Clearly this belief about the higher attainments of the guru and the possibility of reaching them for oneself represents a central reason many people are attracted to this group. I found evidence, however, that these claims also work against the group at times and lead some people to doubt the guru. For example, I met one man who had formerly been an ardent supporter of Guru D but now had ceased going to hear him because this man thought that it was not right for Guru D to make these claims. The man felt that if a person were enlightened he would not boast about it, and he also thought that Guru D had made the goals too easy. A second informant, a woman, echoed these sentiments and expressed her serious reservations about both Guru D and his group. She had been a strong supporter of the guru, giving large donations to help develop his center. She said that the guru led good meditation programs that made her feel happy and well. But while attending one meditation session in which they practiced the meditation on the parts of the body, she began to have some strange sensations. She experienced pains in her body and saw strange lights. When she discussed these experiences with the chief nun, who was the main teacher for the session, the nun told her that she was getting close to attaining arahantship. The nun sent her to meet with the guru who told her the same thing. He also instructed her in the jhanas and showed her how she should work her way through the jhanic states on her way to arahantship. She felt that she did achieve some of these jhanic stages and attained some of their powers. Guru D and his nuns soon began to tell her that she had attained arahantship and she felt very happy. After a few months, however, she began to have doubts about her attainments; it seemed too good to be true that she had reached the ultimate goal because she did not feel that she was enlightened. So she began going to another meditation teacher, Guru C, who gave her some suttas to study along with some of his own writings. Through following Guru C's teaching she has come to believe that what she attained before was only the samadhi associated with the jhanas, not the ariya magga and its fruits. She now has serious doubts about Guru D and his teachings and does not believe that he has reached the goal or that he is correct in his claims of bringing so many others to the goal. She still hopes to attain Nirvana and end Dukkha, but she now follows a more conventional and gradual path.

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3. One other distinctive feature of Guru D's group is the role it accords to women. Guru D says that about 80% of his followers are women, and my observations of his meetings would seem to confirm this figure. When asked why the women are so interested in his meditation, he says what many people in Sri Lanka say to explain womens' interest in religion: women are more interested in liberation because women suffer more than men. And according to Guru D, some women obtain results very quickly if they have experienced extensive suffering since suffering represents the first Noble Truth and acquaintance with it facilitates the liberation process.

　　 But in addition to having mostly female followers, what sets this movement apart is that Guru D also has a staff of "nuns" who serve as the primary meditation teachers at his center and he has embarked on a campaign to "ordain" more women as "bhikkhunis." When I saw him last in 1998, he had sixteen nuns in his group and said that he planned to ordain about 60 women and build a forest hermitage for them. Since bhikkhuni ordination has been a controversial topic recently in Sri Lanka, I asked him whether he thought that the Sangha should officially reestablish it and whether there were any problems associated with his performing these ordinations. Surprisingly, he said that it was neither possible nor necessary for the Sangha to reestablish bhikkhuni ordination officially, but he also said that he did not care whether it was officially approved or not. He intends to provide ordination for women and "boost them along the path to become ariya puggalas." He feels that what is important is not the external orders but the internal development of these women. He said that once these women attain arahantship, no one can dispute their status as bhikkhunis. He further implied that most of the women that he has ordained have already reached this goal.

Summary:
　　 This combination of a powerful guru's authority, a promise of higher attainments for followers and a willingness to create new roles for women who wish to become nuns sets Guru D's movement apart from contemporary Buddhist orthodoxy. These factors also indicate that his movement may be drifting toward a kind of sectarianism. The emphasis on easy attainment of the goals represents a form of commodification of religion which we can relate to the economic context in the country. The middle class lay people who constitute Guru D's movement have attained many things and now look to meditation to give them these spiritual attainments that will make life both manageable and satisfactory (sukha). We can also say that his followers are motivated by the political and economic context in that they are seeking relief from the problems of this new life. Finally, we should note that Socially Engaged Buddhism or social service does not have a place in this guru's system. When I asked him whether he does any social service, he replied that the most important social service is to share the dhamma with others as he does.