Seeking info on Nyanatiloka

wanapitei

I've been asked by BPS (Buddhist Publication Society in Sri Lanka) to gather up more information about Nyanatiloka, the great teacher who came to British Ceylon in the first decade of the last century, took ordination, the first continental European to do so, and founded the Island Hermitage in Ceylon as a place for non-Asian seekers.

He lived a long life and had a profound effect on bringing the Theravada teachings of the Buddha to the attention of the modern world. His students founded BPS. Both the Island Hermitage and BPS continue to this day. Nyanatiloka's dates are 1878-1957. Strangely there's no profile on him on Wikipedia, and the very thinnest of profiles on Nyanaponika one of Nyanatiloka's major students and a co-founder of BPS.

We're looking for two kinds of help.

1. First, we're looking for details on Nyanatiloka's life from the time he was interned by the British as an enemy alien at the start of the Second World War in 1939, right through to Nyanatiloka's death in 1957. Oddly, we have lots of rich detail on the first three-quarters of Nyanatiloka's life, much of it from his own hand, but barely anything from the period of the writing of the great Buddhist Dictionary and Nyanaponika's hand in encouraging the founding of BPS, and everything in between.

We're looking for pointers, both on the web and off, snippets, photos, whatever. If anything gets published we'll ask explicit permission prior to use. Right now we're on the hunt for what's available. We're open to additional material from 1878 to 1939, but that period is already rich in detail.

2. Second, we're looking for assessments on Nyanatiloka's life and his affect on the birthing of Theravada Buddhism beyond southeast Asia. While most individuals who knew Nyanatiloka personally are now themselves gone, we're looking for both contemporary and past writers commentaries on this quite remarkable figure. Again, we'll ask for explicit permission to publish prior to use. Right now, we're looking for what's available.

If you can help in either of these two objects, please respond to this posting here and we'll make further contact. Let's use the internet to recover this corner of our collective past.

With metta,

Magwang

Never heard of him, but he sounds interesting.

Simonthepilgrim

Welcome, Wanapitei.

I had never heard of this fine man before (my bad!) but you set me looking. I hope you are using German sites as well as English-language. The German Wikipedia gives a biography which begins

Anton Gueth wurde in Wiesbaden als Sohn eines Lehrers geboren und besuchte dort ab 1888 das Gymnasium. Seine katholische Erziehung führte ihn früh zu einem Interesse für Religion. Sein musikalisches Interesse galt insbesondere der Violine und der Komposition und ab 1898 studierte er am Konservatorium in Frankfurt. Seine asketische Veranlagung ließ ihn um diese Zeit auch zum Vegetarier werden. Sein zunehmendes Interesse für Philosophie führte ihn schließlich zu Schopenhauer und zur Beschäftigung mit dem Buddhismus. Wie für viele Zeitgenossen, war auch für Gueth der Buddhistische Katechismus von Zimmermann ein erster inspirierender Leitfaden zum Buddhismus. Insgeheim fasst er den Entschluss, nach Indien zu gehen und buddhistischer Mönch zu werden, aber den Plänen seiner Eltern folgend, geht er nach Paris, um am dortigen Konservatorium seine musikalische Ausbildung zu vertiefen. Als ihm 1902 ein Engagement als Violinist im damals türkischen Saloniki angeboten wurde, nahm er an mit dem Hintergedanken, nun näher an Indien zu sein.

I see that he was interned with Heinrich Harrer during WW2. That must have been quite a camp, including Lama Anagarika Govinda.

Good luck in your research. Do let us know how you get on.

Simonthepilgrim

I notice that there are three books about him by Hellmuth Hecker. They have been translated into English. As I am not sure where you are based, this is a link to Amazon UK:
Books by Hellmuth Hecker