“From the first day of our life until our last breath, the very foundation of our existence is affection and human warmth”. —The Dalai Lama
Dr. Sasanavangsha Mahathera, the abbot of Chalapother Buddhist Monastery, made his last unseemly and largely derisive gesture on August 23, 2023, signing off on the life, in the Buddhist words, “well-lived providing peace for others”.
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When the news of his demise was announced, every Assamese quietly uttered ‘Assam has lost a spiritual pathfinder’.
God gratefully broke the mold after Dr. Sasanavangsha was born to the late Imal Syam and Padoi Syam in 1927 at Solapathar Syam Gaon of Choraideu district, Assam. His early name was Susen Syam.
He had been caring and generous since his childhood days. Though he grew up in a village just like every other village child, his spiritual bent of mind kept him away from his mates.
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He used to have big questions about life and to explore them he spent most of his time in reading philosophical and scriptural books. In the absence of a village library at that time, he went to the village vihar to read them.Since in those days, dhamma books were not available in Assamese, he read them in Bengali.
Dr. Sasanavangsha did not marry. He abandoned material life in favour of ascetic life. Then before he entered into the life of austerity, he acquired dhamma knowledge from different sources. His illustrious spiritual career started in Myanmar.
In 1947, he set out on his journey towards Myanmar on foot with his two friends. After a long twenty days of walking across the difficult Patkai ranges, he reached Hukawng valley. He visited different meditation centres and dhammainstitutes, and met Buddhist veterans to nourish his spiritual mind.
He returned to his native village in 1948 and took refuge in Chalapother Buddhist Monastery where the chief monk was Buddhasatta Bhikkhu. Under his guidance, he had a methodical study of Dhamma and Buddhist philosophy.
Then he went on a pilgrimage toBodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, and Lumbini. In Bodh Gaya, he met Dharmadhar Mahasthavir and received his lay ordination from him. After returning from the pilgrimage, he had his higher ordination from Jinaratan Mahasthavir at Solapathar. Since then, he has been known as Sasanbangsa Bhikkhu.
Later he went to Kolkata where he studied Vinaya Upadhi, Abhidharma Upadhi, and Sutra Pitaka at Nalanda Vidya Bhawan during the period 1952 to 1956. In 1957, he received the Acharya title from Darbhanga Sanskrit University. Finally, he graduatedin Pali (Master’s) at Nava Nalanda Mahavihara in 1959.
Soon after the completion of his studies, he returned to his native village and took charge of Gyanodaya Pali Vidyalaya in 1960. Established in 1948 the school was the first Pali school in Assam. It was almost breathing its last when the Bhikkhu was appointed as the Head Master.
However, the Bhikkhu’s sincere effort coupled with his knowledge and skill revived the dying school with a newfound focus on the Buddha. As he succeeded the former abbot of Chalapother Buddhist Monastery, he established a library and filled it with a collection of Buddhist and Pali texts and many other rare books of Tai literature.
His chief concern was to educate the local people and to enlighten them with the Buddhist teachings. He remained in charge of the school till 2001. During that time, he worked for the development of his village and its people.
He authored forty-five books on Pali, Buddhism, and Buddhist philosophy. He was known to be the first to write a book on Buddhism in Assamese. His readership/authorship (even in his late eighties) was, indeed, appreciable. During her field visit, the author of this article saw him writing with two chargelights on his small table in the very hot noon of July!
His literary and other constructive works associated him with several literary and religious organisations, educational boards and publications, and with the managing committee of Bodh Gaya.
Dr. Sasanavangshawas awarded the ‘Dharmaratna’ title and the ‘Anandaram Baruah Award’ in 2011 and 2012 respectively. And for his relentless service to society, he was conferred a D.Litt. degree by Dibrugarh Universityin 2014.
His polite and gentle nature always attracted visitors from different placesin India and beyond. His vihara has been a second home for spiritual practitioners and experts fromSoutheast Asian countries. Even though he was hard of hearing, he never embarrassed the visitors; he often used pen and paper for important communication.
With his demise, the Buddhist society of Assam has lost an enlightened spiritual leader. Now, as a tribute to the Bhikkhu, we can promise to carry forward his legacy of spiritual teaching and invaluable guidance.