Herman Constantin Vetterling (2 August 1849 – 5 September 1931), also known as Herman Carl Vetterling and by the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Philangi Dasa, was a Swedish-American

Swedenborgian The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Swedenborgian or ...

philosopher who converted to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

in 1884 and took the Arabic-cum-Sanskritic name Philangi Dasa (meaning "Western Devotee"). Vetterling was born in Pjätteryd, Kronoberg,

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

, Sweden, and immigrated to the United States in 1873. He was naturalized in Philadelphia in 1880. He was one of the first Americans to officially embrace Buddhism. He founded ''The Buddhist Ray'' in Santa Cruz, California in 1887, which was the first Buddhist journal in the United States. His most well-known work was ''Swedenborg the Buddhist, or The Higher Swedenborgianism: Its Secrets and Thibetan Origin'', published in 1887. It is a fictional spiritual dialogue between Swedenborg, a Buddhist monk, a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

, a Parsi, an

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

Indian, an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

er, an anonymous woman, and Vetterling himself. Six years later this work was translated into Japanese. Due to his eclectic combination of Swedenborgianism,

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

, Buddhism,

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

and

Spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

, many scholars of his lifetime questioned his authenticity as a "real" Buddhist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetterling, Herman 1849 births 1931 deaths 19th-century Buddhists 20th-century Buddhists American Buddhists Converts to Buddhism from Christianity Writers from Santa Cruz, California Tibetan Buddhists from the United States