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Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero's writing, publishing and compiling career enters into an entirely new era, with the presentation of this work to the global public. This work, entitled "Vision of the Buddha - The Buddha and His Teachings", was originally written by Ven. Narada Maha Nayaka Thero as a pioneering effort to introduce Buddhism in a simple but lively idiom. Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero has elevated that work into a world classic, illustrated with a series of mural paintings f rom Sri Lankan Buddhist temples. Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero, whose service to Buddhist literature has already achieved a global significance, comes f rom the south of Sri Lanka. He was born there in 194 l, and was ordained a Buddhist monk at the early age of 12. After acquiring a traditional Buddhist education, he obtained his higher academic education at the Vidyodaya University of Ceylon (now Sri Jayawardhanepura University, Sri Lanka) Obtaining his first dygree in 1964, he functioned as principal, Indurupathvila University College, Sri Lanka, from 1965 1967. Subsequently, he was principal, Sudharma University College.
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His initiation into his life's mission of disseminating the Buddha's Teachings to the world, began in Penang, Malaysia. There, he was principal, Mahindarama Sunday Pali School, until 1979. It was in that year that he came over to Singapore, and founded The Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre (SBMC), assisted by an enthusiastic group of devotees. He helped to found the American Sri Lanka Buddhist Association of which he is still Director. He is the current General Secretary of Japan-Sri Lanka Buddhist Centre of which he was Founder-President. He is the Chief Incumbent Monk of Jayanthi Viharaya, Weragoda, Sri Lanka. He holds the urnque record of distributing about a million publications worldwide - free His works are published in English, Sinhalese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. He has over eighty publications to his credit. His most recent work, "Treasury of Truth - Illustrated Dhammapada", has proven a publication sensation in the history of Buddhist publishing. His "Parents and Children - Key to Happiness" has an equally impressive impact. He is currently busy publishing several works of an extremely high order. "Illustrated Jataka Tales" (Buddha's birth stories) and "Light of Asia" by Sir Edwin Arnold, are two among them. His contribution to world literature on Buddhism is widely recognized. By Edwjn Ariyadasa £djfor
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