Venerable Hammalawa Saddhatissa was born in Sri Lanka in 1914 and ordained as a Buddhist monk at the age of twelve. The author of and translator of a number of scholarly works on Buddhism, he was also the president of the Mahabodhi Society. Recognized as a Mahathera, the highest rank in the Theravada monastic tradition, Venerable Saddhatissa traveled widely throughout his long career. He died in 1990.