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Shravasti Dhammika was born in Australia in 1951 into a Christian
family, and converted to Buddhism at the age of eighteen. In 1973 he
went to Thailand with the intention of becoming a monk but was unimpressed
by what he saw in the monasteries there. He then went to Laos, Burma
and finally to India. For the next three years, he traveled around
India learning yoga and meditation, and finally ordaining as a monk under Venerable Matiwella Sangharatna, the last disciple of Anagarika
Dharmapala. In 1976 he went to Sri Lanka where he studied Pali at Sri
Lanka Vidyalaya, and later became one of the co-founders and a teacher, of
Nilambe Meditation Centre in Kandy. Since then, he has spent most of his
time in Sri Lanka and Singapore. Bhante Dhammika, as he
is known to his students and friends had written over twenty-five books and
scores of articles on Buddhism and related subjects. He is also
well-known for his public talks and represented Theravada Buddhism at the
European Buddhist Millennium Conference in Berlin in 2000. Apart from
Buddhist philosophy and meditation, Bhante Dhammika has a deep
interest in the historical topography of Buddhism and the phenomenon of
pilgrimage and has traveled widely in India and other Buddhist lands.
His others interests include Indian history, art and botany |
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