whichwas presented to the Late Amatagavesi thero  to set up the Meditation Centre.

 It is a Meditation Centre with a difference.   
 

The Late Venerable Amathagavesi, popularly known as the Loku Hamuduruwo, was able to simplify the dhamma for the ordinary villagers  who came to him from the far corners of Sri Lanka,  using their Saddha -unvavering confidence in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha inculcated into them from their birth through their development in to man or womanhood, to make them in a very short time reach higher levels of mental development through intensive meditation.

The Meditation instructions are given by  the resident "Nuns", who have  themselves studied and meditated under the direction of the Maha Thero and have reached higher levels of mental purity and gained  considerable experience  instructioning those who come to them from varous walks of life , from simple villagers to University Scholars and students.

Method of  Meditation at the Devanapathis Samatha Vippassa Meditation Center is the practice of  Kayanupassana (meditation on the 32 parts of the body) and Metta Bhavana (meditation on Universal love to all beings, directed to the  10 cardinal points). The former, against attachment to self and the latter ,against aversion.  This is  followed by the meditation on the in and out breath as it touches a spot under the nostrils (anapanasati bhavana) to attain Samadhi ( deep concentration) and allow the mind to apsorb into four jhana states through determination. Mindful observation of  nama (mentality) and rupa( materiality) and  hetu (cause) and phala (effect) and the  attention turned towards rising and falling away of thoughts conditions the mind  for Vipassana Meditation. Thereafter careful practice of Kammatthana( instructions)  given by the nuns(Manio) a meditator  may ascend the path in stages to attain freedom-nibbana.

Zen Buddhism  speaks of a Buddha citta  the original mind, that every being possessed before it became cluttered through continuous belief in a self and  developing various habits in the process  of cultivating the self. Bringin this mind back to its original purity is the development of the mind without distortion . This in essence is what the Maha Thero did in developing a method which is simple in its application and remarkable in achievement. He applied the Theravada teachings strictly adhering to the Sutta Pitaka, making it  simple for ordinary people to understand and practice. His discourses made in unpretentious simplicity  are clear, to the point, and of absorbing interest.

He was ordained at the Kanduboda Meditation Centre but left it owing to a disagreement on the choice of the  up and down motion of the abdoman as the object of meditation for the development of Samadhi. He argued that it was neither the method practiced  by  the Buddha  nor a method he had spoken of any where in his discourses contained in the Tripitaka. Therafter, he went to the Daham Medura, Embuldeniya, Nugegoda where he started conducting 14 day retreats on a unique method developed on his own keeping strictly within the teachings of the Lord Buddha. At the outset he was assisted by lay women Upasikavo in white robes.  In 1996  he invited Chandra Manio from Pothuhera, Kurunegala, who was an ordained yellow robed Sil Matha to head the Order of Nuns he was to establish later on. The Venerable Amatha Gavesi is unique also in having established  an Order of Dasa Sil Manio uplifting their status  among the Buddhist laity, and giving them the responsibility of teaching the unique method of Meditation he founded based on his own personal experience.

Venerable Amatha Gavesi born on 19 December,1918 passed away on the 11 June,2003.  Since his death the resident monk of the Centre is

the Venerable Mahawatte Panditha Pemalankara Thero.