Temples, statues and roadside shrines

Being in a Buddhist country, temples, statues and roadside shrines are everywhere, particularly in the west and south. I really like seeing the Buddha in all the villages and sometimes just out in a field by himself.

Mogul Maha Vihara, Lahugala

Typical of old ruins there are low brick walls and stone pillars. Renovation usually straightens the walls and stands the pillars up, but they still show the wear of many years being distorted from their original shape.

Today, Mogul Maha Vihara is a wonderfully peaceful forest setting, although I don't know it was like that when originally built a couple thousand years ago. I rather favor the peacefulness of the forest settings over the blistering heat of the open terrain monasteries.

The approach to the vihara is a walkway between two white lotus ponds.

Mahiyangana Raja Maha Vihara

The stupa at Mahiyangana. These guys are stringing lights on the stupa for some upcoming celebration. How would you like their job, climbing up those bamboo ladders with rungs tied on with some kind of twine?

A grand Bodhi tree in the Mahiyangana grounds. A truly peaceful spot in the shade of this tree.

Mahiyangana also has a bit of that carnival atmosphere made for tourists. This temple elephant was chained up so snug that he could hardly move, but while I was there it was time to give him a break and his handler released him and walked him to a drink and bath and then off elsewhere. In this shot, the elephant had just walked right up and stood face-to-face with me, sniffed at me a bit, and then turned and walked off. It doesn't show here, but he is actually very large: his eyes are about the level of the top of my head. Though very peaceful, facing something that big at just five feet away left me quite awed.

Kudimbigala Forest Hermitage

In the center off in the distance you see two large rocks; atop the right one a small pimple is the main stupa of Kudimbigala Forest Hermitage.

The Hermitage is mostly a collection of caves spread out through the hills and forest with a central area where some ruins are said to date from a pre-B.C. century.  Since many ruins in Sri Lanka date from the 3rd - 1st century B.C., it seems fairly reasonable.

There were previously around 300 monks living in the forest, but during the war many people moved out of this area as the LTTE was killing civilians and monks.  With the lack of local support - conventional monasteries depend on a local lay population donating basic needs like food, robes and medicine - all the monks left except for this one monk.  He is 87 years old and although he is barefoot and I'm wearing sandals, when he starts guiding me through the forest, I need to step lively or get left behind. He does have one lay person with him who helps tend some of his needs, like cooking the food and arranging things with lay people. They say with the war over, people may now return to the area and with lay people in the area to support the hermitage, perhaps monks will return.

The view from the stupa at the top of the hill is particularly nice, showing the surrounding landscape and the eastern shore of Sri Lanka in the distance. The view from the hermitage back to that hill shows the stupa and, to the right, a natural reclining Buddha with his head on the left. The lay person is particularly happy about this natural statue.

Buddhangala Rajamaha Viharaya

Buddhangala Hermitage is a slightly remote monastery in eastern Sri Lanka. I met an interesting monk there, a retired Sri Lankan Army Major General. After he lost his wife, raised two daughters alone and finished his Army career, he returned to a calling from earlier in life. Swapping his Army uniform for monk's robes and contributing his own money to Buddhangala, building the reclining Buddha statue and improving the monastery buildings, Ven. Buddhangala Ananda Thera moved in.

The modern reclining Buddha statue.

The old stupa.

I was fortunate to spend some time with Ananda Thera. You can still see the confidence of a General, but it is wrapped in a distinct calm. He asked me why I came to Sri Lanka, helped me see some truth around that, and then gave me a very nice Dhamma lesson before I left. Such a treat.

View from the stupa.