David J. Kalupahana (1936–2014) was a

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 ...

scholar from

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 student of the late

K.N. Jayatilleke Kulatissa Nanda Jayatilleke (1 November 1920 – 23 July 1970) was an internationally recognised authority on Buddhist philosophy whose book ''Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge'' has been described as "an outstanding philosophical interpretatio ...

, who was a student of

Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

. He wrote mainly about

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...

, theory of language, and compared later Buddhist philosophical texts against the earliest texts and tried to present interpretations that were both historically contextualised and also compatible with the earliest texts, and in doing so, he encouraged Theravada Buddhists and scholars to reevaluate the legitimacy of later, Mahayana texts and consider them more sympathetically.

Biography

Born in

Galle District Galle ( si, ගාල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''gālla distrikkaya''; ta, காலி மாவட்டம் ''Kāli māvattam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, th ...

, Southern Sri Lanka, Kalupahana attended

Mahinda College Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established on 1 March 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. As of May 2022 it is a national school providing primary and seco ...

, Galle for his school education. He obtained his BA (Sri Lanka, 1959), Ph.D (London), and D. Litt (Hon. Peradeniya, Sri Lanka). He was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. He was assistant lecturer in Pali and Buddhist Civilization at the University of Ceylon, and studied Chinese and Tibetan at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London where he completed a Ph.D. dissertation on the problem of causality in the Pali Nikayas and Chinese Agamas in 1966. He left the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Unive ...

(1972) to join the University of Hawaii, serving as the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Chairman of the Graduate Field in Philosophy (1974–80). He directed international intra-religious conferences on Buddhism, and on Buddhism and Peace. Many of his books are published and widely available in India (by Motilal Banarsidass and others), and therefore presumably have a fairly significant influence on the fields of Buddhism and Buddhist Studies in India and other nearby South Asian countries, such as his native Sri Lanka.

Publications

*''Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way'', , published Motilal Barnasidass, 1991. *''A History Of Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities And Discontinuities'' *''A Path Of Righteousness: Dhammapada'' *''Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis''. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1976. *''Buddhist Thought And Ritual'' *''Causality: The Central Philosophy Of Buddhism'' *''Ethics In Early Buddhism'' *''The Buddha And The Concept Of Peace'' *''The Buddha’s Philosophy Of Language'' *''The Principles Of Buddhist Psychology'' *''The Way Of Siddhartha'' *''Nagarjuna's Moral Philosophy and Sinhala Buddhism'' *''A Sourcebook Of Early Buddhist Philosophy'' *''A Sourcebook Of Later Buddhist Philosophy'' *''The Wheel Of Morals Dhamma - Cakka''

References

External links

Richard K. Payne: Early Buddhism: A conversation with David J. Kalupahana
Buddhist apologists Sri Lankan philosophers Sri Lankan scholars of Buddhism Alumni of the University of Peradeniya University of Hawaiʻi faculty 1936 births 2014 deaths Alumni of Mahinda College

Academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

Academia in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan academics Academics from Galle People from Galle {{reli-philo-bio-stub

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading

External links