Buddhism Modernist: Colonel Henry Steel Olcott - Essay Example

Buddhism Modernist Buddhism modernist is a term used to describe the modern intellectual views that constitute forms of Buddhism that emerged because of its engagement with the traditional culture of Buddhism (Olcott, 2010). Buddhism modernism is clearly depicted by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, the president of the Theosophical society. Colonel Henry Steel Olcott was an American military officer, born on the second day of August 1832 and he possessed several professional attributes, as he also was a lawyer, and journalist. The young Olcott attended the college of the New York City before later joining the University of Columbia before he could drop out of the university in 1851 when his father’s business failed to raise the required amount to pay for his education. In between 1858 to 1860, Olcott found a placement in the New York tribune where he used to write agricultural articles though he could engage in other topics in his writing for instance he wrote about the lineage of his extended family. Olcott married the daughter of trinity parish priest, Mary Epplee Morgan in 1860, and they were blessed with four children two of whom died while still toddlers. During the American Civil war, Henry Steel Olcott served in the military after which he was assigned with the duties of a special commissioner in the faculty of war in New York. In US army, Olcott attained much admiration and respected from his colleagues, and that led to his promotion as a colonel in the department of the navy in Washington. After the assassinations of the then president, Abraham Lincoln, Olcottwas hired to facilitate in the process of investigating the assassinations, as he was a skillful person in his field. In 1868, he ventured into law where he concentrated with insurance policies and all fraud activities therein. In 1874, Henry Steel Olcott made several publications that entailed the spiritualist movement and in the same year, he met Helena Blavatsky whom they held similar views towards the spiritualist movement. Their union elicited the urge to develop a spiritual, philosophical ideology that led to the establishment of the theosophical society that was a new religious movement. In order to support the new movement, Olcott continued to offer his services as a lawyer and in 1875, he was requested by popular spiritualist to carry out an investigation on Nelson Holmes, who alleged to control the spirit thus making Katie king affluent (Prebish & Keown, 2013). Since the inception of the society, Olcott continued to preside over the leadership of the society in New York while supporting it financially whereas Blavatsky took the role of the secretary. In 1879, both Olcott and Blavatsky moved their theosophical society headquarters to Adyar, India where they opened Adyar library center and research center. In India, Olcott searched for text that contained novel interpretation of the text that would offer better interpretations thus teaching the Westerners the pure doctrines of Buddhism. In 1880, Olcott visited Sri Lanka where together with Blavatsky publicly declared their Buddhism inclination after observing the five principle of Buddhism. In Sri Lanka, Olcott fought hard to revamp Buddhism and in 1881, he wrote Buddhism Catechism as a means to educate the westerners. His effort to revive Buddhism in Sri Lanka enabled the theosophical society to build numerous learning institutions that would facilitate the teaching of Buddhism such as the opening of various colleges for instance Mahinda, Dharmaraja, Ananda and Maliyadeva colleges in Galle, Kandy, Colombo and Kurunegala respectively (Blackburn, 2010). In 1885, Olcottwas sought to oversee a group of individuals who were tasked in designing a Buddhist flag that world fellowship of Buddhist adopted as the universal flag of the Buddhist traditions. Olcott continued to serve as the president of the theosophical society until his death in February 17, 1907 in Adyar Chennai. Colonel Henry Steel Olcottis considered a modernist because he strove to interpret the Buddha text in order to clear the Western interpretation of Buddhism. Olcott as an educated person from the West, he proficiently wrote Buddha teachings that helped to rekindle the deeper interpretation the Western had assumed. To augment his modernist attributes, Olcott participated in the formation of Buddha catechism that laid down the vivid teachings of Buddha. As an adamant and faithful teacher in Buddhism, Olcott travelled in many parts of the world spreading his Buddhist ideologies thus emanating as a Buddha modernist. According to David McMahan’s work in the making of Buddhist modernist, a clear distinction exist between the traditional Buddhism and the Western Buddhism raising questions whether the emanating changes constitute the interest of many. Through the lives of traditional Buddhist, one can point out the distinction that exists in Western Buddhist who the modern Buddhism upholds. Buddhist modernist acknowledges that reading and comprehending the Buddha teaching is paramount through the process of meditation, which the traditional Buddhist disregarded (Cheah, 2011). The traditional Buddha practices embarked on improving ones attributes in order to acquire a good life after death or to manipulate the spiritual world in order to have a good health and affluence. In regards to this view, the definition of Buddhist modernism is limited as the life of Olcott involved reading and writing in order to communicate his Buddha teachings. McMahan works elaborate that Buddhist modernism is a gradual development that arises in Buddha history and that it involves the engagement of intellectual motivations in order to realize its modernity status. McMahan identifies several modernity aspects that enable to drive the Buddhist modernism for instance rationalism, scientific naturalism, romantic expressivism and Western monotheism. This phenomenon leads to the development of Buddhist modernism that emphasis on social involvement, meditation and equality while limiting the emphasis of rituals and mythology (Konik, 2009). In his work, McMahan visits North America Buddhism in order to acquire a coherent approach to Buddhist modernism. His desire to use North America is coupled with numerous reasons such as the use of English language in this region that forms part of communicating agent in Buddhist modernism. In addition, most skillful teachers of Buddhism have migrated to North America, and lastly North America provides an innovative habitat that Buddhist modernism would prevail efficiently. This provides a limited definition of Buddhist modernism especially to the life of Olcott who travelled in many non-English speaking nations. McMahan evaluates the role of art and creativity that helps to connect the idea of Buddhist modernism to romantic ideas. In regards to this view, the definition of Buddhist modernism is limited to the themes that generate spiritual meanings to the various aspects of nature. In her work, Ann Blackburn communicates fresh ideas towards the Sri Lankan colonial period in order to fathom the effects of colonialism towards Buddhism in Sri Lanka. To drive her point, Ann uses one intellectual monk who dwelled in Ceylon during the British colonial period. Through the usage of an intellectual personality, Anne can create a picture of the wide range scholars, social engagement and institutions. Through her work, Anne Blackburn acknowledges that the Sri Lankan studies have emphasized Buddhist modernism though on a lesser scale than it should. Anne Blackburn criticizes the Sri Lankan way of studying Buddhist modernism arguing that it offers a narrow view that places Buddhist modernism as a reaction towards the colonial powers. In this view, Anne notes that patterns that lead to the continuity of Buddhist modernism are disregarded as individuals continue viewing the modernism as a reaction towards colonialism. Ann notes that the Sri Lankan way of studying Buddhist modernism using vague descriptions has led to the fall of the solid bond that existed in Buddhism under pan-Asian solidarity. According to the views held by Anne Blackburn, the definition of Buddhist Modernism is limited in various ways as depicted in this paper. The view that Buddhist modernism should be represented in light with intellectual personality is limiting the general definition of Buddha modernism in the contemporary world. In his quest to revive Buddhism in various parts of the word, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott shared the Buddhism teaching regardless of the intellectual qualifications of the listeners (McMahan, 2012). Buddhist modernism involves a wide-ranging social engagement that Olcott did not fully adopt as he carried out most of his chore single handily. According to Ann Blackburn, the development of institution that Buddhist could perform their ritual practices and the growing number of Christians augmented the continuity of Buddhist modernism. In this extended inclusion of aspects that facilitate the growth of Buddhist modernism, the life of Henry Steel Olcott illustrates a limited definition of Buddhist modernism. Colonel Henry Steel Olcott through his theosophical society sought to educate individuals on Buddha teaching without much concentration to the ritual aspects of the religion. Henry Olcott made many travel to the parts of the world that were conversant to the teachings of Buddha and thereby did not come across many challenges from the Christians and other denominations. In her work, Anne Blackburn notes that the growing rise of urban centers in Sri Lanka allowed the development of many educational centers that accommodate the monks and nonprofessionals. In this view, the tendency by Olcott not disregard nonprofessionals limits the definition of Buddhist modernism. References Blackburn, A, M. (2010). Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and Modernity in Sri Lanka. Chicago: University of Chicago Cheah, J. (2011). Race and Religion in American Buddhism: White Supremacy and Immigrant Adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press Konik, A. (2009). Buddhism and Transgression: The Appropriation of Buddhism in the Contemporary West. Leiden, Netherland: BRILL McMahan, D. L. (2012). Buddhism in the Modern World. New York: Routlegde McMahan, D, L. (2008). The Making of Buddhist Modernism. New York: Oxford University Press. Olcott, H. S. (2010).The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons.Brookfield, Missouri: Mobile reference Prebish, C, S & Keown, D. (2013).Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New york: Routledge Read More