DOUGLAS, Gordon (Bhikkhu Asoka). 18?? — April 1900 (Payer) or 1905. British Bauddha. He was claimed to be the very first British who was ever (known to be) ordained as a Buddhist monk (Wikipedia Laurence Carroll as U Dhammaloka is earlier, see W. on him). The ordination took place in…
DICKSON, John Frederick. Harmondsworth, Middlesex 17.9.1835 — London 21.12.1891. Sir. British Civil Servant and Pāli Scholar in Sri Lanka. Son of Robert Dickson (1805–1875), a physician, and Mary Ann Coope. Educated in Westminster and studied from 1855 at Christ Church, Oxford. Graduated B.A. in 1859 and joined colonial service. Served…
DESGODINS, Auguste. Manheulles (Meuse) 16.10.1826 — Padang (Pedong) near Darjeeling 14.3.1913. Father. French Missionary and Tibetan Scholar. Son of Charles Michel François Desgodins, an officer, and Marie Joséphine de Roton. Studied theology in the seminaries of Verdun and Saint-Sulpice, ordained priest in 1850. After a few years as priest in…
DENIS, Eugène. Corps-Nuds, Brittany 2.2.1921 — Bangkok 11.12.1986. S.J. Father. French Missionary and Pāli Scholar in Thailand. After seminary in Rennes became Jesuit novice in Laval. In 1948 sent to China, expulsed by communists in 1951. Ordained priest 1952 in Lyon. In 1955 to Thailand, taught at Bangkok University. Ph.D.…
DEMIÉVILLE, Paul Henri. Lausanne 13.9.1894 — Paris 23.3.1979. French (born Swiss) Sinologist and Buddhist scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Paul D. (1855–1947, Professor of Medicine at Lausanne) and Annette Manuel. After gymnasium in Bern studied history of music and Russian at Munich, London, Edinburgh and Paris, dr. degree in…
DE LORENZO, Giuseppe Giovanni Angelo. Lagonegro, Potenza 24.4.1871 — Naples 27.6.1957. Italian Scientist and Bauddha. Professor of Geology in Naples. Born in Southern Italy, son of Lorenzo De Lorenzo and Carolina Rinaldi. After studies at Naples became in 1897 PD and 1905 Professor of Geology and Physical Geography there. Retired…
DE GUBERNATIS, Angelo. Turin 7.4.1840 — Rome 26.12.1913. Count. Italian Indologist. Professor in Florence and Rome. Born in a noble family, son of Giambattista De Gubernatis, a revenue official, and Maria Cleofe Turchetti; his brother was the diplomat and geographer Enrico De Gubernatis (1836–1914), his sister the educator Teresia De…
DAVID-NÉEL, Alexandra (née Louise Eugènie Alexandrine Marie David). St.Mandé (Seine) 24.10.1868 — Digne (Basses-Alpes) 8.9.1969. French Bauddha and Traveller. The only child of Louis Pierre David, a huguenot freemason and ardent republican, also a journalist and teacher , and Alexandrine Borleman, a Catholic Belgian. From 1873 grew up in Belgium.…
DAUMAL, René. Boulzicourt (Ardennes) 16.3.1908 — Paris 21.5.1944. French Poet interested in India. Son of anticlerical socialist teacher Lon Daumal. Educated at Lycée de Reims and Lycée Henri-IV, studies at Sorbonne. Born in rural milieu he became a socialist and active anticlerical, but at the same time he was also…
DANTINNE, Jean. Liège 1930 — 1996. Belgian Buddhist Scholar (Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan). Studies of Buddhist philology, Chinese and Japanese at Louvain (Leuven, i.al. under Lamotte) 1964-66, also Indology at Liège. From 1975 Lecturer in Modern and Classical Chinese at Liège, then Professor (?) at Louvain-la-neuve (1983). But if he was…