Bhikkhu Ñanamoli
| Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Theravada |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
June 25, 1905 United Kingdom |
| Died | March 8, 1960 (aged 54) Veheragama near Mahawa, Sri Lanka |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Island Hermitage |
| Religious career | |
| Teacher | Ñāṇatiloka Maha Thera |
Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu (born Osbert John S Moore, June 25, 1905 – March 8, 1960) was a British Theravada Buddhist monk and translator from Pali.
Born in Cambridge, Osbert was the only child of biologist John Edmund Sharrock Moore and Heloise Moore (née Salvin). He was named after Helloise's father, the naturalist Osbert Salvin. He studied modern languages at Exeter College, Oxford. He helped a friend to run an antiques shop before joining the army at the outbreak of World War II, joining the anti-aircraft regiment before being transferred to the Intelligence Corps officer-cadet training camp. He was posted to a camp on the Isle of Man to help oversee Italian internees.
In 1944 he is posted to Italy serving as an intelligence officer interrogating spies and saboteurs. During this period he discovered Buddhism via the Julius Evola's The Doctrine of Awakening a Nietzschean interpretation of Buddhism. This work had been translated by his friend Harold Edward Musson, also an intelligence officer serving in Italy.
After the war Moore joined the Italian section of the BBC. Moore and Musson, who shared a flat in London, were quite disillusioned with their lives and left to Sri Lanka in 1949 to become Buddhist monks. On April 24, 1949 they received the novice (samanera) ordination or going forth, pabbajjā, from Ñāṇatiloka at the Island Hermitage. In 1950 they received their bhikkhu ordination at Vajirarama Temple Colombo. Ñāṇamoli spent almost his entire monk life of eleven years at the Island Hermitage.
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