Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

In Memoriamcombined in himself such a vast amalgam of knowledge. Literary andeconomic studies, however, could not satisfy his ardent mind and he joinedthe Sangha. It was in this august calling that his scholarship ripened andBuddhist revival throughout the World received from the results of hislabour a new life and orientation.'Meditation, study, teaching the Dhamma, canonical research and his owntrials and tribulation in the process produced a vast transformation in SomaThera. The ilan and impulsiveness of the layman turned into serene calm.The combative debater of yesteryear became the sedate teacher and friendlyadviser. The glint of battle which earlier rose to his eyes when argumentwaxed high grew into sparks of sympathy and compassion. The chiselledsquare jaws which hurled challenge softened their contours. Above all,the terrific right fist which characteristically swung menacingly in debatewould swing no more. It was obvious even to us his old boon companionsto whom he still accorded the privilege of "ragging" him once in a way,that this great pioneer and savant, by a terrific ordeal of trial and error,had at last subdued himself and that he had not only found the MiddlePath but had established himself so firmly in it that he was a fitting exemplarof his Master's Way of Life.4 As a writer, Soma Thera belongs to the genre whom Buffon's dictum"Le style est Vhomme merne" is perfectly applicable. In his Study Circledays, he had a massive style. The exposition and, argument would at timesbe obscured by the weight of movement. -He used his pen as a tomahawk.When Carthage had to be destroyed, he made no bones about it but wentand destroyed. As a Thera, the old asperity and venom disappeared andthe style assumed a precision, clarity, mellowness and gentle movementwhich reflected the repose and sureness of his own mind. It is significantthat, in recent years, his thoughts turned to poetry. They all centre on theDhamma. One of them recalls so naturally the self-abnegation of the beesin Virgil's lines "Sic vos, non vobis, mellificatis, apes"—not for yourself, yebees, your cells ye fill—that the verses "Giving Up" deserve quotation'. 1One day, towards the end of 1928, our common friend, Mr. W. JosephSoysa (Oliver as we call him), introduced me to Victor. But it was hardlynecessary. Simultaneously Victor and I knew that we had been friends before,in an earlier life. 2 But we were always grateful to Oliver for this. Later I washappy to find that the Buddha taught that it was not easy to find a being, who,during the vast period of time covered in the process of birth and death, andbirth again and death, had not, at one time or another, been a mother, a father,a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter. The Blessed One then asks the question,"What is the reason for this"? and himself answers: "Not to be known is the1. See page xvi.2. Since writing this the Ven. Vinita Thera of Vajirarama was kind enough to draw myattention to a sonnet in which Lord Tennyson describes how he recognised a friend oXII