1. Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk.
18 Facts About Henepola Gunaratana
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Henepola Gunaratana is affectionately known as Bhante G Bhante Gunaratana is currently the abbot of the Bhavana Society, a monastery and meditation retreat center that he founded in High View, West Virginia, in 1985.
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Henepola Gunaratana is the author of the bestselling meditation guide Mindfulness in Plain English.
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Henepola Gunaratana was born Ekanayaka Mudiyanselage Ukkubanda on December 7,1927, in the small Sri Lankan village of Henepola.
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Henepola Gunaratana remained home for short time before leaving again, in January 1939, for another temple in Malandeniya Village, Kurunegala District.
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Henepola Gunaratana would go on to receive upasampada in 1947, at the age of 20, in Kandy.
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Henepola Gunaratana took his ordained name, Henepola Gunaratana, in the Sinhalese custom.
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Henepola Gunaratana was then educated at Vidyasekhara Pirivena Junior College, a monks school in Gampaha.
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Henepola Gunaratana received his higher education in Sri Lanka at Vidyalankara College in Kelaniya and the Buddhist Missionary College in Colombo.
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Henepola Gunaratana primarily served the dalits in Sanchi, Delhi, and Bombay.
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Henepola Gunaratana went on to serve as a religious advisor to the Malaysian Sasana Abhivurdhiwardhana Society, Buddhist Missionary Society, and Buddhist Youth Federation.
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Henepola Gunaratana was the principal of the Buddhist Institute of Kuala Lumpur.
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Bhante Henepola Gunaratana first arrived in the United States in 1968 at the age of 40 at the invitation of the Sasana Sevaka Society.
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Henepola Gunaratana served as the General Secretary of the Buddhist Vihara Society of Washington, DC and was later elected president of the society.
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Henepola Gunaratana served as the first Buddhist chaplain on the university's campus in 1972 while still a student.
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Henepola Gunaratana did much to locate American sponsors for these refugees who would keep the families together so that they would not have to be separated.
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Henepola Gunaratana has lectured at universities throughout the greater United States, Europe, and Australia.
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Henepola Gunaratana in known for his contributions to the study and practice of samatha and vipassana meditation.