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48 EASTERN HORIZON | REFLECTION

Pray for Sri Lanka

By Venerable Ajahn Hiriko Thera

Ajahn Hiriko is the founding Elder and the abbot of Samanadipa Hermitage in Slovenia. He was born
in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1985. He started to practice Buddhist meditation since he was 12 years old. He
took anagarika (postulat) precepts in Santacittarama Monastero Buddhista in Italy at the age of 19. In
the same year he went to England to take samanera (novice) ordination, and in 2006 he become bhikkhu
(fully ordained monk). His preceptor was Venerable Luang Por Sumedho (Phra Chao Khun Sumedhajahn)
and Ajahn Hiriko remains to be under Ajahn Chah lineage. Ajahn Hiriko is also the chief editor and the
administrator at Path Press and the author of The Hermit of Bundala, the biography of an English monk
from Sri Lanka, Ñāṇavīra Thera. He is also writer of Slovenian articles and translator of Buddha’s talks or
Suttas.

When tragedies strike, such as the recent attacks in Sri Lanka, inevitably
a sense of horror and fear arises. Due to our confusion concerning the
nature of existence, we then may feel a deep urge to respond, to act – to do
something – no matter what. And this urge can arise from a deep anger, a
search for someone to blame. Perhaps this urge can even expand and lead to
a communal act of rebellion or to create a violent counter attack. But some
people, experiencing the shock and distress of these events, will remember
the Buddha’s wise words that “hatred is never appeased by hatred in this
world, but by non-hatred alone” (Dhp 5), and will not want to be part of
such an unwholesome reaction. Still, the urge to act will likely remain. So,
what to do? We don’t know. We don’t want to just do nothing, so perhaps the
response to “Pray for...” is felt to be the best action. But what does “praying”
mean? What does it do for the actual problem? Is it the right attitude?
In the Buddhist scriptures there is nothing about prayer, it’s not even found
among other ideologies during the Buddha’s time. It seems that acting for
divine intervention was a rare concept in those days. Generally speaking,
society understood that there is personal responsibility for one’s actions by
body, speech, and mind, and that even if there was something greater than
the “little self”, individuals still shared a role in it. “Prayer” for them seems
not to have meant asking God to do something solely for themselves as
individuals, but was rather the expression of a personal wish for something
that is good, wholesome and kind for the welfare of all. Asking for sensual
pleasures or for harm to one’s enemies – that would not really be prayer for
them.

The problem with “prayer” is that it usually becomes “wanting”. This
problem arises from how our intentions are directed. Wanting is usually
directed towards some specific object or idea: “I want this, not that”. With
such an attitude, no matter how wholesome it might seem, desiring one