Audio: BMI 10th Anniversary Celebration: Bhante Kusala
Full transcript:
SPEAKER 1: Venerable Derangala Kusalagnana is a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka. He ordained at the age of 16. He first came to Harvard Divinity School as one of the international fellows sponsored by the Whole Family Foundation.
He was like some of the international fellows. He stayed on for a degree and completed his M.Div degree at Harvard Divinity School in 2017. During that time, he worked at Brigham and Women's Hospital as a chaplain.
After graduation, he has served as a resident monk at the West End Buddhist temple and Meditation Center in Mississauga, outside of Toronto in Ontario. Is currently in the process of completing his PhD at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura in Sri Lanka. And he's about to move back to Cambridge to be a resident monk with Venerable Samitha at the new institution in Cambridge, entitled Peace House.
I just want to add one other thing is that we can tell from the two dimensional size of Kusala [NON-ENGLISH] here. But that when he stands next to Samitha [NON-ENGLISH], he's slightly shorter. But even though he's slightly shorter, because he was here first, he is senior to Samitha [NON-ENGLISH]. So he was known affectionately by me as local big [NON-ENGLISH], big monk. And Samitha was known as podi [NON-ENGLISH], little monk.
[LAUGHTER]
So from now on you can always refer to Kusala [NON-ENGLISH] as big man, because he is always the big man wherever he is.
BHANTE KUSALA: [LAUGHS]
SPEAKER 1: And one other thing about the ethos that we have here, Kusala [NON-ENGLISH] has kind of made it possible for all of us to witness that monks can laugh just as well as anyone else.
[LAUGHTER]
BHANTE KUSALA: Thank you for the kind words. I'm so thrilled to be speaking at the 10th anniversary of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative program. Thank you for the invitation and for the opportunity. Especially, thank you for the Whole Family Foundation for making it possible for us Asian students to study at Harvard Divinity School. This program has changed my life.
The inspiration to study at Harvard came through my undergraduate studies at the University of Peradeniya. When I was an undergraduate student there, I remember clearly Professor Hallisey visiting our University and also visiting SIBA, Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy. And at that time, I knew you came from Harvard. And I was also keeping an eye on the program at Harvard and trying to find an opportunity to study there.
And then I learned about BMI. And I was thrilled, and I wanted to give it a try. So as soon as I finished my undergraduate program, I became an infill student at Peradeniya. And I got a scholarship to study in University of Trento, Italy for one year.
And when I finished that program, I went back to Peradinya, and I was teaching there in the University. And I applied to the program. I wasn't accepted, mainly because of a problem in the transcript that was sent from the University. But my good friend, [INAUDIBLE] was accepted. He was also in the undergraduate program at Peradeniya. So I came the following year.
I came as a special student, which means I was supposed to finish the program in one year and go back to Sri Lanka. But thanks to the continuous support, and inspiration, and courage from all the professors, and especially Julie Gillett and Whole Family Foundation's support, I remained, and I finished an M. Div from Harvard.
I also wanted to do field education. I learned the term CPE from Chris Berlin in his first speech at Harvard, in that I think inaugural speech welcoming sessions. And I was like, what is CPE?
And I started questioning, and approaching him, and learning about this. And I thought, oh, that suits a monk, monastic life, attending to people who are dealing with health issues, and illness, and end of life. I thought, that suits a life of a monk. I can do that kind of work.
So that's how I began chaplaincy work. And doing chaplaincy was a little tough as a monk, wearing robes, and I enter patient rooms. People are like, who are you? I didn't sign up for this. Thank you for coming. So that was a clear rejection for me.
So I had to go back to my cohort and share my experience. And different suggestions came, and I decided to change my robes to fit the hospital environment. So I chose different monk robes, like HDS colleague Rojo, who gave his Japanese monastic robes to me. They looked like scrubs, so I felt like I belonged in the hospital. And that's how I was going around, and meeting patients, and it worked.
Sometimes, when I chanted so well to Asian patients, they were like, oh, we haven't heard the lay person chant so well before.
[LAUGHTER]
So I remember that comment from this Thai-- Laotian family. Well, that was really humbling to know, but I didn't share that I was a monk. And sometimes when I'm in robes, people are like, are you the Dalai Lama? And I say, I'm the lay person.
[LAUGHTER]
That even confused them even more. And sometimes they see me walking, and they even stop cars. And they look at me and say, hey, Hare Krishna Sometimes, they're on a bike. And I also say, hey, Hare Krishna back.
So they may think that I'm a Hare Krishna monk, ready to dance in Cambridge, and maybe collect some money. And that may be why sometimes airport security stops me, and ask, how much money you brought to this country? And how much are you taking with you?
So those are interesting experiences, also grappling with the winter weathers and shopping for winter jackets with Tim Welski sometimes. And those were nice experiences. And also even Professor Hallisey taking us to Asian stores to go buy some Sri Lankan stuff, like Kithul Pani. What is it called, palm leaf treacle, something we loved that was not available immediately in Boston. So it was very nice to have that kind of experience.
But I want to make a comment about some things I learned. In my Sangha, I clearly remember meeting [INAUDIBLE] through HDS, and His Holiness Karmapa, and even His Holiness Dalai Lama at TD gardens, Matthew Ricard, and even Rihanna at undergraduate programs. They are part of Sangha. I thought that we met through the program, somehow people I would otherwise never meet in Sri Lanka. So I'm grateful to this program for those reasons.
So I wrote my thesis on chaplaincy on Theravada Buddhism, because it was an interesting experience I had. And in that, I wrote about the experience I had at home, and little trauma, and how I was looking at that experience now, and the experience that tsunami in Sri Lanka. And later, how I went through this chaplaincy experiences and finished the program.
So those were like personally healing to me, especially working with Professor Hallisey. And he was very kind to schedule meetings for us any time. Other professors also, like Maria mentioned, super kind, and was always available, and supported to us. Thank you, Professor Chris [INAUDIBLE], Professor Janet Gyatso, Cheryl Giles, Ella Miller, and all the professors. They were available and kind to us.
So it's during HDS, in one of the classes, I met Carl Bandtel. I was taking reading German class. And he and I sat together. And he thought, when monks first came to Boston, they didn't have a place to stay.
And he suggested that-- let's start a non-profit. Let's start a place for monks. Maybe they can at least stay for a couple of days when they come. And until they find a place to stay, they can stay in that kind of a place.
So that place is now available, called Peace House, at Broadway. So with the Vanderbilt Summit and myself, Cora also from HDS as the director. So we have finally established that place. And really, I feel very proud and humbled to be a resident monk in that place and have more experiences at Harvard in the coming years of my life.
It is true, HDS, that I had the opportunity to visit China, Myanmar, and learn diverse Buddhist cultures. At HDS, I was learning through different faith traditions, and also I was learning the diversity within the Buddhist traditions.
In Sri Lanka, it's rare for us to meet Korean Buddhist monks and nuns, or Japanese Buddhist monks and nuns. So HDS is a place for that. And it was really global Buddhism for me. And thank you, Harrison, for mentioning about my smile. So glad you were not my roommate, so that you only remember my smile.
[LAUGHTER]
So much to share, but I think I took more than five minutes. I'm grateful, and I look forward to having more interactions with HDS. Thank you, I'm grateful.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: Let me just share one personal happiness Kusala [NON-ENGLISH] referred to, that he's a graduate of the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, because of the international fellow program supported by the Whole Family Foundation. Four graduates from the University of Peradeniya have graduated from Harvard Divinity School.
And for me personally, to have an atmosphere in which emotionally I was at Peradeniya, while being in Andover and now Swartz Hall, was a source of great happiness. I just want to share with everyone that in Sri Lanka on the model that NYU has a campus in Abu Dhabi, and Yale used to have a campus in Singapore, Yale in US, that Harvard is now known as Peradeniya Cambridge in Sri Lanka.
[LAUGHTER]