Sri Pada and the path to purification

Sugath Rajapakse


The devout Buddhists for centuries have climbed the Sri Pada to worship the Foot Print of the Enlightened One. The approach and the climb up the mountain to the peak, and the landmarks on the way up, reminds a person the path to purification. Given below are the key landmarks which signifies many stages to the path to purification.

Lihini Hela and the rest of the approach - Signifies the journey through the Samsara and the many vicissitudes one faces in Samsara.

Seetha Gangula - Just like the life which takes the path of least resistance and indulgence in sense pleasures, and where no one place ever the same just as in life, the downward path or Anusothagami while the traveller is climbing in the opposite direction to the flow or Patisothagami.

Indikatupaana/Geththampaana - Letting go of the views and beliefs, as humans and other are engulfed in a mesh of views.

Dharmarajagala - The truth or Dhamma is as firm as the rock is.

Heramitipaana - Letting go of the walking stick. One uses the six senses under the notion “I” and this I making grasp things as I and mine. This inability to be without this I or Sakkaya Ditti is the Heramitiya or the walking stick. You let go of Sakkaya Ditti, and that is the first fetter of the lower five of the ten fetters.

Aadiya Mala Thenna - Aadiya is a person who practises many rituals and steeped in beliefs shrouded in doubt. Death of Aadiya means letting go of the rituals and practices and the associate doubt. Thus at this point one has let go of the first three fetters and attain Sothapanna or stream entry.

Ehela Kanuwa - This is based on the reasoning would be Eya Hala Kanuwa which later would have become Ehela Kanuwa. This means letting go and letting go of the next two fetters, sense pleasures and ill will. At this point one has shed the first or lower five fetters while ascending the rock or the Patisothagami path.

Ahas Gawuwa - With this one enters the upper five of the fetters and with gradual ascendance, climbing the Mahagiridambe clears the five upper fetters, desire for fine material, immaterial, the subtle level of conceit, restlessness and ignorance thus reaching the pinnacle or attaining Bodhi or Arahath. The Ahas Gawuwa would mean the Anidassana nature of the Arahaths Vinnana or consciousness.

Thus it shows that climbing Sri Pada is not climbing a rock to worship the Enlightened One but traversing this Patisothagamai path for deliverance or Nibbana. May all beings be peaceful, contented and happy.