Irishman Laurence Carroll was
first westerner to be ordained Buddhist monk
January 05, 2016 Irish
Examiner
The
first westerner to be ordained a Buddhist monk also became a hero
in Asia for his anti-imperialist campaigning. He was an Irishman —
and yet we’ve never heard of
him. John
Daly met
the filmmaker who is going to rectify that
LAURENCE
Carroll led a colourful life, in every sense. A 19th century
Dubliner born with wanderlust in his bones, he became an alcoholic
hobo and free thinker who travelled the world by steam ship and
cattle car, only to eventually transform himself into U Dhammaloka
— the world’s first westerner to don the saffron robes of an
ordained Buddhist monk.
A hero to
millions for his outspoken political stance against the yoke of
colonialism across Asia during the late 1800s, Carroll’s
extraordinary life story is all the more remarkable for being
virtually unknown until relatively recently.
Born around
1850, he spent much of his youth in a transitory existence as a
“tramp, shepherd, truckman and tally clerk” across the Europe and
the USA, before signing on as a stevedore on a steamer bound for
China.
Forced to
disembark in Rangoon for ‘disorderly conduct’, he eventually
pitched up at a remote monastery within the depths of Burma’s
forests, where he closed the door on his dissolute past to train in
ancient Buddhist practices, emerging seven years later as the first
fully-ordained western Buddhist monk.
Far from
observing the peaceful image of the Buddhist calling, however,
Laurence Carroll then dedicated his life to a political activism
that set him on a collision course against the Catholic Church and
rigid British Colonial rule, both of which were then firmly rooted
across Southeast Asia.
A heroic figure
who drew thousands to his fiery speeches promoting education and
independence across Siam, Cambodia, Malaya, Ceylon and Nepal, he
became an enigmatic Robin Hood of the oppressed.
“When I first
stumbled upon this story, I was gobsmacked,” explains filmmaker Ian
Lawton.
“Not just by the
fact that this was an amazing story, but that I was only finding
out about it today. I felt this man should be a household name
alongside other notable Irish historical figures like Oscar Wilde,
Michael Collins or Daniel O’Connell. He certainly is a great Irish
hero, but one that nobody outside academia knows about.”
The discovery of
Laurence Carroll’s incredible life resulted from a painstaking five
years of collaborative academic detective work by Dr Laurence Cox,
professor of Sociology at NUI Maynooth; Alicia Turner of York
University, Toronto; and Professor Brian Bocking of University
College Cork.
Shortly after
his ordination, a notice appeared in a Burmese newspaper warning
all Christian missionaries not to distribute religious tracts or
sell bibles in the province of Burma, signed by order of U
Dhammaloka, the Bishop of Rangoon. It was an audacious beginning to
a life devoted to fighting the cause of the underdog.
“He was put on
trial for saying that the British had taken Burma from the Burmese
and now desired to trample on their religion. He found that a
strong defence of local religion could tweak the nose of the powers
that be, and became immensely popular for doing so.”
Carroll
travelled constantly, touring rural Burma and the towns of Ceylon,
setting up schools in Singapore and Bangkok, networking in Japan
and teaching in Nepal.
“We find him
running up against the authorities time and again, a lifelong habit
of his,” says Lawton. “His personality emerged by turns as
charming, frustrating, witty and grandiose, he was evidently a
great storyteller and a courageous and resourceful
individual.”
Intriguingly, a
full 26 years of Carroll’s life before 1900 remain unaccounted for:
“He was under constant police and intelligence surveillance, tried
for sedition and faked his own death before disappearing as
mysteriously as he had appeared.
“He was perhaps
just too colourful to remember comfortably, and later generations
quietly forgot this story,” Cox concludes.
Carroll was also
famous not just for speeches denouncing Christian missionaries and
European colonialism, but also proving that his background was no
barrier to Buddhism, adds UCC’s Professor Bocking.
“The most
important thing for us in learning about Dhammaloka is that he
opens up a whole world of early Western Buddhists who were not
respectable types but who came out of an imperial underclass that
was interested in religion.”
Ian Lawton is
currently crowdfunding his film, and sees the project as a tale
about meticulous academic detective work, and a remarkable Irishman
who time is long overdue.
“Considering he
travelled in a time before passports and was constantly changing
his name, and the fact that most evidence has been wiped out by two
world wars and other contributing factors, it is a remarkable
achievement and ought to be celebrated. This was a man who faced
down colonialism and Christian missionaries — a man who stood up to
the British empire and paid the ultimate price.”
Though only one
grainy photograph exists of Carroll, and precious little of his
writings, Lawton sees much of his Irish birthright apparent in his
personality.
“He certainly
did have a sense of humour and a sharp wit. The fact that he once
offered 15,000 rupees in a newspaper article to anyone who could
show him a virgin mother is evidence of how funny he was. I’d say
he enjoyed his celebrity and used it to his advantage,” he
adds.
Carroll must be
reinstated for a new generation a century after his death, he
believes.
“To me, he is up
there with Martin Luther King and Lenny Bruce, people who had the
passion and drive to stand up for what they believed in, no matter
what the odds.”
USING
ANIMATION
Given the lack
of footage of Carroll, the filmmaker intends to realise several
scenes through animation. “The bulk of the narrative will be
derived from interviews with the core research team, with
additional commentary from other notable figures in the field of
Buddhism and world history.”
Lawton’s funding
goal is a modest €15,000 through crowdfunding. This allows him to
help raise awareness for a film that’s still in the
pipeline.
“This is a sign
of the times. We are living in an era where this kind of
pre-selling is becoming more and more necessary for small
independent productions these days. Building an audience prior to
principal photography is becoming increasingly important for a
movies survival.”
He sees the film
as having a universal appeal.
“I don’t see it
as specifically a ‘Buddhist’ film, nor a film with merit only for
history buffs. This is a story of one man’s triumph over adversity.
A hero’s journey.
“A man standing
up to the might of the British empire, yet ultimately failing by
being written out of their history, erased from existence by a
superpower. This film will be his ultimate victory.”