Ven Weligama Gnanaratane Thera’s 96th Birth anniversary

The Maha Nayake of the Amarapura Shri Dharmarakshita Nikaya and the incumbent of the Ratmalana Mallikaramaya, the Most Venerable Rajakeeya Pandita, Vinaya Vihsarada, Dharma Keerthi Shri, Agga Maha Panditha, Weligama Gnanaratane Thera will be 96 years on October 14. Having been ordained on November 30, 1925 he is serving his 84th year as a Buddhist monk.

Despite many honours conferred on him, and despite his advancing age, he continues to lead a simple, scholarly and exemplary life. He still lives in the small room constructed for him several decades ago when he came to Ratmalana for the first time. He still reads and works in his small room or in the verandah where he is accessible to his devotees.

He has made a fully-fledged Buddhist Temple within an urban setting in Ratmalana.

One simply cannot enter the Temple premises without being influenced by the environment he has created. In the Mallikaramaya temple one does not see a Devale.

There is a receptacle for donations, the location of which is known only to some of the regular devotees. The Mallikaramaya temple may be one of the few temples in the country where the Katina Cheevaraya is stitched and dyed in the traditional manner.

Any Full Moon Day, the ring of white-clad devotees around the Dagoba, passing the trays of flowers from hand to hand while repeating the Gathas recited by a group of resident monks is an ennobling experience.

His services have not been only to his devotees at Ratmalana. He has had a profound influence on the development of the Nikaya of which he is now the Head.

He is a Buddhist Scholar of national and international repute.

He has been to the United States, Australia and Singapore at the invitation of his devotees in those countries.

He is the author of more than a hundred titles, many of which are for the ordinary laymen. His commentary and the translation of Kudusika Vivaranaya is an important secondary Vinaya source.

He has been a leading scholarly figure in translating the Tri Pitaka into Sinhala. He has served on many committees appointed by the state dealing with religious affairs.

Even at advanced age, he continues to preach at the Mallikaramaya on Full Moon Days, though failing health occasionally prevents him from performing this function.