Wilhelm Müller (Buddhist)

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Wilhelm Müller (* 1912 in Hornhausen , district of Oschersleben (Bode) ; † 1990 ) was a socialist , resistance fighter against National Socialism and an exposed Buddhist .

Live and act

Wilhelm Müller was the fifth child in a working-class family. In 1913 his family moved to Moers , where Müller's residence was all his life. Like his father, he took up the profession of miner. Müller became a member of the Socialist Workers' Youth and the Communist Youth Association of Germany (1920) . He was committed to the rise of National Socialism and went underground with some comrades in 1933 after the NSDAP came to power . They developed a distribution system for anti-fascist pamphlets. "We also set up decomposition cells in the 'Hitler Youth' and in the labor service." In 1933, Müller was arrested and sentenced to several years' imprisonment, which took him to the Krefeld-Anrath juvenile detention center, today's Willich penal institution , and the Hameln penitentiary . While in custody, he encountered Buddhism through reading .

After 1945, Müller was initially involved in an attempt to reactivate the Free Socialist Youth . Finally, he suggested their affiliation with the youth organization Die Falken and participated in the Falken's educational work. From the summer of 1950 he withdrew from party political work in order to devote himself more and more to Buddhism. He first corresponded with Georg Grimm to clarify his questions. Then he joined Martin Steinke as a pupil, with whom the conflict arose over the question of the importance of animal welfare , which Müller was particularly concerned about.

After the order Arya Maitreya Mandala, founded by Lama Anagarika Govinda , began its work in Germany in 1952, Müller was accepted into it by Lionel Stützer in Berlin on September 20, 1953 . He received the ordination name Anagarika Subhuti (Anāgārika Subhūti). Müller founded and looked after a "Buddhist community on the Lower Rhine", for which he built a small temple in the garden of his house. Since 1957, Müller published the Buddhist magazine The Path . In doing so, it was important to him to “convey the liberating teachings of the Buddha to the common workers in particular.” In doing so, Müller and his activities aroused media interest at a time when Buddhism was still little public in Europe.

Müller emerged as a committed Buddhist . Among other things, he developed social programs for young people at risk from drugs, which he included in animal protection projects, among other things, and advised conscientious objectors . Müller saw his social activities as “fulfilling his bodhisattva vow to help 'all beings in the world'. Wilhelm Müller died in 1990 at the age of 78. His conviction was: 'According to the teachings of the Buddha, no one can achieve their own salvation without also working for the well-being of others - people and animals.' "

Publications

Müller usually published under his ordination name Anagarika Subhuti

literature

  • Martin Baumann : Contemporary witness to the history of Buddhism in Germany . (Research reports, University Research Project Buddhist Modernism of the University of Konstanz, Volume 11). University of Konstanz 1995, ISBN 978-3-930959-06-8
  • Hans Wolfgang Schumann : Buddhism and Buddhist studies in Germany . Bonn 1970
  • Michael Mildenberger: Hail from Asia? Hindu and Buddhist movements in the west . Quell-Verlag 1974, ISBN 978-3-7918-6001-5
  • Theologische Literaturzeitung , Volume 119, 1994, No. 7/8, pp. 615-616
  • Hellmuth Hecker : Life pictures of German Buddhists. A bio-bibliographical handbook . Volume II: The Successors. University of Konstanz Research Reports 1992, pp. 148–155
  • Udo Tworuschka : Wilhelm Müller (1912–1990). In: Udo Tworuschka / Lars Bednorz: Topic World Religions, Buddhism, Stuttgart 2012, p. 58f.

Single receipts

  1. ↑ On Müller's life and work cf. Alois Payer: Wilhelm Müller. From communist to Buddhist. (= Materials on Neo-Buddhism) 3. Germany. 5. Buddhism in Germany between the two world wars. Version of July 30, 2005
  2. ↑ Wilhelm Müller: The story of my life. In: Bodhi tree. 18th year 1993, No. 1, ISSN  1018-6204 , pp. 26-32
  3. ↑ Klaus-Josef Notz: Buddhism in Germany in its self-portrayals: a religious-scientific investigation into the problem of religious acculturation. Lang Verlag 1984, p. 85, ISBN 978-3-8204-7948-5 , p. 85
  4. ↑ Heinz Bechert : Buddhism, State and Society in the Countries of Theravāda Buddhism, Volume 3 (= writings of the Institute for Asian Studies in Hamburg), ISBN 978-3-447-01492-2 , p. 331
  5. ↑ a b Franz-Johannes Litsch: "Engaged Buddhismus in the German-speaking area."
  6. ↑ For example, the television feature by Michael Klöcker and Dieter Koch reported on Müller: Anagarika Subhuti. A Buddhist on the Lower Rhine. In: WDR television, III. Program, series: Länderspiegel , May 27, 1985, 9.45–22.15
  7. ↑ Christopher S. Queen: Engaged Buddhism in the west. Wisdom Publications 2000, ISBN 978-0-86171-159-8 , p. 429
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German socialist, resistance fighter against National Socialism, Buddhist
DATE OF BIRTH 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Oschersleben
DATE OF DEATH 1990