Unconventional Buddhist monk in most if not all aspects of being a Buddhist monk. He has 20 million RP worth BMW car and lot of other assets but he doesn't believe in helping people or anybody with his wealth. The problem with such wealth gathering is that it doesn't agree with some core tenets of forest tradition, let alone any tradition for that matter. So, the idea of him using the first name "Wanawasi" is oxymoronic. I think he built an 'ashram' that caters for the foreigners and he gathered some resources to support for him in the process, but in reality he is living in a temple he built himself with own hard work and resources. This is not all that difficult if a person(or a Buddhist monk) ignores what being Buddhist monk(lets say forest tradition) means. Of course he has good points to make. Giving away some of his wealth to poor people is not a good approach to help them because people would become dependents with such approach. But, he's not doing any programs to teach people to how to be self sufficient either(AFAIK) either. I suppose he doesn't believe in helping lay people with their life issues as a traditional Sinhala Buddhist monk(of temple tradition) would believe in. However, there is a lot to learn for lay people from him how to build something from nothing and how to be self sufficient, and perhaps for temple Buddhist monks can learn from him on how to be independent as well. One thing is certain regardless of whether this Buddhist monk does some good work(that he's not disclosing openly). That is he is NO forest tradition Buddhist monk in the Buddhist sense, even though he lives in the middle of a forest ashram. He is a self sufficient temple monk who prefers to stay away from people and not rely on people for anything. Why he is a Buddhist monk then? I think he learned to like it for the freedom and peace that being a monk allows him to be.
