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Excerpt:
The meek 77-year-old Ariyaratne, often called the "Gandhi of Sri Lanka," has become popular for his massive meditation sessions in which hundreds of thousands of people converge to pray for peace. His Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, which Ariyaratne established 51 years ago, is based on Buddhist and Gandhian principles -- Sarvodaya in Sanskrit means "awakening of all" and Shramadana "to donate effort." The organization is the largest civil society movement in the country. By its own estimations, it works in 15,000 villages and attracts nearly a million volunteers annually. Some scholars have described its network of organizations with 3000 paid employees as the world's largest peoples' participatory development movement.
Those that know Ari, as he is affectionately called by intimates, describe a man with a deep belief in the Buddhist faith on which he was weaned.
The winning combination for Ari is the sense of connectedness to everyone that is implicit in Buddhist values and connecting that with a very strong commitment to nonviolence, says Marc Gopin, professor of conflict resolution at George Mason University in Washington D.C., who has known Ariyaratne for decades.
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