Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero
Sri Lankan Buddhist monk (1896-1998)
Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thera (Sinhala: අග්ග මහා පණ්ඩිත බලංගොඩ ආනන්ද මෛත්රෙය මහා නා හිමිපාණන් වහන්සේ) (23 August 1896 — 18 July 1998) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who was one of the most distinguished scholars and expositors of Theravāda Buddhism in the twentieth century. He was highly respected by Sri Lankan Buddhists, who believed that he had achieved a higher level of spiritual development. Sri Lankan Buddhists also considered Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thera as a Bodhisattva, who will attain Buddhahood in a future life.
Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thera lived a modest life and did a great service for the propagation of Buddhist philosophy. In recognition of his valuable service at the Sixth Buddhist council held in Burma, the Burmese government conferred on him the title of Agga Maha Pandita (Chief Great Scholar) in 1956. Later in March 1997, the Burmese government conferred on Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thera the highest Sangha title, Abhidhaja Maha Rattha Guru (Most Eminent Great Spiritual Teacher), which is equivalent to Sangharaja, in honor of his unique service to the Buddhist religion.
Biography
Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thera was born on 23 August 1896 in Kirindigala, Balangoda, to the family of N. A. Matthias Appuhamy (Maddumahamy) and B. Heenmanike. His birth name was Punchi Mahattaya. His mother died when he was 14 days old and he was brought up by his father's brother and his wife. His primary education was at Kumara Vidyalaya, Balangoda.
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This entry incorporates text from “Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.