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The venerable Prof Walpola Sri Rahula Maha Thera was a Buddhist monk,scholar and a famous writer.He is considered as one of the top SriLankan Intellectuals in the 20 th century.In 1964 He became the Professor of History and Religions at Northwestern University, thus becoming the first bhikkhu to hold a professorial chair in the western world..He was also ,once hold the Vice-Chancellor position of the then Vidyodaya University(Currently known as Sri Jayawardenapura University)..He has written extensively about Buddhism in English,French and Sinhalese.Venarable Thera's book ,What The Buddha Taught is considered by many as one of the best books written about Theravada Buddhism.
Biography
[edit]Early Life
[edit]He was born in 1907 at Walpola,a tiny southern village in SriLanka..At thirteen he entered the Order of the Sangha..He had his education in Sinhala,Pali,Sanskrit,Buddhist religion,history and philosophy.
Academic Career
[edit]Dr Rahula attended Ceylon university(Now known as University of Colombo)..He obtained his B.A and a Ph.D..He went on to study Indian Philosophy at Culcutta University and later studied Mahayana at the Sorbonne University
Venarable Dr Rahula is the first Buddhist monk to become a professor in a Western University..When he became the Professor of History and Literature of Religions there were no Theravada Temples in the United States..He later became a professor Emeritus at the same University..Dr Rahula also held positions in several other American Universities..He was a visiting lecture at the Cornell University and Regents Lecturer at the UCLA..Dr Rahula became the Vice-Chancellor of the Vidyoda University(now Sri Jayawardhanapura University)in 1964.He was later instrumental in encouraging the formation of the first Theravada temple in the United States, the Washington Vihara.
titles
[edit]Dr Rahula has been awarded several titles during his life time..The highest honoury title "Tripitaka-vagisvaracaraya" was given to him by Chapter of the Sangha in Sri Lanka in 1965.
Publications
[edit]Dr Rahula has written extensively about Theravada Buddhism..Apart from his world renown book "What Buddha Taught", he had published enormous number of papers..Other books written by him includes, History of Buddhism in Ceylon ,Heritage of the Bhikkhu,Zen and the taming of the Bull and Le Compendium de la Super Doctrine(French).
References
[edit]- What Buddha Taught
- Walpola Rahula, (1996). WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT, ISBN 955-9219-19-7