Dr. Upali De Tissera

Dr. Upali De Tissera passed away after a brief illness on June 23 in Australia. His remains were cremated on June 26 in Sydney, Australia where he lived for the last 20 years of his life.

Born and with his early adulthood here in Sri Lanka he was a true son of the motherland. He led an exemplary life of a devoted husband and a caring father who became a shining example and a pride to Mother Lanka of being a virtuous human being.

He had his early education at Trinity College Kandy and completed his school education at Thurstan College Colombo. His medical education was in Pakistan where he obtained his MBBS qualification. He was engaged in medical practice in Canada and England before he came to reside and work in Australia.

We remember him as our beloved cousin and the kind young person who was always ready to be of help to anyone he knew.    His ready smile and caring nature made him a good friend to everyone he came to know. He was special in that even as a fun loving youth he was a devout Buddhist and had a good understanding of the Buddha Dhamma.

He was a big music lover and an active participant of our home made band where we spent long hours in the weekends singing along the favorites of the local hit parade. He could sing quite well.
His selflessness and caring for the others were well exemplified in an incident we still recall vividly. We were quite young and a bit reckless, and those of us who were witnesses remember how on a trip to Kataragama one of the party got washed away in an unusual river in spate and was in difficulty. Upali without a care for his own self was the first to jump in and saved that life. We have no doubt that he now carries this extreme merit with him in his samsaric journey.

His family tells us that the last activity he engaged in was the  participation in a 10 day meditation retreat in Perth. He fell ill returning home and succumbed to the illness spending the final hours in bed in deep meditation and passing away very peacefully overcoming any pain or fears that normally prevail at a similar situation.

We his grieving cousins from Sri Lanka join Jayanthi, Chaminda and Samantha in sharing our metta thoughts for his samsara passage to be brief and his attainment of  Nibbana be early.