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
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 m ...
,
Sri Lanka and was educated at
, thereafter at the
University of Sri Lanka
The University of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා විශ්වවිද්යාලය, ta, இலங்கைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) was the public university system of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978.
Est ...
and the Center for the Study of World Religions at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
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
The Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) is a publishing house with charitable status whose objective is to disseminate the teaching of Gautama Buddha. It was founded in Kandy, Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan lay Buddhists, A.S. Karunaratna and ...
until his death. Along with
Nyanaponika Thera
Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901 – 19 October 1994) was a German-born Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar who, after ordaining in Sri Lanka, later became the co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society and autho ...
, he was one of the chief ''
kalyāṇamittas'' of American scholar-monk
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi (born December 10, 1944), born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publ ...
.
[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)".]
Venerable Piyadassi Maha Thera lived to the age of 84 years and died on 18 August 1998.
Literature
* Piyadassi Thera -
The Buddha's Ancient Path'
* Piyadassi Thera -
'
* Piyadassi Thera -
Buddhism: a Living Message'
*
A Felicitation Volume presented to THE VEN. NĀRADA MAHATHERA'. 1979. Edited by Piyadassi Thera
Wheel Publications (BPS)
*
The Seven Factors Of Enlightenment: Satta Bojjhanga (WH001)'
*
Buddha—His Life and Teaching (WH005)'
*
Dependent Origination: Paticca-samuppada (WH015)'
*
Lamp of the Law (WH038)' (co-authored with
Soma Thera
Kotahene Soma Maha Thera (December 23, 1898 - February 23, 1960), born as Victor Emmanuel Perera Pulle in Kotahena, Colombo,The Path Of Freedom (Vimuttimagga) of Arahant Upatissa' Translated from the Chinese by Rev. N. R. M. Ehara, Soma Thera, Khe ...
)
*
Psychological Aspect of Buddhism (WH179)'
Bodhi Leaf Publications (BPS)
*
Four Sacred Shrines (BL08)'
*
Aspects of Buddhism (BL21)'
*
Buddhist Observances and Practices (BL48)'
*
The Story of Mahinda, Saṅghamittā and the Sri Mahā-Bodhi (BL57)'
*
The Elimination of Anger (BL68)'
*
Selections From the Dhammapada: Sayings of the Buddha'
*
The Threefold Division of the Noble Eightfold Path (BL32)'
References
*
* By A. G. S. Kariyawasam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piyadassi Maha Thera
1914 births
1998 deaths
Sri Lankan Buddhist monks
Harvard University alumni
Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo
Sri Lankan Buddhist missionaries
Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhists
20th-century Buddhist monks