Celeste Zenn
Blog Sri Lanka

Reframed / 03 / Meditate

Artist’s comments

I encountered this guy outside the cave temples at Dambulla, Sri Lanka. Either a driver or a guide, I overhead him pointing out the cave temples to his Japanese guests in stilted English and setting the time for return. As soon as they dispersed to explore, he settled on this perch and took out a book to read, meditate upon, and then read again. I promise that he was not falling asleep at a boring read! That’s when I started to take note of his pure white (the favoured dress code for worship) outfit and that he was barefoot.

Where most of us would flick through social media, he applied himself to spiritual study.

Spirituality often comes second compared to our bread-and-butter, material concerns. What good would a lifted soul do to alleviate an empty stomach and a poverty-stricken mind? Simple Marslow’s.

However, during my travels in Sri Lanka, people seemed to make the effort to meditate in temples, even though the average rakes in LKR 42,589.29 (USD 266) monthly [1] and the quality of life is a dismal 93.68 [2]. In contrast, the Numbeo quality of life index in the United States is 181 [3].

Spiritual tourism would have you believe it’s because Sri Lanka is one of the world’s last Buddhist strongholds with its astoundingly well-preserved teachings, religious sites and sacred relics (e.g. Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi).

Yet there’s a darker explanation to this that’s covered by TheHumanist [4].

…in places without strong social safety nets to provide people with opportunities for upward mobility, people are more likely to rely on religion for comfort.

(Miller, “Why Are the Poor More Religious?”, 2014)

Food for thought: Poverty might be a driver for faith.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka remains one of the most spiritually refreshing countries I’d ever been to. There was a general sense of peace that I could not explain or describe. What a wonder.

Credits

Visuals and writing by Celeste Choo

References

  1. Cost of Living in Sri Lanka. (2018, August). Retrieved August 13, 2018, from https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Sri Lanka
  2. Quality of Life in Sri Lanka. (2018, August). Retrieved August 13, 2018, from https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/country_result.jsp?country=Sri Lanka
  3. Quality of Life in United States. (2018, August). Retrieved August 13, 2018, from https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/country_result.jsp?country=United States
  4. Miller, M. (2014, August 27). Why Are the Poor More Religious? [Web log post]. Retrieved August 13, 2018, from https://thehumanist.com/news/national/why-are-the-poor-more-religious