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collector of rare books on
Buddhism in various languages, he had compiled an extensive library. After his death in 1986, his book collection, including extremely rare and ancient Burmese and Pali manuscripts (some written on ola leaves), was donated by his family to the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka and other higher education institutions. His widow compiled some of his writings and published five books in Sinhala and in English:
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in 1948. When his father died at a young age, the burden of supporting the family fell on
Karunaratne as the second-oldest male child. While pursuing his education, Karunaratne worked part-time and managed to feed the family and keep the children in school. He won numerous scholarships and obtained a
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The university went through a transformation in the 1970s, and the Arts faculty was moved to the
Vidyalankara Campus in Kelaniya. From 1973 to 1978, Professor Karunaratne continued to be the dean of the Faculty of Arts at Vidyalankara, as well as the Buddhist philosophy chair. In addition, he served
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in Burma and at other higher education institutions in
Thailand. Professor Karunaratne had travelled extensively around the world in various official capacities as an expert on comparative religion. He contributed to newspapers, magazines and scholarly publications on various topics. As an avid
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and
Buddhist Civilization. In 1954, Karunaratne married one of his students, Indumathi Gunatillake, who eventually became an expert in Tibetan Buddhism and joined the Sri Lanka Encyclopedia of Buddhism as an assistant editor. Soon after their wedding, Karunaratne and his wife moved to London,
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Karunaratne was fluent in
Sinhala, Tamil and English in addition to the classical languages of Pali, Sanskrit and Latin. He also read in Hindi, French, German and Burmese. He was a visiting professor in the United States in 1963, lecturing at numerous universities as a
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to become the UNP's chief spokesperson. He crossed the country, making political speeches supporting
Jayewardene to form the next government. The campaign was a success, and it is widely believed that Karunaratne was the chief architect of the UNP's landslide victory.
522:), becoming the youngest professor of the University of Ceylon. He established and developed the new department, and taught at the Peradeniya Campus until 1973. During his last few years at Peradeniya, he also served in the capacity of the dean of the Faculty of Arts.
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invited
Karunaratne to be Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States. Karunaratne took a leave of absence from the university to accept the position in Washington, D.C. After distinguished service as the ambassador to the United States, as well as to the
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Twelve years later, the
Department of Pali and Buddhist Civilization was contemplating the establishment of a separate department of Buddhist Philosophy. In 1964, Karunaratne was selected as its first professor (over competing candidate Reverend Dr.
563:(MEP) (English: People's United Front), and travelled throughout the country making speeches on behalf of the MEP. In the March 1960 national elections, Karunaratne contested the Kandy electorate, running against E.L Senanayake of the
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452:. Coming from a family of nine siblings, Karunaratne grew up in a very poor home. The household moved as his police-constable father was transferred around the country during the British colonial rule of Sri Lanka.
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https://web.archive.org/web/20061127201747/http://www.theodeboer.com/books.php?Author=&Title=&Description=&All=&Pmin=&Pmax=&ordernr=0&srchfrm=1&catnr=29&pg=114
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to run in
Senanayake's home electorate for the UNP, but he again lost by a narrow margin and returned to his academic profession. In 1978, Karunaratne accepted an invitation from
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Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance.
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https://web.archive.org/web/20110718113444/http://www.worldbuddhistuniversity.com/uploads/files/e-jornal/World%20Buddhist%20Vol_5%20No_1.pdf
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567:(UNP). Karunaratne lost the election by a few hundred votes and returned to the University. In 1970, Karunaratne was persuaded by
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After the '1956 revolution', Karunaratne was drawn to Sri Lanka's national politics. He became a confidant of statesman
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https://web.archive.org/web/20061114104222/http://www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/reviews.asp?ProductID=354
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for his thesis on "The Theory of Causality in Early Buddhism". In the same year, Karunaratne was chosen as the
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scholar. He was affectionately known by the Sri Lankan masses as "W. S." and as "The Don" by the academia.
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https://web.archive.org/web/20061011033724/http://www.globalnonviolence.org/docs/buddhism/chapter12.pdf
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Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in 1952. Karunaratne's father had wanted him to join the
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https://web.archive.org/web/20061013083750/http://www.pgis.lk/newsletter/news5/index.html
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England, where, at age 28, Karunaratne obtained his doctorate from the
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the son of a wealthy, land-owning family who attended the prestigious
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http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1978/d060578t.pdf
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Scholarly works of Buddhist philosophy and comparative religion
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Greeted by school children at the Mexican Presidential Palace
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http://tamilnation.co/selfdetermination/nation/roberts.htm
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Observing Honor Guard at the Mexican Presidential Palace
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prizeman of the School of Oriental and African Studies.
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Don Charles Karunaratne and Donna Charlinton Dissanayake
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Sara Dharma', addressing Sri Lanka Central Bank staff
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Discuss Human Rights issues with Secretary of State
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Shantarakshita, Kamalaseeli, Chandrakeerthi, Harsha
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151:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
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232:Learn how and when to remove this message
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112:Learn how and when to remove this message
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589:. Prior to that, he taught at the
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