The Lotus and the Lion: Buddhism and the British Empire

Appendix 1 Selective Chronology of Events in the European Encounter with Buddhism

Appendix 1 Selective Chronology of Events in the European Encounter with Buddhism The following chronology is highly selective, representing a very small percentage of pertinent events, translations, and publications. Furthermore, it is Anglo-centric. Particularly for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, I have selected works and events that in my opinion had a significant impact on the reception of and response to Buddhism in England. Thus substantial and important work in other languages, especially French and German, is only marginally represented here. A more complete chronology can be found in Droit (191–259). In building this chronology, I consulted, in addition to Droit, Almond, Bachelor, Fields, Marshall, Rawlinson, Schwab, and Welbon. BCE 6th c. Greek colonies established in the northwest of the Indian peninsula during the lifetime of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. 327–325 Alexander the Great occupies Bactria on the northern border of current-day India. 291 Megesthenes, Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta, writes Indika. 268–233 Rule of Asoka, Buddhist emperor who dispatched missionaries westward. ca. 200 Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, perhaps the first Western writing that mentions “Boutta.” 210 ~ Appendix 1 150–135 Reign of King Milinda (Menander I) of Bactria, author of the Milindapanha , dialogues with the Buddhist monk Nagasena. CE 1245 John of Plano Carpini, Franciscan missionary, perhaps the first European to travel as far east as Mongolia. 1255 Willem van Ruusbroec (William of Rubrock), Franciscan Friar, provides the first substantial documentation of a European encounter with Buddhism. 1293 Marco Polo hears the life story of “Sagamoni Borcan” while in Sri Lanka. 1549 St. Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary, encounters Zen Buddhism in Japan. 1681 Robert Knox, An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies. 1691 La Loubere, envoy of Louis XIV, Description du royaume de Siam. 1716 Ippolito Desideri, a Portuguese Jesuit, establishes a mission in Tibet. 1727 Englebert Kaempfer, History of Japan Together with a Description of the Kingdom of Siam, first book in English to describe Zen Buddhism. 1767 John Zephaniah Holwell, Interesting Historical Events relative to the Provinces of Bengal and the Empire of Indostan, “The Religious Tenets of the Gentoos.” 1768 Alexander Dow, History of Hindustan. 1784 Sir William Jones presides over the first meeting of the Royal Asiatick Society of Bengal. Sir Charles Wilkins publishes the Bhagavad Gita, the first complete Sanskrit text translated into English. 1787 F. Galdwin, Dictionary of the Religious Ceremonies of the Eastern Nations. 1788 First issue of William Jones’s Asiatick Researches published. 1799 Francis Buchanan, “On the Religion and Literature of Burma,” in Asiatick Researches, later a source for Schopenhauer and Hegel. 1800 Samuel Turner, An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet. 1808 Robert Watson Frazer, A Literary History of India. 1815 Rev. W. A. Ward, A View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos (Serampore). Léonard de Chézy occupies the first Sanskrit Chair in Europe at the Collège de France. Chronology ~ 211 1817 Robert Tytler, Inquiry into the Origin and Principles of Budaic Sabism (Calcutta). Michel-Jean-François Ozeray, Recherches sur Buddou ou Bouddou. 1823–27 A. W. Schlegel, Indische Bibliothek, discusses the “Boudhomanes.” 1825–27 Henry Thomas Colebrooke, five monographs in Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society give the first overview in English of the systems of thought in India, including Jainism and Buddhism. 1826 Brian H. Hodgson, Notices of the Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet. 1827 William Francklin, Researches on the Tenets and Doctrines of the Jeynes and Buddhists Conjectured to be the Brahmans of Ancient India. Hegel, Encyclopédie des sciences philosophiques en abrégé defines the basis of Buddhism as “nothingness.” 1828 Brian Houghton Hodgson, Sketch of Buddhism. 1829 Edward Upham, The History and Doctrine of Buddhism. 1834 Alexander Csomo de Körös, A Dictionary, Tibetan and English. 1836 George Turnour, The First Twenty Chapters of the Mahawanso: and a Prefatory Essay on Pali Buddhistical Literature. Jean-Pierre AbelR émusat, Foé Koué Ki, ou Relation des royaumes bouddiques, translation of medieval Chinese pilgrimage narratives that help locate the ancient holy sites of Buddhism (trans. in English in 1839). 1837 Henry T. Prinsep and James Prinsep begin publishing translations of the inscriptions on Asokan columns, which locate the ancient holy sites of Buddhism. 1841 Philippe Edouard Foucaux, translation into French of the Tibetan Lalita Vistara, a primary source on the life of the Buddha...