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This bit from The Scotsman newspaper caught my imagi-nation...
BEDECKED in bright orange robes, the Venerable Rewatha cuts a fine figure walking along Maryhill Road each day on his way to the library.
The Buddhist monk has opened a temple in a tenement, allowing followers to seek enlightenment through meditation - away the hectic city life and the busy traffic on the road outside.
Since it opened two months ago, neighbours in the traditional close have been won over by the offer of free vegetable curry, the sweet smell of incense and the promise of no wild, late-night parties.
The Venerable Rewatha, 30, who is studying for a PhD in education at Strathclyde University, became a monk at the age of ten, in his native Sri Lanka.
From that moment, he had no further contact with his parents or family, instead striving for a simple, unburdened life marked by compassion and respect.
"We have been here for two months," he said. "Every day I go to Maryhill Library and people do look, but they are my friends.
"Even the street sweeper sends his greetings each day. My neighbours are very kind to me and when I have enough food, I invite them here."
The tenement temple is the first in Scotland offering a centre of Theravada Buddhism, one of the most orthodox branches of the religion.
Inside the ground-floor flat, the usual trappings and luxuries are removed. A small room doubles as a library, with ancient texts to help lead the weary to enlightenment.
The Vihara - or shrine room - was once the living room. The sweet scent of incense lingers as the Venerable Rewatha sits cross-legged in front of the Buddha.
Pride of place is reserved for a small silver casket, which, according to the monk, holds a relic of the great teacher.
"Buddhism is a way of life," said the Venerable Rewatha. "We are teaching how to live happily through meditation and morality."
Before coming to Scotland, the Venerable Rewatha was the vice principal of the training centre for Buddhist monks in his homeland. There he studied Sanskrit, rising at dawn, meditating and learning the philosophy which preaches no harm to any living being.
Now about 30 families use his centre, as well as the local community who have signed up for meditation classes. "We are always trying for enlightenment," he said. "Knowing when we have achieved it is something we can only know for ourselves, but there cannot be enlightenment when there is still suffering."
The monk has taken well to living in a Maryhill close. He happily takes his turn sweeping and washing the stairs and tending to the window boxes.
Ashby McGowan, a Buddhist from Glasgow, said the temple is a haven away from the stresses of city life.
He said: "It’s a wonderful place. It is so incongruous tucked away in a tenement close, but it is a real haven, a place where anyone can come and meditate. The community have really taken to the Venerable Rewatha."
Among the lessons being taught are the rigours of self-discipline. The tenets of Buddhism dictate a vegetarian diet and abstinence from intoxicants.
Standing in the close, the monk was greeted by two neighbours, both happily smoking cigarettes and passing the time of day.
"How are you getting on downstairs," one asked.
"Fine. Really good," was the response, preceded with a smile.
Along Maryhill Road, the usual array of pubs and off licenses remained true to the area’s tough stereotype.
However, the monk said he was not on a missionary quest. "Buddhism does not seek people out. If they are interested, they can come to us," he said.
It is not the first time that religion has found a home in Glasgow’s tenements. In Barrowfield, a housing estate in the east end, an order of Catholic nuns established a convent in a damp-riddled council flat.
Similarly, a mosque was opened in a tenement in Allander Street in the city’s south side.
With an influx of asylum seekers and increased interest in Eastern mysticism by Scots, the Venerable Rewatha said he hoped to expand to a larger space.
He said: "We have an idea to buy a bigger property in Ibrox, but we need more money. The temple here is too small."
If the move takes place, the welcome should be equally warm, as the monk’s orange robes blend in with shirts of football fans approaching the stadium on match days
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