Theravāda is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of Gautama Buddha's teaching or Buddha Dhamma in the Pāli Canon for over two millennia.
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.
Theravada Buddhism is the largest and official religion of Sri Lanka, practiced by 70.2% of the population as of 2012. Practitioners of Sri Lankan Buddhism can be found amongst the majority Sinhalese population as well as among the minority ethnic groups. Sri Lankan Buddhists share many similarities with Southeast Asian Buddhists, specifically Myanmar Buddhists and Thai Buddhists due to traditional and cultural exchange. Sri Lanka is one of five nations with a Theravada Buddhist majority.
Buddhism is the second largest religion in Malaysia, after Islam, with 18.7% of Malaysia's population being Buddhist, although some estimates put that figure at 21.6% when combining estimates of numbers of Buddhists with figures for adherents of Chinese religions which incorporate elements of Buddhism. Buddhism in Malaysia is mainly practised by the ethnic Malaysian Chinese, but there are also Malaysian Siamese, Malaysian Sri Lankans and Burmese in Malaysia that practice Buddhism such as Ananda Krishnan and K. Sri Dhammananda and a sizeable population of Malaysian Indians.
Dhammananda may refer to:
Buddhist Maha Vihara is a Sri Lankan temple situated in Brickfields of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The temple became a focal point for the annual Wesak festival within the city suburb.
Buddhist Cultural Centre (BCC) in Sri Lanka was founded by Ven. Kirama Wimalajhoti Thera who had returned to Sri Lanka after twenty years of dedicated missionary activity in Malaysia, Singapore and US. It was inaugurated on January 2, 1992 under the auspices of Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda Thera, the chief prelate of Malaysia and Singapore and a plethora of other internationally famed Buddhist scholar monks of the time. It sought to fill a need of the devoted Buddhists in Sri Lanka and the rest of the world. What made Ven. Wimalajhoti Thera start the BCC was the dearth of Buddhist publications in Sri Lanka notwithstanding its reputation as a country where Buddhism prevails in its pristine form. This fact was pointed to Ven. Wimalajhoti Thera by some of his foreign neophytes who had arrived in Sri Lanka to learn Buddhism when they had strolled quite unsuccessfully all over the outskirts of Colombo along with him in search of some Buddhist publications.
Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, born Chatsumarn Kabilsingh or Chatsumarn Kabilsingh Shatsena, is a Thai bhikkhuni. On 28 February 2003, Kabilsingh received full monastic ordination as a bhikkhuni of the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka. She is Abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery, the only temple in Thailand where there are bhikkhunis.
Ven. Nyanatiloka 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.
A bhikkhunī or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female in Buddhist monasticism. Bhikkhunis 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 bhikkhunis recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns were fully ordained.
Sri Lankan Malaysians are people of full or partial Sri Lankan descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia.
U Paññāvaṃsa, commonly known as the Penang Sayadaw and officially titled Bhaddantapaññāvaṃsa) was a prominent Burmese Buddhist monk, known for his missionary work, particularly in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He was first selected to perform missionary work on Coco Islands on behalf of the Burmese government. He was the chief abbot of the Dhammikarama Burmese Temple in Penang, Malaysia, where he resides. He was also abbot over the Burmese Buddhist Temple in Singapore.
Bhante Kumar Kashyap Mahasthavir was a Nepalese Buddhist monk who was awarded the title of Tripitakacharya.
Songdhammakalyani Monastery is a temple and monastery of Bhikkhuni in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. It was founded in 1960 by Ven. Ta Tao Fa Tzu, the first modern Thai woman to ordain as a bhikkhuni. The monastery was originally known as Wat Songdhammakalyani ."
Bodagama Chandima Thero is a Buddhist monk. As of 2015 he taught Theravada Buddhism in Taiwan. With a group of Taiwanese Buddhists, he founded the Theravada Samadhi Education Association in Taipei.
Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, who was one of the pioneers of Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist movement in the 19th century. He did a great service to improve the Buddhist Education in the country and was the founder of Vidyodaya Pirivena, Maligakanda in 1873, which was granted the university status later in 1959 by the Government of Sri Lanka. A veteran author and a fiery orator, he was a major figure in the Panadurawadaya, a religious debate held between Christian missionaries and Buddhist monks in 1873 at Panadura, Sri Lanka. He was well versed in Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit, English, Buddhism, history, arithmetic, and archaeology and was one of the primary sources of information on Buddhism for the success of the Panadura debate.
Varangghana Vanavichayen is the first woman to be ordained a Theravada bhikkhuni in Thailand. She was ordained a novice bhikkhuni on 10 February 2002 in Songdhammakalyani Monastery. The ceremony was attended by eight female monks from Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. It was conducted in Sri Lankan tradition. Upon the ordination she adopted the name of Dhammarakhita Samaneri. The Abbess of the nunnery was Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, who is also the first Theravada bhikkhuni in Thailand.
Varanggana Vanavichayen is the first Bhikkhuni ordained in Thailand.
The Most Venerable Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana 拿督达摩拉达那长老 is a Sri Lankan born Malaysian Buddhist monk and the incumbent Buddhist Chief High Priest of Malaysia, since the passing of his predecessor in 2006.
