Walpola Rahula Institute Critical Thinking Forum address by Ven. Ajahn Sujato on Sunday

The Walpola Rahula Institute has invited Venerable Ajahn Sujato from Sydney, Australia to speak at its inaugural Critical Thinking Forum on Sunday 7 July at 3:30 p.m. at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute auditorium. 

Venerable Sujato will speak on ‘How Sri Lanka can provide an inclusive path to national and global co-existence through the message of Buddha’. A question and answer session will follow.

Ven. Sujato left a career as a musician to become a Buddhist monk in 1994. He took higher ordination in Thailand and lived there in forest monasteries and remote hermitages. He spent several years at Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia before founding Santi Forest Monastery in New South Wales in 2003. Ven. Sujato has written several books including ‘A Swift Pair of Messengers’ and ‘A History of Mindfulness’. He has guided the development of SuttaCentral.net since its founding in 2004 and is now translating the four main Nikayas into English, to be made available in the public domain. He resides in Sydney, Australia at this time.

Sutta Central Project

In 2005, Bhikkhu Sujato’s was one of three founders of Sutta Central, an online digital library of early Buddhist texts that includes translations from the Pali, Chinese and Tibetan languages. Since 2012, Ven. Sujato has focused on translation of the sutras into English; these translations are freely available at Sutta Central.

Venerable Sujato is engaged in several research projects and his research concerns the earliest Buddhist scriptures. Thanks to comparative and historical analysis, Ven. Sujato tries to highlight the process of emerging Buddhist ideology and identity.

In a research paper, Ven. Sujato and Ven. Brahmali argue that it is likely that much of the ‘Pali Canon’ dates back to the time period of the Buddha. They base this on many lines of evidence, including the technology described in the canon (apart from the obviously later texts), which matches the technology of his day which was in rapid development, that it doesn’t include back written prophecies of the great Buddhist ruler King Ashoka (which Mahayana texts often do) suggesting that it predates his time, that in its descriptions of the political geography it presents India at the time of Buddha, which changed soon after his death, that it has no mention of places in South India, which would have been well known to Indians not long after Buddha’s death and various other lines of evidence dating the material back to his time.

Advocate for the ordination of nuns (Bhikkhuni)

A special field of Ven. Sujato’s interest is the role of women in Buddhism, and in particular the renewal of the Bhikkhuni rule within the Theravada tradition. Ven. Sujato tries to influence this urgent matter regarding the modern world of Theravada Buddhism. In this connection, he attempted to establish a community of nuns (Bhikkhuni) at Santi Monastery.

Although he supports the ordination of Bhikkhunis by importing it from the Asian Mahayana traditions, he also has made the suggestion that there is sutra support within the Theravadian traditions for Bhikkhus to carry out the ordination of nuns even when the tradition has been broken.

Ven. Sujato says that there is a clear and explicit allowance in the Mahāvihāravāsin Vinaya for Bhikkhunis to be ordained by Bhikkhus only, without requiring the presence of a community of Bhikkhunis. This allowance is granted immediately after Mahāpajāpatī’s ordination, when she asks the Buddha what to do about the 500 Sakyan ladies who have followed her in seeking the going forth. 

He quotes the passage from the Bhikkhunikkhandhaka; “Then Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī approached the Blessed One. Having approached and bowed down to the Blessed One she stood to one side. Standing to one side she said this to the Blessed One: ‘Venerable Sir, how am I to practice with regard to these Sakyan women?’ Then the Blessed One inspired, roused, uplifted and exhorted Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī with talk on Dhamma, and having bowed down she left keeping her right side towards him. Then the Blessed One having given a Dhamma talk addressed the Bhikkhus with regard to that reason, with regard to that cause saying: ‘Bhikkhus, I allow Bhikkhunis to be ordained by Bhikkhus’.”

Venerable Ajahn Sujato is no stranger to Sri Lanka or Sri Lankans living overseas. His in-depth knowledge of Buddhism and its message of compassion will be very apt at this time in Sri Lanka which is in a state of flux on account of the recent violence during and after Easter Sunday. 

As pre-registration is required, those interested in attending this event may contact [email protected] or sms to 0771627919.