ABSTRACT
Since the Middle Ages, some European writers have used “the East” or “the Orient” to revolt against rationalism. Their stories tell of adventurers in search of magical knowledge no longer found in Europe. Asian religions came to be used as philosophies of unity against what writers viewed as the fragmentation of existence produced by science and technology. Nineteenth-century Europe saw a renewed interest in this. William Butler Yeats and others used mystical images of Asia in reaction against positivism. In America, before the Civil War, the works of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson show Buddhist influence. Thoreau made the first translation of part of the Lotus Sūtra into English and was clearly interested in Buddhism. A few decades later, Asian religions were introduced to larger audiences in America under the sponsorship of various international-oriented groups interested in representing religions in certain ways. In 1875, the Theosophical Society was founded in New York City to promote their beliefs in spirituality largely pieced together from Asian traditions including Buddhism. It was founded by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott among others. Madame Blavatsky was a Russian psychic who had immigrated to America. Henry Steel Olcott was a US military colonel interested in mysticism. The two moved to India where Colonel Olcott became possibly the first American convert to Buddhism. He went on to become a hero in Sri Lanka’s struggle for independence from Britain by defending Buddhism against strong attacks from Christian missionaries. Today there is a major street named after him in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
