Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu was born in 1906, the son of a southern Thai mother and an ethnic Chinese father. He followed Thai custom by entering a local monastery in 1926, studied for a couple years in Bangkok, and then founded his own refuge for study and practice in 1932. Since then, he has had a profound influence on not only Thai Buddhism but other religions in Siam and Buddhism in the West. Among his more important accomplishments, he:
• Challenged the hegemony of later commentarial texts with the primacy of the Buddha’s original discourses.
• Integrated serious Dhamma study, intellectual creativity, and rigorous practice.
• Explained Buddha-Dhamma with an emphasis on this life, including the possibility of experiencing Nibbāna ourselves.
• Softened the dichotomy between householder and monastic practice, stressing that noble eightfold path is available to everyone.
• Offered doctrinal support for addressing social and environmental issues, helping to foster socially engaged Buddhism in Siam.
• Shaped his forest monastery as an innovative teaching environment and Garden of Liberation (Suan Mokkh).
After a series of illnesses, including strokes, he died in 1993. He was cremated without the usual pomp and expense.