“Buddhists do not pray to the Buddha or supernatural powers for help. They take refuge in the wisdom of the Buddha to solve the problems in their lives.”
Remembering Venerable Mahathera Madawela Punnaji
(November 26, 1929 – July 27, 2018)
Sri Lanka and the Buddhist world lost one of its most brilliant and scholarly monks, Venerable Madawela Punnaji Maha Thera, in the early hours of Friday, 27 July 2018, at the Nisala Arana Forest Monastery and Retreat Centre in Kalutara District, Sri Lanka, at the age of 89 years.
THE EARLY YEARS…
Puspananda Wijayaratne Madawala was born on November 26th, 1929, to an aristocratic Sinhala family in the hamlet of Madawala in the Kurunegala district of then Ceylon, today Sri Lanka. Puspananda was the youngest of three children in the family. His birth was welcomed by his two older sisters, who were both adolescents at the time.