Pure Inspiration

Ven. Bhikkhu Guttasīla – 60
Nikaya), which was also the Nikāya that Island Hermitage belonged to.
So monks at Island Hermitage had ordained through Vajirarama. This
was also the place where Bhante Ñāṇavimala used to come whenever
he stayed in Colombo.
I’d heard about Bhante Ñāṇavimala from some of the senior foreign
monks in Sri Lanka such as Ven. Ñāṇaramita. In Sri Lanka, I had a lot
of regard for foreign monks who were senior to myself. Sri Lanka was
a place where we could still find this lineage of senior Western monks.
Ven. Ñāṇapoṇika was still alive in Kandy. He must have been about 80
years old at that time. I think Ven. Ñāṇavimala was the most senior
monk after Ven. Ñāṇapoṇika and he had quite a reputation. As young
Western monks, we need senior monks to look up to, especially, senior
Western monks.
Ven. Ñāṇavimala showed the more practical aspect of the monk’s life.
He lived a wandering life outside the vassa. Only during the vassa did
he find a suitable place to stay. Apart from that, he had the reputation
of only staying three nights in any particular place. As he was walking,
then obviously, he would have stayed longer at places he liked. I
understand there was one arañña at Polpitigama, Kurunegala where he
liked to stay. Ven. Ñāṇavimala was a German monk, and he was very
austere and spent his time on cārikā (walking tour). Because of his
lifestyle and the different stories we heard about him, we were very
impressed. This made him a good role model to look up to.
Ven. Ñāṇavimala, from what we heard of him had spent ten years
continuously at Island Hermitage. I don’t know if he did leave the
island at that time, if he did, it was for only very short periods. Ven.
Ñāṇavimala was very fortunate to have the company of Ven.