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

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

Buddhist 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 ...

scriptures from the original

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

into a European language (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

) and one of the pioneers of European

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

Life

When Neumann was born, his father,

Angelo Neumann Josef Angelo Neumann (18 August 1838 – 20 December 1910) was a German operatic baritone and theater 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 an 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 August Si ...

. 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 German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, 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 and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1882, Neumann came across the works of Arthur Schopenhauer. 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 was ...

. 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 EckhartDhammapada 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 (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and Ceylon, meeting members of the

sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

, 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 (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

as an assistant to the Indologist

Georg Bühler Professor Johann Georg Bühler (July 19, 1837 – April 8, 1898) was a 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 Hanover, whe ...

. Within the next few years, Neumann translated and published the Majjhima Nikāya in three volumes. In 1896 he began a friendship and lively correspondence with (18711957) from Bari. 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, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During t ...

, given to him as a present by Chulalongkorn, the king of

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. 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 Digha Nikaya (dīghanikāya; "Collection of Long Discourses") is a Buddhist scriptures collection, the first of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of ...

with

Piper Piper may refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe Television * Piper Chapman, lea ...

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

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

. 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 A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's ...

'', 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 people Austrian Buddhists Austrian expatriates in Germany Austrian people of Hungarian descent Austrian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Expatriates in the Czech lands Writers from Vienna Pali–German translators 19th-century translators