Anagarika dharmapala biographical

He was subsequently invited to give lectures in other parts of the United States. Inhe established the London Buddhist Vihara, the first Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, which exists today. Dharmapala is remembered today in the Buddhist world as one of the great advocates of the religion in the 20th century. Ten monks from Ceylon travelled to India for the ordination.

On the 29th of Aprilsurrounded by Buddhist monks chanting Buddhist stanzas pirith and in the presence of his disciple Devapriya Valisinha, his nephew, Raja Hewavitarne who had travelled from Ceylon, his physician, Dr Nandy, and the samaneras novice-monks who had been sent to Buddha Gaya, Ven. Two weeks later, his ashes were carried from Sarnath by Devapriya Valisinha to the Mahabodhi Society headquarters in Calcutta now Kolkota.

A portion was interred later in a small stupa at the Mulaghandakuti premises in Sarnath and a portion carried to Ceylon by Valisinha, first by train to Rameshwaran, at the southern tip of India, then by ferry across to Talaimannar in Ceylon, and again by train to Colombo. Sri Sumangala. The child attended a succession of Christian schools near his home in Colombo.

Anagarika dharmapala biographical: Anāgārika Dharmapāla: A Biographical Sketch.

Buddhist education had been suppressed by colonial administrations of the Portuguese, Dutch, and English. Thomas' College in Mt. Bible studies and English language dominated the curriculum. Don David learned the tenets of Christianity thoroughly, but was repelled by the violence in the Old Testament and by meat consumption by his teachers.

He held close to his early Buddhist training. At the age of eighteen, he left school: I stayed at home for a while and devoured the books in the Pettah Library opposite my father's place of business. I read everything — ethics, philosophy, psychology, art and especially biography and history. I read many English poets, but always I would go back to Shelley, whom I had for years adored.

Theosophical involvement The "Great Debate" and Founders' reaction Inwhen Dharmapala was only ten years old, he attended a great debate in Ceylon between Christians missionaries and the Buddhist monks H. Sri Sumangala and M. Gunananda both of whom would later become members of the Theosophical Society. When Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatskythe Founders of the Theosophical Society, heard about this some time later, they wrote to the Buddhists that, in the interest of universal brotherhoodthey would come to Ceylon to help the Buddhist cause.

Dharmapala wrote: The letters from Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky were translated into Sinhalese and widely distributed.

Anagarika dharmapala biographical: He was a major reformer

My heart warmed toward these two strangers, so far away and yet so sympathetic, and I made up my mind that, when they came to Ceylon, I would join them. They did come to Colombo a few years later, when I was sixteen. The Buddhists entertained them royally. I remember going up to greet them. The moment I touched their hands, I felt overjoyed. The desire for universal brotherhood, for all the things they wanted for humanity, struck a responsive chord in me.

I began to read their magazine. I pondered on the conversations I had had with the two Theosophists. I made up my mind not to entangle myself in the net of worldly desires. I would endeavor from then on to devote my life to the welfare of others. Exactly how I was to carry out my resolve, I was not certain, but I felt that somehow the way would be found in the writings of Madame Blavatsky.

Colonel Olcott, during a visit to Ceylonsigned up the young man as a member of the Theosophical Society on February 3, In December the young man asked to go to Madras to assist the work of Mme. Blavatsky and Col. When his father balked, Dharmapala recounted: Madame Blavatsky faced the priests and my united family. She was a wonderful woman, with energy and will-power that pushed aside all obstacles.

Anagarika dharmapala biographical: Anagarika Dharmapala, founder of the

She said: "That boy will die if you do not let him go. I will take him with me anyway". However, Mme. Olcott and Dharmapala with Japanese Buddhists. AD is at lower right. In he accompanied Col. Olcott and C. Leadbeater on a tour throughout Ceylon where he "worked hard for the welfare of the Theosophical Society and Buddhism. Olcott for the Buddhist revival, including the introduction of the Buddhist flag as a unifying symbol, and supporting Buddhist schools.

Inhe traveled with Olcott to Japan in an effort to create an ecumenical "International Buddhist League". Their journey through Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong, and Shanghai was hard on Dharmapala's health, and when they encountered the winter cold of Japan, the young man had to be hospitalized due to severe rheumatism.

Anagarika dharmapala biographical: Anagarika Dharmapala was.

He recorded in his diary, "A new life has begun. Blavatsky died in London. Her passing was marked in his diary with the words, "My beloved teacher is no more. Olcott sponsored Dharmapala to be invited by the managers of the first World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago as a speaker representing Southern Buddhism. Due to the efforts of Dharmapala, the site of the Buddha's parinibbana physical death at Kushinagar has once again become a major attraction for Buddhistsas it was for many centuries previously.

Mahabodhi Movement in s held the Muslim rule in India responsible for the decay of Buddhism in India. There he met Swami Vivekananda and got on very well with him. Like Swami Vivekananda, he was a great success at the Parliament and received a fair bit of media attention. By his early thirties he was already a global figure, continuing to travel and give lectures and establish viharas around the world during the next forty years.

At the same time he concentrated on establishing schools and hospitals in Ceylon and building temples and viharas in India. Among the most important of the temples he built was one at Sarnathwhere the Buddha first taught. On returning to India via Hawaii, he met Mary E. Foster, a descendant of King Kamehameha who had emotional problems.

Dharmapala's voluminous diaries have been published, and he also wrote some memoirs.