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Buddhism Anagarika Dharmapala
We all know about Swami Vivekananda and his speech at the World Parliament of Religions held
in 1893 at Chicago representing Hinduism. Anagarika Dharmapala was also participated in this conference representing Buddhism. He was the pioneer in the revival of Buddhism in India after it had been virtually extinct for several centuries, and he was the first Buddhist to preach Buddhism in three continents: Asia, North America, and Europe. He was born as a Christian; David Hewavitarne in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1864. At his younger age, he turned to Buddhism and changed his name to Dharmapala . In 1891 Anagarika Dharmapala was on a pilgrimage to the Mahabodhi Temple, where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India. There he experienced a shock to find the temple in the hands of Non-Buddhist priests, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship. As a result, he started an agitation movement and it paved the way for the revival of Buddhism in India.
Published: October 25, 2007