Lama Govinda's Quest for the Truth

Fall 2015 Lama Govinda’s Quest for the Truth: A Summary of His Life - Part I Iván Kovács 1 Life has no meaning in itself, but only in the meaning we give it. Like the clay in the artist’s hands, we may convert it into a divine form, or merely into a vessel of temporary utility. Lama Govinda, 19692 Abstract Introduction his is the first installment of a two-part t is not often that one finds a western indi- T article dealing with the spiritual quest of I vidual who is capable of retaining the best of Lama Govinda. It follows his life story from its his own culture and who can fully assimilate beginnings in Europe to his late middle age in the essence of another. To be able to do this in India and Tibet when he married Li Gotami, a such a way that two apparently contradictory Parsee woman, and with whom he undertook paths are made to come together and then ef- an expedition into Central Tibet. This expedi- fortlessly merge is truly unique. Only a free tion was preparatory to a second expedition spirit will assert that salvation is not to be which Govinda and Li were to undertake and found exclusively in one particular religion, which will be dealt with in Part II of this arti- and that different spiritual paths are merely cle. Wherever it was found appropriate, the _____________________________________ summary was rendered more colorful and per- tinent by quotations from Govinda’s own writ- About the Author ings, particularly his book The Way of the Iván Kovács is qualified as a fine artist. As a writer White Clouds. The discussion of a selection of he has published art criticism, short stories and po- his books dealing with Tibetan Buddhism is ems, and more recently, articles of an esoteric na- planned for a forthcoming article. A special ture. He is a reader of the classics and modern clas- mention and appreciation of Ken Winkler’s sics, a lover of world cinema, as well as classical biography of Govinda, A Thousand Journeys, and contemporary music. His lifelong interest in needs to be made, as it was most helpful in Esotericism was rounded off with several years of giving this summary its basic structure. intensive study with the Arcane School. Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 17 The Esoteric Quarterly culturally and geographically determined ways afield, he made a study of the Upanishads, which all lead back to a common source. Such which finally led him to Buddhism. While Eu- a free spirit is to be found in the person of La- rope was in a state of ferment and unrest that ma Anagarika Govinda, a rare individual who, would lead to the outbreak of World War I, despite his German origin and western herit- Hoffmann made a comparative study of Chris- age, was enterprising and bold enough to break tianity, Islam and Buddhism, in an attempt to with convention. He examined a wider range determine which of the three appealed to him of options about the kind of spiritual path that the most. At first, he had a strong predilection he wanted to follow, and even before reaching towards Christianity, but eventually he was maturity, he investigated all major faiths, and won over by Buddhism which he believed had finally decided to opt for Buddhism. a morality that is based on individual freedom.5 Govinda’s intellectual capacity and inborn cre- Hoffmann’s studies were abruptly interrupted ativity display a richness that is only found in in October 1916 when he was called up and multi-talented and ingenious individuals. His sent to the Italian front where he was assigned talents were equally evident whether he em- to a heavy machine-gun company. Nothing is ployed them as an artist or a poet, a writer or a known about him whilst he was on active duty philosopher. His knowledge and understanding and his records only noted that he was admit- of the Buddhist path to enlightenment as rec- ted to a Milan hospital in 1918 after contract- orded in his various books remain to this day a ing tuberculosis. He was later transferred to a testimony of a disciple who practiced what he convalescent home in the Black Forest and believed, and as a consequence lived life to the discharged late in 1918, after which he re- fullest. He is an individual whose words carry sumed his studies in Freiburg Switzerland,6 great weight, thus in the following biography, where he studied philosophy, psychology and whenever possible, and wherever appropriate, archaeology.7 Ken Winkler, his biographer, he is made to speak for himself. sums up his life thus far in A Thousand Jour- neys as: Lama Govinda: A Citizen of Whatever Ernst Hoffmann learned through Two Worlds his experiences during the war, who his Family Background, Childhood and friends were, or how he socialized and Youth spent his time is unknown. Up until this point of his life there are only the barest ama Govinda (May 17 1898 – 14 January facts known about his family and his own L 1985), the son of a German father and Bo- thoughts and directions. Occasional refer- livian mother, was born Ernst Lothar Hoff- ences, mostly from a few surviving docu- mann in Waldheim, Germany. The family was ments and his own recollections, are all that quite well-to-do, and owned silver mines in remain from this period.8 South America as well as a cigar factory.3 Capri: The Springboard to the Wider Hoffmann was three years old when his mother World died, and he and his older brother, Oscar, were brought up by their mother’s sister, Matilde. Hoffmann left Switzerland for Italy. On the Matilde spoke Spanish to the boys; their one hand, this move was more advantageous grandmother, a Huguenot from Bremen, spoke for his health; on the other, it served as an op- to them in French; and Matilde’s husband, a portunity to further his studies in Buddhism. It German-Bolivian, preferred to speak German, was at the University of Naples where he had with the result that the boys grew up trilin- the opportunity to study a Pali Canon that had gual.4 been donated to the university by the King of Siam. To be able to follow this line of study Being barely sixteen, Hoffmann was reading Hoffmann first undertook to study Siamese. Plato and Schopenhauer, followed by the Then, to further his prospects, he crossed the Christian mystics. Then, culturally further Bay of Naples to Capri, which had become an 18 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2015. Fall 2015 expatriate art colony. He found a job in a pho- Orient. Hoffmann would have liked to join tographic studio, which was owned by a wid- him, but due to a lack of money, his explora- ow, Mrs. Habermann, who had not only lost tions were restricted to the study of Stone-Age her husband but also a daughter. She was an structures of the locale, like the cylindrical attractive woman, sympathetic toward the stone nuraghi (megalithic edifices dating be- younger Hoffmann, whom she considered as a tween 1900 – 730 BCE)13 of Sardinia, the cave substitute for her own lost child who had died towns in Tunisia and Morocco, and the mega- of tuberculosis. They felt genuine affection for lithic structures in Malta.14 each other, and Hoffmann began introducing Finally, late in 1928, Hoffmann’s dream and her as his “foster mother.” Eventually, the two ambition to visit the Orient became a reality. of them shared a small house, where Mrs. Ha- He managed to collect enough money to get bermann did the housekeeping. Hoffmann, in himself and his foster mother to Ceylon. They his turn, got involved in teaching at the local sold everything they had, but the consulate Berlitz school, and at one time served both as informed them that they needed an extra speci- its director and only teacher.9 fied amount to be allowed to land in Ceylon, Another significant friendship that Hoffmann which served as a safety measure to discourage formed during this time was with Earl Brew- unwanted immigrants. When Hoffmann re- ster, the well-known American artist, who in- turned home to discuss this problem with his cluded the writer D. H. Lawrence among his neighbors and friends, someone — most likely friends. Buddhism was included among their Brewster —offered to give him the money, common interests, and in fact, Brewster was so provided it would be returned upon his arri- knowledgeable about this subject that in 1926, val.15 he wrote The Life of Gotama – The Buddha. Encountering the Buddhism of Ceylon Hoffmann was also a serious scholar on the subject of Buddhism. In 1920, he published and Burma The Basic Ideas of Buddhism and Its Relation- After his arrival in Ceylon, where he was met ship to Ideas of God. The book enjoyed a by a Singhalese man, Desilva, Hoffmann trav- short-lived popularity in Europe, and was soon eled to his destination in the interior, the mon- translated and published in Japan. A joint ven- astery of Polgasduwa. The place was in a state ture they undertook shortly after their newly of semi-ruin, because its abbot, Nyanatikola formed friendship was to experiment with Mahathera, had been forced into exile during Satti-Patthana meditation, a discipline aimed at the war. Like Hoffmann, the abbot was Ger- achieving mindfulness of body, feelings, con- man-born, and willingly became Hoffmann’s sciousness, and mental phenomena.10 As they guide and teacher, allowing him to take up his had no guides and no exercise courses availa- meditation and to continue his Pali studies.

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