Karl Eugen Neumann (18651915) was the first translator of large parts of the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

scriptures from the original

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

into a European language (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

) and one of the pioneers of European

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Life

When Neumann was born, his father,

Angelo Neumann Josef Angelo Neumann (18 August 1838 – 20 December 1910) was a German operatic baritone and theatre director. First a baritone at major opera houses in Europe, including the Vienna Imperial Opera, he was the managing director of the Leipzig O ...

, was a Jewish Hungarian tenor at the

Vienna Court Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by A ...

. His mother Pauline née von Mihalovits was the daughter of a Hungarian noble family. He received higher education in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, where his father had become manager of the Leipzig City Theatre in 1876. Soon after starting a banker's career in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1882, Neumann came across the works of

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the Phenomenon, phenomenal world as ...

. From 1884 he became absorbed in philosophical works and showed great interest for the Indian sources that had inspired Schopenhauer. He turned his back on banking and started to attend a college in Prague. By 1887 Neumann was back in

, studying

Indology Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

, Religion and Philosophy at the university there. Soon after his marriage to Camilla née Nordmann from Vienna, Neumann went to Halle and in 1891 finished his thesis on a

text, his Ph.D. supervisor was

Richard Pischel Richard Pischel (18 January 1849 – 26 December 1908) was a German Indologist born in Breslau. In 1870 he received his doctorate from the University of Breslau under the guidance of Adolf Friedrich Stenzler (1807-1887). His graduate thesis w ...

. In the same year he published ''Zwei buddhistische Suttas und ein Traktat Meister Eckharts'' ("Two Buddhist Suttas and a treatise of

Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart (), Master Eckhart or Eckehart, claimed original name Johannes Eckhart,

"). In 1892, after returning to Vienna, Neumann published an anthology of texts from the Pali Canon in German on the occasion of Schopenhauer's 104th birthday. Having finished a translation of the

Dhammapada The ''Dhammapada'' (; ) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures.See, for instance, Buswell (2003): "rank among the best known Buddhist texts" (p. 11); and, "on ...

in 1893, Neumann realized his great desire to visit the original countries of Buddhism. For a few months he traveled through

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, meeting members of the

sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

, such as the monk Sumangala Maha Thera and Lama Dondamdup. Besides praise for the knowledge and learning of monks, he also found critical words for what he considered an adulteration and watering down of the original teaching of the Buddha. Back in Vienna in 1894 he took up a post at the Oriental Institute of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

as an assistant to the Indologist

Georg Bühler Professor Johann Georg Bühler (19 July 1837 – 8 April 1898) was a German scholar of ancient Indian languages and law. Early life and education Bühler was born to Rev. Johann G. Bühler in Borstel, Hanover, attended grammar school in Hanove ...

. Within the next few years, Neumann translated and published the

Majjhima Nikāya The ''Majjhima Nikāya'' ("Collection of Middle-length Discourses") is a Buddhist scripture collection, the second of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Piṭaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipita ...

in three volumes. In 1896 he began a friendship and lively correspondence with (18711957) from

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

. De Lorenzo translated Neumann's works into

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and thus became one of the pioneers of Italian Buddhism. Wiener Zentralfriedhof - Gruppe 82 - Grab von Karl Eugen Neumann

In 1906 Neumann lost his fortune in a bank crash and even had to sell (temporarily) the highly esteemed Siamese edition of the

Tipiṭaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.

, given to him as a present by

Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was cha ...

, the king of

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. His financial situation slightly improved through the legacy after his father's death. In 1907 he published the first volume of the

Dīgha Nikāya The ''Dīgha Nikāya'' ("Collection of Long Discourses") is a Buddhist scriptures collection, the first of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Piṭaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipiṭaka of Th ...

with

Piper A piper is a musician, a player of the bagpipe. As a noun proper, Piper may also refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * P ...

publishers in Munich. Neumann died in poverty in 1915, and is buried at the

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery () is one of the largest Cemetery, cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its significance as Vienna's big ...

. His grave, forgotten and neglected for two generations, came to light again by the end of the twentieth century and is being attended to by the Buddhists of Vienna. Today, his translations are viewed as "outdated in many respects", but represent "significant pioneering work".

Works

* Neumann, Karl Eugen, trans. (1922): ''Die Reden Gotamo Buddhos'', aus der mittleren Sammlung Majjhimanikayo des Pali-Kanons, 3 Vol, R. Piper, München
(Bd.1Bd.2Bd.3)
* Neumann, Karl Eugen
Der Wahrheitpfad, Dhammapadam
ein buddhistisches Denkmal, München, R. Piper 1921. * Neumann, Karl Eugen (1899)
Die Lieder der Mönche und Nonnen Gotamo Buddho's
Berlin, E. Hofmann & co. * Neumann, Karl Eugen (1911)
Die Reden Gotamo Budhos
aus der Sammlung der Bruchstücke Suttanipato des Pali-Kanons, München R. Piper.

Notes

References

*Buffet, Edward P. (1916)
'Karl Eugen Neumann'
''

The Monist ''The Monist: An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of philosophy. It was established in October 1890 by American publisher Edward C. Hegeler. History Init ...

'', Vol.26, No.2, pp.319320. * (1986). ''Karl Eugen Neumann: Erstübersetzer der Reden des Buddha, Anreger zu abendländischer Spiritualität''. Hamburg: Octopus-Verlag. *Obermayer-Marnach, Eva (ed.) (1978)
'Neumann, Karl Eugen'
''

Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 The ''Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950'' (ÖBL, ''Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950'') is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Austria, published by the Austrian ...

'', Vol.7. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.

External links

*
Neumann and his translations
by Alois Payer (in German) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Karl Eugen 1865 births 1915 deaths 19th-century Austrian translators Austrian Buddhists Austrian expatriates in Germany Austrian people of Hungarian descent Austrian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Writers from Vienna Pali–German translators 19th-century translators