Ven. Makehelwala Vimaladhamma Thera: Semi-centennial of the Ordained Life

Ven. Makehelwala Vimaladhamma Thera, the Chief Incumbent of the historic Bambaragala Raja Maha Vihara at Waduwawa, Polgahawela and the Ihala Walakumbura Temple in Alawwa, completed the fiftieth year of his ordained life on October 11. A grand meritorious celebration was held in this regard at the Ihala Walakumbura Temple with the participation of Maha Sangha, government officials and many others.   

The Ven. Vimaladhamma Thera was born at Makehelwala, a beautiful locality in the outskirts of Mawanella, as the sixth of ten siblings. His parents were Dasanayake Mudiyanselage Wijeratne and Munasinghe Mudiyanselage Bandaramenike. His lay name was Kulasena Wijeratne and entered the order of Buddhistmonks on October 11, 1968 at the Ihala Walakumbura Temple in Alawwa under the tutelage of Ven. Mandawela Dhammarama Thera. He received his monastic education at Sri Shasthralankara Pirivena at Heramitigala and Sunethradevi Maha Pirivena at Pepiliyana. On June 22, 1980 he received his higher ordination or Upasampada at the historic Mangala Uposathagara of the Malwattha Maha Vihara in Kandy. Following the demise of Ven. Mandawela Dhammarama Thera in 1988, he became the Chief Incumbent of the temple.   

As a young monk adored by his associates, Ven. Vimaladhamma Thero was keen to render his services to both religious and social welfare. He established the Sri Dhammarama Dhamma School and Siri Perakum Funeral Aid and Welfare Society which are exceedingly beneficial to his lay adherents. He made the temple an all-complete one by adding various new structures such as the two-storey audience hall, refectory, belfry, cloud-walled access way and Wahalkada entrance to the temple. He fetched in procession a sapling of the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi and planted and built a fortification wall around it.   

Ven. Vimaladhamma Thera is well-known for his eloquent discourse of the Buddha Dhamma. His sermons have been broadcast over radio and TV and even on foreign tours he had the opportunity to preach to audiences there. For almost thirty years he has been offering the “Budusarana” paper to the devotees who observe sil on Vesak Poya Day and has provided shelter to several destitute families, too.   

Ven. Vimaladhamma Thero has been the registrar of Sasanarakshaka Bala Mandalaya, Alawwa South and the patron of Ranaviru Sansadaya, Alawwa for more than a decade. The most Ven. Maha Nayake Thera of Malwatte Chapter of the Siamese Sect offered him the incumbency of the historic Bambaragala Raja Maha Vihara at Waduwawa, Polgahawela on June 27, 2012. The sexagenarian monk has been the headmaster of Sri Dhammarama Dhamma School for twenty nine years. We wish him every success in his endeavour to the cause of a religious and disciplined society for yet another half century. May the Ven. Makehelwala Vimaladhamma Thera be free from suffering, illness and be happy.   

H.M. Upali Karunathilake