Biography
A life devoted to the original Dhamma
Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk born on 1 July 1961, internationally recognised as the founder of the Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery and the Shraddha Media Network. He was born into a Roman Catholic family to parents Cristy Kabraal and Violet Perera, but the family converted to Buddhism roughly six months after his birth — with his parents even giving up their meat-based animal husbandry livelihood to align with Buddhist ethics.
He was ordained as a novice monk at the age of 17, on 26 March 1979, at the Seruwila Mangala Raja Maha Vihara. He later enrolled at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura to pursue a Sinhala Honours Degree, but left academia to dedicate himself fully to Dhamma practice — spending years travelling to forest monasteries and hermitages across Sri Lanka to master meditation.
"When the foundation stone was laid for the monastery, the only thought that arose in my mind was this: May a generation of people arise who will illuminate the Dispensation of Gautama Buddha."
— Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda TheroIn 1999, under the guidance of Ven. Kotapola Amarakitti Thero, he founded the first Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery in Waduwava, Polgahawela — a network that has since grown to hundreds of branches in Sri Lanka along with international centres in the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia.
He is particularly known for translating the Sutta Pitaka (Pali Canon) from Pali into modern, accessible Sinhala, and is a prolific author with over 90 books on meditation and Buddhist philosophy, most published through Mahamegha Publishers.