..续本文上一页d been born just across the paddy field from this temple in 1896 and was ordained there as a novice in 1911. His teacher, Ven. Denihena Silananda, reputed to be the most learned monk in the Balangoda area, subjected his young pupil to a nine-year course of training so rigorous it left him only a few hours of sleep per night. But Ananda Maitreya emerged with a masterly knowledge of the Tipitaka and its commentaries and of the languages Pali and Sanskrit. At this point his far-sighted guru, aware of the need of the hour, sent him to Ananda College in Colombo to study English, a move which equipped him for his important work later in life.
Through the middle decades of this century Ven. Ananda Maitreya played a pivotal role in almost all the major episodes in the modern history of Sri Lankan Buddhism. As a teacher at Ananda College he helped to educate many of the future leaders of the nation. He founded a prestigious monastic college in Balangoda, which he served as principal for 23 years. He served on the Buddhist Committee of Inquiry which sought to rectify the injustices imposed on Buddhism during the period of colonial rule. He was a member of the Buddha Jayanthi Tripitaka Editorial Board. He compiled the first modern biography of the Buddha in Sinhala and wrote school textbooks for the study of Pali, Sanskrit, and English. He joined the faculty of the new Vidyodaya University as professor of Mahayana Buddhist studies (later vice-chancellor, a position he soon relinquished because of a distaste for administrative duties). He was elected the first Mahanayaka Thera (chief prelate) of the United Amarapura Nikaya. On the wider Buddhist scene he participated in the Sixth Buddhist Council in Burma (1954-56), where he was appointed the Sri Lankan representative on the Final Editing Committee and later became chairman of the entire Council.
In 1973, at the age of 77, a new leaf opened up to Ven. Ananda Maitreya”s life: that of a Buddhist missionary to the West. Between then and 1994 he must have made seven or eight extended Dhamma missions which brought him to Britain, France, the U.S.A., and Canada. He also appeared in the well-known BBC television series, The Long Search, where, as the informant on Theravada Buddhism, he deeply impressed viewers around the world. During one stay in the U.S., at the age of 94, he learned to use the computer and returned home with his own little desktop unit: living proof that one is never too old to learn!
On a trip to Colombo in June I had the fortune to meet Ven. Ananda Maitreya in his temple near Colombo. He had just returned from a trip to Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore, and appeared to be in sound health, except for complaints about " a little phlegm trouble." He then seemed so fit, so clear-minded and energetic, that we never suspected the "little phlegm trouble" would turn into the illness that only a month later would take him from our midst. It is testimony to the high regard in which he was held in this country that a hundred thousand people attended his cremation, and the whole road which the cortege traveled from Avissawela to Balangoda (50 miles) was lined with yellow banners and flags to welcome the prelate on his last journey.
Ven. Piyadassi needs hardly an introduction to our BPS readers, who will know him through his classic The Buddha”s Ancient Path, The Spectrum of Buddhism, and his many contributions to the Wheel, Bodhi Leaves, and Damsak series. It was in fact a sermon he gave in late 1957 that led to the birth of the BPS on New Year”s day in 1958; an edited version of that sermon appeared as Wheel No. 1, The Seven Factors of Enlightenment. From 1960 onward he was the editor of the Damsak series, the Sinhala counterpart of the Wheel, a role he fulfilled amidst a host of other duties so numerous and demanding that they would normally require the talents of three or four monks. He was the director of the Vajirarama Monastery in Colombo, chief incumbent of the Sambodhi Vihara, and patron of a large number of Buddhist organizations, chiefly those devoted to helping the poor and handicapped. He was also one of the country”s most popular preachers, constantly in demand because of his ability to convey the deep truths of the Dhamma in clear, simple language.
The salient characteristic of Ven. Piyadassi”s life is summed up in the title of his biography (by Kirthie Abeyasekera), Piyadassi: The Wandering Monk. This, however, was not a leisurely wandering on foot with bowl and shoulder bag, but a global, airborne wandering that took him on fourteen international Dhamma tours to over fifty countries. Within Sri Lanka Ven. Piyadassi was, in his own words, "a shuttle on a loom," moving back and forth between Colombo and the provinces with hardly a pause. On his frequent trips to Kandy, once or twice a month, he would stay next door to me in the Udawattakele Forest Reserve, and through this close connection and our shared work for the BPS our friendship became deep, steadfast, and solid. His loss will be irreparable and his place irreplaceable, throughout Sri Lanka and particularly at the BPS.
May these two great elders, who for so long held aloft the torch of the Dhamma, attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana.
《A Tribute to Two Monks》全文阅读结束。