Death of the Most Ven. Homagama Kondanna Maha Thera

It is with great sorrow that we convey the sad news of the death of Most Ven. Homagama Kondanna Maha Thera, one of Sri Lanka’s best-known monks for Buddhist missionary work overseas, and mentor and meditation teacher of several famous people, including a former President of Argentina.  Bhante Kondanna passed away on the morning of Thursday, February 03, 2022, at the Heathrow Athula Dassana International Buddhist Temple, London, UK. He was 82 years of age.

 VENERABLE BHANTE HOMAGAMA KONDANNA was a Forest Tradition monk in the style of Ajahn Chah and was born on April 15, 1939, in Homagama, (20 kilometers from Colombo). He was the first of a large family. He attended Royal Primary School and Thurstan College, Colombo. He was sent by his parents to London to study and graduated in automotive engineering in 1962. After graduation he worked at the Rolls-Royce company. After a 16 year professional career in London he began to realise the futility of worldly life that had attracted him as a layperson. He realised that life was a transient temporary journey with no real meaning and no permanence and in monkhood, he saw a better alternative to live his life and work out his answers for the imponderables of life.

He was ordained in 1978 on a barge at high tide on the River Thames (ordination on the water is an alternative when a properly bounded location is not available). Ajahn Dr. Hammalawa Saddhatissa Thera (Head of the UK Sangha) was the preceptor and Ajahn Sumedho was the acharya. Thereafter he spent about a year and a half at the Hampstead Vihara and was a member of the pioneer group that carried out the huge renovation and reconstruction needed to revive the Monastery at Chithurst from 1978/79. In 1981 he was sent to be with Ajahn Chah in Ubon. He started off on his pilgrimage around the world to disseminate his message of peace and spiritual concentration in 1983.

From Thailand, he went to Vipassana Meditation Centre in Moratuwa. He also served as a member of the Elders Committee for 11 years. He was the spiritual advisor of the Sewa Lanka Foundation. Sewa Lanka enhances the capacity of rural communities to democratically identify and address their own development needs and provides services that contribute to the economically viable, socially just, and ecologically sustainable development of Sri Lanka. He has travelled widely in North and South America, Europe, and Asia where he has led retreats for the last 40 years

He was the director of the Siresena Meditation Centre of Moratuwa. While serving in this capacity he used to travel all over the world sharing his message of peace and spiritual concentration. He ran meditation retreats in Latin America and delivered talks on Buddhism and Meditation all around the world. “Meditation is the only way to transform human beings, get them away from their bad habits, from their bad temper, from hate. We can change just by thinking, we can control our mind”, stated the monk.

In Sri Lanka, Ven. Kondanna was a popular preacher of Bana Sermons at various Buddhist Temples and particularly at Meththaramaya, Lauries Road, Colombo 04.

He has served as the Anusasaka of the German Dharmaduta Society (founded by Asoka Weeraratna) for some time and delivered a Bana Sermon on the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the German Dharmaduta Society (1952 – 2002) held in Colombo.

Bhante Homagama Kondanna Thera was a frequent visitor to Das Buddhistische Haus (Berlin Buddhist Vihara) in Berlin – Frohnau, Germany. He has facilitated numerous dhamma talks and retreats over the years at Das Buddhistische Haus. Bhante Kondanna also spent a couple of months there at DBH once again at the end of 2021, before finally heading to the UK where he passed away. Bhante Kondanna had highly recommended his disciple Bhante Pelane Dhamma Kusala for Dhamma work at Das Buddhistische Haus in Berlin, and we are very grateful that the latter has now become the current Resident monk at DBH (Berlin Vihara).

German Dharmaduta Society

Colombo