Alicia Turner
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839376
- eISBN:
- 9780824869571
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839376.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter examines how education became a place of miscommunication and mistaken identity across the colonial divide. For centuries prior to the arrival of British colonialism, Burmese boys had ...
More
This chapter examines how education became a place of miscommunication and mistaken identity across the colonial divide. For centuries prior to the arrival of British colonialism, Burmese boys had learned to read in the monasteries as preparation for their ordination as novices. This training was key to Burmese acculturation and foundational for preserving the Buddha's words and his sāsana in the world—it created civilized Burmese and ensured the future of Buddhism. The nineteenth-century world of Burmese Buddhism, in many ways, centered around these boys. The colonial state viewed teaching literacy in monasteries as the same as secular education and sought to bring Buddhist practice into the service of colonial ends by turning monasteries into government-sponsored schools. This chapter considers how Burma's Buddhist associations sought to remedy failured efforts to bring the monasteries into the state program by taking up the mantle of creating a modern Buddhist education system, and in the process reshaped the role of religion in public life.Less
This chapter examines how education became a place of miscommunication and mistaken identity across the colonial divide. For centuries prior to the arrival of British colonialism, Burmese boys had learned to read in the monasteries as preparation for their ordination as novices. This training was key to Burmese acculturation and foundational for preserving the Buddha's words and his sāsana in the world—it created civilized Burmese and ensured the future of Buddhism. The nineteenth-century world of Burmese Buddhism, in many ways, centered around these boys. The colonial state viewed teaching literacy in monasteries as the same as secular education and sought to bring Buddhist practice into the service of colonial ends by turning monasteries into government-sponsored schools. This chapter considers how Burma's Buddhist associations sought to remedy failured efforts to bring the monasteries into the state program by taking up the mantle of creating a modern Buddhist education system, and in the process reshaped the role of religion in public life.
Sarath Amunugama
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199489060
- eISBN:
- 9780199096169
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199489060.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion, Asian History
This chapter relates the first involvement of the American theosophists with the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka and subsequent developments. The theosophists, having become aware of the Buddhist ...
More
This chapter relates the first involvement of the American theosophists with the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka and subsequent developments. The theosophists, having become aware of the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka, had come there. Col Olcott and his co-theosophists were enthusiastically received and the Buddhist Theosophical Society was formed. Funds were established to finance various Buddhist causes: Buddhist schools were established; a Buddhist press was started; and a Sinhalese newspaper was inaugurated. One important event that occurred around this time was the attack on a Buddhist procession by the Catholics in Kotahena. In the aftermath, as an outcome of the offenders not being prosecuted by the colonial authorities, the Sri Lankan Buddhists took various measures: representations were made to the Colonial Office in London; a Buddhist flag was devised; and an agitation for a new legislation to prevent abuse of Buddhist temporalities was started. One outcome of this was Dharmapala’s falling out with the theosophists and the formation of the Mahabodhi Society.Less
This chapter relates the first involvement of the American theosophists with the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka and subsequent developments. The theosophists, having become aware of the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka, had come there. Col Olcott and his co-theosophists were enthusiastically received and the Buddhist Theosophical Society was formed. Funds were established to finance various Buddhist causes: Buddhist schools were established; a Buddhist press was started; and a Sinhalese newspaper was inaugurated. One important event that occurred around this time was the attack on a Buddhist procession by the Catholics in Kotahena. In the aftermath, as an outcome of the offenders not being prosecuted by the colonial authorities, the Sri Lankan Buddhists took various measures: representations were made to the Colonial Office in London; a Buddhist flag was devised; and an agitation for a new legislation to prevent abuse of Buddhist temporalities was started. One outcome of this was Dharmapala’s falling out with the theosophists and the formation of the Mahabodhi Society.
Sarath Amunugama
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199489060
- eISBN:
- 9780199096169
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199489060.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion, Asian History
This chapter provides a synopsis of Dharmapala’s early career. He perceived his mission to be the restoration of Buddhism in its place of birth, India, and the refashioning of its practice in Sri ...
More
This chapter provides a synopsis of Dharmapala’s early career. He perceived his mission to be the restoration of Buddhism in its place of birth, India, and the refashioning of its practice in Sri Lanka. His predominant aim was to reclaim for the Buddhists the custody of Buddhagaya. He also had an interest in propagating a modern philosophy and practice of Buddhism and forging links among Buddhists world-wide. Dharmapala was also an early enthusiast of the American theosophists led by Col Olcott who took a keen interest in the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka. However, Dharmapala soon became disillusioned with them and parted company, forming his own organization, the Mahabodhi Society, to spearhead the Buddhagaya campaign. The chapter concludes with a description of the economic and social transformations that took place under the aegis of colonialism around the turn of the twentieth century and the beginning of the Buddhist revival as a reaction to it.Less
This chapter provides a synopsis of Dharmapala’s early career. He perceived his mission to be the restoration of Buddhism in its place of birth, India, and the refashioning of its practice in Sri Lanka. His predominant aim was to reclaim for the Buddhists the custody of Buddhagaya. He also had an interest in propagating a modern philosophy and practice of Buddhism and forging links among Buddhists world-wide. Dharmapala was also an early enthusiast of the American theosophists led by Col Olcott who took a keen interest in the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka. However, Dharmapala soon became disillusioned with them and parted company, forming his own organization, the Mahabodhi Society, to spearhead the Buddhagaya campaign. The chapter concludes with a description of the economic and social transformations that took place under the aegis of colonialism around the turn of the twentieth century and the beginning of the Buddhist revival as a reaction to it.
John K. Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838331
- eISBN:
- 9780824870942
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838331.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter traces some of the histories, expressions, and practices of Buddhist-inspired social activism, with a final section devoted to the exceptional circumstances of Japan’s March 11, 2011, ...
More
This chapter traces some of the histories, expressions, and practices of Buddhist-inspired social activism, with a final section devoted to the exceptional circumstances of Japan’s March 11, 2011, “triple disaster” that resulted in the deaths and disappearance of nearly 20,000 people. It looks at the ways in which key teachings become manifest through specific actions and policies that are oftentimes innovative and experimental. As might be expected for a complex religious tradition spanning vast geographical regions and many distinctive local cultures, a wide variety of approaches to spiritual practice and awakening have developed over the centuries of Buddhist thought and history. Aided in part by new communication technologies and increased mobility, we now see a growing alignment between civil society and the mission of a religion through its social work, disaster relief, and education.Less
This chapter traces some of the histories, expressions, and practices of Buddhist-inspired social activism, with a final section devoted to the exceptional circumstances of Japan’s March 11, 2011, “triple disaster” that resulted in the deaths and disappearance of nearly 20,000 people. It looks at the ways in which key teachings become manifest through specific actions and policies that are oftentimes innovative and experimental. As might be expected for a complex religious tradition spanning vast geographical regions and many distinctive local cultures, a wide variety of approaches to spiritual practice and awakening have developed over the centuries of Buddhist thought and history. Aided in part by new communication technologies and increased mobility, we now see a growing alignment between civil society and the mission of a religion through its social work, disaster relief, and education.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780520269460
- eISBN:
- 9780520952010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520269460.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter addresses the following question: How liberal is this liberal subject that encroaches on Sera, an Indian avatar of a fifteenth-century Tibetan monastery, and sweeps through the Institute ...
More
This chapter addresses the following question: How liberal is this liberal subject that encroaches on Sera, an Indian avatar of a fifteenth-century Tibetan monastery, and sweeps through the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, a place nearly as monastic and just as devoted to centuries-old philosophical texts? It argues that the liberal subject here is one that is in pieces, in the sense that different fractions of the liberal subject have come to be thematized in relation to debate, reprimand, and corporal punishment, and these fractions—rationality, rights, autonomy, clarity, sincerity—entail different positions for institutions in the field of Tibetan Buddhist education in India.Less
This chapter addresses the following question: How liberal is this liberal subject that encroaches on Sera, an Indian avatar of a fifteenth-century Tibetan monastery, and sweeps through the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, a place nearly as monastic and just as devoted to centuries-old philosophical texts? It argues that the liberal subject here is one that is in pieces, in the sense that different fractions of the liberal subject have come to be thematized in relation to debate, reprimand, and corporal punishment, and these fractions—rationality, rights, autonomy, clarity, sincerity—entail different positions for institutions in the field of Tibetan Buddhist education in India.
Sarath Amunugama
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199489060
- eISBN:
- 9780199096169
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199489060.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion, Asian History
Anagarika Dharmapala was one of the most prominent public figures in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). This book goes into a detailed exploration of ...
More
Anagarika Dharmapala was one of the most prominent public figures in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). This book goes into a detailed exploration of Dharmapala’s multifaceted personal and public life. This analytical narration of the ethos in which he lived and worked provides an essential background. The author makes extensive use of Dharmapala’s assiduously kept diaries to weave his story. In its initial chapters, the book relates the confrontation and resistance of a nascent nationalist movement in the form of a renaissance of the country’s main traditional religion, Buddhism, against the all-pervading colonial ethos. Dharmapala, with all the enthusiasm of his youth, plunged into this movement, which received the support of American theosophists led by Col Henry Steel Olcott. He became the live wire of the Buddhist Theosophical Society, formed on the advice of the theosophists, and went around the country hectoring his compatriots to join a movement of national resurgence. Dharmapala eventually broadened the arena of his interests and action. The restoration of the prominent sacred places of Buddhism in India, while bringing them back to Buddhist custody, became his life’s mission. In this endeavour, he sought and received the support of the intellectual and professional nationalist elite of Bengali society. In pursuit of his cause, Dharmapala was single minded. But he had an even a wider interest—that of propagating Buddhism throughout the world. He devoted much of his energy in later life to establish Buddhist centres in Europe, and ended his life as a Buddhist monk.Less
Anagarika Dharmapala was one of the most prominent public figures in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). This book goes into a detailed exploration of Dharmapala’s multifaceted personal and public life. This analytical narration of the ethos in which he lived and worked provides an essential background. The author makes extensive use of Dharmapala’s assiduously kept diaries to weave his story. In its initial chapters, the book relates the confrontation and resistance of a nascent nationalist movement in the form of a renaissance of the country’s main traditional religion, Buddhism, against the all-pervading colonial ethos. Dharmapala, with all the enthusiasm of his youth, plunged into this movement, which received the support of American theosophists led by Col Henry Steel Olcott. He became the live wire of the Buddhist Theosophical Society, formed on the advice of the theosophists, and went around the country hectoring his compatriots to join a movement of national resurgence. Dharmapala eventually broadened the arena of his interests and action. The restoration of the prominent sacred places of Buddhism in India, while bringing them back to Buddhist custody, became his life’s mission. In this endeavour, he sought and received the support of the intellectual and professional nationalist elite of Bengali society. In pursuit of his cause, Dharmapala was single minded. But he had an even a wider interest—that of propagating Buddhism throughout the world. He devoted much of his energy in later life to establish Buddhist centres in Europe, and ended his life as a Buddhist monk.
