by Wikipedia
Accessed: 8/18/20
London Buddhist Vihara
The main building at London Buddhist Vihara, London
Religion
Affiliation: Theravada Buddhism
Leadership: Anagarika Dharmapala, founder
Location: Dharmapala Building, The Avenue, London W4 1UD
Country: United Kingdom
Architect(s): E. J. May
General contractor: R. N. Shaw
Completed: c. 1877
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: London Buddhist Vihara (Former CAV Social Club)
Designated: 2 February 1970
Reference no. 1079469
Website: http://www.londonbuddhistvihara.org
The London Buddhist Vihara (Sinhala:ලන්ඩන් බෞද්ධ විහාරය) is one of the main Theravada Buddhist temples in the United Kingdom. The Vihara was the first Sri Lankan Buddhist monastery to be established outside Asia.
Established in 1926, the Vihara is managed by the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust in Colombo. The current chief bhikkhu of the Vihara is Ven Bogoda Seelawimala Nayaka Thera, who is also the Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain.[1]
History
Founder Anagarika Dharmapala
The London Buddhist Vihara was founded in 1926 by Anagarika Dharmapala.[2]
One of the temple's main benefactors during its early days was Mary Foster, who financed ‘Foster House’ in Ealing.[3] This was the first Sri Lankan Buddhist temple established outside Asia and was named the London Buddhist Vihara in 1926. Shortly afterwards, the Vihara moved to Gloucester Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where it continued until the Second World War. During the war, the temple premises were requisitioned, and the monks returned to Ceylon.
In 1955, the Vihara reopened in Ovington Square, Knightsbridge under the initiative of Sir Cyril de Zoysa.[4]
Sir Cyril de Zoysa (26 October 1896 – 2 January 1978) was a Sri Lankan industrialist, Senator and a philanthropist. The President of the Senate of Ceylon from 1960 to 1965, he was a leader in the Buddhist revival movement in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 20th century. He was distantly related to Sri Lankan tycoon Sir Ernest de Silva...
Sir Albert Ernest de Silva (26 November 1887 – 9 May 1957) was a Ceylonese business magnate, banker, barrister and public figure, considered to be the most prominent Ceylonese philanthropist of the 20th century. A wealthy and influential polymath, he was the founder-chairman of the largest bank in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), the Bank of Ceylon, the founder-governor of the State Mortgage Bank and chairman of the Ceylon All-Party committee. He made many contributions to Ceylonese society and is also considered to be the preeminent philatelist in the history of Ceylon. Upon Ceylon's independence, he was asked to become the first Ceylonese Governor General (representative of the King in Ceylon, i.e. de facto head of state), an honour he declined for personal reasons.[4] De Silva was at the pinnacle of upper-class society and, as the wealthiest Ceylonese of his generation, he defined the island's ruling class. His memorials describe him as highly respected for his integrity and honesty.
Sir Ernest de Silva was born to one of the most affluent families in Ceylon. His parents and grandparents were extremely wealthy and owned much land all over the country. His great-grandfather, Emans de Silva Gunasekere and his grandfather, S. D. S. Gunasekere bequeathed the properties to his father, A. E. de Silva, who later became the wealthiest businessman in Ceylon, and named his son Albert Ernest de Silva Jr. The young heir received his education first at Royal College, Colombo, graduated subsequently from Clare College, Cambridge and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple. He was a close friend of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who was a contemporary of his at Cambridge. They met again in 1930 when Nehru arrived for a visit in Ceylon.
Sir Ernest de Silva was a strong Buddhist who contributed much to the advancement of Buddhism. One such instance was when he purchased an Island (Polgasduwa) in 1911 and offered it to Ven. Nanatiloke, the famous German monk, to start a hermitage for Buddhist monks. The founder-Preceptor, a reputed German Professor who had been ordained in Burma, attracted many scholars and thinkers from all parts of the world, to name a few, from Germany, France, Holland, Yugoslavia, England and the United States of America in the West to the Far East and went on to play a prominent role in the revitalisation of Buddhism in the world. Sir Ernest was thus instrumental in putting Ceylon on the map of the world of philosophy and religion.
When a great disciple of the German monk, Ven. Gnanoponika, had wanted to disrobe and return to Germany to take his Jewish mother away from the Nazi hostilities, Sir Ernest had used his influence and vouched for his mother and relatives and brought them to Ceylon whereupon some resided in one of his estates.
He also built a temple along with this mother: the Veluvanaramaya. He was the President of the YMBA (Young Men's Buddhist Association) and the Kalutara Bodhi Trust ...Kalutara Bodhiya is a Bodhi tree (sacred fig) located in Kalutara, Western Province of Sri Lanka. Situated on the Galle Colombo main road, by the side of Kalu River just south to the Kalutara city, it is believed to be one of the 32 saplings of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. A Buddhist temple Kalutara Viharaya and a modern Stupa, Kalutara Chaitya are located in close proximity to this sacred fig. One of the most venerated religious place in Sri Lanka, hundreds of Buddhists and foreign tourists visit this religious place daily...
The Kalutara Bodhi Trust (KBT) was established by Sir Cyril de Zoysa, a prominent lawyer, senator and notary public, with the help of six other lawyers in November 7, 1951. The prime objective of the Kalutara Bodhi Trust is the “Protection and Nurturing of Historic Kalutara Bodhiya”. Sir Ernest de Silva was the first chairman of the KBT. Although Kalutara Bodhi Trust was initially confined to Kalutara region in its scope of work, today it has expanded its operation by going beyond from its initial objective for the sake of Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka.
Presently Kalutara Bodhi Trust serves as a non-profit organization which empowers the education and health sectors as well as the civil society in Sri Lanka. In addition to the protection and development of Kalutara Bodhiya, its other main objective is to alleviate poverty and giving humanitarian assistance to the needy sectors of the Sri Lankan population to achieve sustainable development and welfare of the society. In addition to that KBT is also involved in conducting Blood Donation Programmes and programmes to save cattle from death on every other poya days.
-- Kalutara Bodhiya [Kalutara Bodhi Trust], by Wikipedia
and his wife was the Inaugural President of the Ceylon Women's Buddhist Congress. Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was Ceylon's president from 1989 to 1993, said of him that "if there was a Buddhist Temple or school that he did not help, it was not in Ceylon.
Sir Ernest was, in his time, Ceylon's richest man and one of the wealthiest Ceylonese of the twentieth century.He inherited and purchased thousands of acres of tea, rubber and coconut estates as well as land in the prominent areas of Colombo. One such estate was the famed 1200 acre (5 km²) Salawa estate which was used as a rubber plantation. And also Rukkattana estate in Bingiriya was another property of him which was used as a coconut plantation. He owned 46 acres (7360 perches) of land mostly in the Cinnamon Gardens (Colombo 7) which, being one of the most expensive areas in Ceylon, would be worth approximately $600 million in the economy of the 2010s. His company dealt in every description of Ceylonese produce, principally plumbago (graphite), desiccated coconut, fibre, cacao, rubber, cinnamon and tea. The main export business was done with the United Kingdom and the continent, through the firm's agents in London, Hamburg and other European ports.
His residence, the "Sirimathipaya Mansion", equipped then with horse stables and tennis courts, now serves as the Prime Minister's office.
Aside from public life, de Silva's central passion was stamp collecting. His Ceylonese collection is said to have been world-class, second only to that of King George V. He was said to be one of the most notable philatelists in the world and also owned the legendary orange-red "Post Office" Mauritius One Penny (1847) stamp; considered to be among the rarest and most expensive stamps in the world. In keeping with his charitable ways, he donated the stamp to his relative, Sir Cyril de Zoysa, for the construction of the YMBA headquarters building. Subsequently, the stamp brought $1.1 million at an auction in 1993.
Sir A. E. de Silva was also known to be one of the best Ceylonese billiards players of his time and was the patron of the Ceylon Amateur Billiards Association. He played rounds with the then-world champions in his mansion and club. He was also the president of the Ceylon Turf Club and had the rare distinction of winning two Governor's Cups in Ceylon with his favourites Louvello and L'Allegro as well as a Governor's Cup in Calcutta. As president, he maintained a high level of integrity in the "Sport of Kings". He was also one of the first Ceylonese to own a Rolls Royce.
Ernest de Silva was knighted as a Knight Bachelor on 1 January 1946 by King George VI for his public services in Ceylon in the 1946 New Year Honours.
-- Ernest de Silva, by Wikipedia
De Zoysa was a successful businessman having a diverse array of ventures... In 1942, he established the South Western Bus Company, which was reconstituted as the South Western Omnibus Company Limited in 1952. It was nationalized in 1958, when the Ceylon Transport Board was formed. He established Associated Motorways Limited in 1949, which is one of the largest conglomerates of Ceylon. It used to manufacture Sisil refrigerators and motor vehicle tyres. He also established Associated Rubber Industries, Associated Batteries, Associated Vacu-lat and Associated Cables.
De Zoysa was the Chairman of the Kalutara Urban Council and was elected to the Senate of Ceylon in 1947. He was elected Deputy President and Chairman of Committees in 1951 and served till 1955. He was elected President of the Senate of Ceylon in 1955 succeeding Sir Nicholas Attygalle and served till his retirement in 1961. He was made a Knights Bachelor in the 1955 Birthday Honours.
-- Cyril de Zoysa, by Wikipedia
Ven Narada Nayaka Thera became the chief bhikkhu of the Vihara in 1958.[5]
Narada Mahathera (born Sumanapala Perera (14 July 1898 – 2 October 1983) was a Theravada Buddhist monk, scholar, translator, educator and Buddhist missionary who was for many years the Superior of Vajiraramaya in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was a popular figure in his native country, Sri Lanka, and beyond.
He was born in Kotahena, Colombo to a middle-class family, educated at St. Benedict's College and Ceylon University College, and ordained at the age of eighteen.
In 1929 he represented Sri Lanka at the opening ceremony for the new Mulagandhakuti vihara at Sarnath, India, and in 1934 he visited Indonesia, the first Theravadan monk to do so in more than 450 years. During this opportunity he planted and blessed a bodhi tree in southeastern side of Borobudur on 10 March 1934, and some Upasakas were ordained as monks. From that point on he travelled to many countries to conduct missionary work: Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Nepal, and Australia. In 1956, he visited the United Kingdom and the United States, and addressed a huge crowd at the Washington Monument. On 2 November 1960, Narada Maha Thera brought a bodhi tree to the South Vietnamese temple Thích Ca Phật Đài, and made many visits to the country during the 1960s.
Along with others (such as Piyadassi Maha Thera) he contributed to the popularization of the bana style dharma talk in the 1960s and brought the Buddhist teachings "to the day-to-day lives of the Westernized middle class in Sri Lanka."
-- Narada Maha Thera, by Wikipedia
The Vihara moved to Heathfied Gardens, Chiswick in 1964. Ven Hammalawa Saddhatissa Nayaka Thera subsequently became the chief Bhikkhu of the Vihara [6]...
Hammalawa Saddhatissa Maha Thera (1914–1990) was an ordained Buddhist monk, missionary and author from Sri Lanka, educated in Varanasi, London, and Edinburgh. He was a contemporary of Walpola Rahula, also of Sri Lanka...
The Maha Bodhi Society invited Saddhatissa to become a missionary (dharmaduta) monk in India like his contemporary Henepola Gunaratana.
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk. He is often affectionately known as Bhante G...
He received his higher education in Sri Lanka at Vidyalankara College in Kelaniya and the Buddhist Missionary College (an affiliate of the Maha Bodhi Society) in Colombo.
After his education, he was sent to India for missionary work as a representative of the Maha Bodhi Society. He primarily served the Untouchables in Sanchi, Delhi, and Bombay.
He also served as a religious advisor to the Malaysian Sasana Abhivurdhiwardhana Society, Buddhist Missionary Society, and Buddhist Youth Federation. Following this he served as an educator for Kishon Dial School and Temple Road Girls' School. He was also the principal of the Buddhist Institute of Kuala Lumpur.
Bhante Gunaratana went to the United States at the invitation of the Sasana Sevaka Society in 1968 in order to serve as the General Secretary of the Buddhist Vihara Society of Washington, D.C. He was elected president of the society twelve years later. While serving in this office, he has conducted meditation retreats and taught courses in Buddhist Studies.
Gunaratana earned a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate in philosophy at American University. He has also taught graduate level courses on Buddhism at American University, Georgetown University, Bucknell University, and the University of Maryland, College Park. He also lectures at universities throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. He is the author of the book Mindfulness in Plain English.
Bhante Gunaratana is currently the abbot of the Bhavana Society, a monastery and meditation retreat center that he founded in High View, West Virginia.
-- Henepola Gunaratana, by WikipediaAmaravati Monastery Marks Bhante's Death
by Munisha
Thu, 22 Nov, 2018 - 13:32
At Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire, UK, the evening chanting on the day after Bhante’s funeral was dedicated to him.
Amaravati is a monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition, run by the English Sangha Trust, who owned the Hampstead Buddhist Vihara where Bhante lived in the 1960s.
In order to teach to Indians he learnt Indian languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. While in India, he came to know B. R. Ambedkar, who reportedly obtained advice from him on how to draft the Indian constitution along the lines of the vinaya. He also obtained an M.A. Degree from the Banaras Hindu University and then became a lecturer there.
In 1957 he traveled to London at the request of the Maha Bodhi Society and lived the rest of his life in the West.
He obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh and held academic appointments at a number of universities. He was a visiting lecturer in Buddhist studies at Oxford University; a lecturer in Sinhala at the University of London; and Professor of Pali and Buddhism at the University of Toronto. He was a Buddhist Chaplain at the London University and a vice president of the Pali Text Society.
At the time of his death he was the head of the London Buddhist Vihara and the Head of the Sangha (Sanghanayaka) of the United Kingdom and Europe of the Siam Nikaya of Sri Lanka."
He was posthumously honored in 2005 by Sri Lanka with a postage stamp bearing his image.
-- Hammalawa Saddhatissa, by Wikipedia
and was succeeded in 1985 by Ven Dr Medagama Vajiragnana Nayaka Thera.[7]
In 1994, The Vihara moved to its present premises at The Avenue, Chiswick. Ven Bogoda Seelawimala Nayaka Thera was appointed as the Chief Bhikkhu in May 2008.
The London Buddhist Vihara has several resident bhikkhus from Sri Lanka and continues to conduct and actively engage in religious Buddhist activities in the region.
See also
• Buddhism in the United Kingdom
• Buddhism in Europe
References
1. Bogoda Seelawimala Thera appointed new Sanghanayake in Britain
2. London Buddhist Vihara Founder’s Day Celebrations
3. 75th Anniversary Celebrations of the London Buddhist Vihara
4. Sir Cyril de Zoysa, the great Buddhist devotee Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine.
5. A Biographical Sketch of Venerable Narada Maha Thera
6. NEW POSTAL STAMP
7. Buddhist missionary in the West after WW II[permanent dead link]
External links
• Official website
• London Buddhist Vihara 90th Anniversary & Anagarika Dharmapala Tribute by Mr.Amal Abeyawardene
**********************************
Our Founder, Anagarika Dharmapala
by Andrew Scott (Sri Lanka)
The Maha Bodhi, Apr-Jun, 1981, p. 129
London Buddhist Vihara
Just over a century ago there was born a man destined to burn with a desire to spur the people of Sri Lanka with a deep sense of patriotism, nationalism and service. His enthusiasm and tireless efforts made him drive his human frame to lengths beyond common human endurance and in a noble life dedicated to national and religious causes, he has left inspiration for his compatriots who live today. That noble personality was none other than Anagarika Dharmapala, a distinguished son of Lanka, who saw the plight his people had fallen into - their religion neglected, their lives dispirited and drifting into something alien and unnatural.
Born on 17th September 1864 to a rich and influential family in Colombo, in accordance with the custom of the day the child was named Don David. He was the son of H. Don Carolis, the founder of a furniture shop and Mallika Hewavitarne.
From his young days David's ideas were fashioned in conformity to the Buddhist way of life and very soon he came under the influence of two great Buddhist leaders of the time, Venerable Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera and Migettuwatte Sri Gunananda Thera and as a result of this he developed a great attachment to the Buddhist monks. In one of his articles Dharmapala states:
"In contrast to my wine-drinking, meat-eating and pleasure-loving missionary teachers, the Bhikkhus were meek and abstemious. I loved their company and would sit quietly in a corner and listen to their wise discourse, even when it was far above my head."
In 1880 as a boy of 16 years he chanced to meet Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky as a result of which meeting he was drawn to a life of religious dedication. In 1884, much against the wishes of his father, Dharmapala was taken by Madame Blavatsky to Adyar. Later returning from India he resided at the Theosophical Society Headquarters.
In 1886 when Colonel Olcott and C.W. Leadbeater came to Sri Lanka to collect funds for the Buddhist Education Fund, Dharmapala was a junior clerk who had already acquired a sound knowledge of English, Sinhalese and Pali and, in addition, had mastered the Buddhist scriptures. Soon he joined Colonel Olcott and Leadbeater in their campaign for Buddhist schools.
He renounced the wealth, position and comforts of a home life, adopted the name Anagarika (homeless), and garbed in the simple attire of a Buddhist devotee he became a religious propagandist.
His tours of Ceylon's (now Sri Lanka) remote villages made him understand the handicaps the local villagers were forced to experience without proper roads and houses, schools and hospitals. Shortly he was convinced of the fact that the greatness of a nation depended solely on the happiness and contentment of the rural folk and he dreamed of the day when Ceylon would emerge as an independent nation and bring back to life the religion and pristine glory of the Sinhala race.
Anagarika Dharmapala's services to Buddhism were many. The most outstanding thing in his life was the active part he played to resuscitate Buddhism in Ceylon and the contribution to the nationalist movement. He campaigned for these worthy causes amidst tremendous difficulties.
He first made his name internationally when he attended the World Parliament of Religion held in Chicago in 1893. Being erudite with his knowledge of the Dhamma he won many converts. A pen-portrait of Anagarika Dharmapala published in the American Journal, St. Louis Observer, on his memorable address to the Congress of World Religions in Chicago in 1893 states:
"With black curly locks thrown from his broad brow, his clean, clear eyes fixed upon the audience, his long, brown fingers emphasising the utterances of his vibrant voice he looked the very image of a propagandist, and one trembled to know that such a figure stood at the head of the movement to consolidate all the disciples of Buddha and to spread the light of Asia throughout the world".
Anagarika Dharmapala, whose foremost thoughts were the love for his country and religion, had a truly international outlook as well. In fact he was a colossus that spurned the barriers of race, creed and nationality. His activities were not confined to his land of birth only; he inspired men and events of other countries as well. His untiring struggles in India to obtain Buddha Gaya for the Buddhists is an outstanding example which shows that his principles transcended barriers of race and nationality.
["T]he United Buddhist World,["] the title announcing his hopes for drawing Buddhists into a pan-Asian community linked to supporters in Europe and America … shaping Buddhist opinion worldwide … publishing articles by Western scholars on the array of Buddhisms … the great cause of his life, putting the weight of the world’s Buddhists behind recovering Bodh Gaya, the place in North India where the Lord Buddha attained enlightenment…. that place belonged to the Hindu other …. putting a group of Saivite world renouncers on notice that Buddhists would no longer tolerate the old accommodation…. insisting that a sacred space now in the hands of a cruel and demonic other must be returned to its rightful owners…. inserting non-Indian Buddhists into Indian affairs… The immediate issue is how a Buddhism of universal aspirations was joined to the Buddhism of national identity…. Buddhism provides an example of a religious universalism, spread by offering non-Buddhist communities access to practices of value and authority through venerating the founder, his teachings, and the monks who embodied his example…. Bodh Gaya was the Buddhist Mecca, but it belonged to a community of Saivite renouncers. Returning the place to Buddhists would return Buddhism to India. The Buddhism Dharmapala wanted to install there would be a universalized Buddhism. It would be neither sectarian nor national, its universality enabled by remaining undefined…. He converted only two people in his lifetime, and when he spoke of returning Buddhism to India, he usually had in mind recovering Bodh Gaya, not growing the number of Indian Buddhists…. the mission consisted in Dhammadana (the gift of Dhamma), putting the Buddha’s teachings on offer, making them present in new parts of the world, not conversion itself…. “the universal ideal of citizenship … chooses the particularized category of the nation-state to announce its universality”…. "I took up the larger work of universal Buddhism in January 1891 at the holy spot under the shade of the Bodhi tree” … What drew none of his energy was promoting doctrinal agreement relative to a universalized Buddhism, valuing the “united Buddhist world” only as a force useful in recovering Bodh Gaya. The phrase disappeared without explanation from the journal’s masthead in 1924… Dharmapala’s universalism followed logically from his commitment to the mahatmas, whose renunciation and spiritual advancement led them to transcend nation, ethnicity, and other social identities. “They are, then a very small number of highly intelligent men belonging not to any one nation but to the world as a whole.”
-- Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World, by Steven Kemper
He went about his onerous tasks with a great missionary zeal and all that he uttered came from a sincere heart with a burning patriotism and religious fervour.
He was fearless in manner, independent in spirit and his dynamic personality beamed forth radiant energy which permeated through both national and international audiences. Wherever he went large crowds assembled and listened to him with wrapt attention. His vibrant voice resonated throughout the country and inspired the listeners with its magical effect. His silver-tongued oratory transcended throughout the country calling for Buddhist resurgence, Buddhist unity and national awareness.
He was in the fore-front of national and Buddhist movements for 47 years. He founded the Maha Bodhi Society on 31st May, 1891. His weekly publication, Sinhala Bauddhaya, was a powerful organ of Buddhist opinion which guided and inspired the nation's religious and national campaigns. Besides these he addressed thousands of meetings and published numerous articles in national and international journals. Whenever he wrote he was very forceful. Anagarika Dharmapala's personal correspondence shows his real form -- warm and genial in friendship and devastatingly critical as well.
He was always clamouring for independence and repeatedly criticised the imperialists. Anagarika Dharmapala always held lofty ideas on religious tolerance and he often remarked:
"Religion is a thing of the heart, and it is beyond the power of man to go into the heart of other people. To oppress a human being for his inner conviction is diabolical."
He had first visited England en route to America where he visited Edwin Arnold, the author of 'Light of Asia'. Having experienced such great influence from the British, and as at the time London was considered the 'centre of the world', Anagarika Dharmapala was determined to set up a Vihara with resident monks from Ceylon to share the great joys of the Dhamma with the English people.
He had met Mrs. Mary Foster whilst travelling to Honolulu and this lady became his main benefactor. She financed the setting up of 'Foster House' in Ealing which was the very first missionary vihara to be founded outside the Asian continent. The London Buddhist Vihara was opened in 1926. Very soon afterwards it moved to a more central, larger premises at Gloucester Road where it continued until the Second World War. During the war the house was requisitioned, the monks having returned to Ceylon. In 1955 the Vihara was reopened with the help of many Sinhalese, in Ovington Square, Knightsbridge. Amongst many monks resident there was the famous author Ven. Narada. Ven. Dr. H. Saddhatissa became Head of Vihara in 1958 and on the expiry of the lease, the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust purchased a new home for the Vihara at 5 Heathfield Gardens in Chiswick, West London. These premises opened on 24th April 1964. Early in 1985, Ven. Saddhatissa relinquished his administrative responsibilities for various reasons and Ven. Dr. Medagama Vajiragnana was officially appointed Head of the Vihara by the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust. Under the guidance of Ven. M. Vajiragnana, the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust purchased a spacious property and moved the Vihara to its present location in The Avenue, Chiswick on 21st May, 1994.
Anagarika Dharmapala worked tirelessly to create many charitable institutions, maintaining hospitals, schools and foundations for spreading Buddhism and helping all in need. He started publishing the splendid Buddhist journal "The Mahabodhi" in 1891. To continue his mission for future generations he established the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust in 1930. During that year he ordained as monk.
Anagarika Dharmapala's service is of much historical significance both to India and Sri Lanka and even today we are guided by some of his mature views. He died at Sarnath in 1933 and his last words were "Let me be reborn. I would like to be born again twenty-five times to spread Lord Buddha's Dhamma." His was a life of rich dedication which every human being should strive to emulate.
Mary Elizabeth Mikahala Robinson Foster (b. September 21, 1844; d.December 19, 1930)
Mary Elizabeth Makahala Robinson was born in Honolulu on September 20, 1844. Her parents were John James Robinson, a shipwrecked English sailor, and Rebecca Kaikilani Prever, who was a descendant of the famous Hawaiian king Kamehameha I. Thus, Mary was related to Queen Liliʻuokalani, who was six years older, and was one of the monarch's closest friends. Mark P. Robinson, Mary's brother, served as Queen Lili'uokalani's Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was a difficult time to be royalty in the Islands. During the period 1893-1896, the queen was forcibly and illegally deposed by agents of the American government, and eventually Hawai'i was made a protectorate of the United States...
In 1860, Mary Robinson married Thomas R. Foster (1835-1889) of Nova Scotia, who had arrived in the Islands just three years earlier. He founded the Interisland Steam Navigation Company, and owned a shipyard, a shipping agency and a number of schooners. He died in 1889, leaving her a very wealthy widow, as she had also inherited substantial property from her father following his death in 1876.
-- Mary E. Foster, by Theosophy Wiki
Mary Robinson Foster was the largest single benefactress of the lifelong work of Anagarika Dharmapala. Founder of the London Buddhist Vihara and the Maha Bodhi Society.
Her financial support for the work of Anagarika Dharmapala was such that he referred to it as "unparalleled generosity". The monies from the 'Foster Fund' wholly or partly financed the purchase of the first property that housed the London Buddhist Vihara at Ealing in 1926 with a donation of Sterling Pounds 5.000; the Maha Bodhi Society of India headquarters at Kolkota in 1916; the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara at Sarnath where the Buddha enunciated the Doctrine of the 'Middle Path': the setting up of orphanages, secondary schools and industrial schools; free dispensaries: the purchase of a printing press and properties in India: the funding of Buddhist missions among several other projects initiated by Anagarika Dharmapala and the Maha Bodhi Society. These projects would never have materialized if not for her generous philanthropy. and unwavering, unquestioning commitment to the work of Anagarika Dharmapala.
Mary Robinson Foster was the daughter of a Hawaiian lady from an island chief's family and a successful British shipbuilder. Her parents owned vast acres of land in the Hawaiian islands. She married a Canadian. Thomas Foster who later owned the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. Hawaii was undergoing political transformation in those years eventually capitulating to the United States of America. Mary and her husband tried to adapt to the changing times and were in the vanguard of battles against the social injustice faced by the natives. They immersed themselves in spiritual interests, and after her husband's sudden demise, Mary took an increasing interest in a spiritual path in a lifelong quest for inner peace. She had read in local newspapers about Anagarika Dharmapala's historic address to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 as the Representative of Theravada Buddhism and arranged to meet him on his way back to Lanka on board the ship, Oceania that had docked at Honolulu. According to available records of that meeting, Ms Robinson had sought spiritual guidance from Anagarika Dharmapala and in the course of the leisurely discussion, she was briefed of his work, he having started the Maha Bodhi Society two years earlier in 1891. Ms Robinson promised to support his endeavours. What followed was to be a unique Robinson-Dharmapala connection that helped revive Buddhism, especially in India, the land of the Buddha and introduce the Dhamma to the West where Buddhism was limited to scholars of Oriental Studies. The two kept up a regular correspondence. He would send her itemized accounts on how her monies were spent and she, who never asked for accounts. would admonish him for not spending some of it on himself for his health and comfort. Anagarika Dharmapala met her twice after their first meeting, in Honolulu and San Francisco. She was a lady ahead of her time and left a lasting impact on the lives of thousands in her native Hawaii and those far away from her home.
She predeceased him. On learning of her passing away, he penned the following epitaph in his diary on January 14, 1931; "She was phenomenally generous. And now, the unparalleled generosity has ended. Her benefaction was manifold".
Every year since her passing, on her birthday, the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust which he set up to carry forward his work, offers alms in her memory for all the help she gave him to fulfil his mission in life.
***
The London Buddhist Vihara is a leading centre for Theravada Buddhism. Founded in 1926 by Anagarika Dharmapala, the Vihara was the first Buddhist monastery to be established outside the continent of Asia. It has continued its task of disseminating the Dhamma with resident bhikkhus (monks) from Sri Lanka throughout this period, with the exception of the 1940s due to World War II. The Vihara moved to Chiswick during 1964 when the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust (ADT) of Sri Lanka purchased the freehold property at Heathfield Gardens. In 1994 the Vihara moved to new spacious premises in The Avenue, Chiswick, London W4. The Vihara is managed by a Vihara Management Committee (VMC) appointed by the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust in Colombo. The four members of the VMC act as attorneys for the trustees who are all based in Colombo. The ADT also appoints the resident Dhammaduta Bhikkhus.
***
Anagarika Dharmapala Trust
by Mclloyd Business Directory
Accessed: 8/19/20
Anagarika Dharmapala Trust
Maha Bodi Mandiraya
#.130, Malaigakanda Road,
Colombo 10, Sri Lanka,
Sri Lanka