Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American-born Theravāda Buddhist monk whose life reflects a meeting of Western philosophical training and classical Buddhist scholarship. Born Jeffrey Block in New York in 1944 and raised in a Jewish family, he pursued formal studies in philosophy, earning a B.A. from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School (also known as Claremont Graduate University). His early encounter with Buddhism came through reading and academic inquiry, which gradually drew him beyond purely intellectual interest toward a committed spiritual path. This combination of rigorous Western philosophical education and deep engagement with Buddhist thought has shaped his characteristic style: precise, analytical, and yet oriented toward liberation.

Seeking a more direct immersion in the Buddhist tradition, he traveled to Sri Lanka in the early 1970s. There he entered the Theravāda monastic order, receiving novice ordination and, in 1973, full ordination as a bhikkhu under the guidance of Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayaka Thera. At that time he took the monastic name “Bodhi,” meaning “awakening” or “enlightenment,” signaling a shift from academic observer to dedicated practitioner. His years in Sri Lanka were marked not only by traditional monastic training but also by intensive study of Pāli and the early Buddhist scriptures, allowing him to engage the texts from within the living lineage that preserved them.

Over many years he served as editor, and later president, of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, Sri Lanka, a role that placed him at the heart of modern Theravāda scholarship and dissemination. From this base he produced major English translations of key Nikāyas of the Pāli Canon, including the *Majjhima Nikāya* (Middle Length Discourses), the *Saṃyutta Nikāya* (Connected Discourses), and the *Aṅguttara Nikāya* (Numerical Discourses). He also compiled and authored works that systematize early Buddhist teachings for contemporary readers, such as *In the Buddha’s Words* and *The Noble Eightfold Path*. These writings are widely regarded as both faithful to the ancient sources and accessible to modern practitioners and scholars, bridging a gap that many seekers find difficult to cross.

Later, returning to the United States, he continued to teach and interpret the Dhamma in monastic and lay settings, including as a resident teacher at Chuang Yen Monastery in New York and in association with Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey. His work expanded beyond textual scholarship into engaged Buddhist ethics, exemplified by the founding of Buddhist Global Relief, a humanitarian organization addressing hunger and poverty from a Buddhist perspective. Through his translations, commentarial writings, and public teachings, he has come to be seen as one of the foremost Western interpreters of Theravāda Buddhism, especially the Nikāyas. For many spiritual seekers, his life and work illustrate how careful study, disciplined practice, and compassionate action can be woven into a coherent path oriented toward awakening.