Ven. Dikwelle Upatissa Thero (left) and late Ven. Daranagama Kusaladhamma Thero pioneered the setting up of 24-hour Buddhist TV channel
Ven. Dikwelle Upatissa Thero is a Buddhist scholar, teacher, linguist and a well-known preacher on radio and television, who shuttles between Sri Lanka and Canada engaged in the service of Buddhism.
He arrived in Toronto on the invitation of Ven. Ahangama Rathanasiri Nayake Thero, Viharadhipathi of Toronto Maha Viharaya, in the 90s to engage in Buddhist activities in Canada.
Ven. Upatissa served as a teacher for more than 30 years in Sri Lanka and became the director of the Vipassana Meditation Centre in Colombo 7 and was instrumental in setting up of the TV channel Bauddhanalika, along with Ven. Daranagama Kusaladhamma Thero who passed away last year. Today, Ven. Upatissa functions as the patron of the channel.
He is well known for his radio programmes in Sri Lanka since the 80s and is one of the few Buddhist monks who uses poems to embellish his sermons in a way to appeal to the masses.
While working as a government teacher he applied for a post of Buddhist preacher at the SLBC (Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation). After a tough interview, a written exam and a voice test he was selected out of 17 other monks for the position and since then he has built a reputation for Buddhist sermons and discussions.
Since the 80s he has presented a variety of radio programmes like Dhamma Chinta, Daham Suwanda, Maithri Bhavana, in addition to delivering regular Buddhist sermons and taking part in various Dhamma discussions. He presented the early morning radio programme Maithri Bhavana continuously for 10 years.
Speaking to newstrails.com in an exclusive interview the monk said that from his young days he liked to go to the temple with his parents but never had the intention of becoming a monk.
“I was a very naughty child at school and used to fight with my classmates whose parents came to meet my mother often with various complains of injuries to their children. And when my class teacher came to know that I became a monk he had said ‘sadhu, sadhu, sadhu’ in the classroom with obvious relief,” the thero said with a chuckle reminiscing about his early life.
Born in Dikwella in Matara as Upasena in a family of five siblings, he entered the priesthood at the age of 15 in 1956, the year the Buddha Jayanthi (2500 years of Buddhism) was celebrated, and received the Upasampada (Higher Ordination) in 1961.
It was his mother who wanted to see him become a monk and the young boy had no objections but his father was vehemently against the move and advised him secretly not to visit the temple. But, later, his father had agreed to his mother’s wishes.
The transition from lay life to a religious one dedicated to the Buddha Sasana was smooth. When he went to the temple with his mother and informed the high priest of the temple his intention of becoming a monk, the priest was taken by surprise but seemed elated by the young boy’s dedication. The monk, Kongaha Salalankara Thero, was also the Viharadhikari (secretary) of the temple.
The priest asked him to come to the temple to study religion under him as preparatory proceedings for his religious life. He began to study a book named Prashashtha Shathakaya containing hundred gathas written in Pali and Sankrit, surprising his teacher by memorizing all the stanzas and their Sinhala meanings within a considerably short time, laying the foundation for him to enter the sasana, and master the two languages. Pali is the lingua franca of Buddhist texts.
Ven. Upatissa graduated with honours in Buddhism from the Vidyodaya University. He was residing at the Mirandaramya in Modera (Mutwal) during his university days. Mirandaramaya got its name from Mirando family who built the temple and it was the first aramaya in Colombo to have a pagoda.
After the graduation, late Ven. Madihe Pagnaseeha Maha Nayake Thero appointed him as a teacher at the Maharagama Bhikku Training Centre. After two and half years he was appointed as a government teacher in Hambanthota Dalada Maha Vidyalaya. Later Ven. Upatissa was transferred to Veluwana Vidyalaya in Dematagoda and from there he joined the staff of the Asoka Vidyalaya.
He was the first Bhddhist monk to be appointed to Asoka Vidyalaya which functions as the primary school of Ananda College, one of the two leading Buddhist schools in the island.
He was appointed as the director of the Vipassana Meditation Centre in Colombo while former prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike held the post of the president at the centre.
Presently, he is engaged in dhamma services at the Toronto Maha Viharaya and takes time off from his busy schedule to attend to his duties at Bauddhanalika as its main patron.
The TV channel with a staff of about a hundred is operating from a six-storey building situated at the Sambodhi Viharaya premises broadcasting a variety of programmes like sermons (dhamma desana), discussions, pirith chanting and other programmes based on Buddhism. Ven. Upatissa is also the patron of the Sambodhi Viharaya in England. – Somasiri Munasinghe
