Books Buddhism Explained Name Khantipalo Khantipalo | ||
Khantipalo, or Phra Khantipalo, is a Western Buddhist teacher and former Theravada monk.
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Biography
Laurence Mills was born in London in 1932, and educated at Thetford Grammar School in Norfolk. After training as a horticulturalist he worked at Kew Gardens in London. During his national service on the Suez Canal he read a book on Buddhism which inspired a lifelong interest in Buddhist studies. As a result he travelled to India and South-East Asia, eventually ordaining as a monk in the Thai Dhammayuttika Nikaya. He became an extremely accomplished Pali scholar and published a great many influential books and articles on Buddhism.
After thirty years as a Theravada monk, including extended periods as a forest hermit, he disrobed to pursue further research into Mahayana Buddhism, in particular the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. In 1973 he established Wat Buddha Dhamma in New South Wales, and in 1991 he established the Bodhicitta Buddhist Centre in Queensland.
He is one of the founding fathers of Buddhism in Australia and is well known for his inspirational practice and teaching. After a lifetime of service to Buddhism he finally succumbed to ill health and now resides in a medical care facility in Melbourne, Victoria. In 2010 he re-ordained as a novice in the Vietnamese Mahayana tradition under the name Minh An, "Peace with Wisdom".