FAR AWAY FROM HIS NATIVE SRI LANKA THEY ACCORDED HIM A FUNERAL THAT WOULD FIT ONLY A SANGHA RAJA

By Walter Jayawardhana

The remains of the late Dr. K Sri Dhammananda, was cremated in a solemn funeral ceremony amidst the chanting of Buddhist monks and more than 5000 devotees at the Nirwana Memorial Park in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia, September 4.

He was cremated in the beautiful 40 ft pyre that was designed and constructed resembling ancient Buddhist architecture by the Sri Lanka temple of Sentul, Kuala Lumpur

The unprecedented crowd of devotees, of grateful Chinese and Sri Lankan Malaysians who have been extremely close to their spiritual leader, some for more than half a century during his distinguished career at the Maha Vihara at Brickfield Kula Lumpur arrived at the Nirvana Memorial Park in a long convoy of more than 90 huge coaches about 5 p.m.

Members from the Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society and the Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia who assisted the Chief Sangha Nayaka during his career as Buddhist teacher and publisher of hundreds of volumes to spread the Buddha word all over the world were the pall bearers who carried the casket from the hearse to the pedestal located opposite of the pyre.

The Venerable Dr. W Kusaladhamma Nayaka Maha Thero, Chancellor of Kelaniya University who represented the higher education institution of Vidyalankara Pirivena where the late Chief Sanga Nayaka received his monastic education started the traditional Buddhist funeral ceremony by administering the observance of five precepts .

Depicting the unity of all three traditions of Buddhism the Theravada, the Mahayana and the Vajrayana the Maha Sangha then started chanting sutras of their respective traditions adding an international colour to the solemn ceremony and in a fitting tribute to the late Sangha Nayaka of Malaysia and Singapore who served all communities alike.

Earlier, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka , who represented the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa paid his last respects of the nation, since his unprecedented service of spreading the word of the Buddha was a pride to his native land Sri Lanka as undoubtedly he ran the most successful Sri Lankan Buddhist temple abroad.

The traditional offering of the robe material to the maha Sangha was administered by Venerable Walpola Piyananda Maha Thera of the Dharma Vijaya Vihara of Los Angeles, USA. Then he delivered a sermon eulogizing the great service of the late Venerable Dr. K. Dhammananda and said the late Chief Sangha Nayaka was the guiding star for all Buddhist temples in the spread of the dharma in foreign lands during recent times.

The ceremony was over with the transference of merits and offering of robes and token to the Maha Sangha.

Finally it was the Maha Sangha who carried the casket beautifully decorated with white jasmine garlands to the forty foot high funeral pyre covered with orange and saffron colored fabric symbolic of the robes of the Maha Sangha.

Members of the Mahasangha then performed the ancient ritual of paying the last respects of clockwise circumbulation, walking around the pyre three times followed by VIP delegates.
The pyre was lit by the respective representatives of Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society, Mr A Hemadasa and Mr Ang Choo Hong, on behalf of the Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia amidst the continuous chanting with clasped hands on their chests and their heads.

The continuous chanting of Namo Amithaba in Chinese and Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu in Sinhala filled the air. Although the lighting of the pyre was done in a storm, in a moment it had subsided and a soft drizzle settled in.
The 5000 kilo grams of sandalwood was burning inside the pyre spreading the atmosphere with fragrance, symbolic of the of the loving kindness the Venerable Dhammananda spread during a major part of his life to a people whom he did not know before and spoke a language he did not speak before but later became his own. And on this day, far away from the land of his birth, they accorded him a funeral that would fit only a Sangha Raja- a king among monks.