In Theravada Buddhism, an anagarika (Pali: anāgārika/ā; lit., "homeless one") is a person who has given up most or all of his worldly possessions and responsibilities to commit fulltime to Buddhist practice. It is a midway status between monk and layperson where one takes on the Eight Precepts for the entire anagarika period, which could be for life. Anagarikas usually wear white clothes or robes, depending on the tradition they follow. Some traditions have special ordination ceremonies for anagarikas, while others simply take the eight precepts with a special intention.

In monastic settings, lay attendants for monks or nuns are needed. The monastic rules restrict monks and nuns from many tasks that might be needed, including the use of money, driving, cooking, digging and cutting plants, so lay attendants help bridge this gap. Anagarikas differ from laity by their commitment to Buddhism, to their precepts and to the monastics. There is usually a notable difference in their manner, appearance and attire. In most cases, they are fulltime residents at the monastery where they ordained. Anagarikas often have the intention of becoming a monk or nun at a later point, though not always. In some monasteries a period as an anagarika, often one year, is required in order to take novice ordination.

The main difference between the 8 precepts of an Anagarika and the 10 precepts of a novice monk is the rule of not handling money. Therefore, anagarika ordinations usually take place in forest monasteries where the monastic rules, including the one on not handling money, are strictly followed.

See also[link]

• bhikkhu (monk)
• bhikkhuni (nun)
• samanera ("novice monk")
• samaneri ("novice nun")

External links[link]

• "Monastic: Training," from "BuddhaMind Info"
• "Anagarika Life," from "Abhayagiri Monastery"

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Anagarika Dharmapala අනගාරික ධර්මපාල
Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala
Born	17 September 1864 Colombo, Ceylon
Died	29 April 1933 (aged 68) India
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Other names	Don David Hewavitarne
Ethnicity	Sinhalese
Education	CMS Boys School (Christian College), Kotte; St Benedict College,Kotahena; St Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia; Royal College Colombo
Known for	Sri Lankan Independence Movement, Revival of Buddhism
Religion	Theravada Buddhism
Parents	Don Carolis Hewavitharana & Mallika Dharmagunawardhana
Signature

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Anagarika Dharmapala (Sinhala:අනගාරික ධර්මපාල) (17 September 1864 - 29 April 1933) was a leading figure of Buddhism in the twentieth century. He was one of the founding contributors of Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism and Protestant Buddhism. He was also a pioneer in the revival of Buddhism in India after it had been virtually extinct there for several centuries, and he was the first Buddhist in modern times to preach the Dharma in three continents: Asia, North America, and Europe. He was a major reformer and revivalist of Sri Lankan Buddhism.

Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala in his middle thirties

Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala at the age of 29 (1893),A photograph taken in the year of 1893,During World's Parliament of Religions of 1893-held in Chicago U.S.A

Biography[link]

He was born Don David Hewavitarane in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Don Carolis Hewavitharana and Mallika Dharmagunawardhana (the daughter of Andiris Perera Dharmagunawardhana), who were among the richest merchants of Ceylon. His younger brothers were Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana and Edmund Hewavitarne.

Sri Lanka was then a British colony known as Ceylon, so Hewavitarne's state education was an English one: he attended C.M.S. Boys School (Christian College), Kotte, St Benedict's College, Kotahene, S. Thomas's College, Mt Lavinia and the Colombo Academy.

This was a time of Buddhist revival. In 1875 in New York, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott had founded the Theosophical Society. They were both very sympathetic to what they understood of Buddhism, and in 1880 they arrived in Ceylon, declared themselves to be Buddhists, and publicly took the Refuges and Precepts from a prominent Sinhalese bhikkhu. Colonel Olcott kept coming back to Ceylon and devoted himself there to the cause of Buddhist education, eventually setting up more than 300 Buddhist schools, some of which are still in existence. It was in this period that Hewavitarne changed his name to Anagarika Dharmapala.

'Dharmapala' means 'protector of the dharma'. 'Anagarika' means "homeless one". It is a midway status between monk and layperson. As such, he took the eight precepts (against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, harmful speech, intoxication, eating after noon, entertainments and fashionable attire, and luxurious beds) for life. These eight precepts were commonly taken by Sri Lankan laypeople on observance days.^[1] But for a person to take them for life was highly unusual. Dharmapala was the first anagarika - that is, a celibate, full-time worker for Buddhism - in modern times. It seems that he took a vow of celibacy at the age of eight and remained faithful to it all his life. Although he wore a yellow robe, it was not of the traditional bhikkhu pattern, and he did not shave his head. He felt that the observance of all the vinaya rules would get in the way of his work, especially as he flew around the world. Neither the title nor the office became popular, but in this role, he "was the model for lay activism in modernist Buddhism.".^[2] In fact, he is widely considered a bodhisattva in Sri Lanka.^[3]

His trip to Bodh-Gaya was inspired by an 1885 visit there by Sir Edwin Arnold, author of The Light of Asia, who soon started advocating for the renovation of the site and its return to Buddhist care.^[4]

At the invitation of Paul Carus, he returned to the U.S. in 1896, and again in 1902-04, where he traveled and taught widely.^[5]

Dharmapala eventually broke with Olcott and the Theosophists because of Olcott's stance on universal religion. "One of the important factors in his rejection of theosophy centered on this issue of universalism; the price of Buddhism being assimilated into a non-Buddhist model of truth was ultimately too high for him."^[6] Dharmapala stated that Theosophy was "only consolidating Krishna worship."^[7] "To say that all religions have a common foundation only shows the ignorance of the speaker...Dharma alone is supreme to the Buddhist"^[8]

At Sarnath in 1933 he was ordained a bhikkhu, and he died at Sarnath in December of the same year, aged 68.

Religious contribution[link]

The young Dharmapala helped Colonel Olcott in his work, particularly by acting as his translator. Dharmapala also became quite close to Madame Blavatsky, who advised him to study Pāli and to work for the good of humanity - which is what he did. It was at this time that he changed his name to Dharmapala (meaning "Guardian of the Dharma").

In 1891 Anagarika Dharmapala was on a pilgrimage to the recently restored Mahabodhi Temple, where Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha - attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India.^[9] Here he experienced a shock to find the temple in the hands of a Saivite priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship. As a result, he began an agitation movement.^[10]

The Mahabodhi society at Colombo was founded in 1891 but its offices were soon moved to Calcutta the following year in 1892. One of its primary aims was the restoration to Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, the chief of the four ancient Buddhist holy sites.^[11][12] To accomplish this, Dharmapala initiated a lawsuit against the Brahmin priests who had held control of the site for centuries.^[11][12] After a protracted struggle, this was successful only after Indian independence (1947) and sixteen years after Dharmapala's own death (1933), with the partial restoration of the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1949. It was then the temple management of Bodh Gaya was entrusted to a committee comprised in equal numbers of Hindus and Buddhists.^[11][12]

Mahabodhi Society centers were set up in many Indian cities, and this had the effect of raising Indian consciousness about Buddhism. Converts were made mostly among the educated, but also among some low caste Indians in the south.^[13]

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 Buddhists, as it was for many centuries previously. Mahabodhi Movement in 1890s held the Muslim Rule in India responsible for the decay of Buddhism in India.^[9][14][15] Anagarika Dharmapala did not hesitate to lay the chief blame for the decline of Buddhism in India at the door of Muslim fanaticism.^[16]

In 1893 Dharmapala was invited to attend the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago as a representative of "Southern Buddhism" - which was the term applied at that time to the Theravada. 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 Sarnath, where 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 consoled her using Buddhist techniques; in return, she granted him an enormous donation of over one million rupees (over $2.7 million in 2010 dollars, but worth much more due to low labor costs in India).

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

The above was adapted from Sangharakshita, Great Buddhists of the Twentieth Century, Windhorse Publications 1996, with permission.

Dharmapala, Science, and Protestant Buddhism[link]

The term 'Protestant Buddhism,' coined by scholar Gananath Obeyesekere,^[17] is often applied to Dharmapala's form of Buddhism. It is Protestant in two ways. First, it is influenced by Protestant ideals such as freedom from religious institutions, freedom of conscience, and focus on individual interior experience. Second, it is in itself a protest against claims of Christian superiority, colonialism, and Christian missionary work aimed at weakening Buddhism. "Its salient characteristic is the importance it assigns to the laity."^[18] It arose among the new, literate, middle class centered in Colombo.

The term 'Buddhist modernism' is used to describe forms of Buddhism that suited the modern world, usually influenced by European enlightenment thinking, and often adapted by Asian Buddhists as a counter to claims of European or Christian superiority. Buddhist modernists emphasize certain aspects of traditional Buddhism, while de-emphasizing others.^{[citation needed]} Some of the characteristics of Buddhist modernism are: importance of the laity as against the sangha; rationality and de-emphasis of supernatural and mythological aspects; consistency with (and anticipation of) modern science; emphasis on spontaneity, creativity, and intuition; democratic, anti-institutional character; emphasis on meditation over devotional and ceremonial actions.^[19]

Dharmapala is an excellent example of an Asian Buddhist modernist, and perhaps the paradigmatic example of Protestant Buddhism. He was particularly concerned with presenting Buddhism as consistent with science, especially the theory of evolution.

Survey of Writings[link]

Most of Dharmapala's works are collected in Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays, and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala. (Edited by Ananda Guruge. Colombo: Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, 1965).

The World's Debt to Buddha (1893)[link]

Anagarika Dharmapala at the Parliament of World Religions.
From left to right: Virchand Gandhi, Anagarika Dharmapala, Swami Vivekananda, and G. Bonet Maury.

This paper was read to a crowded session of the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, September 18, 1893. At this early stage of his career, Dharmapala was concerned with making Buddhism palatable to his Western audience. This talk is full of references to science, the European Enlightenment, and Christianity. While presenting Buddhism in these familiar terms, he also hints that it is superior to any philosophy of the West. In addition, he spends considerable time discussing the ideal Buddhist polity under Asoka and the Buddha's ethics for laypeople.

"The essence of the vast teachings of the Buddha is: The entire obliteration of all that is evil. The perfect consummation of all that is good and pure. The complete purification of mind."^[20]

"The strongest emphasis has been put by Buddha on the supreme importance of having an unprejudiced mind before we start on the road of investigating the truth. Prejudice, passion, fear of expression of one's convictions and ignorance are the four biases that have to be sacrificed at the threshold."^[21]

"Speaking of deity in the sense of a Supreme Creator, Buddha says that there is no such being. Accepting the doctrine of evolution as the only true one, with its corollary, the law of cause and effect, he condemns the idea of creator and strictly forbids inquiry into it as being useless."^[22]

"Never was the religion propagated by force, not a drop of blood has ever been spilt in the name of Buddha."^[23]

"Buddhism is a scientific religion, in as much as it earnestly enjoins that nothing whatever be accepted on faith. Buddha has said that nothing should be believed merely because it is said. Buddhism is tantamount to a knowledge of other sciences."^[24]

Message of the Buddha (1925)[link]

In the later stages of his career, Dharmapala's vociferous anti-Christian tone is more evident. Dharmapala must be understood in the context of British colonization of Sri Lanka and the presence of Christian missionaries there. This work is a good example of "Protestant Buddhism," as described above.

"With the exception of Buddhism all other religions have been destructive."^[25]

"Christian governments are making use of the services of missionaries as political scouts [sic]. the Christian capitalists and traders employ them as advance agents of commerce, and the history of missionary operations in asia has yet to be written. for a hundred years Christian missionaries have exploited Buddhist lands, and the children of poor parents have been converted to christianity by offering bribes, and now the attempt is made to convert the poor people by offering them medical aid. It is scandalous and utterly contemptible to sell religion for worldly gain."^[26]

"The Message of the Buddha that I have to bring you is free from theology, priestcraft, rituals, ceremonies, dogmas, heavens, hells and other theological shibboleths. The Buddha taught to the civilized Aryans of India 25 centuries ago a scientific religion containing the highest individualistic altruistic ethics,a philosophy of life built on psychological mysticism and a cosmogony which is in harmony with geology, astronomy, radioactivity and relativity."^[27]

"The mystic psychology in Buddhism is not know in the West."^[28]

Desire in Buddhism (1917)[link]

"Desire is of two kinds, the noble and the ignoble. Noble desires prompt man to do works of charity, they make men sober, enlightened and good; ignoble desires make men to adopt the policy of Machiavelli, to distribute opium, intoxicating liquor, and introduce syphillis [sic] and create bastards, and murder helpless people for the sake of rubber, gold and land....Buddhism condemns ignoble desires and emphasises on the necessity of cultivating noble desires."^[29]

The Constructive Optimism of Buddhism (1915)[link]

Buddhism was often portrayed in the West, especially by Christian missionaries, as pessimistic, nihilistic, and passive. One of Dharmapala's main concerns was to counter such claims, and this concern is especially evident in this essay.

"The destructive religions are either polytheistic, monotheistic or materialistic. Monotheistic religions are Judaism, Christianity, Islam....Christianity is materialistic inasmuch as it posits a known beginning, and ultimate annihilation, at least for those who had no belief in the divinity of Jesus."^[30]

"The civilization of ancient India was of a spiritual character."^[31]

Evolution from the Standpoint of Buddhism (1926)[link]

Darwin's theory of evolution was the cutting edge of science during Dharmapala's life. As part of his attempt to show that Buddhism is consistent with modern science, he was especially concerned with evolution. Nowhere in any of his writings is evidence that he understood Darwin's theory; his use of the word 'evolution' seems to have a broader, more general, meaning. For example, karma and rebirth have no place in Darwin's theories. He draws on the Agganna Sutta's cosmology and theory of human origin.

"The earliest human beings before the sex differentiation took place had spiritual bodies, and by their own glory the illumined the earth. when they had shown desire to eat the food that was produced from the earth and had eaten it their spiritual nature disappeared and became materialized, Darwinian evolution is more acceptable to Buddhists than the genesis theory of the mud man created by a deity who had agricultural tendencies."^[32]

"...the Buddha taught the biological view of life 2,500 years ago showing how the consciousness associates itself with the germ cell in the mother's womb, and how evolution takes place week after week of the dying man ceases only to be reborn by the force of karma in another life..."^[32]

Contributions to Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism[link]

Dharmapala was one of the primary contributors to the Buddhist revival of the 19th century that led to the creation of Buddhist institutions to match those of the missionaries (schools, the YMBA, etc), and to the independence movement of the 20th century. DeVotta characterizes his rhetoric as having four main points: "(i) Praise – for Buddhism and the Sinhalese culture; (ii) Blame – on the British imperialists, those who worked for them including Christians; (iii) Fear – that Buddhism in Sri Lanka was threatened with extinction; and (iv) Hope – for a rejuvenated Sinhalese Buddhist ascendancy" (78). He illustrated the first three points in a public speech:

"This bright, beautiful island was made into a Paradise by the Aryan Sinhalese before its destruction was brought about by the barbaric vandals. Its people did not know irreligion... Christianity and polytheism [i.e. Hinduism] are responsible for the vulgar practices of killing animals, stealing, prostitution, licentiousness, lying and drunkenness... The ancient, historic, refined people, under the diabolism of vicious paganism, introduced by the British administrators, are now declining slowly away." (Anagarike Dharmapala, quoted in A. Guruge, Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays and Letters of the Anagarike Dharmapala. Colombo: Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, 1965. 482)

He once praised the normal Tamil vadai seller for his courage and blamed the Sinhalese people who were lazy and called upon them to rise. He strongly protested against the killing of cattle and eating of beef. In short, Dharmapala's reasons for rejecting British imperialism were not political or economic. They were religious: above all, the Sinhala nation is the historical custodian of Buddhism.

One of the manifestation of the new intolerance took place in 1915 against some Sri Lankan Muslims. Successful retail traders they became the target of their Shinhala competitors.^[33] In 1912 Darmapala wrote:

"The Muhammedans, an alien people,... by shylockian methods become prosperous like Jews. The Sinhala sons of the soil, whose ancestors for 2358 years had shed rivers of blood to keep the country free of alien invaders...are in the eyes of the British only vagabonds. The Alien South Indian Muhammedan come to Ceylon, sees the neglected villager, without any experience in trade...and the result is that the Muhammedan thrives and the sons of the sol go to the wall."^[34]

In short, Dharmapala and his associates very much encouraged and contributed to something aptly called the "ethnocratic state."^[33]

As some of the quotes above demonstrate, Dharmapala sometimes resorted to racist language. Here are a couple of other examples. At one point he refers to "the semisavage half-animal people of Africa"^[35] He claims that "...all that [Christian missionaries] can offer are the myths of Canaan and Galilee which had their origin in the backwash of Arabia."^[36]

Dharmapala's Sinhala ideology sometimes shows close relationships to Hitler's Nazism. Dhaarmapala believed that Sinhalese are a pure Aryan race with unmixed blood. He claimed that Sinhalese woman's must take care not to avoid Mischling with minority races of the country.^[37]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Trevithick, Alan (2006). The revival of Buddhist pilgrimage at Bodh Gaya (1811-1949): Anagarika Dharmapala and the Mahabodhi Temple. ISBN 978-81-208-3107-0. 
• McMahan, David L. (2009). The making of Buddhist modernism. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-518327-6. 
• Anagarika Dharmapala Archive at Vipassana Fellowship
• WWW Virtual Library: ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA at www.lankalibrary.com
• Anagarika Dharmapala, The Arya Dharma - Free eBook
• Anagarika Dharmapala, Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala, ed. Ananda W.P. Guruge, The Anagarika Dharmapala Birth Centenary Committee, Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, Ceylon 1965
• DeVotta, Neil. "The Utilisation of Religio-Linguistic Identities by the Sinhalese and Bengalis: Towards General Explanation". Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Vol. 39, No. 1 (March 2001), pp. 66–95.
• Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero, 'Budu Sasuna Bebala Wu Asahaya Dharma Duthayano', Divaina, 17 September 2008
• Sangharakshita, Flame in Darkness: The Life and Sayings of Anagarika Dharmapala, Triratna Grantha Mala, Poona 1995
• Daya Sirisena, 'Anagarika Dharmapala - trail-blazing servant of the Buddha', Daily News, 17 September 2004
• Anagarika Dharmapala A religio-cultural hero

• Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. 1993. "Dharmapala at Chicago : Mahayana Buddhist or Sinhala Chauvinist?" Museum of Faiths. Atlanta : Scholars Pr. 235-250.
• Gombrich, Richard F. 1988. Theravada Buddhism; A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• Harvey, Peter. 1990. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History, and Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kloppenborg, Ria. 1992. "The Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) and the Puritan Pattern". Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift, 46:4, 277-283.
• McMahan, David L. 2008. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 91-97, 110-113.
• Obeyesekere, Gananath 1976. "Personal Identity and Cultural Crisis : the Case of Anagārika Dharmapala of Sri Lanka." Biographical Process. The Hague : Mouton. 221-252.
• Prothero, Stephen. 1996a. "Henry Steel Olcott, Anagarika Dharmapala and the Maha Bodhi Society." Theosophical History, 6:3, 96-106.
• Prothero, Stephen. 1996b. The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Saroja, G V. 1992. "The Contribution of Anagarika Devamitta Dharmapāla to the Revival of Buddhism in India." Buddhist Themes in Modern Indian lLterature, Madras : Inst. of Asian Studies. 27-38.

Genealogy[link]

• Genealogical Charts of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Families: Family #3006 (Wijeyaguneratne) Don Carolis Hewavitharana
• Genealogical Charts of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Families: Family #3007 DHARMAGUNEWARDENA, Lansage Andiris Perera

Anagarika Govinda, Dehra Dun, mid 1940s

Lama Anagarika Govinda (May 17, 1898–January 14, 1985), born Ernst Lothar Hoffman was the founder of the order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala and an expositor of Tibetan Buddhism, Abhidharma, Buddhist Meditation as well as other aspects of Buddhism. He was also a painter and poet.

Life in Europe[link]

He was born in Waldheim, Germany, the son of a German father and a Bolivian mother. His father was quite well to do and owned a cigar factory. His mother died when he was three years old. While enrolled in the German army during World War I, he caught tuberculosis in Italy and was discharged. He recovered at a sanatorium and then studied philosophy, psychology and archeology at Freiburg University. He did not finish his studies, but went to live in a German art colony on Capri in Italy, as a painter and poet. He studied at the Universities of Naples and Cagliari and made archeological research journeys in North Africa. He lived on Capri from 1920 until 1928.^[1] Already at the age of 16 he started to study philosophy and by way of Schopenhauer he encountered Buddhism. After having made a comparative study of the major religions, he became a convinced Buddhist at the age of 18. He joined the Bund für Budddhistischen Lebe (Union of Buddhist Living). At Capri he practiced meditation with an American Buddhist friend.^[2]

Sri Lanka[link]

In December 1928 he moved from Capri to Sri Lanka and stayed as a celibate Buddhist layman (brahmacāri), and later as a celibate, homeless layman (anagarika), for nine weeks at the Island Hermitage with Nyanatiloka Thera, a teacher and scholar in the Theravada tradition. He was instrumental in founding the International Buddhist Union (IBU) in 1929, of which he made Nyanatiloka the president. The aim of the IBU was to unite all Buddhists worldwide and to promote Buddhism through the virtuous and exemplary conduct of practising Buddhists. As secretary of the IBU, he travelled to Burma and Europe to raise support. Although he came to Sri Lanka with the aim of becoming a Buddhist monk, he was discouraged to do so by Anagarika Dhammapala on the grounds that it would be difficult to travel as a Buddhist monk. In 1930 he founded the Variyagoda Hermitage in a tea-estate in the mountains near Gampola, but he only lived there for one year with his German stepmother Anne Habermann who had come with him from Europe. At Variyagoda Govinda studied Abhidhamma and Pali.^[3]

Life and travels in India and Tibet before WWII[link]

In April 1931 Govinda went to All-India Buddhist Conference in Darjeeling as the representative of the IBU, to propagate the “pure Buddhist teaching as preserved in Ceylon, in a country where it had degenerated into a system of demon worship and fantastic forms of belief.” However, in nearby Sikkim he met the Tibetan Gelugpa meditation teacher Tomo Geshe Rimpoche alias Lama Ngawang Kalzang (1866–1936),^[4] who greatly impressed him and completely changed his views about Tibetan Buddhism. From then on he embraced Tibetan Buddhism, although he never abandoned his Theravada roots and stayed in contact with Nyanatiloka and later with Nyanaponika. Lama Ngawang Kalzang taught meditation to Govinda, who remained in contact with him until his death. During their 1947–1948 expeditions to Tibet, Govinda and Li Gotami met Ajo Repa Rinpoche, who, according to Govinda, initiated them into the Kagyüpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.^[5]

The scholar Donald Lopez questions whether the 'initiations' that Govinda received are to be understood in the traditional Tibetan way of the term, i.e., as an empowerment by a Lama to carry out Tantric rituals or meditations. When he first met Lama Ngawang Kalzang, Govinda spoke no Tibetan and his description of the initiation is vague. According to Lopez, no initiation into the Kagyu order or any other Tibetan order exists, and it is unclear what was the nature of the initiation ceremony and the teachings that Govinda and his wife received from Ajo Repa Rinpoche. Govinda himself wrote in Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism that he understood 'initiates' to mean 'individuals who, in virtue of their own sensitiveness, respond to the subtle vibrations of symbols which are presented to them either by tradition or intuition.'^[6] And in The Way of White Clouds, he wrote: “A real Guru's initiation is beyond the divisions of sects and creeds: it is the awakening to our own inner reality which, once glimpsed, determines our further course of development and our actions in life without the enforcement of outer rules.”^[7]

Govinda stayed on in India, teaching German and French at Rabindranath Tagore's Vishva Bharati university in Santinekan. He lost interest in the IBU, which caused it to collapse. In 1932 Govinda briefly visited Tibet from Sikkim (visiting Mount Kailash), and in 1933 from Ladakh. The summer months of 1932 and 1934 he and his stepmother, who had followed him to India, stayed at his hermitage at Variyagoda, where a German Buddhist nun, Uppalavaṇṇā (Else Buchholz), and a German monk, Vappo, were then also living. Uppalavaṇṇā acquired the property from Govinda in 1945 and stayed there until the 1970s.^[8] In a letter dated 1.9.1934 Govinda wrote that he had come to Sri Lanka accompanied by Rabindranath Tagore and had given a series of lectures on Tibetan Buddhism in various places in Sri Lanka, trying to raise support for the planned Buddhist university at Sarnath. The reception in Sri Lanka was poor and Govinda, who had run out of funds, was quite disappointed.^[9]

On orders of Tomo Geshe Rimpoche Govinda founded his order, The Buddhist Order Arya Maitreya Mandala, on 14.10.1933. Fourteen people were then ordained. Govinda received the name Anangavajra Khamsung Wangchuk. In 1934, in Calcutta, he had the first exhibition of his paintings. From 1935 to 1945 he was the general secretary of the International Buddhist University Association (IBUA), for which he held lectures on Buddhist philosophy, history, archeology, etc., at the Buddhist academy at Sarnath. In 1936 he got a teaching position at the University of Patna, from where he gave guest lectures at the universities of Allahabad, Lucknow and Benares. His lectures on Buddhist psychology at the University of Patna were published in 1939 as The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy, and his lectures at Shantinekan as Psycho-Cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa in 1940. In 1938, after two failed attempts and on recommendation of the prime minister of Uttar Pradesh, he managed to become a full British citizen. In 1947 he became a citizen of India. From 1937 to 1940 he lived with his stepmother in a house in Darjeeling.^[10]

World War II[link]

Although Govinda was now a British citizen, he was nevertheless interned by the British during WWII due to his associations with “persons of anti-British sympathies,” i.e. the Nehru family. First he was interned at Ahmednagar. Because he made no secret of being against Fascism, the Nazis in the prison camp bullied him, just as they did with other anti-fascists. This bullying compelled British to open a special camp for anti-fascists at Dehra Dun, to where he was transferred in 1942. Nyanatiloka and other German Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka were also interned at Dehra Dun. In the camp Govinda stayed with the German monk Nyanaponika, with whom he studied languages, and formed a close friendship that lasted till the end of his life.^[11]

Life in Kasar Devi after WWII and travels to Tibet[link]

In 1947 he married the Parsi artist Li Gotami (original name Ratti Petit, 22.4.1906 - 18.8.1988) from Bombay, who, as a painter, had been his student at Santinekan in 1934. Govinda and Li Gotami wore Tibetan styles robes and were initiates in the Drugpa Kagyu lineage.^[12] The couple lived in a house rented from the writer Walter Evans-Wentz at Kasar Devi, near Almora in northern India.^[13] Kasar Devi, in hippie circles known as 'Crank's Ridge', was a bohemian colony home to artists, writers and spiritual seekers such as Earl Brewster, Alfred Sorensen and John Blofield. Many spiritual seekers, including the Beat Poets Allan Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, the LSD Gurus Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner, the psychiatrist R.D. Laing, and Tibetologist Robert Thurman came to visit Govinda at his ashram. The number of visitors became so great that the couple eventually put signs to keep unwanted visitors away.^[14]

From Kasar Devi, Govinda and Li Gotami undertook journeys to Tibet in the late 1940s, making a large number of paintings, drawings and photographs. These travels are described in Govinda's book The Way of the White Clouds. While on the expedition to Tsaparang and Tholing in Western Tibet in 1948-49, sponsored by the Illustrated Weekly of India, Govinda received initiations in the Nyingma and Sakyapa lineages.^[15] Pictures of the Tsaparang frescoes taken by Li Gotami, then, before the Cultural Revolution, still intact appear in Govinda's The Way of the White Clouds Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism and Tibet in Pictures (co-authored with Li Gotami).^[16] In The Way of the White Clouds Govinda writes that he was a reincarnation of the poet Novalis.^[17]

Li Gotami, Lama Govinda, Nyanaponika Thera, late 1960s or early 1970s

1960s and 1970s world tours[link]

The German Hans-Ulrich Rieker, who was ordained in the Arya Maitreya Mandala Order in 1952, was ordered by Govinda to set up a Western wing of the Order. The founding took place simultaneously in Berlin by Rieker, and in Sanchi by Govinda, on 30.11.1952. In 1960 Govinda went to Europe as a representative of Tibetan Buddhism at an international religious conference in Venice. Subsequently he went to England, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. In 1965 he went on a lecturing tour through Germany, France, and Switzerland. In 1968-69 through the USA and Japan. In 1972-73, and 1974-76 he went on world tours. In 1977 he last visited Germany.

On his journeys to the West Govinda made friends with the Swiss philosopher Jean Gebser, the Zen and Taoist teacher Alan Watts, the pioneer of transcendental psychotherapy Roberto Assagioli and the author Luise Rinser.^[18]

Later years[link]

For health reasons Govinda finally settled in the San Francisco Bay area, where he and his wife were taken care of by Alan Watts and Suzuki Roshi's San Francisco Zen Centre.^[19] In San Francisco he established a branch of his order, called “Home of Dhyan”.^[20] In 1980 he visited India for a last time and gave up his house in Almora. He remained mentally agile despite suffering from several strokes from 1975 onwards. During an evening discussion on 14.1.1985, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck that traveled downwards. He lied down on his right side and died laughing.^[21]

His ashes were contained in the Nirvana-Stupa, which was erected in 1997 on the premises of Samten Choeling Monastery in Darjeeling.^[22]

Writings[link]

Govinda wrote several books on a wide variety of Buddhist topics. His most well known books are The Way of the White Clouds and Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, which were translated in many languages. Some of his works such as Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism were written in German and were subsequently translated in English. His articles were published in many Buddhist journals such as the Maha Bodhi, and the German journal Der Kreis published by his Buddhist Order Arya Maitreya Mandala.^[23] Govinda considered The Inner Structure of the I Ching, the Book of Transformation as his most important book.^[24]

Works in English language[link]

• Art and Meditation, (an introduction and 12 abstract paintings), Allahabad 1936.
• The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy, Allahabad 1937; New Delhi (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers), 1992: ISBN 81-208-0941-6, 1998 edition: ISBN 81-208-0952-1
• Psycho-Cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa, Emeryville 1976 ( Dharma Publishing): ISBN 0-913546-36-4. First shorter edition published as Some Aspects of Stupa Symbolism, Allahabad 1936.
• Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, London 1957, 1959, 1969 edition, ISBN 0-87728-064-9
• The Way of the White Clouds, London 1966; Fourth reprint, 1972. 1988 edition: ISBN 0-87773-462-3, reprint: ISBN 0-87773-007-5, Hardcover: ISBN 1-58567-465-6, Paperback: ISBN 1-58567-785-X, Ebury: ISBN 0-7126-5543-3.
• Tibet in Pictures: A Journey into the Past, coauthored with Li Gotami, 1979, 2004, Dharma Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89800-345-1
• Drugs or Meditation? Consciousness Expansion and Disintegration versus Concentration and Spiritual Regeneration, Kandy 1973, Buddhist Publication Society, Bodhi Leaves Series No. 62.[6]
• Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness, London 1976, Allen and Unwin.
• Pictures of India and Tibet, Haldenwang and Santa Cruz 1978. (Perhaps identical with Tibet in Pictures: A Journey into the Past?)
• The Inner Structure of the I Ching, the Book of Transformation, San Francisco 1981 (Wheelwright Press). Reprinted: Art Media Resources, ISBN 0-8348-0165-5
• A Living Buddhism for the West, Boston 1990, (Shambhala), translated by Maurice Walshe, ISBN 0-87773-509-3

Compilations and biographies[link]

• Buddhist Reflections, New Delhi 1994, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1169-0 (Collected essays.)
• Ken Winkler, 1000 Journeys: The Biography of Lama Anagarika Govinda, Oakland 1990, Dharma Press; reprinted: Element Books, ISBN 1-85230-149-X
• Insights of a Himalayan Pilgrim, Oakland 1991, Dharma Press. ISBN 0-89800-204-4. (Thirteen later essays on Buddhism, art, and the spirituality that appeared in American, British, German Buddhist magazines.)
• The Lost Teachings of Lama Govinda: Living Wisdom from a Modern Tibetan Master, Wheaton, IL, 2008, Quest Books. Ed. Richard Power, Foreword by Lama Surya Das. ISBN 978-0-8356-0854-1 (Collection of essays and dialogues. Includes a comprehensive introduction to Govinda’s life and work by R. Power.)

References[link]