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The prelate with a mission of peace
The Most Ven. Aggamahapandita Madihe Pannasiha Mahanayaka Thera
By Prof. Dhammavihari Thera
When the Most Venerable Madihe Pannasiha Mahanayaka Thera passed away on September 9, 2003, the country, irrespective of caste or creed differences, mourned his death. Since then, over the carpet of time, of whatever colour that may be, life has rolled on. We witness today many disastrous things happening in this little island. Diabolic forces of evil have been unleashed and are at work both on the lives of people and institutions in Sri Lanka. Lawlessness and anarchy have descended upon our land. In this situation, my memory brings back to me a few lines of poetry which I had read more than 60 years ago as a young student.

I prayed to God who never heard.
My desperate soul grew numb.
The life-long wish and prayer of our revered late prelate was ‘Peace on earth and goodwill among men’. In upholding that policy, he was no more and no less than a son of the Buddha (Buddha-putta or Sakyaputtiya-samana). The Buddha preached 'Sukhino va khemino hontu sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta' (May all life everywhere be safe and secure. May they all enjoy happiness and comfort.)

Our Mahanayaka Thera knew well enough the socio-political identity of Sri Lanka. He knew perfectly well the demographic details of Sri Lanka. He knew every detail of the ethnic distribution of people. He could not be fooled about ‘traditional homelands’, not even by the top brass of the day. He told the political leaders of all ages and all colours that as far back as the 5th century A.D. Chinese traveller Fa Hsien, who visited Sri Lanka, referred to this country as the Land of the Lion People or ‘Shih tse Kuo’.

The tragedy was that the prelate’s words fell on deaf ears. Unfortunately, the nation is now called upon to pay too high a price for this incorrigible political deafness of our leaders.

The Mahanayaka Thera’s message to the nation — his political philosophy throughout his life — was: "Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic multi-religious land where people had learnt to live in peace and harmony. They had done so for centuries, respecting each other's relative rights and privileges.”

He maintained that economic, social and cultural considerations of this country did not justify the division of this little island on any basis. His only prayer for Sri Lankans was territorial integrity. World history, he insisted, had proved the disastrous consequences of such division on ethnic lines with international support.

But disastrously, bloc-power of political leadership in this country, not wisdom, has always had the bigger say on their side. Consequently, what needs to happen has happened. Everybody now has equally well to pay the price for it.
For nearly a decade now, the world has been trying to see the truth of religion and the missing dimension of statecraft. But we are sad to notice that wise statesmanship of Sri Lanka has already drained off its last drop of religion into the black sea of politics. We pray ‘Glory be to these generations of political leaders of this country’.

With all of them, religion remained the never-used handkerchief in the upper pocket of their political shirts. May their souls rest in peace. R.I.P! But let us not forget that in the world today religion is still being used by some shrewder men as a carrier of political ideologies across the globe.

Equally zealous was our magnanimous prelate in creating a generation of young disciples from among the bhikkus of this country to carry forward the torch of Buddhist learning, both within this country and the world outside.
With the unstinted support of his younger strong arm of Venerable Ampitiye Rahula Maha Thera, now almost in his 90s, the Mahanayaka Thera established for this purpose the Siri Vajiragnana Dharmayatanaya of Maharagama for the education of young monks in the Dhamma and the Vinaya in conformity with the traditional norms of the Sasana. He threw it open to all nikayas in the island. Its educational policies, we insist, need to be kept updated and religiously robust all the time. In the revered memory of the founder, its lay supporters enthusiastically look up to the fulfilment of those wishes. But good intentions alone do not always suffice. Vigilance and vigour must keep pace together all the time.

During these last two years, the absence of the Mahanayaka Thera has been felt in many areas of life. For more than half his life time of over 90 years, he was the Mahanayaka Thera of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya.

As we look back on this vast stretch of time during which his dominant presence was felt through the length and breadth of this little island, we often feel that many crisis situations of recent times in our country could have been averted with his wisdom and judgement. May his upward ascent in his spiritual journey be swift and smooth, with never a look back on what he has left behind!

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