Ven. Rerukane Candavimala: My Autobiography

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Ven. Rerukane Candavimala My Autobiography as told to Ven. Ittepana Dhammālaṅkāra translated by Dr. Doreen Perera revised with additional notes by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu July, 2016
3 Preface Sri Lanka produced some of the finest scholar-monks of the 20th century, whose influence has been felt across the whole of the Buddhist world. One thinks of Ven. Soma, Ven. Nārada, Ven. Walpola Rāhula, Ven. Piyadassī and many others who helped shape our understanding of Buddhism during these times. Ven. Rerukane Candavimala (1897-1999) was also one of the most important scholar-monks who was active in Sri Lanka during the 20th century. His works, which are written in lucid Sinhala, are standard in every field he wrote in, but so far only a very few have been translated into English, 1 and he is therefore much less known. He wrote on diverse subjects, and had mastered them all, whether it was Discipline (Vinaya), Doctrine (Dhamma), Meditation (Bhāvanā) or the Abstract Doctrine (Abhidhamma). As he says himself in this autobiography: “My main aim was to understand the Dhamma for myself. Some Dhamma points I pondered over for weeks and months. I never wrote on anything that I did not understand fully.” Besides his position as a leading scholar, Ven. Rerukane was also head of the Shwegyin Nikāya in Sri Lanka, and ran the founding temple for that sect in Sri Lanka (Vinayālaṅkārārāmaya); and was Preceptor for the whole of the Amarapura Nikāya, fulfilling many duties and responsibilities in these positions. His life was quite extraordinary, and his beginnings did not presage what he was to become. He was ordained and taken to Burma at the tender age of 11, and didn’t return till he was in his 20s. He was and remained fluent in Burmese all through his life. 1 These include an early translation of his book The Four Noble Truths, a translation of his book on the pāramī as Analysis of Perfections, and my own expansion of his collection of verses from the Tipiṭaka, as Buddhist Wisdom Verses.
Page 1: 1
Page 5 and 6: 5 1. My Childhood Ordination and Jo
Page 7 and 8: 1. My Childhood - 7 about nine. So
Page 9 and 10: 9 2. From Burma to Sri Lanka After
Page 11 and 12: 2. From Burma to Sri Lanka - 11 I w
Page 13 and 14: 3. This is a Burmese Temple - 13 su
Page 15 and 16: 3. This is a Burmese Temple - 15 It
Page 17 and 18: 3. This is a Burmese Temple - 17 ve
Page 19 and 20: 4. Why I wrote my books - 19 I real
Page 21 and 22: 4. Why I wrote my books - 21 (Vaṁ
Page 23 and 24: 4. Why I wrote my books - 23 draft
Page 25 and 26: 4. Why I wrote my books - 25 Then t
Page 27: 27 ධර්ම ග්රkන්ථ

Ven. Rerukane Candavimala: My Autobiography

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?