K. Sri Dhammananda (born Martin Gamage, 18 March 1919 – 31 August 2006) was a Sri Lankan

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk and scholar.

Early life

Born in the village of Kirinde in

Matara, Sri Lanka Matara ( si, මාතර, translit=Māthara, ta, மாத்தறை, translit=Māttaṟai) is a major city in Sri Lanka, on the southern coast of Southern Province. It is the second largest city in Southern Province. It is from Colombo. ...

, Dhammananda spent most of his life and career in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. He was ordained as a novice monk (''

samanera A sāmaṇera (Pali); sa, श्रामणेर (), is a novice male monastic in a Buddhist context. A female novice is a ''śrāmaṇerī'' or ''śrāmaṇerikā'' (Sanskrit; Pāli: ''sāmaṇerī''). Etymology The ''sāmaṇera'' is a ...

'') at the age of 12 and was fully ordained in 1940. After arriving in

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

, now part of

, in 1952, Dhammananda established himself as the foremost

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

Buddhist monk in Malaysia and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

.He was honored with Aggamaha Saddhammajotikadhaja award by the Myanmar government in 2000.

Death

Dr. Dhammananda passed away on 31 August 2006 at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre in Malaysia. It was claimed that there were auspicious signs including lights and auras around the funeral site.

References

External links

Dhammananda home page
*

Archive: Funeral of the late Chief Venerable K Sri Dhammananda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhammananda, K. Sri 1919 births 2006 deaths Buddhist apologists Theravada Buddhism writers Theravada Buddhist monks Sinhalese writers Sri Lankan Buddhist monks Sri Lankan Buddhist missionaries Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhists Malaysian Theravada Buddhists People from Southern Province, Sri Lanka Malaysian people of Sri Lankan descent 20th-century Buddhist monks