Bhante Seelawansa is a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka working in Austria. He runs the Dhamma Zentrum Nyanaponika in Vienna, which he founded more than 30 years ago.

He was born on May 12, 1953 in the village of Wijayarajapura in Sri Lanka. At the age of seven he lost his mother in an accident. In May 1964, at the age of ten, he received his father’s approval and became a Buddhist novice. He studied under the guidance of the eminent Sri Lankan meditation teacher Bhante Pemasiri, whom he now accompanies on his travels to Europe. After monastic ordination, he studied at the University of Sri Lanka, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree. After graduation, he worked as a Buddhist school teacher in Sri Lanka. In 1982, he came to Salzburg, Austria, where he studied journalism and communication sciences as well as German as a minor subject. In 1991, Bhante Seelawansa Thero became a Doctor of Philosophy and has since taught at the University of Vienna and the University of Liechtenstein. He is abbot of a Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka and spiritual director of the Theravada School of the State Austrian Buddhist Religious Society.

For more information, please visit http://www.dhammazentrum.at