Balangoda Ananda Maithreya Foundation Official Website

Ven. BalangodaAnandaMaitreya
A Personal Tribute
by
VEN. DR. BHIKKHU BODHI

The Venerable BalangodaAnandaMaitreya is one of the great prersonalities of Theravada Budhism in the twentieth century, and it is testimony to his vast store of past metrits that his life span stretches clear across this century from its beginning almost to its end. In the course of his exemplary life, this outstanding Elder of the Sangha has held some of the most prestigious academic and ecclesiastical titles in the country, yet he hasalways remained at hearta simple monk whose greatest joy is quit study and meditation at his village temple near to town of Balangoda. For me it is a psersonalhonour to be able to name the Venerable AnandaMaitreya as my own ordination teacher, as the one who brough me into the Sangha and guided my first steps in the life of a bhikkhu.

The background story to my meeting with the Venerable goes back to the year 1971. At that time I was living at a Vietnamese Buddhist meditation centure in Los Angeles. I had been ordained as a novice –monk in the Vitenamese Mahayana Order and was lecturing in world religions at a local university. By a stroke of good fortune, VenPiyadassiMahathera of Vajirarama came to Los Angeles and gave a series of lectures at our centure. Iserved as Ven. PIyadassi's host during his stay with us, and when he departed he suggested to me thtsome day I should come come to Sri Lanka. where he could arrange for me to stay at a Buddhism monastery.

The next year I decided that I wanted to go to Asia to take ordination as a Therevadabhikkhu. I wrote to Ven. Piyadassi to remind him of his invitation. and he wrote back giving me the name of a senior prelate who he said, had previously given ordination to Westerners. The name was that of Ven, BalangodaAnanda Maitreya. I wrote to the Mahanayaka There, telling him about my backgroung and about my desire to come to Sri Lanka to ordain as a bhikkhu and to study Pali and Dhamma. The Venerable promptely replied, extending me a welcome and assuring me that he would oversee my ordination and instruction in the Dhamma.
It was at the end of October 1972 that, at last, I arrived in Sri Lanka, and a week later I made the trip to Balangoda. Along the way I felt somewhat nervous about going to meet an Elder of such high standing in the Sangha, but at our first meeting my fears were immediately set to rest. At this first meeting I was deeply impressed by the MahanayakaThera's simplicity of manner , his great kindness, and his natural humility – qualities which existed alongside an inexhaustible wealth of learning and a masterly knowlege of the Dhamma.

For the next three years (1972 -75) I lived with the Mahanayaka There at his temple in Udumulla, a two-mile walk from Balangoda. He proviided me with a simple but comfortable kuti on the hillside, a short distance below his own kuti. During this happy period I received regualar instruction from the Venerable in Pali, Suttanta, and abhidamma. The guidance he gaveme so generously at that time has continued to benefit me right up to the present. In this early stage of my monk's life, I faced considerable confusion trying to find the proper key to understand the Dhamma correctly. Western interpreters of Buddhism often invent their own versions of the Buddha's teaching, and without a reliable guide it is easy to get lost in the wild jungles of speculation and personal opinion. During this period the Venerable MahanayakaThera always reminded me of the importance of relying on the orthodox Theravada tradition in order to understand the Dhamma correctly. He implanted in my mind a profound respect for the Atthakathas and Tikas and this attitude inspried me to study the Suttas along fruit years later, when I translated four major PaliSuttas along with their commentaries.

My meeting with the Mahanayaka There in those days were not all devoted to religious instruction. The Venerable had a rich store of experience and was a prolific thinker and writer. Thus often we would put the books aside and he would elaborate on his theories ranging from the origins of Christianity to the scientific basis for extra-sensory perception.

I also discoveredone of the secretsto the Venerable's health and vigour : long walk from his temple to the Balangodaprivena, with another three-mile walk back to the temple after a short break at the pirivena. I my self fifty years his junior, but I had to hasten to keep with him along theses walks!

In recent years I have not had frequent personal contact with the Venerable. He has spent long periods abroad, and when he is in Sri Lanka he resides in Balanoda. While I have been in Kandy, looking after the late Venerable NyanaponikaMahathera and supervising the publications programme of the Buddhist Publication Society. But from the newspapers and reports from friends, I often hear of the success of the Venerable'sDhamma-duta missions overseas. I have been gladdened to know that he has made such an important contribution to the cause of Theravada Buddhism all over the world, especially as one of the "Sangha fathers" to the Western BhikkuSangha based at the Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries in England.

It gives me great pleasure to felicitate the Venerable AnandaMaitreya on reaching his 100th birthday. Such a high age surely proves the truth of the Dhamma.I hope that by the blessings of the Holy Triple Gem, the Venerable will enjoy good health right up to the very end of his life, andthat he will continue to extend his wisdom and vask knowledge to all who seek the true Dhamma, whether in Sri Lanka or abroad.