Maha Ghosananda

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Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda

Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda ( Khmer ស ម្តេ ច ព្រះ មហា ឃោស ន ន្ទ ; * 1929 in the province of Takeo ; † March 12, 2007 in Northampton , Massachusetts , USA ) was a Cambodian monk and peace activist .

No precise details are known about Maha Ghosananda's life, as on the one hand he lived very modestly and withdrawn, on the other hand he lost his whole family during the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge , so few people could tell about his life.

He was born in 1929 in Takeo Province in the plains of the Mekong Delta in Cambodia . When he was eight years old, he began serving as a temple boy in his village temple. There he showed great interest in monastic life, which resulted in the fact that at the age of 14 he asked his parents to be allowed to become a monk. After completing his studies at the Buddhist University of Phnom Penh , Ghosananda moved to Battambang for further studies .

He later left Cambodia to do his PhD at the Indian University of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara in Nalanda ( Bihar ). Then he received the title "Maha" before he was thirty. This name means "Great Joyful Herald". In the following years he expanded his university education through studies in various Buddhist centers in Asia.

From the Japanese monk Nichidatsu Fujii he learned the principles of the doctrine of peace and non-violence, which should determine his actions in the years to come. He was also given the honor of studying with the then Supreme Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism , Sangha Raja.

Maha Ghosananda learned to speak Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai, Japanese, French, English and German fluently during numerous trips and studies. 1965 left the monk Cambodia to in Thailand the famous meditation master Ajahn students Dhammadharo (at that time Nakhon Si Thammarat today: Wat Sai Ngam in Suphanburi ) and Buddhadasa Bhikkhu to be. During the following periods of war and genocide in Cambodia, he stayed in Thailand to meditate and wait to help his people. In 1978 he returned to Cambodia and campaigned for peace and forgiveness.

In 1988 Maha Ghosananda was elected the highest patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism, i.e. its head. In 1992 he led the first Dhammayietra , a peace march through Cambodia. Between 1994 and 1997 he was nominated four times in a row for the Nobel Peace Prize, a total of six times. Although he did not receive this award, he was awarded numerous prestigious peace prizes, such as the Niwano Peace Prize and the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize . He was also called the Gandhi of Cambodia.

Together with the Dalai Lama , Thich Nhat Hanh and Sulak Sivaraksa , he founded the INEB (International Network of Committed Buddhists) in 1989 .

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personal data
SURNAME Maha Ghosananda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cambodian Buddhist monk; Peace activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Takeo Province , Cambodia
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 2007
Place of death Northampton , Massachusetts , United States