Maha ghosananda biography sample

The Making of a Monk: Cambodia's Maha Ghosananda

[Adapted from introductions by Jack Kornfield, Dith Pran, and Jane Sharada Mahoney and Philip Edmonds to Maha Ghosananda's Step by Step: Meditations on Wisdom and Compassion (Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, 1992) Reprinted with permission.]

Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, supreme leader of Cambodian Buddhism, represents to many the essence of sweet generosity and unstoppable courage of heart.

Just to be in his presence, to experience his smile and the infectious loving kindness that flows from him is healing to the spirit.

He moves easily between many worlds: as a forest monk, as a father figure for Cambodian children, as a translator and scholar of fifteen languages, as a meditation master for Western students, as a peacemaker at the United Nations, and as one of the living treasures of Cambodia, leading the Khmer refugee communiti