Niguma
(11th century) female yoga master
Niguma was a teacher who practiced and conveyed to her pupils a path that centered on "Relying on the Body of Another Person" as a means of enlightenment, an obvious reference to sexual tantrism. Niguma was a student and consort of the Indian Vajrayana Buddhist teacher Naropa (1016-1100). To her he imparted the teachings known as the six yogas. As she matured, she became a teacher in her own right and was viewed as an enlightened one, a dakini.
Niguma’s teachings were carried to Tibet by Khyungpo Naljor (978-1079), the founder of the Shangpa subschool of the Kagyu Tibetan Buddhist school. According to the tradition, when he arrived at Niguma’s residence (she lived in a burial ground), she appeared to him in the sky dancing and wearing decoration made of human bones, an apparition not unlike that offered by the goddess Kali to her disciples.
Originally circulating as a set of oral instructions, they were finally written down in the 16th century by the second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso (1475-1542), who is said to have received the teachings directly from Niguma in a dream. As appropriated by the Dalai Lama, the teachings are clearly describing the use of sexual intercourse as a tool for progress in the spiritual life.
Nikaya
Nikaya is, literally, "corpus." In terms of the Buddhist canon, the Tripitaka, "The Nikayas" refers to the early sutras. For the Pali canon that means the entire sutta-pitaka, which is divided into five Nikayas. For the Mahayana canon, nikaya is roughly equivalent to the agamas. Because of its close association with the Pali canon, the phrase Nikaya Buddhism is sometimes used as a term to refer to Theravada, or "early," Buddhism. Nikaya also means a "fraternity," "branch," or "sect" when used in Sri Lanka and Thailand to describe major divisions in the sangha.
Nikko
(1246-1333) founder of Nichiren Shoshu
Nikko, one of Nichiren’s primary disciples and the founder of what today is known as Nichiren Shoshu, was born in Kajikazawa in Kai Province, Japan. In his youth he entered a temple of the Tendai sect and took his training in Buddhism and Chinese literature. In 1258, he visited another Tendai temple at iwamoto and there met Nichiren (1222-82), the great Japanese Buddhist prophet. He became Nichiren’s close disciple and accompanied him on his several periods of exile. He also made the arrangements for Nichiren to move to Mt. Minobu where Nichiren would spend his last days.
Nichiren died in 1282. Shortly before his death, he designated six of his elder monks to direct the movement that had grown up around him: Nissho (1221-1323), Nichiro (1245-1320), Niko (1253-1314), Nitccho (1252-1317), Nichiji (1250-?), and Nikko (1246-1333). Each of these elders headed a center in a different part of Japan.
These six agreed upon the enshrining of Nichi-ren’s cremated remains in Kuon-ji (the Temple of Eternity) on Mt. Minobu and subsequently provided for someone to guard the reliquary, maintain the temple grounds, and provide instruction in Nichiren’s teachings to the younger disciples at the mountain site. The arrangements included the regular appearance at the temple of each of the six during different parts of the year.
The agreement soon fell apart as most of the six stopped traveling to Mt. Minobu and the shrine fell into disrepair. Since Nikko was closest to the mountain, he soon assumed custodial duties and was joined by Niko, who was in charge of the instructions to disciples. The two soon fell out, however, over the strictness with which Nichiren’s teachings should be followed. The situation was aroused by some actions of a wealthy patron of the shrine. Among the issues that bothered Nikko was the willingness of Nichiren’s followers to install statues of Gautama Buddha in the temples. As the quarrel heated up, Nikko left Kuon-ji. He later established Taiseki-ji, a temple located at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Suruga Province. From this temple, his following and the lineage of priests that grew from his work would be named the Fuji school of the Nichiren sect, and later the Nichiren Shoshu. In fact, each of the six elder disciples created a Nichi-ren lineage that only merged as a single organization in the 20th century.
Nikko founded a seminary at omosu, not far from the Fuji Temple, in 1298. He moved to the seminary and there lived the rest of his life. He died in 1333.
In the years immediately prior to Nichiren’s death, Nikko reportedly recorded a set of lectures given by Nichiren to his six primary disciples. in 1287 Nikko obtained Nichiren’s seal of endorsement for his transcript. This manuscript would later be published in Japanese as The Record of Orally Transmitted Teachings. The Nichiren Shoshu consider this volume a part of Nichiren teaching material. Some controversy has arisen about the authenticity of this work, as no mention of it occurs independently in the 16th century.
Nirmanakaya
Nirmanakaya refers to the "transformation body" of the Buddha. In the Mahayana trikaya concept, this is the body in which the Buddha appeared to others. it is not a true physical body, however, merely the appearance of one.
Nirodha
Nirodha, "the cessation of dukkha," is the third of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths. It promises a way to freedom from dukkha, suffering. That route to freedom is nirvana. Attaining nirvana means the extinction of tanha, or cravings. The Buddha states, "A person so endowed is endowed with the absolute wisdom, for the knowledge of the extinction of all dukkha is the absolute noble wisdom." Thus the solution to the never-ending chain of samsara is to realize nirvana.
The Buddha describes a state of the fully realized person who has perceived nirvana, all complexes and cravings eliminated; the enlightened person achieves a full and lasting happiness in this lifetime. This is the promise of nirodha.
Nirvana/ nibbana
Nirvana literally means "extinction," as when a candle’s flame is extinguished. in Buddhist thought, nirvana has a very specific meaning and is perhaps the most misunderstood Buddhist concept among people of other religious traditions. Nirvana is not an "absence" or lack. it is instead a state of being. Nirvana is strictly defined as a state without conditioned aspects. Nirvana is without arising, subsisting, changing, or passing away.
In Hindu thought nirvana is a state of liberation from individuality and the suffering of samsara, the cycle of birth and death. But it also assumes the individuality is lost through merger with the divine, or Brahman. Buddhist thought carries a similar sense of the extinction of the individual consciousness and liberation from sam-sara. But the early Buddhist philosophers took the concept in a new direction by carefully describing the states a person passes through on the path of Buddhist cultivation. Buddhist nirvana assumes the individual overcomes desire, hate, and delusion, the three poisons, and is no longer subject to the dictates of karma. This formulation is found throughout the Pali scriptures.
Mahayana writers took the idea of nirvana in a new direction. Mahayana practitioners concluded that nirvana was equivalent to and existed concurrently with samsara; the two states are at bottom indistinguishable.
Nirvana is often depicted as "bliss" or the cessation of suffering, dukkha. These are all senses in accord with the basic sense of nirvana as being a state without the conditioning aspects—arising, subsisting, changing, or passing. Some Westerners, however, saw nirvana as a nihilistic goal, a complete annihilation of consciousness, a connotation that many people found troubling. Buddhists, to the contrary, insist that the idea of nirvana should not lead to despondency. Nirvana is a condition in which suffering is not present, its most appealing aspect. Nirvana, in conclusion, is the goal of Buddhist practice and the culmination of the long process of self-cultivation.
Nirvana Sutra (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)
Translated accurately as the "Sutra of the Great Decease," the two works by this title are said to be the final sermon of the Buddha before his entry into nirvana. There are two versions of the Nirvana Sutra. The older, in Pali, is normally written "Maha-parinibbanasuttanta." The Mahayana version is the "Mahaparinirvanasutra." Today in English it is common to refer to the "Nirvana Sutra," but it is important to distinguish between the Pali and the Mahayana works, since the two are separate texts.
The Maha-parinibbanasuttanta is a Pali text that probably dates from the period of Asoka, around 250 years after the Buddha’s parinirvana. it relates the Buddha’s final days. Beginning in Raja-gaha, the Buddha moved to Patali, a village, where he lectured on the moral life, before proceeding to Koti. Then he settled in the village of Natika. Later, he took a large group of bhiksus to Vesali, then to Veluva, where he fell ill. At Vesali the Buddha decided to proceed to the final stage of parin-irvana and die in three months. He assembled the sangha and informed them of his decision.
He then continued to teach, moving to Bhanda, Bhoga, and Pava. He finally prepared his deathbed while at Kusinara, in a grove of sal trees.
The Maha-parinibbanasuttanta is part of the Digha-nikaya, the Long Discourses, one of the four divisions of the Pali Sutta-pitaka, those listing the teachings of the Buddha. The Maha-parinibbanasuttanta contains six chapters. The text exists in four Chinese versions as well as in the Pali—in Chinese the nikayas of the Pali canon are called the Agama-sutras—and the two languages’ versions agree without major differences.
The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra was a grand collection of sutras most probably produced in the Kashmir region between 200 and 400 c.e. It was translated into Chinese by Faxian, in a six-volume work. Fragments of Sanskrit versions have been found, but not the entire work in Sanskrit. Unlike the Pali Maha-parinibbanasuttanta, the Mahaprinirvana Sutra mentions the idea that the Dharma (the Buddha’s teachings) will be degraded. The Buddha is said to predict that Mara, the Buddhist equivalent of the devil, will gradually destroy the Dharma after 700 years. Since the Gupta dynasty in India (320-520 c.e.) did in fact favor Hinduism over Buddhism, it is not unlikely that the sutra was written during this period of decline and persecution in Indian Buddhism. This idea of decline struck a chord in China also, since the period prior to the reunification of China under the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-618 and 618-907 c.e., respectively) was characterized by great uncertainty and political change.
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra introduced other key elements of Mahayana thought as well. it taught that the Buddha’s Cosmic Body, the Bud-dhakaya, is eternal. in addition, every person has Buddhahood, or buddhadhatu. The text is also quite partisan: it elevates Mahayana teachings and casts aspersions on the teachings of other schools. it even recommends that those who slander Mahayana should be punished severely, something rarely seen in Buddhist sutras.
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra was extremely influential in China. A "school," actually more a field of interest than a formally organized tradition, formed around its study. This work can also be said to have begun the Chinese practice of classifying teachings (pan jiao). This arose because of the Nirvana Sutra’s claim to be the Buddha’s final words. if this claim was accepted, then other sutras could be classified as belonging to other stages or periods of the Buddha’s life. Eventually all schools of Chinese Buddhism developed competing versions of classificatory schemes.
Nonaction (wuwei)
Nonaction is a key virtue in the writings of Laozi. The wise ruler or "sage," according to Laozi, must adhere to a policy of nonaction. Such a policy will prevent the negative effects of the rulers’ own desires on reality, and the resultant disorder. The ruler will practice self-cultivation, which will in turn result in his taking no such coarse actions as taxation or war. The Laozi (Daodejing) emphasizes the contrast between nonaction and action characterized by desire. The first major commentator on the Laozi, Wang Bi, emphasized this as one of the first principles governing the universe. Dao, in fact, is characterized by nonaction, as should be people’s actions. This concept in fact sums up the political principles advocated by the early Daoist thinkers, and it illustrates the immense gap separating Daoism from Confucian ideas of governance.
Nu Gua (Nu Kua)
feminine creator of mankind and founder of marriage in Chinese mythology
A mythical Chinese deity, Nu Gua (or Nu Wa) was born with the separation of heaven and earth. She then created individual humans from mud. She was the companion of Fu Xi, the mythical creator of the eight trigrams collected in the Book of Changes. Nu Gua’s symbol is a compass. She also taught humanity how to tame wild animals and control water.
Nyanaponika Thera
(1901-1994) cofounder of the Buddhist Publication Society Nyanaponika Thera, a prominent contemporary Theravada Buddhist monk, was born Siegmund Feniger into a Jewish family in Hanauam-Main, Germany. He found his way to Buddhism through reading and in the early 1920s moved to Berlin, where he associated with the early circle of German Buddhists at the Buddhistische Haus headed by Paul Dahlke (1865-1928). He later formed and led a Buddhist study circle in Konigsberg, East Prussia.
In 1936, Feniger traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received his initial ordination as a Buddhist monk at the island Hermitage at Dodanduwa, where he became the pupil of a fellow German, Nyanatiloka Mahathera. He became a fully ordained bhiksu the next year.
As a German, he was interned during World War ii by British authorities and unable to move back to Sri Lanka immediately after the war, and he moved about for several years. In 1951, he accompanied his teacher to Burma for the Sixth Buddhist Council and afterward became an active leader in the World Federation of Buddhists. In 1952 he was finally able to return to Sri Lanka and he settled at the Forest Hermitage in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where he would live for the next several decades. in 1958 he became the cofounder and first president of the Buddhist Publication Society. He remained as editor until 1984 and as president to 1988. He was succeeded in both offices by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
During his long career he was the author of a number of books. He died in 1994 at the age of 93.
Nyanatiloka Mahathera (Walter Florus Gueth)
(1878-1957) German-born Theravada monk and Pali scholar
Walter Gueth first made contact with Buddhism during a trip to India and Sri Lanka and in 1903 took his vows as a Buddhist monk in Burma. He then took the Buddhist name Nyanatiloka. He founded a monastery in Sri Lanka in 1911, at Ratgama Lake, Dodanduwa, which over the years hosted many Western Buddhist practitioners. At the outbreak of the First World War he was expelled from Sri Lanka and traveled to the united States, China, and Japan. in 1920 he taught at Komazawa university in Japan. He returned to Sri Lanka in 1926. As a German national he was interned during World War ii, and he finally returned in 1946. Because of his many translations Nyanatiloka was an influential scholar as well as teacher.
Nyingma
One of the four branches of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyingma Buddhism teaches that Dzogchen, or "the great perfection," is the most important doctrine in Buddhism and the final, complete teaching of the Buddha. A Dzogchen practitioner holds pure awareness at all times. Nyingma is, literally, the "school of the ancients." It probably includes the oldest Buddhist teachings transmitted to Tibet from India in the eighth century c.e. by Padma-sambhava and his followers, in the first wave of transmission of Buddhism to Tibet.
There are three lineages within the Nyingma. The kama (utterance), or historical, lineage is for teachings from Samantabhadra that were passed from teacher to student in succession. The terma, or direct, lineage is for all texts hidden away by Padmasambhava that could later be recovered and taught. The Bardo thodol, or the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is the most famous example of such teachings. And the third lineage, the visionary,involves direct communication with a past teacher who has already passed away.
The Nyingma school is popularly called the Red Hats because their monastics wear red hats in ceremonies. However, there has always been a tradition of Nyingma lay, or nonmonastic, practice in addition to the monastic tradition.
Nyingma monasteries were built from the 15 th century in such locations as Mindroling, Dorje Drag, Palyul, Dzogchen, and Zhechen, in Kham Province of Tibet, and at Dodrupchen and Dar-thang in Amdo Province. Since 1949 additional Nyingma monasteries have been set up in india.
At this time the highest-ranking member of the Nyingma is Penor Rinpoche.
Obaku Zen
Along with Rinzai Zen and Soto Zen, Obaku is one of the three recognized schools of Zen Buddhism. Though less well known in the West than the other Zen schools, Obaku Zen is an important element in the Japanese religious community. Obaku is unique in that it has maintained a strong Chinese character for most of its history; the first 13 abbots of Manpuku-ji, the head temple, were Chinese, and to this day many Obaku practices reflect Ming era Chinese Buddhist customs, including an emphasis on sutra chanting.
Obaku’s origins can be traced back to 17th-century China. With the fall of the Ming dynasty in China in 1644, many people displaced by the shift in political power fled to Japan. in 1654, at the request of some Chinese residents of Nagasaki, Yin Yuan (1592-1673), a prominent Chan/Zen teacher, known in Japan as Ingen, moved to Japan. in China ingen had been the abbot of Wan Fu temple on Mt. Huangbo (Obaku in Japanese). in 1661 he had an audience with the shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641-80), who gave him land and money to build a temple in the uji District, near Kyoto; Ingen named the temple Mampuki-ji. Mampuki-ji continues to be the head temple of Obaku Zen today.
Mampuki-ji became the center for the development of Ingen’s variation on Rinzai Zen, which included an emphasis on the veneration of Amitabha and chanting of the nembutsu, practices associated with the Pure Land school. During the years of the Tokugawa shogunate, Zen was an especially privileged form of Buddhism in Japan. Within a century, more than 400 Obaku Zen centers had been established across the country.
Mampuki-ji also became the center of a new diffusion of Chinese art and culture in Japan. The temple was built using Ming style architectural forms, and its Chinese residents introduced Chinese painting, crafts, and cooking. The influence of the new group was multiplied as priests from the Soto and Rinzai schools flocked to Uji to study the new teachings. in the late 20th century, the Obaku school was headed for more than three decades by Okuda Roshi, a renowned calligrapher.
Most recently there has been some merging between Rinzai and Obaku Zen elements, with a Joint Council for Japanese Rinzai and Obaku Zen established.
Okinawa, religions in
Okinawa is the largest island of the Ryukyus, a chain of islands that stretch from Japan to Taiwan. The Ryukyuan Kingdom (1422-1879), centered in Shuri on the island of Okinawa, skillfully plied the trade routes and its people created a distinctive spiritual and cultural sensibility from diverse influences.
Okinawa was home to an indigenous primal religion centered on belief in the kami spirits. Over the centuries, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shinto all spread to Okinawa, and today the island’s religious life somewhat reflects its history; the Japanese influence that has dominated recent centuries is most pronounced. A spectrum of Japanese Buddhism can now be found on the island.
HISTORY
Okinawa emerges out of prehistory in the seventh century when China extended its influence to the island. China ruled okinawa until overthrown by okinawans in the 12th century. Five centuries of self-rule ended with the entry of the Japanese at the beginning of the 17th century. From 1609 through the 1870s, although an okinawan king ruled, samurai from Satsuma in Japan exercised hegemony over Okinawa. This authority would be passed to the Meiji emperor. In 1879, the emperor dissolved the okinawan royal government and formally incorporated okinawa into Japan.
Okinawa became the site of one of the most deadly battles of World War II. The Americans won control some two months before the Japanese surrender. In 1951 the United States assumed complete administrative control of the Ryukyus, which were passed back to Japan in 1972. Okinawa now exists as a prefectural district of Japan, though there is still a strong American military presence.
INDIGENOUS RELIGION AND KAMI
The outlines of indigenous beliefs must be extrapolated from the Omorosdshi, an anthology of ancient shamanic and folk lyrics that reflect the aspirations of the okinawans, their relations and feelings toward with nature and the kami, or gods. "Worship of the sunrise" (Omorososhi XIII78823) reveals a reverence for nature and conveys a deep sense of gratitude. "Great Master of the East," it states, "Let us all be of one mind before you. And say, ‘How revered! How august!’" The "Great Master of the East" refers to the Sun; both the "east" and the "Sun" refer to niraee kananee (Japanese, nirai kanai), the home of the kami, the ancestral spirits, who give happiness, riches, and knowledge on visits to their earthly descendants. The ancestral kami have the capacity to supervise, influence, and alter events. Individuals and families have an obligation to observe memorials and other rituals at appropriate intervals. Should the family neglect its responsibilities, the ancestral spirit(s) may seek retribution on progeny through some unusual or ominous event.
The kami are contacted at the utaki (Japanese, otake), or sacred grove, a prominent feature in okinawan life, associated with the memory of the earliest ancestors. Today villagers identify their utaki with the burial site of their founder, who with the passage of time has become deified as a protector kami. Even today the village priestesses perform their sacrifices, offer prayers of gratitude, and solicit favors of good harvest at the utaki.
Such village rituals correspond with rituals performed by the chifijin (Japanese, kikoe-ogimi), the national priestesses, at Seefa Utaki, the spot where the earliest ancestors arrived before migrating to other parts of the island. Every village, except those that were established in more recent times, has a sacred grove. The founding family—niiya (Japanese, neya), or root house—provides the village’s political and administrative leadership through the root man, nichu (Japanese, nebito), and its spiritual authority through the root deity, nigan (Japanese, negami), a female, usually the sister of the nichu. The nigan oversaw the ritual observances.
Historically, this brother-sister dual sovereignty system served as the model for administering the Ryukyuan kingdom. The king held sway over political matters and his sister counterpart served as the national priestess. Both worked closely together to ensure the welfare of the nation. The power of the chifijin waned with the growing influence of Confucianism and was systematically undermined after the Japanese annexation. The last chief priestess died in 1944.
Until the introduction of the Buddhist altar in the 18th century, the fii nu kang was the primary deity enshrined in the home. Three stones placed in an altar of sand represent the most distant ancestor and family continuity. The shrine is located on the lower left corner of the main room of the house; it is part of the ancestral shrine. More recently three small stones are placed in a ceramic censer filled with ashes beside the kitchen stove. The female occupants of the house make offerings to ancestors and fii nu kang on the first and the 15 th days of each month. Scholars trace the fii nu kang to the Chinese Stove God.
If the family fails in its observances to the kami and suffers misfortune, the individual or family may wish to consult a yuta (shaman, usually female), whose powers of clairvoyance and possession qualify her to discern the causes of misfortune and to suggest or direct remedial action.
While the yuta are believed to be selected by the gods, the kaminchu and nuru (Japanese, noro), the principal village ritual functionaries, are hereditary positions. The kaminchu is a priestess who handles ritual. Originally they also underwent possession, but today they focus solely on ritual performance. The nuru, "divine priestesses," continue to serve the function of contacting ancestors and giving spiritual advice. During the Ryukyuan Kingdom these shaman types were organized nationally and headed by the chifjin.
BUDDHISM IN OKINAWA
The Rinzai Zen Buddhists erected the most impressive Buddhist temple complex on Okinawa. Enkaku-ji was for many years the family temple of the Okinawan king. it is located on the grounds of Shurijo Castle (now a park). It was built in the 1490s by King Sho Shin in honor of his father. It suffered greatly in the battle to take Okinawa during World War ii but has been restored.
THE MARTIAL ARTS IN OKINAWA
it appears that in the middle of the 18th century Shaolin Kung Fu, the form of the martial arts developed by Chan Buddhist monks in China, spread to the court in Okinawa. Over the next years, the Chinese style of fighting mixed with a local style of hand-to-hand combat called te (hand). The Okinawans were motivated to develop the martial arts as the Japanese authorities forbade the possession of any weapons and confiscated any they found. Through the next centuries, Okinawans trained secretly and developed te into a sophisticated form of martial art. As part of their training, they also improvised with the use of common farm implements as weapons. Thus emerged the unique Okinawan form of the martial arts known worldwide as Kara-te-do, or empty hand Way.
Olcott, Henry Steel
(Colonel) (18321907) a founder of the Theosophical movement and a key figure in the popularization of Buddhist ideas in the West
Henry Steel Olcott, cofounder and first president of the Theosophical Society, was born in Orange, New Jersey, and grew up on his father’s farm. He later became the agricultural editor of the New York Tribune. He served in the Union Army (186165), achieving the rank of colonel. He passed the bar in New York in 1868.
In 1874, while associated with the New York Daily Graphic, he was assigned to write a story on the Eddy Brothers, spiritualist mediums then operating in Vermont. His trip to Vermont resulted in his meeting Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, which led to their founding the Theosophical Society the next year in New York. In 1878, when olcott received a commission to study American and Indian trade relations, the pair sailed for India.
The society cast its net wide, making room for various religions, and olcott became an enthusiastic Buddhist, an enthusiasm he initially made public in 1880. That year, both he and Blavatsky formally converted to Buddhism, though Blavatsky’s commitment remained largely with Western esoteri-cism. Esotericism in the European tradition implies a mystical path that includes such traditions as alchemy, Rosicrucianism, cabala, and occultism. over the next decade, olcott involved himself (and the society) in the Buddhist political efforts in Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon). The main thrust of such campaigns was to reverse the effects of the British colonial government’s attempts to impose Christianity on the local culture. In 1881, he published the Buddhist Catechism, which went on to become a popular introduction to Buddhism for many Westerners. He promoted Buddhism through the theosophical periodicals. He also began to found Buddhist schools and youth associations in Ceylon to counter the Christian hold on public education.
In 1884 he became involved in the Buddhist effort to have Wesak declared a national public holiday in Ceylon, and when that effort proved successful, he suggested the construction of a Buddhist flag as a community symbol. That project was carried out by the Wesak celebration committee, with olcott’s input. olcott later wrote a Buddhist Platform for the Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and Japan that was published in 1891 as part of the effort to support an International Buddhist League.
Olcott was influential in the West as well as in Asia. He helped popularize such imported concepts as chakras (subtle energy centers in the body) and reincarnation. However, he is probably most remembered for his relationship with Angarika Dharmapala, founder of the Mahabodhi Society, and his support of Dharmapala’s travel to the United States to speak before the World’s Parliament of Religions.
Olcott remained president of the Theosophical Society until his death in 1907. He was succeeded in office by Annie Besant. He is remembered in Sri Lanka with an annual Olcott Day (February 17).
