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Welcome to an online exhibition which has been adapted from the exhibition 'Encountering Buddhist Asia: Sources of Irish knowledge from the sixth to the twenty-first centuries’ held in the Russell Library, Summer 2013.
Materials presented from the collections of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth and NUI Maynooth
Please note that other texts related to the topic of Buddhism and Ireland can be viewed at the Dhammalokaproject website
A translation of Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, a collection of the narratives of the 16th and 17th-century Jesuit missionaries. Travelling across much of Buddhist Asia (including Vietnam, Japan, China and Tibet), these missionaries were noted for their interest in local culture and language and sought unsuccessfully to have traditional Chinese rites tolerated. Nagasaki (called here Nangasak) was briefly granted to the Jesuits as a fiefdom between 1580-87. The Library’s copy is inscribed “Nicholas Callan” (Prof. of Natural History in Maynooth from 1834)
A translation of Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, a collection of the narratives of the 16th and 17th-century Jesuit missionaries. Travelling across much of Buddhist Asia (including Vietnam, Japan, China and Tibet), these missionaries were noted for their interest in local culture and language and sought unsuccessfully to have traditional Chinese rites tolerated. Nagasaki (called here Nangasak) was briefly granted to the Jesuits as a fiefdom between 1580-87. The Library’s copy is inscribed “Nicholas Callan” (Prof. of Natural History in Maynooth from 1834)
The 1924 Mallory / Irvine expedition to Everest was largely financed by John Noel’s silent film Epic of Everest. Screenings were preceded by musical and dance performances from six “dancing lamas” (in fact one lama and five monks) who had been smuggled out of Tibet for the purpose, causing a major diplomatic rift between Britain and Tibet and helping opponents of the 13th Dalai Lama’s modernisation plans. Here they are shown on the roof of Independent House in Abbey St in September 1925.
The 1924 Mallory / Irvine expedition to Everest was largely financed by John Noel’s silent film Epic of Everest. Screenings were preceded by musical and dance performances from six “dancing lamas” (in fact one lama and five monks) who had been smuggled out of Tibet for the purpose, causing a major diplomatic rift between Britain and Tibet and helping opponents of the 13th Dalai Lama’s modernisation plans. Here they are shown on the roof of Independent House in Abbey St in September 1925.
This 1920 newspaper advertisement is perhaps one of the first appearances of ‘Buddha’ as a generic authority for gnomic feel-good statements aimed at a consumer market.
The pioneer Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier’s travels took him to much of maritime South and East Asia, including Ceylon and Japan. The cult of Xavier in Ireland has involved widespread distribution of hagiographies and biographies. Bouhours’ text was one of the earliest and most popular, being translated into English in 1688 by John Dryden.
According to the results of the Census of Ireland, 1871, Buddhism was one of ‘motley beliefs’ submitted under denominations.
“Among the motley beliefs comprised under “all other denominations,” we find represented such creeds as Buddhism, Socialism, Positivism, Mahometanism, Rationalism, Revivalism, and several other “isms,”…”
