Welcome to Vūpasamāya!
Vūpasamāya, a Pāli word, literally means ‘for calming or appeasement (of the mind or heart)’. In the current world, with one’s mind stressed by the challenges and angst of consumerism and capitalism and disturbed by the disconcerting news of political instability, war, and violence happening all over the world, one perpetually lives in a mood of dejection and despair. Therefore, it is very important to keep up one’s spirit, mental equilibrium and peace, and motivations for good work by following spiritually uplifting sayings of enlightened men and women who provide us with the proper perspective to face the ups and downs of life. In this blog, I hope to collect texts – such as poems, Buddhist sūtras, and heart-warming and insightful sayings of great thinkers. Some of these will be excerpts from books/articles/interviews I have read. But, mostly I hope to use this blog as a place to store my translations of my favourite texts from original Pāli, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Bangla. The ‘Reflection’ page contains my thoughts on random matters that draw my attention at different times. There will also be a collection of links to Buddhist and non-Buddhist religious chantings, music and songs. I will very much appreciate your feedback on any of my posts or the blog as a whole.
~ Upali Sraman
(I am a Ph.D. student at the Graduate Department of Religion at Emory University. I was born in Bangladesh, had my schooling and university education up to MA (Buddhist Studies) in Sri Lanka, and graduated from Harvard Divinity School with an MDiv degree in 2016. More about me can be found here, interview & my publications)
vūpasamāya 