Monk to give talk on ‘Myths and Truth about the Buddha’

KUCHING: The Venerable Aggacitta Mahathero will be giving a talk on ‘Myths and Truth about the Buddha’ at Kuching Buddhist Society (Wihara Sakyamuni Buddha) on Thursday, beginning 7.45pm

Ven Aggacitta is a Malaysian Buddhist monk ordained at Mahasi Meditation Centre, Rangoon, Burma in 1979.

He trained under various teachers, notably Sayadaws U Pandita(Panditarama),U Tissara (Yankin), U Acinna (Pa Auk) and U Tejaniya (Shwe Oo Min).

Besides practising meditation, he studied advanced Pali and translation in Thai and Burmese under Sayadaw U Dhammananda at Wat Tamaoh, Lampang, Thailand from 1983-1984.

He continued to study the Pali Tipitaka in Myanmar and researched its interpretation and practice until his return to Malaysia at the end of 1994.

After a 4-year solitary meditation retreat in Sarawak, he returned to West Malaysia at the end of 1998.

Since then he has been investigating popular interpretation and practices of Buddhism in the light of the Pali Scriptures, real life experiences and contemporary research findings. Using a critical yet constructive approach, he has been sharing his findings with interested parties in order to bring them closer to a practical reality they can more easily connect with.

In 2000 he founded Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, a Theravada monk training centre nestled among secluded valleys and brooks near Taiping, Perak.

In 2012, at the invitation of the Theravada Buddhist Council of Malaysia, he consented to be on its Monastic Advisory Panel.