Piyadassi Maha Thera

Piyadassi Maha Thera
පියදස්සි මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ
File:Piyadassi Maha Thera (1914–1998).jpg
Religion	Buddhism
School	Theravada
Lineage	Amarapura Sect
Education	Nalanda College Colombo University of Sri Lanka Harvard University
Dharma names	Most.Ven.Piyadassi Maha Thera
Personal
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Born	(1914-07-08)8 July 1914 Kotahena, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Died
Senior posting
Title	Chief incumbent of the Vajiraramaya Temple Bambalapitiya

Piyadassi Maha Thera (Sinhalese: පියදස්සි මහා ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේ, 8 July 1914 – 18 August 1998) is best known as a great preacher of the Dhamma both in Sinhala and in English and it was in this field that his popularity was foremost. 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 Order and mastered the religion and philosophy of Buddhism under the erudite scholar monk Venerable Pelene Siri Vajiragnana Nayaka Thera, founder of the Vajirarama Bambalapitiya. Later he received his higher ordination under the tutorship of Venerable Vajiranna, founding superior of the Vajirarama Colombo, a most well-known authority on Buddhism.

Venerable Mahathera Piyadassi was one of the world's most eminent Buddhist monks having traveled widely carrying the message of the Buddha-Dhamma, both to the East and to West, he was able to write in a style that has universal appeal.

Ven. Piyadassi Maha Thera was the Sinhala editor at the Buddhist Publication Society until his death. Along with Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, he was one of the chief kalyāṇa-mittatās of well-known American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi.

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

Literature

• Piyadassi Thera - The Book of Protection - Paritta

References

• By A. G. S. Kariyawasam