Anagarika Dharmapala

Who is Anagarika Dharmapala?

Anagarika Dharmapala, born Don David Hewavitarne in Colombo on 17 September 1864, was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and writer who became one of the most influential figures in the modern global spread of Buddhism. Raised partly in Christian missionary schools despite his family's Buddhist faith, he was drawn as a young man to the Theosophical Society founded by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, and worked alongside them to revive Buddhist institutions in colonial Ceylon. He adopted the title Anagarika, meaning "homeless one," describing a commitment to a celibate, full-time religious life that fell between the roles of monk and layperson, a status he held from a young age until his death. In 1891 he traveled to Bodh Gaya in India, the site of the Buddha's enlightenment, and found it in a state of neglect under non-Buddhist control; he spent the rest of his life campaigning internationally to restore it to Buddhist care. In 1893 he addressed the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, introducing Buddhism to a wide Western audience alongside Japanese Zen teacher Soyen Shaku. He died in 1933 at Sarnath, India, and remains honored in Sri Lanka as a central figure of the Buddhist and Sinhalese cultural revival.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Anagarika Dharmapala" · Tricycle, "Anagarika Dharmapala and Sri Lanka's Buddhist Renaissance" · Buddhistdoor Global, "Anagarika Dharmapala: Buddhist Revivalist, Global Missionary, Sinhalese Nationalist"