Buddhadatta Thera was a 5th-century

Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...

Buddhist writer from the town of Uragapura in the Chola kingdom of

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

.Potter, Karl H; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Buddhist philosophy from 350 to 600 A.D. pg 216 He wrote many of his works in the Bhūtamangalagāma monastery and his patron was Accutavikkanta of the Kalamba dynasty (''Kalambhakulavamsa jāte Accutavikkamanāme Colarājini Colarattham samanusāsante''). Buddhadatta traveled to Sri Lanka's Mahāvihāra in Anurādhapura to study and translate the commentaries on the Buddha's teachings from Sinhalese to

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

. He is said to have met Buddhagosa at sea while returning to India, his work unfinished. Buddhadatta asked Buddhagosa to send him his translations and commentaries and used them in the writing of his

Abhidhammāvatāra ''Abhidhammavatara'' (Pali, also ''Abhidhammāvatāra''), according to Encyclopædia Britannica is "the earliest effort at systematizing, in the form of a manual, the doctrines dealt with in the Abhidhamma (scholastic) section of the Theravada Bud ...

. Buddhadatta's other works include the Vinaya-Vinicchaya (“Analysis of the Vinaya”), the Uttara-Vinicchaya, the Rūpārūpa-Vibhāga The

(Pali: “The Coming of the Abhidhamma”) is one of the earliest and most important

Abhidhamma The Theravada Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings ( Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed ...

manuals. It is a systematized overview of the doctrines in the

Pitaka, written largely in 24 verse chapters. The

Abhidhammattha-sangaha The ''Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha'' (English: The Compendium of Things contained in the Abhidhamma; ) is a Pali Buddhist instructional manual or compendium of the Abhidhamma of the Theravāda tradition. It was written by the Sri Lankan monk Ācari ...

has, in essence, superseded it.Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism (p. 205). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Works

#Uttaravinicchaya #Vinayavinicchaya - a Vinaya manual #Abhidhammavatara - an Abhidhamma manual #Ruparupavibhaga #Madhuratthavilasini - a commentary on the Buddhavamsa.

References

5th-century Buddhist monks Indian Buddhist monks Theravada Buddhist monks Indian scholars of Buddhism {{India-reli-bio-stub