As Theravada texts and learning materials should be provided to the sangha and lay community, free of charge, worldwide, as far as possible, I have been gathering and saving a considerable range of texts, books articles, essays and talks, about the words of the Buddha as translated into English by well-acclaimed and highly respected Buddhist monks, scholars and teachers.
The history of how these teaching materials become available for study and free download is as follows: – I have been collecting and saving Theravada teachings since 1986 when I first became a devotee of Venerable Nyanaponika Mahathera, who was staying at the Kandy, King's Forest Hermitage, in Sri Lanka, together with Bhikkhu Bodhi, where they would recommend texts to me for study, easily available nearby from the Buddhist Publication Society Bookstore, down in Kandy town, by the lakeside.
Later, in 2003, following Venerable Nyanaponioka's demise and the return of Bhikkhu Bodhi to America for health reasons, I went back to the Forest Hermitage to help Venerable Nyanatusita proof-read and edit BPS texts (especially those which had been type-set by hand and full of mistakes) to be ready for digitalization to become available on the BPS Website for free download.
As I had been a lecturer for English, American and World Literature for the University of Maryland, European Campus, for 25 years, before early retirement, and having also had to teach English Grammar, Composition and Creative Writing every year as undergraduate Prerequisites, Bhikku Bodhi accepted my offer to be of assistance to Venerable Nyanatusita and Webmaster Asantha Wijesiri in preparing the site to be ready to go on-line.
By this time, I was myself getting older, so I continued saving and storing Theravada teachings from wherever I could find and download them, with the idea in mind that I would one day retire to a quiet kuti somewhere out in nature to be able to study and follow the teachings of the Buddha peacefully throughout my final days.
In this website, here, I have shared texts not only from BPS backgrounds, but I have also also included a wider selection of readings from Thanissaro Bhikkhu along with many more from Burmese and Thai Masters as well.
Strangely enough, as I have lived a lot longer than I ever expected to, I am still here to share a selection of what I have saved and collected – as an offering of Dhamma Dana with you, my friends.
Finally, I have also shared a selection of English language learning texts which I prepared when I was teaching at Chulalongkorn University and also leading training workshops for government organizations and various corporate entities in Bangkok, Thailand.
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