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.
Mahinda was an Indian Buddhist monk depicted in Buddhist sources as bringing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He was a Mauryan prince and the first-born son of Emperor Ashoka The Great from his first wife and Empress Devi, and the older brother of Princess Sanghamitra.
Nalanda College is a leading Buddhist school in Sri Lanka where provides primary and secondary education for Sri Lankan boys. The school was established by P. de S. Kularatne as an offshoot of Ananda College Colombo and was registered as a separate school on 1 November 1924.
Piyadassi Maha Thera was a preacher of the Dhamma both in Sinhala and in English. 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.
The Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka is a Buddhist university in Homagama, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1981 and is organized in two faculties.
Tangalle is a large town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. It is one of the largest towns in southern province. It is located 195 km (121 mi) south of Colombo and 35 km (22 mi) east of Matara. It has a mild climate, in comparison to the rest of the district, and sandy beaches.
Lynn Alton de Silva was a Sri Lankan theologian and Methodist minister. He was the founder and editor of one of the first theological journals on Buddhist-Christian encounter called Dialogue (1961–1981), chief translator for the revision of the Old Testament of the Sinhalese Bible published as New Sinhala Bible (1973–1982), and director of the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue (EISD) in Sri Lanka (1962–1982). Lynn de Silva is widely regarded as one of the foremost Christian practitioners of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in Sri Lanka, and also as one of the pioneers in this dialogue.
Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera, OBE, JP, was a Sri Lankan academic, scholar and diplomat best known for his Malalasekara English-Sinhala Dictionary. He was Ceylon's first Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Ceylon's High Commissioner to Canada, the United Kingdom and Ceylon's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. He was the Professor Emeritus in Pali and Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.
Wijayatunga Mudalige Harischandra Wijayatunga is a Sri Lankan author, translator, lexicographer, teacher, lawyer and politician. He held various offices in different institutions of the Government of Sri Lanka. At present he is the leader of Sinhalaye Mahasammatha Bhoomiputra Party. During the presidential elections of 1994 and 1999, he was the candidate of that party for this high office.
Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera or Mohottiwatte Gunananda Thera was a Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhist orator. He is known for leading the Buddhist side in debates between Buddhists and Christians in Baddegama, Udanwita, Waragoda, Liyanagemulla, Gampola, and Panadura, where the most famous of the debates took place. As a result of the debates, Buddhism in Sri Lanka saw a revival.
Tikiri Banda (T.B.) Dissanayake PC entered Ceylon University College and obtained a BA degree from London University in 1930, having read Latin, Sinhala, History and Philosophy. He attended Dharmaraja College and Nalanda College, Colombo. After graduating, Dissanayake spent nearly a decade as a teacher at his alma mater Nalanda College Colombo. Later, he entered the Ceylon Law College and was admitted as an advocate of Your Lordship's Court in 1942. Dissanayake also served as a Commissioner of Assize for a short period in 1969-70.
Siri Perera QC was a Criminal lawyer, a Buddhist leader who was one time the President of the Colombo YMBA. He was also a former Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India.
Pahalawattage Don Premasiri is a Sri Lankan Buddhist scholar specializing in the areas of Buddhist ethics and Buddhist philosophy. Premasiri's academic training represents a synthesis of both the Buddhist and Western philosophical traditions, first at the University of Peradeniya and subsequently at Cambridge and Hawaii. He is currently president of the Buddhist Publication Society and professor emeritus in the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the University of Peradeniya.
Karuna Nayaka Ovitigalage Dharmadasa is one of the pioneers of linguistics in Sri Lanka and scholar of international repute. He is Professor Emeritus, and the former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Namel Weeramuni is a Sri Lankan film director, dramatist, playwright and lawyer.
The Venerable Ambalangoda Polwatte Buddhadatta Mahanayake Thera (1887–1962) was a Theravada Buddhist monk and a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Vidyalankara University. During 1928 he travelled to Switzerland to teach Pāli but found no suitable students.
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.
The Triune Mind is a model of the mind of The Buddha's teaching, as conceptualized by Canadian Buddhist scholar Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri. The theory was first published as "Triune Mind in Buddhism: A Textual Exploration", in the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies. Given the use of the term "triune", it is a model, which distinguishes the mind into three divisions: receiving, judging and executive.
Suren Raghavan is a Sri Lankan academic and former Governor of the Northern Province. He is of biethnic heritage, classed as Sri Lankan Tamil due to paternal descent.
