Exceptional experiences make this a handbook for all

A biography is a record of an exemplary personage’s deeds and achievements. They basically are categorized as one’s experiences. It encompasses beyond plain facts of “education, work, relationships, and death”. It’s also a record of how one’s failures have been moulded to be successes by courage and determination.

Dr. Walter Jayasinghe’s biography compiled and edited by Dr. Nandasiri Jasenthuliyana is titled “Portrait of Perseverance – Dr. Jay – A Biography of Adversity & Triumph”. The title itself is self-explanatory.

Dr. Jay starts his life in Sri Lanka as a medical student, son of a doctor, but with hardships as he is one who slept “on a mat on the porch of a crowded family home as a young boy”. This is how the biographer pinpoints what Dr. Jayasinghe is: “His life is a testament to his determination and tenacity that made him what he is, perhaps not in spite of it, but because of it. Dr. Jay’s father, stepfather, and brother-inlaw were all stern disciplinarians, as were most parents of the time. Never experiencing a stable home he moved around constantly, yet was never disillusioned or in despair. While accumulating such valuable life experiences he managed to acquire a good education.

“As a youth, he could not have imagined that he would accomplish so much in his life- a life of plenty that he has generously shared with his fellow beings. He never turned his back on anyone needing a hand on their way up- in silent gratitude to strangers who lent a hand to him, when he was struggling to stay on his feet.”

At one time he says that he had been discouraged by some of his relatives indicating that he would never become a doctor. Such discouraging hints made him the professional he wanted to be. He entered the Medical College in 1956 and succeeded beyond belief after arriving in the United States becoming one of the Sri Lankan greats. During the earlier period, his life was not a bed of roses, but a pit of crises that he had to fight against with vivacity and determination. Such was the person he is. He recollects them vivaciously with humility.

What’s great is the manner that he shaped his character through observation, listening, keeping in mind what others uttered and doing things practically as much as possible as indicated by elders. About a teacher, Mr. de Alwis at St Peter’s, he says, “He taught me three things in life and more.” To keep a diary, start writing in it, record the good things done. This he did at the age of 14 or 15, when going to Sunday school. He recorded all the good deeds weekly and had gone and told the teacher. What is fascinating is that he does it mentally even now, he says.

He indicates that he turned out to be an ardent Buddhist having been to Vajirarama regularly following Sunday Dhamma classes and leaving St. Peter’s to Ananda to do Buddhism as a subject since he was not allowed to do so at the former, and subsequently when he was at Ananda to Maithree Vihara on Saturdays. That interest may be the reason that he is attached to various Buddhist Institutions in Los Angeles and Sri Lanka even now supporting them heavily as evidenced in his biography.

He also had been somebody who had been following good dictums accepting them as good pieces of advice as absolute truths following and acting accordingly throughout his life. This is one such dictum, “if you are in a game, then you can’t see the game. If you are watching the game, you can’t be playing the game.” This applies to any task he says, and he followed it to the very letter properly understanding its truth. Such instances he quotes plentifully serving the public philosophically and generously as portrayed right through in the biography. It’s this philosophy of his life that made him a multi-millionaire and one of service to society, especially promoting the Sri Lankan arts in the country he resides.

So much is there in Dr. Jay’s biography that can be discussed and presented to assert how he reached greatness. Without taking that course I would say Dr. Jay’s biography is a rare university of right action. It’s a university that directs the populace of life for self-motivation. It is an embodiment of experiences that’s exceptional - a handbook to all.