Sasana Dayaka

Sāsana Dāyaka, the inheritance of the Buddha’s teaching

Sāsana Dāyaka is pure traditional Buddhist Pāli Phrase . Sāsana means the teaching or teaching of the Buddha or the life time of the teaching of the Buddha, and likewise. Dāyaka means a donor, helper, supporter or a sponsor. In Feminine form the words become Dāyika. At once, Sāsana Dāyaka means a person who supports, helps or sponsors the teaching of the Buddha, His Dhamma, and Sańgha. In general belief one who offers one’s son or daughter to the Buddha’s teaching or in the name of the Buddha can only be called the Sāsana Dāyaka or Sāsana Dāyika.

Heart of Buddhist Tradition

This is also the tradition, that if a male child is born into a Buddhist family, it is the family’s moral and social responsibility to let him be ordained as a monk at least one time in his life. There are some families that can be found in the society who have no sons or even no children. Or all of them are grown up, or they don’t want to become a monk and live in a temple. In this situation, if some one wants to become a Sāsana Dāyaka, they can sponsor someone else’s son who wants to be ordained as a monk.

There are some families that can be found in the society who are poor and economically unstable, whose sons want to become a monk, but the family can’t afford the expenditures of the ceremonies. In this case everyone can sponsor the boy-to-be-ordained and both can earn a lot of merits.

Among the Theravada Buddhist countries in this world, Myanmar is the country where Sāsana Dāyaka phrase are used in many occasions. In their native tongue they pronounce it as “Thādana Dāyaka”.

About 4 years of my present life, I lived in Myanmar, had uncountable opportunities to attend different kinds of ceremonies. “Shin Pyu” is one of the remarkable ones. Every year in almost every temple and village, they celebrate the Shin Pyu ceremonies. Shin Pyu is a kind of ceremony where a boy (or a girl) is initiated to monk or novice monk. Another ceremony is called Dullāva, Dullāva means rare. According to the Buddha, to become a monk, and to live as a monk, is a rare opportunity among humans. So, the men in the families always take the opportunity to become a monk for at least a week (or more). They live in the temple, practice meditation, and all kinds of social and moral conducts. There are even many government holidays available for this occasion.

In Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, I think they have the same social and religious systems and traditions. The country of Sri Lanka, is a bit different, maybe because of the different cultures and traditions.

So, yes, this kind of ordination is very important for the Buddhist families, for every Buddhist. This can be called the heart of Buddhist culture.

Without the presence of monks, the Buddha’s Sāsana would not survive. So the world needs monks, good monks, to protect the Sāsana in this world.


Historical Background


Having attained enlightenment the Buddha paid a visit to Kapilāvatthu the capital city of King Soddhodhana. That year, (His) son Rāhula was 7 years. Yosodhārā , the mother of Rāhula, saw the Buddha was coming to the palace. Then she told Rāhula,“ go to your father and ask for your inheritance.” (The purpose was to have the Buddha back in the family as father and husband). Then the Buddha said to Rāhula there is only one way to inherit the Buddha, (me), and that is taking the vow of the triple gem (The Buddha-Dhamma-Sańgha), and receiving ordination’.

After the great passing away of the Buddha, one name is always at the top of the list, who restored, re-established, and reformed the Buddha Sāsana, that is Emperor Asoka in India. He built 84,000 temples and pillars around India and its subcontinent, reformed the Sańgha community in a pure way, restored the Tipitaka, and sent royal missionaries to propagate the Sāsana, exchanged monks and Tipitak in diplomatic purposes. He even sponsored the third great Buddhist council.

Once he asked an audience of monks whether he truly inherited the Buddha’s Sāsana. Then the monks said to him that he would not truly inherit the Sāsana until he himself or his children are initiated to the Sańgha. Then Emperor Asoka’s son Mahinda and daughter Sańghamittā were initiated to Sańgha, the monastic order.


Some Criticism

There are some criticisms among the societies. For me it is a shame that I have to mention it at this point. It is said that there are some people in the society that think and say now-a-days, peoples families ordain their children as a monk to live in the temples because they can’t support them in the family. In the temple they can get benefits from donations and so on. This kind criticism comes from people who are few in number, but they are the rich and the leaders. Psychologically they see this situation in a different way, because they have money and power. In some cases it is true what they say, but it is not wrong. I would say they are really ignorant and have no education and respect for the Buddha and his teachings. The worse thing that they can do for themselves and for the Buddha’s Sāsana is criticising in this way. As I mentioned earlier, that a monk life is rare to live, everybody doesn’t have that opportunity. They should read Samaňňaphala Sutta, about how the Buddha was explaining the benefits of a monk life and King Ajātasattu responded with humble respect. Living a Monk’s life is a way of living; if anyone wants to live the life of a monk, we should appreciate and support rather that criticize. Any criticism brings great Akusala kamma, the bad karma, remember that, please.


A Rare Opportunity


Now you know what a rare opportunity is it to become a monk or sponsor someone who wants to become a monk. If you want to become a true Sāsana Dāyaka, take a chance. Leave your message, name and phone number, I will contact you as soon as possible. Thank you

Long live the Buddha Sāsana, Buddha Sāsanam dīgham tiţţhatu

An Enlightened Idea!........ Sue says

An Enlightened Idea!

When Nanda first spoke about this project, I was struck by what an enlightened idea it really was. Having spent time in India, I am keenly aware of the insurmountable hardships many families face, with education very often regarded to be an unaffordable luxury.

Now, due to his efforts, a year later, I see a photograph of 22 ordained baby monks in Bangladesh and feel honoured to have played a minor role, knowing that they have been given an opportunity which was otherwise inconceivable.

Anyone who is fortunate enough to know Nanda would agree that there is something very special about him. A wise, compassionate, gentle friend with a free spirit and ready laugh, who gets the job done! If even one of these young monks follow in his footsteps, the world will be a better place. Well done Nanda.

Sue

My Understanding of Buddhism

Just sponsoring one monk and seeing the results have changed me and my understanding of Buddhism

Linda Gann

The first time I heard about the Save the Society Organization, Nanda was talking about it as a project that he wanted to do himself as a moral obligation to help his society. This idea came to him as he travelled around, studied and received help from the Buddha’s teaching and different communities after becoming a monk.

As a donor and sponsor of one monk, I have watched this organization go from an ‘idea’ to reality in less than a year. My fellow classmate and friend, Praggannanda or ‘Nanda’ to his friends, wanted to help the younger generation in his home country, Bangladesh, to be aware of a better way of life and how to help society. Nanda’s constant effort to get support for his organization was an admirable thing to observe. He began by asking his friends to sponsor a monk for one week. I was one of those friends. He asked a temple in Thailand that has a branch in Perth, to donate some robes. They donated 35 sets of robes for this project. This seemed to get the ball rolling. Soon he had many donors from the Thai community in Perth and from different parts of the world that visit his website. Within weeks of receiving these donations the date was set for the ordination. The call went out to all the surrounding villages within 120 kilometres of his home town, Comilla, for anyone interested in being a monk, to live in the temple for one week to experience what this is like and to go to school. Nanda organized every detail of this project and worked tirelessly as did his family and relatives in Comilla, carrying out his instructions.

Despite the robes being held up in customs, where they still are to this day, to having to change the date twice, the day finally arrived. December 25th through the 31^st was the time. Seeing the first pictures come through from the ordination day made me cry with a mixture of joy and sadness that Nanda couldn’t be there to ordain them himself. Even I wanted to be there to be a part of the ceremony and enjoy the fellowship. There were 22 monks in total and they looked so wonderful in their robes that were donated from the surrounding temples. I can’t wait for this coming years’ project. It is a great feeling to be a small part of such a great thing. I feel that in a small way I am helping the younger generation to carry on the Buddhist way of life.

Seeing this project from beginning to completion was a wonderful thing. It made me aware of the needs of this country and many other developing countries in a way that I never would have understood otherwise. Just sponsoring one monk and seeing the results have changed me and my understanding of Buddhism. Thank you Nanda for the opportunity to be of help.

The Foot Steps of the Kulaputtas

I’m a person who believes in work rather than words. The pictures are awesome, they tell the story. I just want to say we did a great job, a great Kusala Kamma. I want to thank and to say that I’m grateful to everyone who supported me and this project. Buddha sasanam digham titthatu, long live the Buddha’s teaching.