Nyanaponika Thera or Nyaniponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901, Hanau – 19 October 1994, Forest Hermitage, Kandy, Ceylon) was a German-born Sri-Lanka-ordained Theravada monk, co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society^[1], contemporary author of numerous seminal Theravada books, and teacher of contemporary Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Detailed Biography:

Ven. Nyanaponika Thera (Siegmund Feniger) was born in Hanau, Germany on July 21, 1901 as Siegmund Feniger, the only child of a Jewish family.

In 1922, he moved with his parents to Berlin, where he met with other German Buddhists and also had access to Buddhist literature in German language. He first came across the writings of Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera (1878–1957), the former German violin virtuoso Anton Gueth, which had already been published in Germany. Young Siegmund had learned Ven. Nayanatiloka Thera had established a monastery for Western Monks on an island lagoon (opposite the Railway station) Polgasduwa, Dodanduwa named Island Hermitage. This news stirred his conscience to go to Asia and become a Buddhist Monk.

Bhikkhu Bodhi (b. December 10, 1944, NYC), born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publication Society and has edited and authored several publications grounded in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

In 1944, Block was born in Brooklyn, NY. In 1966, he obtained a B.A. in philosophy from Brooklyn College. In 1972, he obtained a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School.

In 1967, while still a graduate student, Bodhi was ordained as a novice monk in the Vietnamese Mahayana order. In 1972, after graduation, Bodhi traveled to Sri Lanka where, under Ven. Ananda Maitreya, he received novice ordination and, in 1973, he received full ordination in a Theravada order.

In 1984, succeeding co-founder Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, Bodhi was appointed English-language editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (BPS, Sri Lanka) and, in 1988, became its president. In 2002, he retired from the society's editorship while still remaining its president.