Bhante walpola rahula biography

Sri Lankan Buddhist monk (1907–1997)

Walpola Rahula Thero (9 May 1907–18 September 1997) was a Sri LankanBuddhist monk, scholar and writer. 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.^[1] He also once held the position of Vice-Chancellor at the then Vidyodaya University (currently known as the University of Sri Jayewardenepura).

He has written extensively about Buddhism in English, French and Sinhala. He wrote the book What the Buddha Taught about Theravada Buddhism.^[2]

Biography

He was born on 9 May 1907 at Walpola, a small village in the Galle district of southern Sri Lanka.^[3] At thirteen, he entered the Sangha.

His education covered Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit, Buddhism, history and philosophy. He studied at the Vidyalankara Pirivena and at the University of Ceylon, where he associated with E.