P.D. Premasiri

Pahalawattage Don Premasiri
Born	July 25th, 1941 Kotte, Colombo
Residence	Kandy
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Institutions	University of Peradeniya, Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy
Alma mater	University of Hawaii of Manoa
Thesis	Moral Evaluation in Early Buddhism: From the Perspective of Western Philosophical Analysis
Doctoral advisor	Eliot Deutsch
Other academic advisors	David Kalupahana
Doctoral students	Bhikkhu Analayo
Known for	Buddhist Ethics and Buddhist Philosophy
Influences	K.N. Jayatilleke David Kalupahana W.S. Karunaratne Venerable Professor Dheerasekera
Spouse	Padma Wanniarachchi

P. D. Premasiri is a Buddhist scholar specializing in the areas of Buddhist Ethics and Buddhist Philosophy. Premasiri's academic training represents a synthesis of both the Buddhist and Western philosophical traditions, first at the University of Peradeniya and subsequently at Cambridge and Hawaii. He is currently President of the Buddhist Publication Society and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies at the University of Peradeniya.

P. D. Premasiri was born in Kotte, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka on July 25, 1941. He received his primary and secondary education from Christian College, a boys' school in Kotte presently known as Sri Jayawardenepura Maha Vidyalaya. Inspired by his father's talks on Buddhism, Premasiri started studying Pali at the age of 14.

He entered the University of Peradeniya in 1959 as a student in the Pali and Buddhist Civilization Department where he chose Pali as his subject of specialization. At Peradeniya he studied under Buddhist scholars Venerable Professor Dhammavihari, W.S. Karunaratne, Lily de Silva, and David Kalupahana. Although Premasiri was not enrolled in the Philosophy Department, he also audited a class under Philosophy Professor K.N. Jayatilleke with his permission. In 1963, after receiving a B.A. in Pali with First Class Honours, Premasiri was invited to join the Peradeniya academic staff as a temporary assistant lecturer and was awarded an Oriental Studies scholarship to study abroad. With encouragement from K.N. Jayatilleke, Premasiri traveled to the UK in 1965 and studied western ethics and philosophy at the University of Cambridge under notable British Philosophers such as Sir Bernard Williams. While at Cambridge, a contemporary and friend to Premasiri was leading Buddhist scholar L.S. Cousins. After earning a second B.A. and an M.A. in Western Philosophy at Cambridge, he returned to Peradeniya in 1968 and taught in both the Pali and Buddhist Civilization Department and the Department of Buddhist Philosophy.

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