Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World

514 Pages·2015·2.192 MB·English

by  Steven Kemper

rescued from the nation
buddhism and modernity
A series edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr.
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rescued from the nation
Anagarika Dharmapala and
the Buddhist World
steven kemper
the university of chicago press
chicago and london
steven kemper is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Anthropology at Bates College
and the author of The Presence of the Past and Buying and Believing, the latter also
published by the University of Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2015 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2015.
Printed in the United States of America
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 19907- 8 (cloth)
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 19910- 8 (e- book)
doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226199108.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-P ublication Data
Kemper, Steven, 1944– author.
Rescued from the nation : Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist world / Steven
Kemper.
pages cm — (Buddhism and modernity)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978- 0- 226- 19907- 8 (cloth : alkaline paper) — isbn 0- 226- 19907- X (cloth :
alkaline paper) — isbn 978- 0- 226- 19910- 8 (e- book) — isbn 0- 226- 19910- X (e- book)
1. Dharmapala, Anagarika, 1864–1933. 2. Buddhist monks—Sri Lanka—Biography.
I. Title. II. Series: Buddhism and modernity.
bq950.h37k46 2015
294.3092—dc23
[B]
2014028190
o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of
Paper).
For Anne, Jordan and Baylor, Miles and Max,
Shannon and Scott, and Jessica and Inacio

contents
Preface ix
Introduction: World Renunciation in a Nineteenth-
Century World 1
1. Dharmapala as Theosophist 52
2. Buddhists in Japan 116
3. Universalists Abroad 186
4. Dharmapala, the British, and the Bengalis 241
5. Dharmapala and the British Empire 304
6. World Wanderer Returns Home 376
Afterword 423
Appendix 1. The Diaries and Notebooks Explained 439
Appendix 2. A Chronology of the Life of
Anagarika Dharmapala 447
Bibliography 473
Index 487
vii

preface
Ia m indebted to many people, but I want to acknowledge an institution
straightaway. I can say it simply. Bates College has made my scholarly
life possible. I am appreciative of the endless forms that support has taken.
I also owe thanks for the support of the Dana Foundation and the Freeman
Foundation, which made several of my research trips to South Asia, Japan,
and London possible.
Several decades ago I played a small part in hiring John Strong at Bates.
My support was not meant to be self-s erving, but there is a lot to be said for
having a Buddhologist among Buddhologists at arm’s reach, willing to hear
my questions and investigate. His responses did a lot more than provide an-
swers. They educated me.
I have also been the beneficiary of the kindness of Dennis McGilvray,
John Rogers, Frank Reynolds, Richard Jaffe, Danny Danforth, Michael Aung-
Thwin, Val Daniel, and Ian Copeland, who read the manuscript and tried to
steer me right. Anne Blackburn, Sarah Strong, Gananath Obeyesekere, H.
L. Seneviratne, Prasenajit Duara, and Alan Trevithick gave me invaluable
advice along the way. Alan made me aware of notebooks residing at the
Dharmapala library in Sarnath, and that was no small gift. In Tokyo Yuko
Eguchi guided me through the Diet Library and Gakushuin University. Her
translations of Japanese texts give the impression that I know more of Japan
than I do, and I appreciate both the illusion making and the great kindness
she and her family showed me in both Japan and this country. Soon after I
arrived, Ishii Kosei took me out to dinner, shared his knowledge of Dharma-
pala, and then out of the blue gave me photocopies of Japanese sources on
Dharmapala. Another gift I did not deserve.
After I finished the manuscript, I came across two articles on Dharma-
pala and found the authors, Michael Roberts and Stephen Prothero, saying
ix