මෛත්‍රීගල වන රක්ෂිතය

Meethrigala Nissarana Wanaya, one-of-Sri Lanka’s most respected and largest Buddhist Forest Hermitages, celebrated its 40th year of existence, on December 23 (Unduvap Poya Day). The occasion was marked with the laying of foundation stones for a new building complex at the base camp of the Hermitage to provide better accommodation facilities for lay visitors and meditation practitioners. The Forest Hermitage is nearly 500 acres in extent and situated in a tropical forest reserve surrounded by scenic paddy fields. It is located close to the village of Meethirigala, off Dompe on the Colombo-Kandy Road . At a time when Buddhism had lost its most supportive and protective structure, namely meditation, Asoka Weeraratna, who founded the German Dharmaduta Society and the Berlin Buddhist Vihara in Germany in the 1950’s for the benefit of the German people, established the Forest Hermitage (not very far from Colombo) in 1967 to enable Buddhist monks to meditate and contemplate in a suitable and peaceful environment. He brought there the most respectful meditation teacher, the late Venerable Matara Sri Nanarama Maha Thera, widely, recognized as one of Sri Lanka’s outstanding meditation masters of recent times, to be the guide and instructor. The Forest Hermitage now comprises over 40 fully equipped independent dwellings (kutis) for Buddhist monks and yogis to engage in meditation under strict supervision by experienced meditation masters (Bhikkhus). Apart from Sinhala Buddhist monks and laymen, many foreign monks and laymen alike have had the opportunity to pursue here the practice of meditation with full dedication, unhindered by other tasks and duties. Some of them have come from USA, some from Canada, England, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland , Portugal, Italy, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Greece, India , Singapore , Taiwan , Korea , Japan , Australia , and New Zealand . They include the well known American monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Australian monk Ven. Pannavaro (founder of the Buddha Net), the Czechoslovakian monk Ven. Dhammadeepa and Ven. Nnadassana Thera (Greece). Having equipped the monastery with all the facilities conducive to the meditative life, and having found an accomplished meditation master to direct meditation training, and then his mission accomplished Asoka Weeraratna renounced the lay life and entered the Buddhist order under the name Venerable Meethirigala Dhammanisanthi Thera in 1972. Das Miriyagalla, Vice-President of the Meethirigala Nissarana Wanaya Sanrakshana Mandalaya (Forest Hermitage Preservation Board), in his address on the occasion, observed that the founding of this Hermitage by Asoka Weeraratna was the crowning achievement of the post – Buddha Jayanthi Buddhist resurgence in Sri Lanka. He said: “During the last 50 years – after the Buddha Jayanthi of 1956 – there has been a significant revival of Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka. This flowering of Buddhism is visible in every aramaya,