The Wild Irishman who became the
first Buddhist monk from the West
Dear Readers,
I received this email on a documentary in progress on the life of the first Western Buddhist monk, a rather wild Irishman, named U Dhammaloka (Dharma of the World). The Buddhist tradition has always attracted its fair share of Western and Asian eccentrics who ordained as monks and nuns.
Do support the project.
—-
Dear Christopher,
My name is Ian Lawton, I am a filmmaker from Ireland and I apologise for this unsolicited intrusion.
I am writing to inform you that I am currently in pre production on a film that may perhaps be of interest to you.
It is entitled The Dharma Bum and is a documentary on the very fascinating Buddhist monk, U Dhammaloka. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1856, became an alcoholic hobo in the USA, made his way to Burma (Myanmar), and in 1900 he became the first white man to become a Buddhist monk, but was ultimately erased from history because of the stand he took against the British empire who were colonizing Burma at the time. He even studied briefly with the 13th Dalai Lama in Tibet. Its a fascinating epic story ending with him faking his own death in Australia.
I was hoping you might take the time to visit our page, and if it appealed to you, to humbly ask that you might share it among your social network, mailing list or website please?
Here is a link to our crowdfunding page: www.dana.io/thedharmabum
Here is a link to our website (which features a brand new animated trailer): www.thedharmabum.eu
We have generated a lot of positive feedback and attention thus far, but we still have a long way to go.
We were even invited recently to speak at The Buddhist Society in London, where they unveiled a photograph of Dhammaloka on their library wall. Without the help of like minded people such as yourselves our movie may not see the light of day. We really need your help in getting the word out there and reaching our funding goal.
Thank you for reading and again I apologise for the unsolicited intrusion.
Kindest regards
Ian
For further information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Dhammaloka