Thanks for your help: Every experience is an opportunity for learning

Her tirade is a very good example of just what I was trying to convey through my Dharma sermon that day at the Carlton residence. The sermon was about the Vitakkasanthana sutta of MajjhimaNikya which teaches about Lobha (greed), Dvesha(anger or hate), and Moha (delusion brought about by ignorance).

by Ven. Walpola PiyanandaOn April 17, 2022 while I was in Sri Lanka, Venerable Kalyanawansa answered the phone at our Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles, California.

He was greeted with a vulgar barrage of insults and curses from a lady speaking Sinhalese whom he didn't know. Ven.

Kalyanawansa was able to learn that she is a Sri Lankan lady claiming to have lived in the U.S.

(she was calling from Louisiana) for 25 years. She was furious, out of control, and the object of her anger was not Ven.

Kalyanawansa, but me. I won't tell you her exact words, first, because I don't use that kind of language, and second, because I don't think the English translation conveys the sheer rage, fury and vitriol that came out of the lady's mouth.

What prompted her call? Did she feel I had violated the Vinaya (the Buddhist monks' code of conduct), taught dhamma incorrectly, or somehow insulted her personally (although I did not know her)? No, in fact, it was a political issue. She was furious that I had given a dhamma talk, as I had done several times before, in the home of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

To her this was a crime worthy of reporting to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, and in a threatening tone said she would come to Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara.This episode seems typical of recent times, especially familiar to Americans who have faced the extremes of partisan fury in our politics for the past seven years or so.

Just think about the unhinged attack on the U.S.

capital on January 6 of last year, and you will understand what I am talking about.The tirade was recorded and posted on social media by the woman identifying herself as Nimalka Manamperi.

Immediately after hearing this, the Chairman of the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Hudson Samarasingha telephoned me and recorded by responses to his questions about this incident.

The following is an English translation of our conversation:Her tirade is a very good example of just what I was trying to convey through my Dharma sermon that day at the Carlton residence. The sermon was about the Vitakkasanthana sutta of MajjhimaNikya which teaches about Lobha (greed), Dvesha(anger or hate), and Moha (delusion brought about by ignorance).

These three unwholesome mental states (Mulwa) are quite difficult to eradicate, even for some Buddhist monks who have achieved a higher state of consciousness (Dhyna) while on the noble path to achieve enlightenment. I should thank her for the opportunity to further point out the importance of...