U Dhammaloka, Irish Activist and Buddhist Monk

Last updated on: January 18, 2024 at 3:02 pm By Barbara O'Brien

U Dhammaloka (1856–1914, maybe) was (possibly) the first westerner to become an ordained Buddhist monk. Parts of his biography are a mystery, but what can be pieced together makes quite a story. And it’s a story told in a book titled The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk who Faced Down the British Empire by Alicia Turner, Laurence Cox, and Brian Bocking (Oxford University Press, 2020). The authors’ painstaking work to document U Dhammaloka’s life story was complicated by his practice... Read more

The Vipassana Movement: Spreading Insight Everywhere

Last updated on: January 13, 2024 at 6:46 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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This is the story of the Vipassana Movement, which began in 19th century Burma — today’s Myanmar — and spread around the globe. And the story begins with an invasion. In 1885 British troops entered Mandalay, Burma, and deposed the King. For the Burmese this created a religious as well as a political crisis. The King was the head and protector of Buddhism in Burma. As the last King of Burma, Thibaw, was taken away to exile in an oxcart.... Read more

Christian Public Schools in the U.S. ?

Last updated on: January 2, 2024 at 2:44 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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Will there be Christian public schools in the U.S.? Recently Heidi Przybyla reported for Politico that “Groups aligned with the conservative legal movement and its financial architect, Leonard Leo, are working to promote a publicly funded Christian school in Oklahoma, hoping to create a test case to change the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.” Leonard Leo is a controversial figure who has been much in the news this past year for the way... Read more

The Commercialization of Christmas: A Short History

Last updated on: December 19, 2023 at 11:35 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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The commercialization of Christmas is something both endorsed and lamented. Many people imagine Christmas to have been less gaudy and more religious in the past. But Christmas Past was a lot of things that might surprise you. For example, during the Tudor period of England and Wales — 1485 and 1603 — Christmas was mostly an adult holiday marked by lots of drinking, gambling, games, more drinking, feasting, dancing, and drinking. And other adult activities. Of course, there were church... Read more

When Christmas Was Banned in Boston

Last updated on: December 18, 2023 at 7:12 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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Christmas was banned in Boston, and the rest of Massachusetts, by the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1659. It was a criminal offense to publicly celebrate Christmas. The law declared, “whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way” would be subject to a 5-shilling fine. Shops and schools were to remain open on Christmas day. Churches were closed. This was the work of... Read more

Wonhyo, Buddhist Folk Hero of Korea

Last updated on: December 10, 2023 at 11:03 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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The story of Wonhyo (617-686 CE), who was among the most important philosophers of east Asian Buddhism, begins with a folk tale. When Wonhyo was a young monk, he and his friend Uisang decided to go to China to study Buddhism. They lived on the Korean Peninsula in the kingdom of Silla, and to reach China they walked through forests and villages toward a port on the Yellow Sea. One night they were caught in a pounding rainstorm. They stumbled... Read more

Muslims in Colonial America

Last updated on: November 28, 2023 at 10:25 am By Barbara O'Brien

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Yes, there were Muslims in colonial America. Some of them — not all — were Africans sold into slavery. The slave trade from Africa to the Americas began in the 1520s, and it’s estimated 10 to 15 percent of the enslaved Africans were Muslim. Enslaved Africans were pressured to convert to Christianity, and those who continued to practice Islam had to do so in secret. According to the PBS series History Detectives, “There was an enclave of African-Americans on the... Read more

The Wall of Separation Has Two Sides

Last updated on: November 19, 2023 at 5:28 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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The wall of separation between church and state is in the news again. Recently Rep. Mike Johnson, the new U.S. Speaker of the House, told an interviewer that “separation of church and state” is a “misnomer.” “People misunderstand it,” Johnson said. “Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the Constitution. And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church — not... Read more

Anagarika Dharmapala, a Missionary for Buddhism

Last updated on: November 17, 2023 at 7:13 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) was a pivotal figure in the modern history of Buddhism, both in Asia and the West. Much of the way Buddhism is understood in popular western culture today is thanks to Dharmapala. The story of Anagarika Dharmapala begins where an earlier post ends; see “Henry Steel Olcott: The White Buddhist.” Here’s a quick recap: Olcott and his spiritual partner Helena Petrovna Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875, and in 1879 they established the... Read more

Dorothy Buxton and the Children of War

Last updated on: November 10, 2023 at 12:48 pm By Barbara O'Brien

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Dorothy Buxton (1881-1963) was a peace activist in a time of war and a humanitarian to war’s helpless victims. During the First World War she worked to show Britons the humanity of the enemy. And after the war she organized food drives for the starving people, especially children, in former enemy countries. November 11 has been Veterans Day in the United States since 1954, when an act of Congress renamed the former Armistice Day. The original Armistice Day marked the... Read more