Twenty five hundred years after I have
passed away, the highest doctrine will be taught in the land of the
red-faced people. The Buddha
said.
In 1893 Anagarika Dharmapala opened his remarks
at the World's Parliament of Religions at the Columbian Exhibition in
Chicago with a dhamma talk on the four noble truths. It was the first
introduction of Buddhism to a non-asian audience in America.
Among the first of what Thich Nhat Han today
calls "engaged Buddhists," David Hewivitarne was born in 1864 in
Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Schooled in a Christian Missionary
School he was expelled for his Buddhist and anti-colonial agitation.
He took the name Anagarika Dharmapala (anagarika is Pali for
homeless; Dharmapala means fighter for th Dharma). He joined a
campaign to rid his homeland of British and Christian
colonialism.
The firebrand Dharmapala would continue to
agitate for Sri Lankan independence and religious freedom throughout
his lifetime.