Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who was one of the most distinguished scholars and expositors of Theravada Buddhism in the twentieth century. He was highly respected by Sri Lankan Buddhists, who believed that he had achieved a higher level of spiritual development. Sri Lankan Buddhists also considered Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero as a Bodhisattva, who will attain Buddhahood in a future life.
Kappiya is a Buddhist lay manciple who resides in a monastery (vihāra) and assists Buddhist monks.
Sangharaja is the title given in many Theravada Buddhist countries to a senior monk who is the titular head either of a monastic fraternity (nikaya), or of the Sangha throughout the country. This term is often rendered in English as 'Patriarch' or 'Supreme Patriarch'.
The Theragāthā is a Buddhist text, a collection of short poems in Pali attributed to members of the early Buddhist sangha. It is classified as part of the Khuddaka Nikaya, the collection of minor books in the Sutta Pitaka. A similar text, the Therigatha, contains verses attributed to early Buddhist nuns.
The Amarapura Nikaya was a Sri Lankan monastic fraternity founded in 1800. It is named after the city of Amarapura, Burma, the capital of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma at that time. Amarapura Nikaya monks are Theravada Buddhists. On 16 August 2019, the Amarapura and Ramanna Nikaya were unified as the Amarapura–Rāmañña Nikāya, making it the largest Buddhist fraternity in Sri Lanka.
Pali literature is concerned mainly with Theravada Buddhism, of which Pali is the traditional language. The earliest and most important Pali literature constitutes the Pāli Canon, the authoritative scriptures of Theravada school.
The Sixth Buddhist Council was a general council of Theravāda Buddhism, held in a specially built Mahā Pāsāṇa Guhā and pagoda complex at Kaba Aye Pagoda in Yangon, Burma. The council was attended by 2500 monastics from eight Theravādin Buddhist countries. The Council lasted from Vesak (Visākha) 1954 to Vesak 1956, its completion coinciding with the traditional 2500th anniversary of the Gautama Buddha's Parinibbāna. In the tradition of past Buddhist councils, a major purpose of the Sixth Council was to preserve the Buddha's teachings and practices as understood in the Theravadin tradition.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the Republic of Estonia.
Ven. Nyanatiloka (Ñāṇatiloka) Mahathera, born as Anton Walther Florus Gueth, was one of the earliest Westerners in modern times to become a Bhikkhu, a fully ordained Buddhist monk.
August Alle was an Estonian writer.
U Dhammaloka was an Irish-born migrant worker turned Buddhist monk, strong critic of Christian missionaries, and temperance campaigner who took an active role in the Asian Buddhist revival around the turn of the twentieth century.
A bhikkhunī or bhikṣuṇī is a Buddhist nun, fully ordained female in Buddhist monasticism. Bhikkhunīs live by the Vinaya, a set of either 311 Theravada, 348 Dharmaguptaka, or 364 Mulasarvastivada school rules. Until recently, the lineages of female monastics only remained in Mahayana Buddhism and thus were prevalent in countries such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam, while a few women have taken the full monastic vows in the Theravada and Vajrayana schools. The official lineage of Tibetan Buddhist bhikkhunīs recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns, most of them Butanese, were fully ordained.
U Sīlānanda was a Burmese Buddhist monk and Vipassana meditation scholar. He was also the first rector of the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University.
Bauddha Rishi Mahapragya was one of the most influential figures in the revival of Theravada Buddhism in Nepal in the 1920s. In 1926, he was jailed and then exiled by the tyrannical Rana regime for converting to Buddhism from Hinduism.
Ashin Nandamālābhivaṃsa, also known as Rector Sayadaw, is a Burmese Buddhist scholar-monk and specialist in Abhidhamma. He is chief abbot of the monasteries of Mahā Subodhāyon and rector of Sitagu International Buddhist Academy. Recipient of the titles of Abhidhaja Mahā Raṭṭha Guru and Agga Mahā Paṇḍita, Ashin is an upaukkaṭṭha and mahānāyaka of the Shwekyin Nikāya, the second largest monastic order of monks (nikāya) in Myanmar, since 2018.
Ashin Thittila or Seṭṭhilābhivaṃsa, commonly known as U Thittila, was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk, who was also a scholar of Buddhist literature and meditation teacher. He is said to be the first religious worker among the Burmese monks who left for a foreign country to do Buddhist missionary work. He lived for 14 consecutive years in England.
Buddhism in Estonia is a small minority religion, held by about 0.2% of the population. However, between 2000 and 2021, the number of Buddhists in Estonia tripled.
Karl August Tõnisson also known as Brother Vahindra and Barefoot Tõnisson, was an Estonian writer and religious figure. The first Estonian convert to Buddhism, he was generally seen as eccentric but had a significant impact on Estonian views of Buddhism. In 1930 he left Europe for Thailand, later settling in Burma, dying in Rangoon, aged 78.
Aleksander August Jurich was an Estonian photographer and artist.
