Piyadassi Maha Thera Explained

Piyadassi Maha Thera
Native Name:පියදස්සි මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ
Birth Place:Kotahena, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Birth Date:1914 7, df=yes
Nationality:Sri Lankan
Religion:Buddhism
School:Theravāda
Lineage:Amarapura Nikaya
Chief incumbent of the Vajiraramaya Temple Bambalapitiya
Education:Nalanda College
University of Sri Lanka
Harvard University
Teacher:Päläne Vajirañāna Thero

Piyadassi Maha Thera (Sinhala; Sinhalese: පියදස්සි මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ, 8 July 1914 – 18 August 1998) was a Theravādin Buddhist monk and preacher of the Dharma, both in Sinhalese and in English. He was born on 8 July 1914 at Kotahena in Colombo, Sri Lanka and was educated at Nalanda College, Colombo, thereafter at the University of Sri Lanka and the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University as a research student.

At the age of twenty, he entered the Buddhist monastic order under Pelene Siri Vajiragnana Nayaka Thera, founder of the Vajirarama Bambalapitiya. Later, he received his higher ordination under the tutorship of Vajiranna, founding superior of the Vajirarama Colombo.

Piyadassi Maha Thera was the Sinhala editor at the Buddhist Publication Society until his death.[1] Along with Nyanaponika Thera, he was one of the chief kalyāṇamitta of American Buddhist scholar and monk Bhikkhu Bodhi.[2]

Venerable Piyadassi Maha Thera lived to the age of 84 years and died on 18 August 1998.

Literature

Wheel Publications (BPS)

Bodhi Leaf Publications (BPS)

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. "Story of the Buddhist Publication Society" from "Buddhist Publication Society" at http://www.bps.lk/aboutus.asp.
  2. In Bodhi (2000), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, p. 5, Bodhi dedicates the volume to "the memory of my teacher Venerable Abhidhajamaharatthaguru Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayaka Thera (1896-1998) and to the memories of my chief kalyāṇamittas in my life as a Buddhist monk, Venerable Nyanaponika Mahathera (1901-1994) and Venerable Piyadassi Nayaka Thera (1914-1998)".