Paul Dahlke (25 January 1865, Osterode – 29 February 1928) was a German physician and one of the founders of Buddhism in Germany. He wrote extensively about Buddhist teaching and living and translated Buddhist literature into German. In 1924 he established “Das Buddhistische Haus” considered to be the first Buddhist temple in Europe.^[1]

Biography

Dahlke was born in Osterode in the Province of Prussia as the son of a civil servant. He completed the Gymnasium in 1883 and proceeded to study medicine in Berlin. He received his MD degree in August 1887 and soon took over a homeopathic medical office.^[2]

In 1898, he started a journey around the world and was fascinated by the South Pacific. He also stopped over in Ceylon where he encountered Buddhism. He had read about Buddhism when he had studied Schopenhauer. Two years later he went on his second journey, this time specifically to Ceylon to learn more about Buddhism. He learned Pali and met local Sinhala Buddhist monks among them Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Suriyagoda Sumangala, Nyananissara und Wagiswara. He returned a Buddhist and in the following years made several more journeys to Asia, primarily to Ceylon, but also to China, India, Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia. When World War I started he happened to be in Germany and was unable to travel to Ceylon as he had planned. After the war Dahlke bought property in Berlin Frohnau and asked the architect Max Meyer to build ‘Das Buddhistische Haus’ using elements of Sinhala Buddhist architecture. After he was able to move into the house in 1924 his activities included daily Buddhist meetings as well as presentations and publications. He died in 1928 and was buried on the property.^[2]

Das Buddhistische Haus was later purchased by Asoka Weeraratna on behalf of the Trustees of the German Dharmaduta Society in 1957 and converted into a Buddhist Vihara by stationing Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka on a permanent footing.^[3]

Das Buddhistische Haus (also called Berlin Vihara), thus became the first Theravada Buddhist Vihara, in continental Europe.

Publications

Dahlke founded two Buddhist magazines, the „Neubuddhistische Zeitschrift“ and the „Brockensammlung“. He published extensively in the medical literature and wrote about Buddhism.^[4]

References