Narada Mahathera ( si, නාරද මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ), born Sumanapala Perera (14 July 1898 – 2 October 1983
) was a
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, scholar, translator, educator and Buddhist missionary who was for many years the Superior of Vajiraramaya in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. He was a popular figure in his native country,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, and beyond.
Biography
He was born in
Kotahena
Kotahena is a suburb part of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is an area known as ''Colombo 13''
Places of worship
Kotahena is the location of some places of worship:
*Dipaduttamarama, where in 1885 for the first time the Buddhist flag was shown and where ...
,
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
to a middle-class family,
educated at
St. Benedict's College and
Ceylon University College
Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...
, and ordained at the age of eighteen.
In 1929 he represented Sri Lanka at the opening ceremony for the new Mulagandhakuti
vihara at
Sarnath
Sarnath (Hindustani pronunciation: aːɾnaːtʰ also referred to as Sarangnath, Isipatana, Rishipattana, Migadaya, or Mrigadava) is a place located northeast of Varanasi, near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pr ...
, India,
and in 1934 he visited
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, the first Theravadan monk to do so in more than 450 years. During this opportunity he planted and blessed a bodhi tree in southeastern side of
Borobudur
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
on 10 March 1934, and some Upasakas were ordained as monks.
From that point on he travelled to many countries to conduct missionary work: Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Nepal, and Australia. In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom and the United States, and addressed a huge crowd at the
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...
. On 2 November 1960, Narada Maha Thera brought a
bodhi tree to the
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
ese temple
Thích Ca Phật Đài
Thích Ca Phật Đài () is a notable Theravada Buddhist temple in the coastal city of Vung Tau in southern Vietnam. It lies to the northwest of the Lớn mountain and was built between 1961 and 1963 when it was opened.
It is set on a plot of a ...
, and made many visits to the country during the 1960s.
Along with others (such as
Piyadassi Maha Thera
Piyadassi Maha Thera ( si, පියදස්සි මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ, 8 July 1914 – 18 August 1998) was a preacher of the Dhamma both in Sinhala and in English. He was born on 8 July 1914 at Kotahena in C ...
) he contributed to the popularization of the ''bana'' style
Dhamma talk
A Dharma talk (Sanskrit) or Dhamma talk (Pali) or Dharma sermon (''Japanese'': , ''Chinese'': ) is a public discourse on Buddhism by a Buddhist teacher.
In Theravāda Buddhism, the study of Buddhist texts and listening to Dhamma talks by monks o ...
in the 1960s and brought the Buddhist teachings "to the day-to-day lives of the Westernized middle class in Sri Lanka."
Bibliography
*
The Buddha and his Teachings' Fourth Edition: Buddhist Missionary Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1988.
*
Buddhism in a Nutshell'
*''The Buddhist Doctrine of Kamma and Rebirth''
*
Kandaraka Sutta; Potaliya Sutta: Discourses from the Majjhima Nikaya'
*
Apannaka Sutta, Cula Malunkya Sutta, Upali Sutta: Discourses from the Majjhima Nikaya'
*
Manual of Abhidhamma'
*
An Elementary Pali Course'
*''Life of Venerable Sariputta''
*
Everyman’s Ethics'
*''Facts of Life''
*''Dhammapada, Pali text and translation''
*''The Way to Nibbana''
*
The Mirror of the Dhamma: a manual of Buddhist recitations and devotional texts'
*''An Outline of Buddhism''
*''The Life of Buddha, in his own words''
References
External links
by ''Narada Mahathera''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narada Maha Thera
Sri Lankan Buddhist monks
1898 births
1983 deaths
Sri Lankan Buddhist missionaries
Alumni of the Ceylon University College
Sinhalese monks
20th-century Buddhist monks