Nyanatiloka

Nyānatiloka Mahāthera

Nyānatiloka Mahāthera (born February 19, 1878 as Anton Walther Florus Gueth in Wiesbaden ; † May 28, 1957 in Colombo ) was the first German Buddhist monk.

Life

Anton Gueth was born in Wiesbaden as the son of a teacher and attended grammar school there from 1888. His Catholic upbringing led him to an early interest in religion . He was particularly interested in the violin and composition, and from 1898 he studied at the Frankfurt Conservatory. His ascetic disposition also made him a vegetarian around this time. His increasing interest in philosophy eventually led him to Schopenhauer and to occupation with Buddhism . Like many contemporaries, was also Gueth the Buddhist Catechism of Friedrich Zimmermann a first inspiring guide to Buddhism. He secretly made the decision to go to India and become a Buddhist monk, but following his parents' plans, he went to Paris to deepen his musical education at the local conservatory. When he was offered a job as a violinist in Saloniki, Turkey, in 1902, he accepted with the ulterior motive that he would now be closer to India.

In 1903 he put his decision into practice and went to Bombay . It was only here that he noticed that Buddhism was practically extinct in its country of origin and that he would have to go to Ceylon to become a Buddhist monk. In Kandy, however, he decided to visit the British monk Ananda Metteyya, who lived in Burma (today: Myanmar ). In the same year Gueth received the novice ordination in Rangoon . As early as February 1904 he was the first continental European to receive full ordination as a Buddhist monk ( bhikkhu ) under the name Nyānatiloka . He began to learn Pali intensively , and on the side he also learned the Burmese language . He devoted himself to the study of the Abhidhamma with great zeal .

In 1904 Nyānatiloka traveled to Singapore and in 1905 he returned to Ceylon, where he began from 1906 to accept European students and to ordain them as novices. That year his book “Das Wort des Buddha” was published in Leipzig, which subsequently appeared in numerous translations.

During a further stay in Burma, Nyānatiloka again accepted European novices into the order and in 1907 announced the intention to found a vihara for German-speaking monk candidates in Germany or Switzerland .

While the initiative to found a vihara for European monks in Burma could easily be realized thanks to the support of Nyānatiloka's patron, Ms. Hla Oung, the appeal for donations for a European vihara (1908) led to controversy within the small group of people interested in Buddhism. In 1910/1911 Nyānatiloka himself came to Ticino to promote the construction of the Vihara. Because of the severe winter and his poor health, he evaded to Tunis for a few months . Due to the numerous obstacles and resistances and because hardly any donations could be collected, the plan for a European Vihara was finally abandoned in 1912.

On July 9, 1911, the 'Island Hermitage' was founded on the Ceylonese island of Polgasduwa as a new branch for European monks. With interruptions, the Island Hermitage was now the permanent residence for Nyānatiloka and his students. During the First World War he was interned as a foreigner, first in Ceylon and then in Australia. His attempt to get to Burma via China in 1916 led to another internment and a longer stay in China (police station in Hankou ), which he used for further translation work at the Anguttara Nikâya (1907-17, first published: 1922/23 ). In 1919 he was repatriated to Germany and after a failed attempt to re-enter Ceylon, he went to Japan for a few years , where the prevailing forms of Mahayana Buddhism with its married monks remained completely alien to him. Finally in 1926 he was able to return to the now dilapidated Iceland Hermitage monastery.

In 1937 he ordained the German Siegmund Feniger as a monk Nyanaponika , who was to become his closest student and successor. Together they were interned at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, first in the Diyatalawa camp and later transferred to northern India in the Dehra Dun camp, made famous by Heinrich Harrer's book “Seven Years in Tibet” . Only in 1946 were both able to return to the Iceland Hermitage.

In 1951, the year they moved to the new “Forest Hermitage” monastery near Kandy , both were invited to take part in the 6th  Buddhist Council in Burma, which Nyānatiloka was unable to attend for health reasons.

When Nyānatiloka died in Colombo in 1957, he received an official state funeral on Independence Square in Colombo. His ashes were buried in the Iceland Hermitage and a memorial stone was erected for him.

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Translations

• The Buddha's Discourses from the In-Line Collection. ( Anguttara-Nikaya ) Edited and revised by Nyanaponika. Aurum Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1984, ISBN 3-591-08218-X .
• Milindapañha. King Milinda's questions. Published by Nyanaponika. OW Barth 1998.
• The way to purity ( Visuddhimagga ). Written in the 5th century by Buddhaghosa , translated from the Pali by Nyānatiloka. Jhana Verlag, Oy-Mittelberg.
• Dhammapada: The Buddha's path to wisdom. Translated and commented by Nyānatiloka. Jhana Verlag, Oy-Mittelberg.
• Handbook of Buddhist Philosophy (Abhidhammatthasangaha). Translated and explained by Nyantiloka Mahathera, Jhana Verlag, Oy-Mittelberg.

Fonts

• The word of the Buddha. A systematic review of the Buddha's teaching in his own words. Beyerlein-Steinschulte Verlag, Stammbach 2007, ISBN 978-3-931095-08-6 ( palikanon.com ).
• Buddhist dictionary. Concise manual of Buddhist teachings and terms. Verlag Beyerlein-Steinschulte, Stammbach 1999, ISBN 3-931095-09-6 ( palikanon.com ).
• Milindo's questions. Originally Verlag Max Altmann, Leipzig 1919, from 1924 Oskar Schloss Verlag, Munich-Neubiberg, udT Milindapañha - The questions of King Milinda. Dialogues between a Greek king and a Buddhist monk. Published by Nyanaponika. Ansata Verlag, Interlaken 1985, ISBN 3-7157-0082-3 ( palikanon.com ), new edition: Barth, Bern 1998, s. a. ( payer.de ).
• The way to salvation. In the words of the Buddhist scriptures. 2nd rev. Ed., Ed. by Nyanaponika. Verlag Beyerlein-Steinschulte, Stammbach 1998, ISBN 3-931095-10-X .
• Visuddhi Magga. The way to purity. Written by Buddhaghosa in Sri Lanka in the first half of the 5th century. Jhana-Verlag, Oy-Mittelberg 1997 ( palikanon.com ).
• Basics of Buddhism. Four lectures by Ven. Nyāṇatiloka Mahāthera. Jhana Verlag, Oy-Mittelberg 2003, ISBN 3-931274-27-6 .
• Abhidhammatthasangaha. Handbook of Buddhist Philosophy. By Anuruddha, translated and illustrated by Nyanatiloka. Jhana Verlag, Uttenbühl ( abhidhamma.de ).
• Fundamentals of Buddhism - Four Lectures In: The Wheel, Publication No. 394/396, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka 1994 ( zugangzureinsicht.org ).

Many of Nyānatiloka's works have also been published in English by the Publication Society in Kandy.

literature

• Claus Bernet : Nyanatiloka Mahathera. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon. Volume 34, 2013, Col. 1023-1034.
• Hellmuth Hecker (ed.): The first German bhikkhu: the eventful life of the venerable Nyānatiloka (1878–1957) and his students. University, Konstanz 1995 ( archive.org ).
• Hellmuth Hecker: Life pictures of German Buddhists. A bio-bibliographical handbook. Volume I: The Founders. 2. verb. Edition, Verlag Beyerlein-Steinschulte, Stammbach, Konstanz 1996, ISBN 3-930959-09-7 .
• Hellmuth Hecker: Life pictures of German Buddhists. A bio-bibliographical handbook. Volume II: The Successors. 2. Completely rework. Edition, Verlag Beyerlein-Steinschulte, Stammbach, Konstanz 1997, ISBN 3-931095-58-4 .
• Volker Zotz : On the blissful islands. Buddhism in German culture . Theseus, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89620-151-4 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Nyanatiloka in the catalog of the German National Library
• resume
• Island Hermitage , Sri Lanka