This article explores some important aspects of U Dhammaloka's Buddhism, drawing in particular on the work of his Rangoon-based Buddhist Tract Society between 1907 and 1910. It explores his work—in the Society and more generally—as in effect a social movement organiser within the Buddhist Revival, looking at his funders, publishers, printers, translators and distributors as well as those who wrote about him, laid down their hair for him to walk on, covered his train or boat fares, put up his friends in monasteries or let them cross borders, and so forth. It also looks at what we know about his organisations and involvement in other people's organisations, asking who he intended to mobilise and who his audience was, how his use of confrontation and polemic fitted into this, and how successful he was. Following this, it goes on to discuss the intellectual sources of the free-thinking (atheist) positions espoused in the Society's publications, and asks more generally how his posture can be located in relation to the politics of plebeian freethought in Ireland, Britain, the USA and Asia. These questions arose out of an attempt to shed some light on the missing half-century before Dhammaloka became a public Buddhist figure; while the article can give no definite answers in terms of organising experience, intellectual inheritance or formative backgrounds, it suggests an alternative perspective that highlights a substantial, internationally connected 'Workers' University', grounded in the freethinking cultures of self-taught plebeian radicals, at the roots of western Buddhism.
目次
Introduction: the search for Dhammaloka 173 Who was Dhammaloka? 173 Scholarly questions and hobo answers 175 (I) Dhammaloka as social movement organiser 177 Dhammaloka as publisher: the Buddhist Tract Society and before 177 Warning to Buddhists 178 Foundation of the Buddhist Tract Society 179 Organisational implications of Dhammaloka’s publishing 182 Building the Buddhist revival 183 Organisational strengths and weaknesses 184 The Novice’s Prayer 187 Dhammaloka’s organising style 189 (II) Dhammaloka and plebeian freethought 190 Freethought connections 193 1. Thomas Paine (1908 –1909) 194 2. Anonymous (1909) 195 3. Sophie/Sophia Egoroff (1909) 195 4. George W Brown (1910) 196 5. Anon. The Famous Decree (1910) 197 6. Wm Emmette Coleman (by 1910) 197 7. Robert Blatchford [‘Nunquam’ of The Clarion] (pre-1914) 198 8. John Remsburg (no date) 199 (III) The cultures of plebeian freethought: where did Dhammaloka learn his trade? 200 Mainland Britain 203 Freethought and working-class clubs 205 Ireland and England 206 Spiritualism and plebeian radicalism 207 The United States 208 Freethought in Asia 209 The search continues 210 Conclusion: the great unwashed and the many-headed hydra 211 The view from above 213 The last word to Dhammaloka 214 Acknowledgements 220 Notes 220 References 224
