Thulana, the haven of wisdom and art in Kelaniya

By Suryamithra Vishwa

In the historic Lankan city of Kelaniya, famous for the renowned Buddhist temple, the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya, is an intellectual and aesthetic haven that cuts across religious boundaries. Known as Thulana, one of the first things a visitor to this research centre will see are the paintings and sculptures depicting the life of Jesus, which have been crafted by Buddhist monks and non-Christians. The forest like garden has a mystical and aesthetic air about it, with many secular and Christian based sculptures adorning the entrance and the walking path.

The name Thulana which has its origin in Sanskrit, is best translated as Discernment. The centre, is the branchild of Lankan Catholic priest, Fr. Aloysius Pieris and is administered under the Sri Lankan Jesuit Apostolate having been founded in 1974. Fr. Aloy Pieris is a Buddhist Scholar and student of the Ven. Dr. Walpola Rahula who remained a close friend till his demise and saw to it that no objection from any entity prevented the setting up and continuation of Thulana. 

The Thulana website has the following description of the philosophy and purpose of the centre.

“Its primary founding motivation was as a response to two challenges – the challenge of the spirituality and philosophy of Sri Lanka’s major religion, Buddhism, and the challenge of the socio-political aspirations of the highly educated but marginalised rural youth.” Thulana was set up in the aftermath of the Marxist insurgency in Sri Lanka on an initiative taken by Fr. Pieris who sacrificed a potential theology based academic career in the West and who had by that time been associated with over dozen global universities and known for his intellect and teaching prowess. 

“I could not sit abroad when so much was needed to be done in my own country,” says Fr. Pieris who subsequently returned to Lanka and founded Thulana with a vision for it to be a kind of an intellectual and spiritual haven that went beyond a particular religion.  The centre has been patronised by local and foreign religious scholars to carry out their research and also to get thesis supervision. One of the key attractions is the well-stocked library which has a very good collection of Christian as well as Buddhist and other religious literature. Thulana remains a much sought after venue for Christian as well as multi religious workshops and discussions.

Today Fr. Pieris is 85 years old but still continuing with service-minded zest to make a positive change to his birth country. Having authored many books on the Liberation Theology as well as many other themes, he is currently working on his latest book.

Having contributing to ‘localising’ Christianity, allowing Lankans from other religions  to artistically portray Christ and scenes from his life as they viewed it from their cultural/religious lens, has made Thulana stand out as a place that encourages comparative religion/culture in its truest sense of the word. 

“I initially want to have a career in art and music. I could play an assortment of musical instruments as a teenager and my passion for music and art grew with time. But I was told by my religious superiors that I had to pursue a scholarly path and I exercised obedience to them and went onto study Christian Theology as well as Sanskrit/Indology and Buddhist studies. I specialised in Pali and Sanskrit as part of my BA from the University of London and received a First Class Honours after which I did my Ph.D. in Buddhist Philosophy at the Vidyodaya campus in Sri Lanka,” he explains. Through Thulana, Fr. Pieris has obviously found the perfect outlet to combine the intellectual and the artistic and locate it in one place.

As Fr. Pieris would recall at a special Poya day talk given as the main guest at the Walpola Rahula Institute in Colombo, in January 2019:

“I learnt Sanskrit from an Indian bare-bodied, long-haired expert of that subject and he would sit cross-legged and listen while I tried to show off my knowledge of Western philosophy and intersperse such inputs into whatever analysis I had to do. He made no comment of this regular practice of mine until one day he addressed me and declared: ‘You speak as a scholar but not as man of God’. Before he told these words he looked at me piercingly and from that day I learnt the importance of humility,” recalled Fr. Pieris.

During the same lecture at the Walpola Rahula Institute, he further reminisced how he abandoned the final vestiges of any remaining scholarly superiority and worshipped in all humility the betel chewing, unassuming senior Buddhist monk who became his supervisor for his PhD in Buddhist philosophy.  

Seated in the Thulana centre earlier this month, what strikes me most is his humility. Despite being one of the most erudite Catholic priests, well versed in Latin as well as Sanskrit and the theology of Christianity as well as the philosophy of Buddhism, he listens to any new knowledge with an open mind. 

Learning about the old Testament of the Bible and the story of the Jews, I listen amazed as he draws parallel with Karl Marx’s quest for ‘economic liberation’, and the crux of the Old Testament of the Bible; the narration revolving around the ‘freeing’ of the Jews held as slaves in Egypt.

“The idols were on the side of the oppressors and it is the One God of Moses that freed them. But the Israelis failed the commandments of God as is revealed in the Old Testament.” He reiterates this when asked for his views as to what is today being done in Palestine by a people who themselves knew oppression of the worst kind – the recent most in history as done by the Nazis, but continue to oppress another set of people. 

“God gave free will. It is up to man to exercise it in a prudent and compassionate manner,” he notes. 

His interpretation of religion is not as an otherworldly route to liberation but as an active route within one’s life to make a change in society.

Thereby the centre promotes meditation, spiritual contemplation as well as discussion of social issues and facilitating a platform for artists who want to express their philosophy in aesthetic form.  The vast library of the Thulana centre includes mainly the book collection of the late Fr. S. G. Perera, the first Sinhalese Jesuit in Sri Lanka, who gifted his collection to Fr. Pieris 40 years ago. Thus the library of the centre is named the Fr. S. G. Perera Memorial Oriental Library. Showing me around the lush garden of Thulana, Fr. Pieris states that it will soon increase its collection of herbs and medicinal plants and have a more extensive Osu Uyana. At the moment the verdant nature of the centre is a luring factor for anyone who yearns for quietude with which to read, think and study diverse rich religious and philosophical truths and possibly ponder on how to make this country a more peaceful and tolerant one where religion becomes a facilitator and not an obstacle for harmony.