{"id":112316,"date":"2021-03-04T17:13:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T00:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112316"},"modified":"2021-03-04T17:13:56","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T00:13:56","slug":"the-glory-of-the-kalutara-bodhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/03\/04\/the-glory-of-the-kalutara-bodhi\/","title":{"rendered":"The glory of the Kalutara Bodhi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanaka<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nKalutara Bodhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The city of Kalutara unlike other\nurbanised cities is redolent of the ancient Buddhist Sinhala culture. It is\nbecause of the most sacred Kalutara Bodhi encircled with the gold fence\nseemingly holding the sky with its massive branches and standing majestically in\nthe upper terrace of the temple premises. Even the gentle breeze blowing\nthrough the branches of the Bo\u201d tree heals the hearts of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kalutara Bo\u201d tree is proven to be\none of those 32 saplings of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi which was planted on the\nadvice of Arahat Mahinda Thera during the reign of king Devanampiya Tissa. Back\nin 1052 AD, a pandyan prince by the name of Wickrama Pandyan, said to have been\nthe viceroy of Kalutara had planted a Bo\u201d tree at the Pahala Maluwa of the\nKalutara Temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Influence\nof the Portuguese<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tragedy struck this Buddhist country\nafter the invasion of the Portuguese. The lamp of the wisdom lit with the\nBuddhist teachings and the Sinhala culture blew out. The virtues instilled into\nthe people\u2019s hearts began to vanish. Not the morality but the immorality began\nto engulf the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Considering the geographical\nlocation of the city, the Portuguese used the Bodhi premises for their military\npurposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Railway\nbridge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bridging the Southern border and the\nWestern border together, the British Government decided to construct the\nKalutara railway bridge. The only obstruction they had was the Bo\u201d tree. As a\nresult, they proposed to uproot the Bo tree\u201d and continue the construction of\nthe bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But later due to the protests led by a\nlayman named Sandanayaka, the British Government decided to construct the\nbridge without harming even a leaf of the Bo tree. The history of the Kalutara\nbridge dates back to 1990s. What is more picturesque is that in the morning,\nanyone can catch the glimpse of Sri Pada\u201d veiled with the morning mist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another striking scenery is the Buddhist\ndevotees attired in the immaculate white meditating in the lotus position\naround the Stupa. It is common to see even the foreigners meditating in the\ntemple like the Buddhist devotees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir\nCyril De Zoysa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship between the Kalutara\nBodhi and Sir Cyril De Zoysa is inseparable. Born in Galle, Sir Cyril De Zoysa\ndedicated himself to protect the dispensation of Buddhism. After having\nreceived his primary education at S Thomas\u2019 College and Richmond College, Sir\nCyril entered the law college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winding back the clock of his childhood,\nit is said that his father had to travel in a hired-buggy cart because he could\nnot afford the expense of buying a new buggy cart. But later with the little\nmoney Sir Cyril earned, he purchased a brand-new buggy cart for his father.\nThis is only a glimpse of his childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one might have thought that the day\non which the Kalutara Bodhi flourishes would dawn. But miraculously Sir Cyril\nDe Zoysa had to come to Kalutara and saw the Kalutara Bodhi which had been\nisolated and degraded for a long time. Later, he set up a committee to protect\nthe sacred place. From that day, everyone pays homage to this most sacred\nBodhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Righteous\nlife<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Buddhist teaching, The\none who behaves in Dhamma is protected by Dhamma.\u201d It is clear that Sir Cyril\nDe Zoysa is one of those who had believed in the Dhamma until his demise. Never\nin his life had he neglected to observe the Buddhist rituals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He started his day at 6.00 O\u2019 clock by\npaying homage to the Kalutara Bodhi. The last words he said will prove the\nBuddhist life he lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I am free. The state of your wealth\ndoes not really matter. These are all illusions. I was born without any wealth.\nI will die just as I was born – without any wealth. As I reach the end of my\ndays, Buddhism is my sole consolation, my happiness and my strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nglory of Kalutara<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city of Kalutara enriched with the\nnatural beauty and blessed with the sacred Bodhi Tree has overflown with the\naroma of the burning joss-sticks and the Buddhist sermons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At night, the temple illuminated with a\nmyriad of twinkling lights scatters the light of wisdom throughout the city,\nplanting the seeds of generosity, discipline and love in the hearts of people.\nThe moon beams brighten the reflection of the illuminated lights on the still\nwater of the Kalu Ganga\u201d as if in a surreal world. All we hope is May the\nglory of the Kalutara Bodhi shine forth blissfully forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanaka The Kalutara Bodhi The city of Kalutara unlike other urbanised cities is redolent of the ancient Buddhist Sinhala culture. It is because of the most sacred Kalutara Bodhi encircled with the gold fence seemingly holding the sky with its massive branches and standing majestically in the upper terrace of the temple premises. Even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}