{"id":110646,"date":"2021-01-12T16:21:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T23:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110646"},"modified":"2021-01-12T16:38:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T23:38:42","slug":"relatively-unheard-sri-lankan-buddhist-monks-honoured-by-king-of-thailand-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/12\/relatively-unheard-sri-lankan-buddhist-monks-honoured-by-king-of-thailand-myanmar\/","title":{"rendered":"RELATIVELY UNHEARD SRI LANKAN BUDDHIST MONKS HONOURED BY KING OF THAILAND\/MYANMAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

By M D P DISSANAYAKE<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nfirst Sri Lankan Buddhist monk honoured by the King of Thailand  awarding\nthe status of Aggamaha Panditha ( meaning Chief Great Scholar) was none other\nthan the former Vice Chancellor of Vidyalankara University Ven Polwatte\nBuddhadatta Thera.  He has made valuable contribution to Buddhism and\nwrote series of books in Pali and Sinhala, including Pali Bhashava Tharanaya,\nwhich was a recommended text book in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly,\nVen Balangoda Ananda Maithree Thero was also conferred the AP status in\nrecognition of his contribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nadd to this colourful list,  the following Sri Lankan Monks have been\nawarded AP status  on 12 January, 2021 by the President of Myanmar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mihiripenne\nSobhitha Thero of Sri Maha Bodhi Viharaya, Dehiwela, Kollupitiya\nMahindarakkitha Thero, Ananda Thero of Trincomalee and Dodampahala Chandrasiri\nThero<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnominations were  compiled and recommended to the King of  by a\nCommittee of Sanga Nayaka after rigorous  and subtle examination of the\nMonk\u2019s wisdom and achievements. These monks are considered to be unusually\nwise, noble and enlightened (Arahants).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nSri Lankan buddhist society have heard the names of Ven Galabodaththe\nGhanasara, Athureliya Rathna, Elle Gunawansa, Muruththettuwe Ananada, Medagoda\nAbayatissa,  Medille Pannaloka, Damballa Amila  etc. <\/strong>who believe\nthey have power to change governments willy nilly.  They are departing\nfrom the basic principles of buddhist philosophy, igniting News Breaks,\nHeadlines on the media. For  many    modern day buddhist\nmonks in Sri Lanka the important issues are:  20 amendment, dual\ncitizenship, burial or cremation of covid victims, sale, lease or joint venture\nof Eastern Terminal of Port of Colombo, release of convicted criminals, special\nfavours for corrupt politicians, etc.<\/strong>  These monks expect the\ngovernment to solve every problem in less than 6 months, with threats to bring\nthe down the government with a new team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except\nfor few, majority buddhist monks are departing from their original objectives\nof learning and disseminating buddhist philosophy.   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis heartening that the King of  Thailand award the Aggamaha Panditha\nstatus to a very special class of buddhist monks after thorough scrutiny, who\nare future saviours of Buddhism.  Therefore, it is not surprising that\nthe Famous Names of Monks are not in the above list.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism : its religion and\nphilosophy\u201d  by Dr W.S. Karunaratne<\/a> is strongly recommended to all buddhist\nmonks in Sri Lanka.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By M D P DISSANAYAKE The first Sri Lankan Buddhist monk honoured by the King of Thailand  awarding the status of Aggamaha Panditha ( meaning Chief Great Scholar) was none other than the former Vice Chancellor of Vidyalankara University Ven Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera.  He has made valuable contribution to Buddhism and wrote series of books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-m-d-p-dissanayake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}