Unduvap Full Moon Poya day Message

Battaramulla
Siri Sudassanarama sadaham senasuna
Ven. Dr. Mirisse Dhammika thero

Unduvap Full Moon Poya day is considered a very significant poya day to Sri Lankans due to the arrival of most Venerable SanghamittaTheri by the invitation of King Devanampiyatissa. This holy event took place under the guidance of most venerable ArahathMahinda Thero. A group consisting of eleven Arahath nuns together with the right sapling of the Sri MahaBodhi Tree arrived in Sri Lanka ,mainly with the intension of establishing the Nuns’ Order in the island.

The arrival of Venerable SanghamittaTheri was a great contribution towards the spiritual development of Sri Lankan females. After the arrival of Venerable SanghamittaTheri , the Sri Lankan females who were then in Sothapatti, by following the Dhamma, including Queen Anula were allowed to enter into Nuns’ Order. Thus, the Nuns’ Order was established in Sri Lanka.

Prior to Buddha’s period,females in the Indian Society were neither given equal treatment nor given any respect,mostly. When Buddha approved the females to enter in to the Buddha Sasana and ordain as Bhikkunis,it uplifted their social standards and proved that they are no less to men when considering the ability of spiritual development. The establishment of BhikkuniSasanavalidated,that the womanhood has no barrier for one to reach the ultimate achievement, Arahathhood. This was yet again proven by Buddha appointing Chief Bhikkunis andnot only Chief Bhikkus, to the Buddha Sasana. Whilst Venerable Sariputta and Venerable Moggallana were appointed as the Chief Bhikkus, Venerable Khema and Venerable Uppalawannawere appointed as the Chief Bhikkunis among so many chief Bhikkus and Bhikkunis.

Furthermore, we have come to the last month of the year and the time is clicking every minute making all of us walking towards the ultimatum of this valuable human life. Buddha preached that the Samsara journey is endless and the origin is unseen. Beings are driven by delusion (avidya). The delusion leads to greed (Thanha) and beings are stuck to Samsara cycle by being born in lives one after another, mostly in hells where they suffer ceaseless. When one compares the number of times of being born in good realms such as Deva , Brahma, Human are very less to the times one had been born in the four hells. Hence , the human life which we are enjoying now is very precious.One should try to cultivate good qualities and be away from greed, aversion and delusion. One should try to train the mind to prevent getting attached to five and ten transgressions ,which were very clearly explained by the Buddha in his precious preaching. Determination to be away from such transgressions may be included as our main new your resolution in order to uplift the value of our rare human life whilst directing ourselves towards the ultimate goal of “Nibbana”.

Moreover, when the individuals purify their minds, it helps the society to have politically, socially and religiously developed status without harming each other. It helps the human beings to understand the universal theory of“everything that has the nature of arising has the nature of passing away” and act compassionately towards all living beings. One will then realize that everyone is scared of harm and punishment but prefers to be loved and cared.

May all living beings be well and happy!