Bhikkhu Analayo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anālayo
Religion Buddhism
School Theravada
Sect Amarapura Nikaya
Personal
Nationality German
Born 1962
Senior posting
Based in Sri Lanka
Religious career
Teacher Pemasiri Thera
Ordination 1995

Bhikkhu Anālayo is a Buddhist monk (bhikkhu), scholar and meditation teacher. He was born in Germany in 1962, and ‘went forth’ in 1995 in Sri Lanka. He is best known for his comparative studies of early Buddhist texts belonging to different traditions.[1]

Monastic life

Bhikkhu Anālayo temporarily ordained in 1990 in Thailand, after a meditation retreat at Wat Suan Mokkh, the monastery established by Ajahn Buddhadasa. After two years as a monk, he left the robes and went back to Germany. In 1994 he went to Sri Lanka, where in 1995 he took Pabbajja again under Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero. He received his Upasampada in 2007 in the Sri Lankan Shwegyin Nikaya (belonging to the main Amarapura Nikaya), with Ven. Pemasiri Thera of Sumathipala Aranya as his ordination Acariya. Bhikkhu Bodhi has been Bhikkhu Anālayo's main teacher.[2]

Scholarly career and activity

Bhikkhu Anālayo completed a Ph.D. thesis on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta at the University of Peradeniya in 2000, which was later published as Satipaṭṭhāna, the Direct Path to Realization.[3] During the course of that study, he had come to notice the interesting differences between the Pali and the Chinese versions of this early Buddhist discourse. This led to his undertaking a habilitation research at the University of Marburg, completed in 2007, in which he compared the Majjhima Nikāya discourses with their Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan counterparts.[4]

Bhikkhu Anālayo has published extensively on early Buddhism.[5] The textual study of early Buddhist discourses in comparative perspective is the basis of his ongoing interests and academic research.[6] At present he is the chief editor and one of the translators of the first English translation of the Chinese Madhyama-āgama (Taishō 26),[7] and has undertaken an integral English translation of the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (Taishō 99), parallel to the Pali Saṃyutta-nikāya collection.[8]

Central to Bhikkhu Anālayo’s academic activity remain theoretical and practical aspects of meditation. He has published several articles on insight and absorption meditation and related contemporary meditation traditions to their textual sources.[9]

His comparative studies of early Buddhist texts have also led Bhikkhu Anālayo to focus on historical developments of Buddhist thought, and to research the early roots and genesis of the bodhisattva ideal [10] and the beginning of Abhidharma thought.[11]

Bhikkhu Anālayo was a presenter at the International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha.[12] Exploring attitudes towards nuns in early Buddhist texts and the story of the foundation of the female monastic order[13] has allowed him to be a supporter of Bhikkhuni ordination, which is a matter of controversy in the Theravada and Tibetan traditions.[14] Bhikkhu Anālayo is a Professor of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg and works as a researcher at Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Taiwan.[15] He is also a professor at the Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy, Kandy.[16]

Selected published work

  • Satipaṭṭhāna, the Direct Path to Realization, Windhorse Publications, 2003 .
  • From Craving to Liberation, Excursions into the Thought-world of the Pali Discourses 1, Buddhist Association of the United States, 2009 .PDF
  • From Grasping to Emptiness, Excursions into the Thought-world of the Pali Discourses 2, Buddhist Association of the United States, 2010 .PDF
  • The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal, Hamburg University Press, 2010 .PDF
  • A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya (Dharma Drum Buddhist College Research Series 3), Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation, 2011 .

References

  1. ↑ Bhikkhu Anālayo’s profile: http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/?page_id=48
  2. ↑ Bhikkhu Yogananda (15 October 2010). "Anālayo, The Meditative Scholar". Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010. 
  3. ↑ Satipaṭṭhāna, the Direct Path to Realization, Birmingham: Windhorse, 2003
  4. ↑ Published as A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, (Dharma Drum Buddhist College Special Series), Taiwan: Dharma Drum Academic Publisher, 2011.
  5. ↑ Publications by Bhikkhu Anālayo 
  6. ↑ Bhikkhu Anālayo's research work: http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/?page_id=28
  7. ↑ http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/?page_id=140
  8. ↑ http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/?page_id=142
  9. ↑ http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/?page_id=135
  10. ↑ "New Publications". Numata Zentrum für Buddhismuskunde. Retrieved 2013-11-03. 
  11. ↑ The Dawn of Abhidharma, forthcoming
  12. ↑ Abstract: The Four Assemblies and the Foundation of the Order of Nuns, Foundation for Buddhist Studies, University of Hamburg ;"Women's Renunciation in Early Buddhism - The Four Assemblies and the Foundation of the Order of Nuns", Dignity & Discipline, The Evolving Role of Women in Buddhism, Wisdom Publications, 2010, pp. 65–97 
  13. ↑ http://buddhistinformatics.ddbc.edu.tw/analayo/#bhikkhuni
  14. ↑ Bhikkhu Anālayo's research on women, nuns and bhikkhunīs: http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/?page_id=138 bhikkhunīs and women in Early Buddhism
  15. ↑ http://agamaresearch.ddbc.edu.tw/
  16. ↑ Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy, Kandy 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.