After completing his secondary education at the Royal College in Colombo, he pursued the study of Pali and Sanskrit at the University of Ceylon obtaining a first class honours degree.

He obtained a unique training in Eastern and Western thought and an analytical approach to philosophy that provided him with a background that nourished his work throughout his career.

Jayatilleke describes his book as an "attempt to uncover the epistemological foundations of Pali Canonical thought, from a new point of view and in the light of new material."

His basic contentions were that early Buddhism has an empiricist outlook, gives a significant place to the analytic approach in philosophy, and does not contradict the findings of modern science.

He presented three significant elements in the "new point of view" from which he discussed the thought of the Pali Canon- the empiricist outlook, the analytical approach, and the scientific attitude.