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6 EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE

The social and welfare activities
that I have organized were to
provide the needed aids to the
community at large. Such projects
are particularly useful for a large
section of society who are not rich,
thus these little aids can help them
in a long way! The support from
temple devotees and the public has
inspired me to work harder for the
needy. Thus, I have added activities
like Counseling for Cancer patients
and their relatives through Metta for
Life programs, weekly vegetarian
food for needy senior citizens
(about 400-500 pax) through the
Bhojana Kitchen, and more recently Buddhist Sunday Schools Since becoming the chief monk
I started the Bhojana Herbal Haven generally have a problem to of Mahindarama Temple in
that provides weekly healthy fresh attract teenagers to come 1995, can you tell us some of the
raw edible greens and drinks to the for classes. Based on your positive changes you have seen in
needy. The temple management experience, how do we overcome the temple over the years, since
has been a tremendous source of such a problem? Can you share this year is the centenary of the
support to me in terms of providing the experience of Mahindarama temple?
financial support for the fund- Sunday Pali School regarding
raising projects, and so are the this issue, including any effective After I initiated various types of
temple devotees who have been or innovative projects that have activities, many volunteers have
most generous with both their time been tried and tested to attract come forward to support our
and money. the youths? welfare projects. Support has been
How did you manage to expand very encouraging. Over the years, I
these socially-engaged activities This is true. It is very difficult to have also noticed that the devotees
to Sri Lanka and Japan? attract teenagers to attend classes at the temple are not just more

and participate in religious and educated and knowledgeable about
The only activity that was expanded spiritual activities. In our temple, Buddhism, but have also learnt
to Sri Lanka and Japan was the we introduced new activities like to be very generous, helpful, and
Amata Medical & Diabetic Center. In outings, field trips, team-building, compassionate. The importance of
Japan, they provide mobile services singing, play acting, sports etc. doing good to benefit others seems
to remote areas in the outskirts of As our Sunday School classes are to have become second nature to
Tokyo. In Sri Lanka we have two conducted in English, many parents many of them! I am pleased that
centers at Kelaniya Gangaramaya have been encouraged to send many of the devotees at the temple
Buddhist temple and at Patipada their children to the temple so that now understand the practice of
International Retreat Center, they can learn both Buddhism and Dāna (generosity), Sīla (morality)
Colombo, that was built in 2012 by English. and Bhavana (meditation).
our devotees. All the volunteers in
our overseas centers are managed
by locals.