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Eulogy: Venerable Dr. Madawela Punnaji Maha Thera 26.11.1929- 27.7.2018.

Delivered by Brother Vong Choong Choy

Due to time constrain I will only highlight Bhante Punnaji’s missionary work
when he was the spiritual adviser at the Brickfields Buddhist Maha Vihara from
2007 to 2018.

Before his appointment as the spiritual advisor Bhante Punnaji as he is fondly

called, had visited the vihara on a few occasions as a visiting monk. During one of
his visits in the late 1990s he met the Venerable Vimalaramsi, an American who
happened to be residing there at that time. When Bhante Punnaji was at the vihara
Venerable Vimalaramsi took the opportunity to discuss some important issues on
the Dhamma with him. Venerable Vimalaramsi was troubled by different
interpretations on the Dhamma by different teachers. Bhante Punnaji’s advice to
him was “to stop relying on Commentaries and go back to the suttas for the
answers”. Later in one of his writings Venerable Vimalaramsi did acknowledge
that the advice he received from Bhante did help him to move forward in his
practice.

On another visit to the vihara he had an interesting encounter with one of the
devotees in 2002. During one of the talks he told the devotees that the topic given
to him, the Paticca Samuppada is a very difficult topic to talk on. Then one of the
devotees from the audience told Bhante that if the topic is too difficult for him, it
will be all right for him to change it to another topic. Calmly Bhante told the
devotees that he has no problem with the topic, but he is concerned that many
among the audience may not be able to follow him.

Bhante Punnaji first caught the attention of the devotees at the Brickfields
Buddhist Maha Vihara when he was invited to deliver the Eulogy for the late
Chief Venerable Dhammananda in 2006. After the passing of the late Chief the
management realized that there was the need for a resident monk who could
deliver the Dhamma regularly on Friday nights and Sunday mornings, the
responsibility normally undertaken by the late Chief. Hence the management
decided to invite Bhante Punnaji to be the spiritual advisor and he accepted the
invitation. Bhante Punnaji arrived to take up the position in the second half of
2007. He delivered his first Dhamma talk at 8pm in the P.H. Hendry Hall on
Friday 3rd August 2007. The topic he spoke on was “What is Being Reborn”.
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I remember that I was seated in the hall with my notebook trying to take down
every word he said. I did not own an audio recorder then. When Bhante started his
talk I realized that he reminded me of the late Chief – in the manner he speaks and
the way he delivers the Dhamma. I could remember the phrase Bhante used during
his talk: the Problem of Existence. It means we are aware that we exist, grow old,
fall sick and eventually die. If we exist we will have to die, but no one wants to
die! I attend his second Dhamma talk on Friday 24 th August 2007. The topic
delivered was “What is Truth”. It was from this talk that I realized that this person
had very special qualities and that I should learn the Dhamma from him. In this
talk Bhante spoke about Western philosophy. He used the word epistemology,
meaning “the search for knowledge or the truth”.

Later when Bhante was more settled Brother Prematilaka (the lawyer) decided to
ask him to conduct the Monday Sutta Sessions, meant mainly for serious students
of the Dhamma. Later he asked me to become the co-ordinator of the class which I
gladly accepted. Brother Leslie Tilak is currently in charge of all the sessions. The
first Sutta Session started at 8pm on Monday 3rd September 2007 in the Wisdom
Room. It was attended by only about 20 participants. During the first session
Bhante gave a brief introduction on how he spent his entire life studying the
original teachings of the Buddha. He recommended that serious scholars of the
Dhamma should stick to the suttas and not the commentaries. He believed the
suttas in the Theravada tradition are the closest to the original teachings of the
Buddha. Next he introduced the Culahatthipadopama Sutta to the class.
Incidentally this was the first sutta delivered by Venerable Mahinda when he first
set foot in Ceylon. Today we have about 100 devotees registered for the class. The
last Sutta Session given by Bhante was on Monday 9 th April 2018. The sutta
chosen was the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta.

Besides teaching the suttas, Bhante had also conducted about two stay-in
meditation retreats a year. Like the Sutta Sessions the retreats started with a small
number of yogis. As news of Bhante’s reputation travelled fast, more people
became interested in the retreats. Eventually Sister Bodhi who was responsible for
the retreats had to limit the number of participants attending each retreat. It was
physically impossible for Bhante to manage more than 30 yogis per session all by
himself. The later retreats also attract many foreign yogis coming from all over the
world. It also included monks and nuns. As a meditation teacher Bhante was
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compassionate, patient and understanding with his yogis. Bhante’s meditation

technique was based on the Sublime Eightfold Way (Noble Eightfold Path).

Bhante likes his new environment in the vihara very much. The management was
very supportive and the staff attended to all his needs including his regular medical
check-ups. At the vihara, Bhante had many local devotees who were interested to
learn from him. They were ready to offer moral and material support for him to
encourage him to carry on with his work. On one occasion Bhante told me that his
original room above the office was too small and noisy and not conducive for his
writing. Fortunately some of us were able to convince the management to move
him to his present unit which is self contained. The unit has two rooms – a
bedroom and a study cum prayer room, a sitting room, and attached washroom. He
was very happy with his new unit. Once the present Chief confided in me about
the length of Bhante’s stay. He said that we are lucky to have Bhante with us for
so many years because it was not easy to convince him to remain in one place for
such a long period.

It was during his stay at the vihara that Bhante rewrote “Awakening Meditation”
and made it into three books. “Selective Thinking Meditation Guide - Level One”
was first published in April 2009. This was originally undertaken by Brother
Wong Tam Keong, Brother Hilson Yap and me. Subsequently the Vihara took
over the rest of the publications. “Tranquility of Mind - Level Two” was published
in 2011. He completed and published “Awakening from the Dream of Existence -
Level Three” in 2014. These books are used as guidelines for his meditation
retreats. In between Bhante Punnaji has also published many other books, all made
available in the Vihara. I would say this is the most important legacy he has left
behind for his devotees all over the world.

Bhante is all the time thinking of new ideas. To my knowledge Bhante is currently
working on the book entitled “Buddhism a Religion, Philosophy, Psychology and
Practice”. I have provided him with his recordings and transcripts on this topic.
Unfortunately I have no idea how far he has progressed with it. Finally we are sure
with his level of practice and years of dedication to the Dhamma, Bhante will
finally attain the most supreme bliss of Nibbana. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.