Tampalawela Dhammaratana

Who is Tampalawela Dhammaratana?

Ven. Dr. Tampalawela Dhammaratana, French and Sri Lankan national, was born in Sri Lanka and received his traditional Buddhist education from Sangharaja Pirivena in Kandy and Sunetradevi University College. During his very early education, he had special privilege to study under the guidance of leading traditional Buddhist monastic scholars, in Sri Lanka and he became in proficient in Pali, Sanskrit and Sinhala languages and especially Theravada Buddhism. He received his Buddhist ordination under the instruction of Most Ven. Pitadeniye Sri Ratanapala Sangha Nayake Thera of Uva Wellassa Provinces in Sri Lanka and later he received his Higher Ordination in 1976 at Siam Maha Nikaya, Malwatte Chapter in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

After his traditional Buddhist education he entered to the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social and Human Sciences in 1984. In the same year he left his mother country and entered to the University of Paris, France where he completed his French language Diplomas and received his Master’s Degree in Philosophy under the guidance of Prof. François Lyotard with an upper class distinction. He further continued his higher education in France and obtained his M.Phil and Ph.D Degrees in Comparative Indian Philosophy from the University of Sorbonne, under the guidance of Prof. Michel Hulin in 1989 and 1994 respectively. His master piece research on Doctoral thesis is entitled on “Some Aspect of Anatta Doctrine Depicted in Pali Canon”. In addition to that he has pursued his Post-Doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Pierre Sylvain Filliozat at the Higher Studies School at the University of Sorbonne, France in the area of Philology.