Loss Of A Buddhist Scholar, Teacher & Writer-Dr. Peter Della Santina -- By Jeffrey Po & Sudatta Eng

The Buddhist community, especially in Singapore, was deeply shocked and saddened over the sudden and untimely passing away of Dr. Peter Della Santina on 14 October in Penang, Malaysia. A well-known and popular personality, the late Dr. Santina was born in USA and received his BA degree in Religious Studies from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1972. Two years later, he completed his MA study in Philosophy from the University of Delhi. In 1979, he was awarded a PhD degree in Religious Studies from the same university.

Spiritually, the late Dr. Santina was a long-time disciple of H.H. Sakya Trizin, head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. He had taught extensively in Asia, Europe and the America and worked for three years for the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions in New Jersey, USA, as a research scholar by translating the 8th century Tibetan Buddhist philosophical texts into the English language. He later taught in many universities and Buddhist centres throughout the world and was best remembered for his long association with the Buddhist Library in Singapore where he taught students pursuing both the Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma in Buddhist Studies. From 1983-1985, he was a resource consultant to the Buddhist Studies Team at the Curriculum Development Institute of the Ministry of Education and helped develop Buddhist materials for the Religious Studies Programme in secondary schools. After that, he was invited to teach philosophy at the Fo Kuan Shan Academy of Chinese Buddhism in Kao-hsiung, Taiwan. And for his academic achievements, he was conferred a Senior Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Simla, India.

The late Dr. Santina was not only a well-learned Buddhist scholar and well-regared speaker of the Dharma for over three decades, he was also a serious meditator and prolific writer. Apart from contributing articles to academic journals, he also published several books, including "The Tree of Enlightenment" Buddhism in Practice", "Nagarjuna's Letter to King Gautamiputra", "Madhyamaka Schools in India", "Madhyamaka Philosophy", "Madhyamaka and Modern Western Philosophy" as well as his last major work, "Causality and Emptiness: The Wisdom of Nagarjuna". His book, "The Tree of Enlightenment" was wriiten in a simple language and is now used in some countries as standard text for teaching Buddhism. While more known as a Vajrayana practitioner, the late Dr. Santina was always objective when teaching the various schools of Buddhism. He never showed any bias to any tradition.

On 22 October, the Buddhist Library held a memorial cum transference of merits service for the late Dr. Santina, conducted by Venerable Dhammaratana, spiritual advisor and resident monk of the library, after the weekly puja service. Many students of Buddhism at the library, including Venerable Shi Fa Rong and Venerable Shi Fa Qing, as well as devotees who knew him and benefited from his teachings joined in the service. Venerable Dhammarata paid him high tribute and made the following wish:

"May he be well and happy! May he soon attain the peace of Nibbana!"

The late Dr. Santina was survived his loving wife, Krishna, and two children, Sid and Mimi, while Krishna conveyed the following words to those who know and remember her husband:

"Please don't grieve, just pray for his safe journey and rebirth in the Pure Land."