Dhammastudies

Before going forth, Akiñcano (Nick Dwyer) was a lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Brighton, UK. During that time he began practising vipassanā meditation. He gave up his job to begin monastic training in the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah and entered the bhikkhusaṅgha in 2014. In 2019 he moved to Sri Lanka and now lives alone in Bundala National Park. He is the author of "Making Sense of Dhamma: The Pāli Suttas Workbook" (2024, Dhammastudies) and "With the Right Understanding: Phenomenological Explorations of the Pāli Suttas" (2019, Path Press Publications). He has also had articles published in "Philosophy East and West" and "Asian Philosophy".

Oliver is from the United Kingdom but now lives in Sri Lanka. After coming in contact with the Dhamma in 2003, he spent 14 years attending many vipassanā meditation retreats. After this period of intensive, technique focused practice, he decided to move to Myanmar to study the words of the Buddha contained in the Pāli texts. He completed a three year Bachelor’s degree in Buddhist studies at the International Theravāda Buddhist University in Yangon, Myanmar, in 2017. After this, he moved to Sri Lanka to continue his in-depth studies of the Buddha's teaching. He completed his Master’s degree in 2019 and PhD in 2024 in Buddhist Philosophy at the Post Graduate Institute of Pāli and Buddhist Studies - University of Kelaniya, Colombo. Oliver was also invited to become a visiting lecturer at the Institute, where he now works.