Nyanaponika thera biography definition

Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar (–)

Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, – 19 October ) was a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar who, after ordaining in Sri Lanka, later became the co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society and author of numerous seminal books and articles on Theravada Buddhism.

He mentored and taught a whole generation of Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi.^[2]

Early life

Nyanaponika Thera was born in Hanau, Germany on July 21, , as Siegmund Feniger, the only child of a Jewish family.^[3]

In , he moved with his parents to Berlin, where he met with German Buddhists and had access to Buddhist literature in the German language.

He came across the writings of Ven. Nyanatiloka Mahathera (–), the former German violin virtuoso Anton Gueth. Young Siegmund had learned that Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera had established a monastery for Western monks in Sri Lanka, on an island