‘Amarapuraya’

Journey from ecstasy to enlightenment:

By Athkandawaka Saddhajeewa Thero

Those who are wise, spend their time, enjoying poetry and pursuing learning. Poetic creations possess the potentiality to generate both ecstasy and enlightenment. Wisdom is two-fold; worldly and transcendental. Transcendental wisdom confers upon people a firm awareness about the reality of life and the world. Conventional worldly wisdom, implies the effort to lead a life, that approaches the awareness of reality-understanding clearly, what is right and wrong.

Worldly wisdom, indicates the path to transcendental wisdom. Art and this reality have an affinity with each other. If a given work of Art, does not help a person to approach true reality, it is difficult to recognize such a creation, as a work of Art. Art is a phenomenon, that is quite close to the masses. As a result, creations that constantly delight the masses, emerge through Art. But, creative works that awaken wisdom, through delight, are rather rare. There is no doubt whatsoever, that ‘Amarapuraya’ (The Immortal City) is among those rare works of Art.

The creative artist Bertram Nihal, stands out as exceptional, because he has taken ‘Amarapuraya’ towards that difficult peak. He has succeeded in taking the profound values of Buddhism, towards visual frames.

One cannot help but wonder, whether any other religious system, has analysed the spiritual background of life, as much as Buddhism has done. Buddhist Metaphysics analyse the four elements – Mind, Thoughts, Personality and Eternal Bliss, as the absolute truths. World is two – fold; material and spiritual. Beings are created through the fusion of these two elements. The beings, that emerge through this fusion, belong to two categories primarily-namely humans and animals. In the whole kingdom of beings, man is especially outstanding.

He achieves this special status, because of the sharpness of his inner spirituality. Every being is the product of five components. These are described as the five – fold components. Of these, sensation, perception, conditioning and consciousness belong to the spiritual area, while the fifth the physique is in the material area. Physique comes into being through the fusion of the four primary elements, which are dense objects, water, heat and air. A living being emerges through the fusion of these four elements with the four spiritual components-sensation, perception, conditioning and consciousness. The being that emerges that way is activated by its mind.

The world is led by the mind,
The mind activates the being.
It is the mind, that is in
Control of every thing.

The world goes backward or forward, in terms of the mind. It is according the dictates of the mind, that a being cries at one time and smiles at another moments. A being loves, according to the prodding of the mind. The whole universe is under the control of the mind. The teledrama ‘Amarapuraya’ has succeeded in emphasizing this nature of the world, quite effectively. The affluent entrepreneur Charles Balawardhane, Mahasen, Keminda, John, Menaka all these characters are motivated by their minds. The motivation of their mind is determined by their level of spiritual development. A person who is not spiritually disciplined or experienced, is bereft of right conscience. A person who is devoid of right consciousness, is not able to identify the thoughts that occur within his mind.

In consequence, those actions, done under the control of jealousy, anger, ill-will, vengefulness and craving, turn and to be blemished actions. Menaka turns into a prostitute. Earning money that way she seeks happiness in life. Such characters as John, Ratharan Ajith, Army Suda, attempt to derive happiness by intimidating others and instilling fear into them. Charles Balawardhana, is on a quest for happiness, by amassing wealth, with an insatiable craving – forgetting even his wife and children. Such political beings as Mahasen and Seelawansa are on a hunting trek, looking for power.

They attempt to discover happiness through this effort. When these materially motivated persons, take various paths to achieve happiness, a white Westerner, discards all his worldly possessions and seeks happiness through meditation in a forest hermitage. That is how he quests happiness. What compels him to seek happiness this way, is the unsatisfactioness he experienced after living the highest levels of sensual indulgence. Through this varied personalities, Bertram Nihal has succeeded, in demonstrating the phenomenon of change, which is the central teaching of the Supremely Enlightened Buddha.

The teledrama ‘Amarapuraya’ succeeds in becoming an exceptional stream of story-telling, because Bertram Nihal has been able to analyse two opposing worlds, in one narrative structure. These two worlds are the material world and the transcendental world. In this narration the two forces that are in conflict with each other, are the material view and the spiritual outlook. In the course of this conflict, a variety of personalities have been able to demonstrate efficiently their subjective states. ‘Amarapuraya’ is a creation, that enables both the amateurs and the adepts, to learn many a lesson. Bertram Nihal has eminently succeeded in portraying the two streams of narration that travel to the past and to the future, simultaneously.

A scene from the teledrama

The character portrayal of the white Westerner begins with the incident of his being ordained a novice monk, and proceeds backward to his past. Charles Balawardhane and others are being taken to the future. Here, Bertram Nihal has succeeded in teaching us a lesson obliquely. Bertram Nihal presents certain facts with a marked vigor and emphasis. He points out that, Buddhism which is for the wise, will not become accessible to those who are bereft of wisdom. He indicates that those who are Buddhists by birth, tend to make material offerings, while those who embrace Buddhism through wisdom and understanding emphasize the practice of the Buddha’s Teachings. Charles Balawardhane and others who are emphatically materialistic, indulge in the search of material pursuits. Their vehicles are adorned with the statues of the Buddha. But Buddhist virtues are absent in their lives, this can be described as a satirical barb aimed at those, who are Buddhists by birth but are un-Buddhistic in their practices.

Whatever that may be, when the worldly material progress shatters, they are compelled to seek spiritual development. In terms of this, the white Westerner, who realizes the nature of insatiable craving, comes over to Sri Lanka, to seek a way to enter the path to eternal bliss. We may have met a whole series of characters of this type. I have seen how a multi-millionaire of New York who enjoyed all the worldly pleasures to the hilt and became dissatisfied with that kind of indulgence. He gave up all his wealth and took to a life of social service – helping others in search of happiness. Yet another person who led a life of extreme sensual indulgence experienced the unsatisfactiness of that form of life. He became ordained as a monk and practiced meditation. A situation quite similar to those two incidents given above, is revealed in this Teledrama through the character of the white Westerner. He renounces everything and starts meditating. He approaches close to the essence of Buddhism. He eloquently presents that solutions for all the problems that occur in daily life, can be found in Buddhism.

Bertram Nihal has succeeded in presenting, the developments that occur in association with such discourses of the Buddha as ‘Singalovada Sutta”, Maha Mangala Sutta and Vasala Sutta. According to Maha Mangala Sutta (The Discourse on the Auspicious) it is auspicious not to keep company with the Ignorant. This helps both partners. When one keeps company with vicious friends, one begins to see what is good, as evil. They tend to see, the escape from a way of vicious existence, to be disadvantageous. That explains why persons like Balawardhana and Suriyakantha do not allow Menaka, to escape from her evil way of life. When Keminda is sunk in the depths of drug addiction and in the excessive indulgence in feminine companionship, Menaka extends him a helping hand as a good friend to enable him to escape that vicious circle. As a result Keminda and Menaka, plan to get together and live eschewing vices. But those forces of evil, who convert what is good into evil and what is just into injustice, rise against the two of them.

Balawardhana is an efficient entrepreneur. But, he is not either a successful father their children or a good husband.

His son Keminda, is a drug addict. The second child – his daughter takes to drugs, while still a school-girl.

The secret why the children tend to escape the grasp of their parents and take to a life of viciousness, is the shattering of the family unit. Love, affection, protection etc. are not material things. They all belong in the spiritual field.

When love, affection, protection etc. grow in strength, the family unit too begins to increase in strength. When these weaken, the family unit too weakens. This phenomenon is vividly portrayed through Balawardhana’s family unit, in Amarapuraya.

According to Tika Nipatha, in Anguttara Nikaya, fear and trepidation occur within those whose inner being is empty. Extremely clear instances of this development can be seen throughout this teledrama.

The five-fold vices are committed by those whose inner being is empty. Due to the five- folds vices, fear, suspicion and sorrow get entrenched. How fear and tension are instilled into social life through the lives of Balawardhane, Ratharan Ajith, Army Suda and politicians, is quite effectively projected in this teledrama. This happens due to the emptiness of their lives. If we are keen to enter the world of the Immortals, which is full of all luxuries and comforts, we have to create the necessary setting ourselves. Perceiving the road, and walking along the road are responsibilities assigned to us. But, they are not responsibilities assigned to others. Indicating the path, is a responsibility assigned to religious teachers. Amarapuraya provides a light-signal, that enables us to strive day and night as a group, that has accepted the responsibility of walking along that path, recognizing it.

The responsibility of a work of art is to teach the masses the methodology of travelling from light to greater light and from darkness to light. In many teledramas, what takes place is the momentary experience of a joy and later being bewildered in fairy world. At a time when works of art that increase the virtues of spirituality leading to life’s reality, are extremely rare, the presentation of a teledrama like ‘Amarapuraya’ is an esteemed gesture of social service.

School children are guided by teachers. Those who listen to the Dhamma are guided by those who present sermons. What television, which is a sight and sound medium can do is still greater. In such a context, introducing ‘Amarapuraya’ to the little screen, seems to be an effort by television to confront its responsibility. Another factor of the secret of the success of this teledrama ‘Amarapuraya’ is that it has concentrated both on the means and the end of the creative project, with the totality of the society as its target audience. This teledrama, which unfolds with the Buddhist Doctrine as its basis, aims at the target audience utilizing such themes as love, and affection. It has to be accepted without any doubt, that Bertram Nihal’s ‘Amarapuraya’ has established an atmosphere for this teledrama to be considered a ‘School” in its own right.