Death of Professor David Jinadasa Kalupahana (1936-2014)

*Death of Professor David Jinadasa Kalupahana (1936-2014)*

Professor David J.Kalupahana passed away peacefully at home in Hawai’i on
the 16th of January. Prof. Kalupahana was one of the leading interpreters
of the early Pali Buddhist tradition and Nagarjuna. He was the former head
of the department of philosophy, University of Hawaii where he served as a
professor since 1972. Prior to joining University of Hawai’I Prof.
Kalupahana taught at Pali and Buddhist Studies Department, University of
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

A key aspect in Prof. Kalupahana’s interpretation of the early Pali
Buddhist tradition was it represented a form of empiricism with pragmatic
tendencies. He devoted much of his academic energy to establsih this
approach to Buddhist philosophy. He interpreted both early Madhyamaka and
Yogacara on similar lines.

Prof. Kalupahana graduated from University of Peradeniya in 1959 with a
degree in Pali, Sanskrit and philosophy and subsequently received his PhD
at University of London. Based on his doctoral research he later (1975)
published *Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism*. His work, *A
History of Buddhismt Philosophy* (1973) won admiration of students of
Buddhism as a concise statement of the history of Indian Buddhist
philosophy. In *Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way* (1986) Prof.
Kalupahana presented a new way of interpreting Nagarjuna’s
Mulamadhamakakarika. Prof. Kalupahana was an untiring researcher and writer
who has many publications on various aspects of Buddhist philosphy. The
last of his major contributions to study of Buddhism was his two-volumed
Sourcebook on Buddhist Philosphy (2008).

*Asanga Tilakaratne*

*Professor of Pali and Buddhist Studies*

*Buddhist Studies Program*

*University of Colombo*

*Colombo*

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