Study & Teaching of Bilingual Education; Elite (Social Sciences); Buddhism & Culture; Ethnicity
摘要
Recent research on the life of U Dhammaloka and other early western Buddhists in Asia has interesting implications in relation to class, ethnicity and politics. ‘Beachcomber Buddhists’ highlight the wider situation of ‘poor whites’ in Asia—needed by empire but prone to defect from elite standards of behaviour designed to maintain imperial and racial power. ‘Going native’, exemplified by the European bhikkhu, highlights the difficulties faced by empire in policing these racial boundaries and the role of Asian agency in early ‘western’ Buddhism. Finally, such ‘dissident Orientalism’ has political implications, as with specifically Irish forms of solidarity with Asian anti-colonial movements. Within the limits imposed by the data, this article rethinks ‘early western Buddhism’ in Asia as a creative response to colonialism, shaped by Asian actors, marked by cross-racial solidarity and oriented to alternative possible futures beyond empire.
目次
Introduction 116 Phr’a Kow-Tow and Marco Polo 116 U Dhammaloka: a window into wider worlds 117 ‘Pauper lunatics and beachcombers’ 118 The many-headed hydra 120 One migrant worker’s trajectory 120 Loafers and bhikkhus 122 ‘Going native’, race, and Asian agency 123 European bhikkhus and colour lines 125 Asian agency and Buddhist revival 126 Dissident Orientalisms and Irish identifications 127 As in Ireland, so in Asia? 128 Some early Irish Buddhist strategies 129 Conclusion: early western Buddhists and the limits of empire 129 Acknowledgements 131 Notes 131 References 131
