Page 6 - EH74
P. 6
4 EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE
Lion’s Roar in Africa
By Bhante Buddharakkhita
Ven. Bhante Buddharakkhita was born in Uganda Zhi Yi of Eastern Horizon interviewed Bhante
and raised as a Roman Catholic. He became a Buddharakkhita virtually on 30 June 2024, where he
th
Buddhist while living and studying in India, after shared about his personal transformations, challenges
encountering two Thai monks. He was ordained as in establishing Uganda Buddhist Centre, experience in
a Buddhist monk by the late Venerable U Silananda adapting Buddhism to African culture, the community
in 2002 at the Tathagata Meditation Center in San projects and his long-term goals.
Jose, California. He then spent eight years under
the guidance of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana Zhi Yi: Reflecting on your journey, what were the
most significant personal transformations you
at the Bhavana Society, West Virginia. Later, he experienced?
founded and became the Abbot of the Uganda
Buddhist Centre.
Buddharakkhita: There were 3 phases of
transformations. Firstly, I was born in a Roman Catholic
Poster of the documentary
‘Lion’s Roar, Africa’ – designed family and the only vocabulary I knew about Buddhism
by KepMedia International, was Gotama. I went to India in 1990 and met two Thai
Singapore.
monks which had deeply moved me with their qualities
such as generosity, loving kindness and compassion.
In 1994, I did my first 12-day retreat in Dharamshala
where I learnt about kamma and reincarnation. In
Christianity, we were taught that it is a one-way ticket
after we die. In Buddhism on the other hand, we are
born again and again, it’s like getting a return ticket
after death, but our ultimate goal is to attain Nibbana.
The uptake of Buddhism was my first transformation.
The second transformation took me a few years. In 1999,
I did a 3-month vipassana retreat in Massachusetts.
The Buddha said that the blood and the tears we have
shed during samsara is more than the water in the four
oceans. We have been here long enough, but we have
not achieved Arahanthood (fully enlightened person). I
reviewed my life and realised that up to that point what
I had been doing was hollow, like a vacuum. I wanted
to practise Dharma and hence I gave up my pursuits
and ambitions. Then, I decided that I would like to be
a Dharma teacher. I was later ordained as a Buddhist
monk in California.
The third transformation involved the spreading of the
2024 Vesak celebration at Uganda Buddhist Centre. Dharma. On my way home from United States to Uganda,
(Image taken from UBC website)
