Nyanaponika Thera

Nyanatiloka Mahathera (1878–1957), 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 lagoon (opposite the Railway station) Polgasduwa, Dodanduwa named Island Hermitage.

This news stirred his conscience to go to Asia and become a Buddhist monk.

However, circumstances prevented him from acting on this plan for quite some time.

Nyanaponika Thera was born in Hanau, Germany on July 21, 1901, as Siegmund Feniger, the only child of a Jewish family.

In 1921, 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.

In 1932 his father died, and he did not wish to leave his widowed mother in the lurch.

Then, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.

In November 1935 he and his mother left Germany and moved to Vienna, where they had relatives.

Having arranged for his mother to stay in Vienna, in early 1936 he finally was able to leave Europe for Sri Lanka, where he joined Ven.

Nyanatiloka Thera at the Island Hermitage.

After several months of studies, in June 1936 he was ordained as a novice and was given the name Nyanaponika.

In 1937 he received Upasampadā (Higher Ordination) under the tutelage of Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

In 1939, after the Nazis invaded Poland, Ven.

Nyanaponika Thera arranged for his mother and other relatives to move to Sri Lanka.

Through the influence of her son and the generous hosts, she embraced Buddha Dhamma and became a devoted Buddhist.

When World War II broke out in 1939, the British Government had all German males resident in their colonies consigned to concentration camps, suspecting them to be German spies.

Nyanaponika's and Nyanatiloka's internment was first at Diyatalawa Army Cantonment in Sri Lanka, and later at Dehra Dun in northern India.

Despite these experiences as a prisoner of war, during this period Ven.

Nyanaponika Thera completed German translations of the Sutta Nipata, the Dhammasangani (the first book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka), and its commentary.

He compiled an anthology of texts on Satipatthana Meditation.

This work was begun at Diyatalawa, and it was finished while he was interned at Dehra Dun.

With the cessation of war, the two bhikkhus were released from internment at Dehra Dun.

They returned to Sri Lanka in 1946 and resided at the Island Hermitage, Dodanduwa.

In 1946, Ven.

Nyanatiloka Mahathera was offered a hermitage in the Udawattekelle Forest Reserve, but being advanced in age he preferred the cooler climate of Kandy to the hot and stuffy sea-coast climate of Dodanduwa.

In 1947, Ven.

Nyanaponika Thera joined him at the new Kandy Hermitage.

In early 1951 Sri Lanka granted citizenship to both of them.

In 1952, both Venerable Nyanatiloka Mahathera and Nyanaponika Thera were invited by the Burmese (Myanmar) Government to be consultants to the Sixth Buddhist Council, to be convened in 1954 to re-edit and reprint the entire Pali Canon and its commentaries.

After their work with the council was completed, Ven.

Nyanaponika Thera stayed in Burma for a period of training in Vipassanā (Insight Meditation) under the meditation teacher Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw Thera.

The experience he gathered motivated him to write his best-known work, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, published by the Buddhist Publication Society.

This work was reprinted in many editions, and was translated into more languages.

She died in Colombo in 1956.

Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901 – 19 October 1994) was a German-born 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.

Ven.