Katukurunde Nyanananda Thera

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Ven. Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda Mahathera
TitleMahathera
Personal
Born10 July 1940
Habaraduwa, Katukurunda,
Ramanna Nikaya
EducationUniversity of Peradeniya
Senior posting
TeacherMost Ven. Matara Sri Nanarama Mahathera
Based inPothgulgala Aranya
Ordination1967

Ven. Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda Mahathera (10 July 1940 – 22 February 2018) (sometimes spelled Nyanananda or Nanananda in English, sometimes called Gnanananda in Sinhala: පූජ්‍ය කටුකුරුන්දේ ඤාණනන්ද මහාථේර) was a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu (Buddhist Monk) and Buddhist scholar. He is best known for the research monograph Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought and the exploratory study The Magic of the Mind. Ven. Ñāṇananda was the abbot of Pothgulgala Aranya, a small forest monastery in Devalegama, Sri Lanka.

Early life

Ven. Ñāṇananda was born in 1940 to a Sinhala Buddhist family in Galle District in Sri Lanka. He received his school education from Mahinda College, Galle.[1] In 1962 he graduated from the University of Peradeniya specializing in Pali Studies, and served as an assistant lecturer in Pali at the same university for a brief period of time. He renounced his post in 1967 to enter the Order of Buddhist monks under the name Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda in the forest monastic tradition of Sri Lanka.[2]

Monastic life

Ven. Ñāṇananda initially ordained at the Island Hermitage.[1] Three other monks were ordained with him, two of them being Ven. Ñāṇasuci (later Samanera Bodhesako) and Ven. Ñāṇajivako (Prof. Čedomil Veljačić).[3]

After the Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya was established by Asoka Weeraratna in 1967 with Ven. Matara Sri Nanarama Mahathera as the abbot and the meditation master, Ven. Ñāṇananda moved to that monastery in 1972 and re-ordained under Ven. Ñāṇārāma.[1] When Ven. Ñāṇārāma Mahathera died in 1992, Ven. Ñāṇananda moved to Pothgulgala Aranya. In 2016 he moved to 'Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda Sadaham Bhāraya' in Ratnapura. Ven. Ñāṇananda maintained a simple and austere way of practice with a strong commitment to strict Vinaya standards until his death.

Scholarly career

Ven. Ñāṇananda's best known works are Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought, published in 1971, and The Magic of the Mind, published in 1974,

Nibbana that was initially published in Sinhala and later in English translation, titled Nibbana - The Mind Stilled.[2] The sermons are currently being studied in the context of early Buddhist thought in a free-of-charge three-year e-learning program (2017-2018) offered by Bhikkhu Anālayo of the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg in cooperation with the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
(Mass.).

Concept and Reality

This penetrative study

conceptual proliferation’[11] is now widely accepted and used by modern Buddhist scholars.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] The book was introduced as "an imaginative interpretation of the Buddhist critique of conceptual thought in the Pali tradition" in the Encyclopedia of Religion.[20] A critical assessment of Concept and Reality has been published by Stephen Evans in Buddhist Studies Review (2017),[21] with a rejoinder by Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā (2017).[22]

The Magic of the Mind

This is an exposition of the Kālakārāma Sutta (

Paticcasamuppada as a golden mean which freely transcends the dualities of existence and non-existence and mind-and-matter.[26]

Nibbana - The Mind Stilled

While at Nissarana Vanaya, at the invitation of the Ven. Matara Sri Nanarama Mahathera, Ven. Ñāṇananda Thera delivered 33 sermons on the subject of Nibbana, during the period 1988.08.12 – 1991.01.31. This often controversial set of talks were then distributed in cassettes among interested monastics and lay Buddhists.[27] In 1997, a publications trust named Dharma Grantha Mudrana Bharaya (D.G.M.B.) was set up with the public trustee of Sri Lanka to freely distribute Ven. Ñāṇananda's works. The first publications of D.G.M.B. were these sermons in Sinhala, made available in 11 volumes, titled Nivane Niveema.[2] Since 2003 the English translations have been made available in a 7-volume series titled Nibbana – The Mind Stilled.[27]

In these sermons Ven. Ñāṇananda attempted to “trace the original meaning and significance of the Pali term Nibbana based on the evidence from the discourses of the Pali Canon”. This has led to a detailed analysis and a re-appraisal of some of the most controversial suttas on Nibbana. While this collection develops on his earlier works, the Nibbana sermons are presented with a more pragmatic outlook to benefit those who are keen on realizing this ultimate goal of Buddhist practice.[27]

The Law of Dependent Arising

Venerable Ñāṇananda's most recent work is The Law of Dependent Arising - The Secret of Bondage and Release (2015)

Paticcasamuppada
.

Death

After a prolonged period of illness, Ven. Ñāṇananda died on 22 February 2018.[28][29]

Published work

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c DSMB.
  2. ^ a b c Ñāṇananda 2003, p. VII.
  3. ^ a b Ñāṇajivako.
  4. ^ "Beyond the Net - a Dhamma Web on the Internet", Daily News, Colombo, 30 May 2002, archived from the original on 17 October 2012, retrieved 4 September 2010
  5. ISBN 978-0-86171-072-0
  6. ISBN 978-81-208-1191-1
  7. ISBN 978-0-86171-103-1
  8. ^ Ñāṇananda 1997, p. 1.
  9. ISBN 978-0-7007-1357-8
  10. ^ Ñāṇananda 1997, p. 2.
  11. ^ Ñāṇananda 1997, p. 4.
  12. ISBN 978-81-208-0272-8
  13. ISBN 978-0-86171-491-9
  14. ISBN 978-81-7036-991-2
  15. ISBN 978-81-208-0647-4
  16. ISBN 978-1-899579-54-9
  17. ISBN 978-0-7007-1186-4
  18. ISBN 978-0-7914-2128-4
  19. ^ Swaris, Nalin (2008), The Buddha's Way to Human Liberation, Sarasavi Publishers, pp. 194–196
  20. ISBN 978-0-02-909790-8
  21. ^ Evans, Stephen. "Ñāṇananda's Concept and Reality: An Assessment". Academia.edu.
  22. doi:10.1558/bsrv.35391
    .
  23. ^ Ñāṇananda 2007, pp. 1–3.
  24. ^ Ñāṇananda 2007, pp. 6–12.
  25. ^ Ñāṇananda 2007, p. 5.
  26. ^ Ñāṇananda 2007, p. 17–56.
  27. ^ a b c Ñāṇananda 2003, p. IX.
  28. ^ http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2018/02/22/most-ven-Kaṭukurunde-Ñāṇananda-කටුකුරුන්දේ-ඥානානන්/ [dead link]
  29. ^ "Buddhist scholar and competent meditation master". Daily News. 10 March 2020.

References

External links

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