PB Alahakoon

Whenever we used to ask him what he would like to drink he always wanted plain tea and a little sugar in his palm. It was at these times, as he sat in the kitchen, that was built to his plan, tea in one hand, sugar in the other, that we had the opportunity to share with him about Nilambe. He would ask about its current state, and in the gaps between his interest in the current affairs of Nilambe we had the opportunity to hear about its history, its conception and realization and all the hard work that went into making it what it is today.

In the 1970s an American monk, Bhikkhu Akasa, conducted a meditation course at Dharmaraja Collage. It was the first time such an event had been organized in the city and it proved to be very popular. One of the people who participated in this course was Mr. Alahakoon’s brother-in-law and he subsequently encouraged Mr. Alahakoon to take up meditation. Some time later Bhikkhu Akasa conducted another meditation at the Peradeniya University campus to which Mr. Alahakoon and his wife attended. Both became very interested in meditation and started attending a regular meditation sitting at the engineer’s bungalow at the Peradeniya campus. When the bungalow became unavailable for these weekly meditations Mr. Alahakoon conceived the idea of building a centre specifically for meditation.

He and his spiritual friends Godwin, Pabakrama Fernando and Bhante Dhammika visited famous meditation centers in Sri Lanka to see how they functioned, how they were managed what their background was and so on. He invited Venerable Sivali, the respected meditation teacher Kandaboda, to have a look at the place and make suggestions. He wanted to create a centre that was for anyone who wanted to practice meditation freely, a centre that was independent and self-sufficient, in that it did not depend on the outside community for its well-being. The land is 10 acres, the buildings being located on 5 acres, and he had the idea to cultivate the remaining land for the center’s maintenance. Nilambe became the first lay meditation centre in Sri Lanka.

During the period before the centre opened he and his wife offered their tea estate bungalow for meditation retreats. He planted many of the trees that are around the centre and he also created an avenue of trees lining part of the road up to Nilambe to shade the meditators on their walk up to the centre.

Last time Mr. Alahakoon came to the centre at the end of 1996 he was so happy because the centre was going so well nearly 27 years after its creation. There were tears in his eyes because he was so happy. On his last visit here he mentioned two things, first, he wanted to give Jivadana (final offering to the Buddhist monks). We were happy to hear that on the 26 January (his birthday) his wife and children fully supported to offer that beautiful dana at his house. And second he mentioned that he wanted to start a fund with his pension to help those meditators that do not have enough financial background for their basic requirements.

His generosity with his time, money, property and support was immeasurable. More than 1000 resident meditators per year have used the centre to develop their meditation practice, to help solve their psychological and physical health problems and enrich their lives, monks, nuns, locals, foreigners, school and university students, Buddhists and non-Buddhists all have made use of the centre. There is no argument but that he was a man of his age.

The centre became popular both in Sri Lanka and internationally because of our former teacher Godwin Samararatne. There are now many meditation centers around the world that were inspired both by Godwin and Nilambe. The Nilambe motto is the “the lotus of man flourishes in the pond of society” and Mr. Alahakoon has surely flourished during his time. He was a man of his age because his vision was brought to fruition so successfully.

Mr. Alahakoon and his wife would come and stay at the centre to develop their meditation practice. They behaved like any other meditator, and did not expect any special attention and care, they followed the schedule just like everyone else and abided by all the rules and regulations. And Mrs. Alahakoon donated two beautiful kutis to the centre. We are so grateful to Mr. Alahakoon for being the Father of the Nilambe meditation centre, may all his accumulated merits shorten his samsaric journey, may he be free from suffering and attain Nibbana. Our thoughts are with his family at this time of such immense change.