Y Karunadasa

Yakupitiyage Karunadasa (1934 – 26 April 2026) was a Sri Lankan scholar in Buddhist Studies. His main areas of specialisation were Early Buddhism and Theravada Abidhamma.

Education and career Y. Karunadasa obtained a First Class Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Ceylon in 1958, a Ph.D. from the University of London in 1963, and was awarded an honorary D.Litt. by the University of Kelaniya in 2002. and as Tung Lin Kok Yuen Visiting professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto. as the MaMa Charitable Foundation Visiting professor. In 1997 he was felicitated with a volume of articles on Buddhist Studies written by his colleagues. In 2005 he was decorated with the title of Sri Lanka Sikhamani by the Government of Sri Lanka in recognition of his meritorious service to the country of his birth.

Karunadasa died in Colombo on 26 April 2026, at the age of 92.

Publications Books The Buddhist Analysis of Matter, (reprinted), The Buddhist Research Society, Singapore, 1989, pp. I-XVIII, 1986. The Dhamma Theory: Philosophical Cornerstone of the Abhidhamma, Wheel Publications No. 412/413, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1996. The Atthakatha Correspondence Table, in collaboration with Sodo Mori and T. Endo, Pali Text Society, London, 1995 Mori, Sodo, Y. Karunadasa & Toshiichi Endo (1994). Pali Atthakatha Correspondence Table. Oxford: Pali Text Society. Theravada Abhidhamma : its inquiry into the nature of conditioned reality Published by Centre for Buddhist Studies, Hong Kong University, 2010 Early Buddhist Teachings: The Middle Position in Theory and Practice Published by Centre for Buddhist Studies, Hong Kong University, 2013