David J. Kalupahana (1936–2014) was a Buddhist scholar from Sri Lanka. He was a student of the late K.N. Jayatilleke, who was a student of Wittgenstein. He wrote mainly about epistemology, theory of language, and compared later Buddhist philosophical texts against the earliest texts and tried to present interpretations that were both historically contextualised and also compatible with the earliest texts, and in doing so, he encouraged Theravada Buddhists and scholars to reevaluate the legitimacy of later, Mahayana texts and consider them more sympathetically.
He left the University of Ceylon (1972) to join the University of Hawaii, serving as the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Chairman of the Graduate Field in Philosophy (1974–80). He directed international intra-religious conferences on Buddhism, and on Buddhism and Peace.
Many of his books are published and widely available in India (by Motilal Banarsidass and others), and therefore presumably have a fairly significant influence on the fields of Buddhism and Buddhist Studies in India and other nearby South Asian countries, such as his native Sri Lanka.
Publications
Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way, ISBN81-208-0774-X, published Motilal Barnasidass, 1991.
A History Of Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities And Discontinuities
A Path Of Righteousness: Dhammapada
Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1976.
Buddhist Thought And Ritual
Causality: The Central Philosophy Of Buddhism
Ethics In Early Buddhism
The Buddha And The Concept Of Peace
The Buddha’s Philosophy Of Language
The Principles Of Buddhist Psychology
The Way Of Siddhartha
Nagarjuna's Moral Philosophy and Sinhala Buddhism
A Sourcebook Of Early Buddhist Philosophy
A Sourcebook Of Later Buddhist Philosophy
The Wheel Of Morals Dhamma - Cakka
References
^de Silvas, Nissanka (2013). Me Mahinda Shasthra Shala: Ma Dutu Mahindaya. Print House Sri Lanka. p. 238.
Further reading
Tilakaratne, Asanga (2014). "Professor David Jinadasa Kalupahana (1936–2014)". Philosophy East and West. 64 (3): 520–522. doi:10.1353/pew.2014.0039. S2CID170555920.