Our journey was a pilgrimage. We visited several places of worship in order to recollect the Buddha's virtues and the virtues of the arahats who lived in Sri Lanka and had practised satipatthana until all defilements were eradicated. Khun Sujin encouraged us to keep on studying and developing mindfulness. 'It never is enough, it never is enough, until one has attained arahatship', she said.

In Anuradhapura we stayed in the Government Agent's residence, a peaceful place with trees all around it, in the old city of Anuradhapura. His house is at walking distance from the 'Ruvanvelisaya', the great stupa (degaba) which King Dut.t.hagamani started to build. Relics of the Buddha have been enshrined in this stupa. It is illuminated every night and there are always people walking around it and reciting stanzas. We visited the stupa several times and on one occasion while we were walking around it, Khun Sujin spoke to our hostess about satipatthana. She reminded us to be mindful of only one reality at a time, as it appears through one of the six doors. We should not confuse the six doorways. We cannot know visible object and a reality appearing through the bodysense at the same time. She said: 'When a reality appears there is only one doorway. Leave the other doorways alone!' Don't we try to think of many things, instead of being aware now?

While walking on the stone precincts around the stupa, one may form up the idea of floor. That shows that there is no mindfulness. Through eyes it is only visible object which appears, through the bodysense hardness may appear. If we do not mix up the different doorways, we will find out that there is in reality no floor; there are only different namas and rupas which appear one at a time.

We are inclined to take seeing and other realities for permanent. Khun Sujin reminded us: 'Each reality which appears falls away. The  hardness now is not the same as hardness a moment ago. Seeing now is not the same as seeing a moment ago. If we think that it is the same it shows that there is no awareness.'

Khun Sujin remarked: 'If sati is not accumulated now, it is not possible to attain enlightenment. Enlightenment can be attained. In the Buddha's time many attained.

The development of sati is very natural; it is not too difficult if we are not forgetful. But when there is no sati, we should not have regret. If regret arises, there can be mindfulness even of regret.'

While one walks around the stupa and there is 'study' of different realities, the past time when arahats walked here and taught satipatthana seems very near. They were never forgetful of realities.

The Bodhi-tree in Anuradhapura which is near the 'Ruvanvelisaya' is another place of worship we visited. The sacred tree stands on a high terrace and is surrounded by a golden rail. Generally one does not have access to the tree, but one of the monks who was in attendance to the tree allowed us to go up to the terrace, in order to pay respect. One night the same monk had arranged for about a hundred white lotus flowers which placed all around the tree. The monks who were leading the procession around the tree chanted stanzas and we looked at the new sprout of the tree which had grown only recently, several months ago. It seems that we are far away from the Buddha's time, but so long as satipatthana is taught and practised we are not far away.

The old city of Anuradhapura and its surroundings are full of stupas, old monuments and places of commemoration. One of our hosts took us in a jeep to Tantirimale, which is not far from Anuradhapura. Sangamitta and her retinue who brought the sapling of the Bodhi-tree from India, stopped in Tantirimale for a rest, on the way to Anuradhapura. A shoot of the Bodhi-tree was planted in this spot. Today one can still see this tree which grows on rocky ground where nothing else will grow. In the olden times several saplings of the Bodhi-tree were planted in different places and later on thirty-two saplings were distributed all over the island.

Many relics of the Buddha have been brought from India to Sri Lanka. The relic of the Buddha's right collarbone has been enshrined in 'Thuparama', the oldest stupa of Sri Lanka, which is situated in Anuradhapura.

There are a few families in Sri Lanka who possess very small particles of the Buddha's relics. One of our hosts in Anuradhapura had in his shrineroom a particle of the Buddha's relic and the relic of an arahat which had been given to him by his aunt. It is said that so long as one practises the teachings the relics in one's house will not diminish. But when one neglects the teachings the relics disappear. Our host showed us the relics and this was the first time he showed them to people outside his family. He took the relics out of their caskets and we paid respect with flowers, incense and candles. We looked at the relics thinking of the Buddha's teachings to be mindful of the reality appearing now. Again we found that the Buddha is so near while one studies the present reality.

The Tooth relic of the Buddha which came to Sri Lanka in the fourth century A.C. had been enshrined in different capitals in the course of time. Today the relic is in the 'Dalada Maligawa', in Kandy. Once a year a replica of the casket which contains the relic is carried around in procession: the 'Kandy Perahera'. An elephant with a curled tusk, a 'Tusker' carries the casket around. The relic itself can never be taken out of the temple.

The sanctuary where the relic has been enshrined is generally not open to the public, but we obtained permission to enter. Afterwards we walked around the shrineroom three times, paying respect at the 'four quarters'. All these places of worship in Sri Lanka are occasions to recollect the Buddha and his teachings and to be mindful of the present reality. Thus we can learn that life is only one moment of experiencing an object.

I had offered some money and expressed the wish: 'May I have less stinginess'. Khun Sujin reminded me that there may be clinging even while one is expressing such a wish. One may cling to idea of 'my stinginess' or 'my generosity.' This shows how keen panna must become. Otherwise one does not see one's clinging and takes moments of akusala for kusala. Even when we do good deeds akusala cittas are bound to arise shortly after the kusala cittas.

During our stay in Kandy, our host, who was so kind to drive us around every day, took us to a village school, outside Kandy. Most of the children of this school came from very poor families. The principal, a person with great patience and perseverance had built up the community of the school inspite of many difficulties. His device was: 'Don't grumble about what you don't have. Make every difficulty an opportunity and a challenge'. Nobody at this school grumbles.

We had a Dhamma session in the school and one teacher translated English into Singhalese. Many of the questions dealt with rebirth. How can one prove that there is rebirth and how can one prove that there are heavenly planes and hell planes?

We explained that today we do not doubt that there was yesterday. Just as today follows yesterday, tomorrow will follow today. Even so the different cittas (moments of consciousness) which arise and fall away succeed one another. The preceding citta is completely gone, but there are conditions that each citta which has fallen away is succeeded by the next citta. The last citta of this life will be succeeded by a following citta, which is the first citta of the next life: the rebirth-consciousness.

There was the first moment of this life, the rebirth-consciousness of this life. It could not have arisen without there having been conditions for its arising. Its conditions were in the past life; it succeeded the last citta of the previous life.

If we want to know what our next life will be, we should know our present life. In this life there are mental phenomena and physical phenomena arising and falling away and so it will be in the next life. Once the present life will be the past life in the next existence.

People wonder about the body in the next life. So long as there are conditions for rebirth kamma will produce bodily phenomena at the moment of the rebirth-consciousness.1 Our body yesterday is completely gone, but today there are again bodily phenomena we call 'our body'. We do not doubt about these bodily phenomena. Why then do we doubt about rebirth?

Sometimes one may inclined to prove rebirth by examining cases of people who claim to remember former lives. Scientific proofs and reasoning will never eradicate doubt and wrong understanding. Neither are they of any help to take away one's anxiety of what will happen to the 'self ' after death. Doubt and wrong view can only be eradicated by right understanding which sees phenomena as they really are.

In Colombo we also had a few sessions with children. We used the 'Sigalagovada Sutta' (Digha Nikaya, no. 31) as an example of the teaching of different kinds of kusala we should practise in daily life. Khun Sujin spoke about patience. When we have aversion about an unpleasant object it shows that there is no patience. But do we have patience when the object is pleasant? We are attached to pleasant objects and when there is attachment there is no patience. Khun Sujin said: 'When the food is very delicious today, do you have patience? Will you eat just enough to sustain the body, or will you eat more because you like the food? Then there is impatience.'

The children wanted to hear 'Jataka' stories (about the former lives of the Buddha) and thus I explained that the Jatakas teach us about the many virtues of the Buddha he accumulated during innumerable lives. Khun Sujin asked the children: 'You like to hear stories, but what about your own story?' We like to hear about the story of someone else, but do we really know ourselves? We should find out about our own story.