“Visàkhàràmaya”
Galgamuva, Veyangoda,
Sri Lanka.
06.05.2016
To whom it may concern
I am writing this letter to request a donation for the building of a new
àvàsa (residence for resident and visiting student nuns)
the above address. We shall be most
grateful for any financial assistance that can be given. The àràmaya is in a
remote hamlet in a semi forested area in the hinterland of Veyangoda, about 60
kilometers from Colombo. We shall be
most grateful for whatever donation you can give or if you could put us on to a
generous donor.
The Head Nun of
the àràmaya is Ven. Bhikkhuni Badalgama
Dhammanandani. She is an educated nun of
high integrity possessing a very disciplined upright character full of humility
and compassion. She is greatly respected and loved by the villagers.
The building of
the àvàsa had become a priority because the old one had been
built about fifty years ago with inferior materials. Its walls and cement
floors had begun to crack and wooden door frames and windows were beginning to
perish. Besides there was not enough
space to accommodate the 5 resident nuns, leave alone the visiting students
nuns who come to study the sutta, vinaya
and abhidhamma piñakas
and Pàli under the guidance of the Head Nun.
The plans have
been drawn up by a qualified architect.
The cost of building the àvàsa has been
estimated at Rs.9 million. We have
raised Rs.3 million. The villagers have pledged to make the roof free of cost estimated
at Rs.1 million. They will do so by supplying materials free of charge and
voluntary labour. Also a Taiwanese nun has promised to meet the cost of the
concrete slab (the floor of the upper storey )also estimated at about Rs 1
million. Therefore we have accounted for
Rs.5 million of the total estimate of Rs.9 million. Now we have to find the balance Rs.4 million.
It is a small but
truly exemplary àràmaya with a
strong bond between it and the villagers among whom the Head Nuns does a lot of
religious and social work by regular visits, dhamma discussions, Poya
Day programmes, Bodhi Pujas, etc. The aramaya
has a well- organized Dhamma School also.
With mettà,
Bhikkhuni Dr.
Suvimalee
Visàkhàràmaya, Galgamuva, Veyangoda
The village of Galgamuva, Veyangoda
The hermitage
of Visàkhàràmaya
lies amidst a number of scattered cottages and modest homesteads in an
un-urbanized countryside about sixty kilometers from Colombo. There are no industries in this area. A few
motor-repairing yards and one or two steel welding workshops, apparently, give
a great deal of customer-service to the residents. There are hardly any shops
in the village except for a vegetable and fruit shop. Near the railway station
of Keenawela, about a kilometer from the aramaya,
there is seen a little more collective commercial activity in the presence of a
tiny post office, a medical centre, a barber’s salon, a photographer’s studio,
a photocopying shop, a part-time doctor’s clinic and a complementary laboratory
facility adjoining and a few grocery stores. A small bevy of three-wheeler
taxis parked near the gate of the railway station, which looks like a toy
station, await in readiness for customers.
The villagers of Galgamuva are mostly
small scale paddy farmers, vegetable cultivators and artisans like carpenters,
masons, brick layers and plumbers. A new
arrival on the scene is computer technology, fore-shadowing the invasion of
modernity into the near wilderness of Galgamuva. A few skilled computer/laptop repairers and
operators are popping up among the youth.
All the above mentioned mostly commute to work in the urbanized centres
of Veyangoda, Nittambuva, Gampaha or Colombo itself. Electricity is supplied to
the peaceful village from the national grid from Norochchole but sewage and
water supply is a local matter. Each homestead has its own well. The aramaya
has an overhead tank which is filled with water daily from the well by means of
an electric motor.
The un-urbanized village of Galgamuva is a
maze of gravel pathways branching off from a circuitous concrete carpeted road
which leaves the main A1 Colombo-Kandy highway at several points such as
Veyangoda, Nittambuva and Pasyala. The village comes under the administrative
authority of the provincial council of Gampaha.
Galgamuva is a good example of the slow
urbanization process taking place in many remote villages in Sri Lanka. At the
grass root level one finds a store of folk lore and indigenous medicine culture
among the villagers. The refining
influence of the Buddhist doctrine flows out to the villagers from temples in
the area and Visakharamaya, not to mention the Buddhist channels of the media, though
they have to compete with the glitz of Bollywood which has a magnetic
attraction for the younger generation.
The History of Visàkhàràmaya, Galgamuva, Veyangoda
The àràmaya was
established in 1965 at the request of Ven. Batagama Medhanandha Thero, Chief
monk of the Meditation Centre at Galigamuva, Naugala, Kegalle. It was he who began the Society of Dasa Sil Màtà (ten precept nuns) at Naugala. The headquarters of this society was set up
at the bottom of a rocky hill. The monk
resided at the summit of the hill in a cave.
He taught the Dhamma and Vinaya to the nuns in the memory of his
mother. Again, it was he who suggested
to Ran Meniké Subhasinghe, an upàsikàva (lay
devotee) who resided in Galgamuva, Veyangoda, to find a donor who would like to
donate a piece of land on which to build a small àvàsa (a
residence) for a few nuns. The upàsikàva was a pupil
of Ven. Galigamuve Khemàcàri, Head Nun of the Society of Dasa Sil Màtà nuns at Naugala.
Ran Meniké Subhasinghe acted quickly on
the suggestion and invited her teacher to come and reside in her house till she
found a donor. So, Ven. Khemàcàri went and resided in Ran Meniké’s house and very soon a
donor was found and the present Visàkhàràmaya stands on that piece of property
that was gifted. Putting up the modest avasa did not take up much time. When it was built, Ven. Khemàcàri went into residence there with a few other nuns. Originally, the roof was thatched with palm
leaves and the walls were built of wall rocks and clay. Sometime later, an
adjoining piece of land on which stood an old Bodhi tree, was also gifted by
another donor.
After residing at the àvàsa for about three
or four months, Ven. Khemàcàri returned to Naugala, leaving
behind a few nuns under the charge of Ven. Dedigama Sakulà.
Before long, the other nuns also received gifts of land, mostly in the Kurunegala
district and also in Mirigama and they left Visàkhàràmaya to establish their own
respective àràmayas. Thus
were born the first children of the parent body at Naugala.
In March 1972, the present Head Nun of Visàkhàràmaya,Badalgama
Dhammanandani, received pabbajjà ordination at Naugala.
She was eighteen years old at that time.
On 15 April, 1972, she came to reside at Visàkhàràmaya
under the guidance of Ven. Dedigama Sakulà.
In 1997, Ven. Dedigama Sakulà was taken ill which disease was
diagnosed as leukemia and although
treated at the base hospital at Watupitivela succumbed to the illness and died
the following year and Ven. Dhammanandani
who had looked after her teacher with great devotion, became the Head
Nun of Visàkhàràmaya.
On September 14, 1998, Ven. Badalgama
Dhammanandani took the bold step of being ordained as a Sàmaneri at Naugala. In the year 2000, she along with nine other Sàmaneris, received Higher Ordination at Fo Guang Shan
Monastery in Taiwan. This was a genuine Ubhato Saïgha
Higher Ordination with not only twenty Chinese bhikkhunis from mainland China
participating but ten Upajjhàya bhikkhus from Fo Guan Shan also officiating in the
ceremony. Immediately after that ceremony, ten Upajjhàya bhikkhus from Sri Lanka conducted a
separate Higher Ordination ceremony thus legitimizing and confirming the Higher
Ordination as a truly Theravàda Higher Ordination thus obviating any doubts that could occur in the
future as to its legitimacy. Among these
Sri Lankan Upajjhàya bhikkhus were, Ven. Porogama Somalankara Thero, Ven.
Talalle Dhammaloka Thero, Ven. Henapola Gunaratana, Ven. Attudawa Rahula, Ven.
Batagama Medhananda, Ven. Bodagama Chandima and Ven. Olande Ananda.
Visàkhàràmaya at Present
Visàkhàràmaya at Galgamuva, like many other
Bhikkhuni àràmayas, has
developed very fast during the last fifteen years. It has a large two storeyed Dhamma school
building and quite recently, a small ceitiya
(stupa) and a large Viharage have
come up. What is interesting about this development
is that it has taken place with the close co-operation and participation of the
villagers. The service from the àràmaya to the
villagers is a two way process. During
the last forty years, the Head Nun has established herself firmly in the respect
and affection of the villagers. The present new buildings could not have come
up without their labour and materials freely given, though some donations did
come from outside. With the stupa, and a new viharage and the newly built Bodhi pràkàra , (Bodhi
tree with shrines around it housing 28 previous Buddhas) the àràmaya now has the three characteristic features of a temple
proper. It is now the old àvàsa that has to
receive our attention.
Plans for a new àvàsa have been
drawn up by an architect according to the brief given by the Head Nun who has
indicated that the new àvàsa has to
cater for not only the present five resident nuns but an estimated 12 novice
nuns who will come for instructions on a regular basis. So the àvàsa will be
changing its character from a purely residential facility for resident nuns to catering
for a Teaching Centre also.
