From brilliant student to Army and monkhood

Venerable Buddangala Ananda Thera before his ordination was Ananda Weerasekera. He was a schoolmate of mine at Nalanda College, Colombo and I have very pleasant memories of our schooldays.

A brilliant student, he had an outstanding career in school. He was head prefect, Athletics captain, captained the First Eleven soccer team, represented junior and senior cadet platoons, was a pioneer member of Sarvodaya, leader of the debating team, and President of the literary union. The College magazine of 1959 reported that he had been selected to represent Sri Lanka schools in the Asian Schools Soccer Tournament in Malaysia. His performances in school would have helped him in his later achievements in life to be the Vice President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and captaining the Sri Lanka soccer team.

Young Ananda joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1964 and progressed from Officer Cadet to Major General and Adjutant General. In 1966, he graduated from the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul and was adjudged first in the batch. As a military officer he obtained six awards as well as honours and six military medals. In 1998, at the age of 55 he retired from the Army.

In 1994, he completed his MA from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

He continued MPhil and PhD studies in the same university. His dissertation was on the topic “Buddhist Approach for Conflict Resolution”.

The President of Sri Lanka picked him when he was in the Army to be the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation on secondment (1990-1995). The urgent task assigned to him was to rehabilitate nearly 14,000 youths detained for insurgent/ terrorist activities during the riots in Sri Lanka and integrate them into society.

Under the above programme, I planned for Madanwala Rajamaha Viharaya in Girandurukotte to be one of the rehabilitation centres. The Chief Monk of the temple Ven. Sirisumanasara Nayaka Thera was not very much in favour. Hence, I arranged for Ananda to meet him and Ananda managed to persuade the Nayaka Thera. That was a character trait that I observed in him - strong persuasive power.

On the Poya day of May 1, 2007 Ananda entered the Buddhist order with the name Buddangala Ananda at Buddangala Aranya Senasana (forest hermitage) in Ampara District under the tutelage of Kalutara Dhammananda Nayaka Thera. There are two notable features in this hermitage. Firstly, in the stupa are enshrined the relics of the Buddha and of His chief disciples Arhant Sariputta and Arhant Moggallana. Secondly, the monastery has a recorded history of nearly 2300 years.

Accompanied by late Ari and Chandani, I visited Ven. Buddangala Ananda in Ampara in September 2010. Ven. Ananda had translated the life story of

Thai Buddhist nun Silamata Chai from English into Sinhala and presented the first copy of the book to his loving mother on May 14, 2011. He took a keen interest in the Bhikkhuni order and established a Bhikkhuni centre in Ampara.

On March 6, 2012, the Viharadhapathi (Chief Abbot) of Siri Vajiraramaya Temple, Bambalapitiya Most Ven. Tirikunamale Ananda Mahanayaka Thera (Chief Prelate) invited Ven. Buddangala Ananda Thera to see for himself the almost 100-year-old library at Sri Vajiraramaya.

Ven. Buddangala Ananda Thera planned a visit to North America in 2016. But as the Canadian visa was delayed, he visited the USA and returned to Sri Lanka.

With the help of Canadian MP Terry Duguid, I was able to get a Canadian visa for him in August 2018 and had organised for him to deliver sermons in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. Unfortunately, he fell ill and was unable to visit Canada.

May his sojourn in sansara be short and may he attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana in the shortest possible time! Senaka A. Samarasinghe