Henry Steel Olcott’un Budizm Üzerine Çalışmaları ve Budist Kateşizm’i

Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907) is a name who isremembered with Theosophical Society, which has an important place in thehistory of modern occultism and esotericism. His encounter with Russian-bornHelena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) was a turning point in Olcott's career.The duo soon set in motion a modern occultist structure under the name ofTheosophical Society (1875). The society which is nourished by many doctrinesin terms of its syncretic structure was born out of modern spiritualism andthen turned to the Western esoteric tradition. Main objective of the society isto reveal the occult forces that claimed to be exist in the nature of humanbeings and to explain these abilities with modern science and to establish atheoretical structure.Blavatsky and Olcott, who had been operating in theUSA for a few years, went to India in 1879, and moved the international centerof the society to Madras (today Chennai) in 1882.Following this development, Indian beliefs and thoughts gained weight in theteachings of the society. The Society carried out social, cultural andpolitical activities in India. After Blavatsky returned to Europe, Olcott tookthe lead in the Indian-based work of the Theosophical Society. Olcott spent thelast twenty-eight years of his seventy-five-years life in India, carrying outsignificant activities especially in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Olcotttoured India almost every inch, opened branches of Theosophical Society andshared the targeted works with the Indian people. Accordingly, the communitywill work to revive Indian religion and culture, strive to translate Indianscriptures into Western languages, and endeavor to compile books and catechismscontaining Indian religions, philosophies and traditions. The society carriedout successful works on these issues and has been an important tool intransferring Indian beliefs and ideas to the West. One of Olcott's importantfields of study is education. Many schools were opened in India and Ceylonunder the leadership of Olcott; some of these schools continue their activitiestoday. The Adyar Library and Research Center, founded by Olcott in 1886, hasmade great progress in the process and nowadays it is become an importantcenter for Oriental studies.Olcott, also had a significant impact on the Parsicommunity in India. In 1882, Olcott gave a conference to Parsies, entitled “TheSpirit of the Zoroastrian Religion”. The conference, which called on theParsies to revive their religion and traditions, resonated within the Parsicommunity and the text of the speech was reproduced and distributed by thecommunity. As a result of the work of both Olcott and his successor AnnieBesant, a group has emerged within the Bombay Theosophical Society whichdescribes themselves as “Parsi theosophists”.Olcott's activities, especially towards Buddhism, areremarkable. Olcott conducted studies for Buddhists in Ceylon, Burma and Japan.In particular, he had a major impact on the revival of Buddhism in Ceylon.Olcott, who visited the lands of Ceylon with Blavatskyfirstly in 1880 and declared that he was a Buddhist during this visit, washonored by the island’s Buddhists on several occasions as a result of his workin the following years. Known as “White Buddhist” in Ceylon, Olcott was told“Bodhisattva of 19th century”. Even today, in Sri Lanka, Buddhists view Olcottas a saint and a hero. Every year on February 17, they commemorate his memoryunder the name of "Olcott Day". On the other hand, on the 60thanniversary of his death, Olcott was commemorated in Sri Lanka with specialstamps. By the time Ceylon was a British colony. Missionary activities on theisland were extensive and Buddhist culture was weakened. At the end of the 19thcentury, in Ceylon, under the above-mentioned conditions, it is seen thatBuddhism began to regain vitality. It is stated that Olcott's influence in thisrevival is remarkable. One of Olcott's important contributions to the Buddhistworld was the design of the Buddhist flag, which is still in use today andaccepted as an universal symbol. Olcott also worked on the unification ofBuddhist sects. He helped Vesak to be recognized by the British and to bedeclared as a holiday. Olcott also traveled to Japan, one of the importantcenters of the Buddhist world. Visited Japan three times, where he was reveredas a result of his work in Ceylon and he gave speeches to Buddhist communities.The Buddhist Catechism, which he wrote in 1881, has animportant place among his works. In the form of question and answer model basedon Christian catechism, Olcott gave short answers to 383 short questions andpresented information about the Buddha, Buddhist beliefs and Buddhist history.In this work, Olcott tried to reconcile traditional Buddhist teachings withtheosophical teachings. In the text; spiritualistic, esoteric and occultistapproaches of theosophical movement are clearly revealed. In addition, theevolutionist understanding that dominates the scientific world of the time isperceived. Moreover, it is seen that the claims of Buddhist doctrines arecombined side by side with the controversial claims that are sometimesconsidered to be false science. Some information that contrasts with historicaland statistical information is also prominent in the text.This article, on the one hand aims to evaluateOlcott's work on Buddhism and his Buddhist Catechism and on the other hand tocontribute to the Turkish literature on Buddhist studies.
Henry SteelOlcott modern spiritüalist (ruhçu) akımdan etkilenmekle beraber TeosofiCemiyeti ve Helena Petrovna Blavatsky ile birlikte yeni bir kariyere yelkenaçmıştır. Cemiyetin kurucularından olan Olcott hayatı boyunca resmi başkanlıkgörevini yürütmüştür. Teosofi Cemiyeti modern okültist hareketler içinde önemlibir yere sahiptir. Amerika’da kurulan cemiyet bir süre sonra Hindistan’ataşınmıştır; bu andan itibaren cemiyetin öğretilerinde Hint inanç vedüşünceleri ağırlık kazanmıştır. Cemiyet Hindistan topraklarında sosyal,kültürel ve siyasi çalışmalar yürütmüştür. Hint inanç ve düşüncelerinin Batı’yaaktarılmasında cemiyet önemli bir araç olmuştur. Blavatsky’nin Hindistan’ı terketmesinden sonra Teosofi Cemiyeti’nin Hindistan’daki faaliyetlerinde Olcott’unismi tam anlamıyla öne çıkmıştır. Olcott’un özellikle Budizm’e yönelikfaaliyetleri dikkat çekicidir. Olcott, Seylan başta olmak üzere Burma veJaponya’da Budistlere yönelik çalışmalar yapmıştır. Onun hususen Seylan'daBudizm’in canlanmasında büyük etkisi olmuştur. Kaleme aldığı Budist Kateşizm’in(Budist İlmihal) ise çalışmaları arasında önemli bir yeri vardır. Olcott bueserinde geleneksel Budist öğretiler ile teosofik öğretileri bağdaştırmagayreti gütmüştür. Bu makale bir yandan Olcott’un Budizm üzerine çalışmalarınıve Budist Kateşizm’ini değerlendirmeyi diğer yandan Budist çalışmalar hakkındaTürkçe literatüre katkı sunmayı amaç edinmektedir.