Photo from the website of Sarvodaya Shramadana, designated as Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal.
By Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Just this morning I learned that Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne had passed away two days ago, on April 16. Dr. Ariyaratne was a long-time friend of mine from Sri Lanka, though ironically I met him more often in the U.S. than in Sri Lanka. Ari (as he was affectionately known to his friends) was not only a leader in the field of humanitarian service, but a wide-ranging visionary who saw deeply into the need for an expression of the Dharma that could meet the crucial demands of the contemporary world. While in his personal life Ari was a devout and knowledgeable Buddhist, the development organization he founded, Sarvodaya Shramadana, was not exclusively Buddhist but was open to people of all faith commitments. Its non-sectarian agenda drew into its ranks people from all the major religious constituencies in Sri Lanka: Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. Nevertheless, the animating spirit of Sarvodaya was Ari’s own solid Buddhist faith. Its intellectual foundation was the teaching of the four noble truths, reformulated to address the problem of village poverty. Its moral bedrock was the ethic of selfess giving, non-violence, and the four “divine abodes” of loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity.
Ari was an embodiment of these four qualities in his personal life and sought to embed them into the social fabric of his nation. In a country torn by intense communal strife, he always sought to bring everyone together under the mantle of peace, love, and a mutual affirmation of human unity. During the time of the Sri Lankan civil war, when the country was battered by both state violence and the violence of the militant Tamil Tigers, Ari led long-distance peace walks which brought together people from all communities in a shared yearning for peace. On several occasions, through television and the internet, he led hundreds of thousands of people throughout Sri Lanka and even around the world in the meditations of mindful breathing and loving-kindness.
Dr. Ariyaratne’s vision of social transformation was multi-dimensional and remarkably sophisticated. In the Sri Lanka context, he formulated the ideas of Shramadana, “the gift of labor,” Gramodaya, “village upliftment,” and Sarvodaya, “the upliftment of all.” Behind these concepts was the simple notion that “to give is to receive,” that service to others benefits not only others but ourselves, ennobling our own moral and spiritual character. Beyond the numerous projects of social development he launched through Sarvodaya, especially at the village level, his vision encompassed a far-reaching program of personal and collective transformation that embraced the social, political, ethical, and religious domains of human life.
In several ways, Dr. Ariyaratne’s example was the inspiration behind the organization that I formed along with some of my Dharma friends in 2008, Buddhist Global Relief. Sarvodaya Women’s Movement, a branch of Sarvodaya Shramadana, was one of the first organizations that BGR partnered with on a project to improve women’s livelihoods. Last year, we supported a Sarvodaya project that provides food relief to poor communities in Sri Lanka, a critical need as the country has been facing extraordinarily widespread hunger.
Ari’s soft and gentle personality inspired countless people, both in Sri Lanka and around the world, and the impact he had on many of us will no doubt remain with us throughout our lives. While he will no longer be dwelling bodily in our midst, we can hope his spirit, his insights, and his example of love and compassion in action will continue to spread, promoting the emergence of the kind of loving and mutually supportive global order he aspired to create through his life and work.
Photo taken in Washington, D.C., April 2010. In the front row, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is to the left, Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne to the right. Kim Behan, E.D. of Buddhist Global Relief, stands directly behind Ven. Bodhi. To Kim’s left is Patrick Mendis, a Sri Lankan American academic and global policy expert, a mutual friend of Ven. Bodhi and Dr. Ariyaratne.
