death_date children nationality ethnicity birth_date education alma_mater death_place title notable_works spouse image citizenship name occupation birth_place parents known_for religion article_title
1986 shantarakshita , kamalaseeli , chandrakeerthi , harsha sri lankan sinhalese 24 december 1928 ph.d. university of london ananda london college , university of peradeniya , university of colombo professor , ambassador theory of causality indumathi gunathilaka w.s.karunaratna crop -rrb- . jpg -lrb- 1928-1986 -rrb- -lrb- wsk with warren christopher sri lanka w. . කර ණ රත න s. karunaratne sinhala ඩබ ල ව . එස academic , diplomat kandy , sri lanka don charles karunaratne and donna charlinton dissanayake scholarly works of buddhist philosophy and comparative religion theravada buddhism w. s. karunaratne

w. s. karunaratne

wijesinghe sugathadasa karunaratne -lrb- sinhala : ඩබ ල ව .
එස .
කර ණ රත න -rrb- -lrb- 24 december 1928 -- 1986 -rrb- was a well known buddhist scholar and a fiercely independent thinker .
he was affectionately known by the sri lankan masses as `` w.s. '' and as `` the don '' by the academia .
w.s. was born on 24 december 1928 in katugastota , a small village in the kandy district , sri lanka .
many of those who came in contact with w.s. for the first time felt immediately that they were in the presence of a great mind .
he seemed to radiate energy and to awaken heightened feelings .
many have stated that hearing w.s. speak , they `` fell in love with him . ''
even critics attested to the power of his presence .
academicians unanimously agree that he was a brilliant lecturer , with a spellbinding effect on his audiences regardless of the subject .
some have expressed their experience of meeting him face to face for the first time that there was far more than words passing between them and noting that w.s. appeared to fit with max weber 's classical image of the charismatic figure .
