DAHLKE, Paul Wilhelm Eduard. Osterode, Ostpreussen (now Ostróda, Poland) 25.1.1865 — Berlin-Frohnau 29.2.1928. German Bauddha, Physician in Berlin. Son of a civil servant, August D. and Wilhelmine Reinholz, a big and poor family. Gymnasium in Osnabrück, Hannover and Frankfurt a.M., from 1883 studied medicine in Berlin and specialized in homeopathy. Dr.Med. 1887, later Medizinalrat. He had a succesful homeopathic practice in Berlin, until 1906. After reading Schopenhauer and A. von Chamisso travelled in 1898 to the Pacific of his dreams and stayed one year in Samoa. Became now interested in Buddhism and went in 1900 from Germany to Ceylon, where he had Srī Sumaṅgala Thera, Ñāṇissara Thera, Pandit Wagiswara and others as his teachers. In 1914 the war prevented a new journey to Ceylon. In 1924 he founded a kind of monastery, Buddhistische Haus, in Berlin-Frohnau. Unmarried. Died after long illness.
Dahlke knew Pāli and translated texts. His secretary and successor was —> K. Fischer. Also his sister, Bertha Dahlke (1866–1947) was active and directed the Haus after his death.
Publications: Arzneimittellehre. 1-2. Berlin-Charlottenburg 1914-16; Heilkunde und Weltanschauung. 212 p. St. 1928, and other homeopathic medical publications.
– Aufsätze zum Verständnis des Buddhismus. 1-2. 157+137 p. B. 1903, English transl. Buddhist Essays. L. 1908.
– Translated: Buddhistische Erzählungen. 289 p. Dresden 1904, also in Dutch and English; Aus dem Reiche des Buddha; sieben Erzählungen. 203 p. Breslau 1913; Suttapitaka, Buch der buddhistischen Urschriften. 1-3. B. 1919-23; Digha-Nikaya, die lange Sammlung der Lehrreden. 295 p. B. 1920; Buddha. Auswahl aus dem Pali-Kanon. 894 p. B. 1920; Mittlere Sammlung. Erste Lese. 353 p. B. 1923 (MN); and probably also the anonymous Dhammapada. B. 1919.
– Buddhismus als Weltanschauung. 266 p. Breslau 1912, also in English; Buddhismus als Religion und Moral. 457 p. Lp. 1914; Buddhismus als Wirklichkeitslehre und Lebensweg. 6+81 p. Karlsruhe 1926; Der Buddhismus, seine Stellung innerhalb des geistigen Lebens der Menschheit. 255 p. Lp. 1926, English 1927; Buddhismus als Wirklichkeitslehre und als Lebensweg. 81 p. Karlsruhe 1928; other writings.
– Translated: Buddha. Die Lehre des Erhabenen. 458 p. Munich 1960.
– Edited: Neubuddhistische Zeitschrift 1917-22, then Brockensammlung. Zeitschrift für angewandten Buddhismus 1924-38 (after his death by B. Dahlke).
– Many new editions (and some translations), sometimes with changed titles.
Sources: H. v. Glasenapp, N.D.B. 3, 1957, 478; *H. Hecker, Lebensbilder deutscher Buddhisten. Konstanz 1990, 13-36; Peiris, Buddhism 103-107 with photo; A. Payer, Materialien zum Neobuddhismus 3 (www.payer.de/neobuddhismus/neobud0302.htm) with 3 photos; Stache-Rosen 1990, 154f.; Wikipedia (more details in German version).
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