)-Combining Theory and Practice in Buddhist Meditation”
Posted on September 4th, 2017
Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL)
A Special Public Lecture
Combining Theory and Practice in Buddhist Meditation”
by
Keith Munnings
PGCE MTH (Master of Theology), Buddhist Chaplain in UK
on
Thursday Sept 7th at 5.00 p.m.
at the
RASSL Council Room
Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka
No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 07
ALL ARE WELCOME
Keith Munnings is a well-known British mediation teacher who has practised Samatha meditation since 1973 and has taught the practice for over thirty years. He was involved from the early days of developing the Samatha Association in the UK. In recent years, he has been working in hospitals and universities as a volunteer Buddhist Chaplain.
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September 4th, 2017 at 8:22 pm
No offense to Keith Mannings, I am sure he is a good person; but the fact that a western ‘expert’ on Buddhist Meditation has to lecture Sri Lankans says volumes about the state of Buddism in our country.
September 5th, 2017 at 12:15 am
@Asanga,
We may be good in theory but may be British have something to teach us about practice. Mind you the topic is “Combining Theory and Practice in Buddhist Meditation”!
We can see politicians teach us everyday how to be honest !
September 5th, 2017 at 5:36 am
I see no wrong in Mr Munnings giving a lecture on Buddhist meditation in Sri Lanka, if he is a genuine authority on the subject. This could be healthy for Buddhism overall.
Having said that, I remind the readers of this incident:
In late 1920s Mahatma Gandhi attended the function to open the Calcutta Mahabodhi Society. In his address, Gandhi stated he understood the Greatness of Lord Buddha after reading Sir Edwin Arnold’s ‘Light of Asia’. Dharmapala was the last speaker of the event (listed to give the ‘Thank You’ address). Dharmapala said that Lord Buddha was born closer to 2,400 years ago in India (Dambadiva), he questioned why Mahatma Gandhi had to wait to read the Englishman’s book to realise the Greatness of Lord Buddha. Dharmapala said that Lord Buddha was not just the Greatest person ever produced by India, he was the Greatest Person ever produced by the world. Gandhi was somewhat taken back by Dharmapala’s ‘rebuke’; he nodded and attentively listened to Dharmapala. After the speech Rabindranath Tagore, a close friend of both Gandhi and Dharmapala, congratulated Dharmapala. At that time no one dared criticising Gandhi, who was the undisputed leader of India’s independence struggle, but brave Dharmapala did not hesitate to say what he had to about his friend , Gandhi, inside Gandhi’s own India. Dharmapala did this due to his love for Lord Buddha and Buddhism which preceded everything else for him.