Nyanaponika Thera (Siegmund Feniger) was born on 21 July 1901 in Hanau, Germany. He came into contact with Buddhism early in his youth and left for Sri Lanka in 1936, where he was ordained as a novice and a year later as a monk by the famous German monk Nyanatiloka.
Interned in camps like Dehra Dun’s in India, he worked intensively during the war years on translations of Pali texts. Not only as author of the now classic The Heart of Buddhist Meditation and of many other books and translations, but also as co-founder in 1958, editor and president of the Buddhist Publication Society he made a great contribution to the international dissemination of the Theravāda teachings. He died on October 19, 1994 in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Abhidhamma Studies
Nyanaponika TheraThe Abhidhamma, the third great division of early Buddhist teaching, expounds a revolutionary system of philosophical psychology rooted in the twin Buddhist…
Advice to Rāhula: Four Discourses of the Buddha
Nyanaponika Thera“A son has been born to thee, O prince!” this was the message that reached Prince Siddhattha when returning from a drive through the city of Kapilavatthu and a…
Advice to Rahula: Four Discourses of the Buddha
Nyanaponika TheraThis book contains a collection of teachings the Buddha gave to his son Rahula. The first of the texts translated here, the Exhortation to Rāhula given at…
Anguttara Nikaya Anthology
Nyanaponika TheraThis book contains an anthology of 154 selected discourses from the Pali canon. The original translation was by Nyanaponika Thera and was published in the BPS…
Devotion in Buddhism
Nyanaponika TheraThe Buddha repeatedly discouraged any excessive veneration paid to him personally. He knew that an excess of purely emotional devotion can obstruct or disturb…
Devotion in Buddhism: Three Essays
Nyanaponika TheraReligion and devotion are inseparable, and Buddhism is no exception to this rule. Theravada, or Buddhism based on the Pali Tipiṭaka, the original Teachings of…
Great Disciples of the Buddha: Their Lives, Works and Legacy
Nyanaponika TheraTwenty-four of the Buddha's most distinguished disciples are brought to life in ten chapters of rich narration. They include monks who were very close to him…
Mudita: The Buddha’s Teaching on Unselfish Joy
Nyanaponika TheraThis book contains several short essays, one by the editor, Venerable Nyanaponika, and three by lay practitioners on one of the lesser known and too-little…
Stories of Old: Gathered from the Pali Commentaries
Nyanaponika TheraThese stories have been collected from the ancient commentaries to the Pali Canon that were compiled and translated in Sri Lanka by Venerable Buddhaghosa in the…
Taming the Mind: Discourses of the Buddha
Nyanaponika TheraSelected discourses of the Buddha on meditation and the mind, compiled by the renowned Buddhist monk Nyanaponika Thera.
The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest
Nyanaponika TheraMany are the obstacles which block the road to spiritual progress, but there are five in particular which, under the name of hindrances (nivarana)…
The Four Nutriments of Life
Nyanaponika TheraAll beings subsist on nutriment” — this, according to the Buddha, is the one single fact about life that, above all, deserves to be remembered…
The Four Sublime States & The Practice of Loving-Kindness (Metta)
Nyanaponika TheraThis booklet contains two essays: Four Sublime States by Nyanaponika Thera and The Practice of Loving-Kindness (Mettā) by Ñāṇamoli Thera. The “four sublime…
The Greater Discourse on the Elephant-Footprint Simile
Nyanaponika TheraThe Greater Discourse on the Elephant-footprint Simile (Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta) is the 28th sutta of the Majjhima-Nikāya (Middle Collection).
The Heart of Buddhist Meditation
Nyanaponika TheraThis is a classic text on the essence of Buddhist meditation. It is an excellent, indepth description of mindfulness practice and its benefits.
The Life of Sariputta
Nyanaponika TheraSariputta is a man of profound intellect and sublime nature, a true disciple of the Great Teacher, whose story we have set down, to the best of our ability…
The Power of Mindfulness
Nyanaponika TheraThis is a commentary on the Satipatthana mindfulness meditation, an inquiry into the scope of their attention and the principal sources of its strength.
The Roots of Good and Evil
Nyanaponika TheraGreed, hatred, and delusion – these are the three bad roots in us. Conversely the good ones are non-greed (i.e generosity), non-hatred (love)…
The Simile of the Cloth, and the Discourse on Effacement
Nyanaponika TheraThis discourse of the Buddha — the seventh in the Collection of Middle Length Texts (Majjhima Nikaya) — deals first with a set of sixteen defilements of the…
The Snake Simile
Nyanaponika TheraThe discourse of the Buddha on the Snake Simile (Alagaddupama Sutta) that is presented here, together with explanatory notes taken mostly from the commentarial…
The Threefold Refuge
Nyanaponika TheraIn making an actual and intelligent use of that fourfold devotional Road of the Ancients, we shall preserve the most popular religious practice in the Buddhist…
The Vision of Dhamma
Nyanaponika TheraThe distinguished German scholar-monk Nyanaponika Thera explains some of the core issues in the teachings of the Buddha in lucid and accessible language.
Three Cardinal Discourses of the Buddha
Nyanaponika TheraThis booklet contains the first three discourses that the Buddha gave after his Awakening. In these three discourses the Buddha displays the fundamental…