Henry Steel Olcott

Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (2 August 1832 – 17 February 1907) was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer, Freemason (member of Huguenot Lodge #448, now #46) and the co-founder and first president of the Theosophical Society.

Henry Steel Olcott

2 August 1832

Orange, New Jersey

17 February 1907 (aged 74)

Adyar, Madras

American

City College of New York
Columbia University

Military officer
Journalist
Lawyer

Revival of Buddhism
Theosophical Society
American Civil War

Mary Epplee Morgan

Olcott was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. His subsequent actions as president of the Theosophical Society helped create a renaissance in the study of Buddhism. Olcott is considered a Buddhist modernist for his efforts in interpreting Buddhism through a Europeanized lens.

Olcott was a major revivalist of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and he is still honored in Sri Lanka for these efforts. Vice President of the Ananda College Old Boys Association Samitha Seneviratne has said that "Col. Olcott's contribution towards the betterment of our country, nation, religion, justice and good conduct has been so great that he remains in our hearts forever".^[1]

Sorgho and Imphee, the Chinese and African sugar canes; A. O. Moore, New York 1857

Outlines of the first course of Yale agricultural lectures; C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co., New York 1860

Descendents of Thomas Olcott, 1872

Human Spirits and Elementaries; 1875

American Publishing Co., Hartford 1875

People from the other world

A Buddhist catechism; Madras 1881

Theosophy, Religion, and Occult Science; New York 1885

(6 volumes), (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1895)

Old Diary Leaves

The Hindu Dwaita Catechism; 1886

The Golden Rules of Buddhism; 1887

The kinship between Hinduism and Buddhism; The Maha-Bodhi society, Calcutta 1893

The Poor Pariah; Addison & Co., Madras 1902

The Life of the Buddha and its Lessons; 1912

The Spirit of Zoroastrianism; 1913

Old diary leaves, Inside the occult, the true story of Madame H. P. Blavatsky; Running Press, Philadelphia 1975 (reprint); 0-914294-31-8

ISBN

Buddhist flag

Anagarika Dharmapala

Buddhist modernism

Buddhism in Sri Lanka

Theosophy and Buddhism

Caldwell, Daniel H. (ed) The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky: Insights Into the Life of a Modern Sphinx, Quest Books, 2000. 0-8356-0794-1, ISBN 978-0-8356-0794-0.

ISBN

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The History of Spiritualism. New York: G.H. Doran, Co. Volume 2: 1926

Volume 1: 1926

Guruge, Ananda W. P. Free at Last in Paradis, Authuhouse, Bloomington, Ind, 1998

Guruge, A. (2007, January). "Henry Steel Olcott in Sri Lanka: death centennial tribute". Theosophical History, 13(1), 10–13. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials database.

From the Living Fountains of Buddhism, Colombo, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, 1984

Return to Righteousness, Colombo, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, 1965/1991

Killingley, D. (1998, April). "The White Buddhist: the Asian odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott". , 2(1), 153–154. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials database.

International Journal of Hindu Studies

Kuhn, Alvin Boyd. 1930. Theosophy: A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom. New York: Henry Holt & Company.

Motwani, Kewal: Colonel H. S. Olcott, a forgotten page in American history; Ganesh, Madras 1955 (English)

Murphet, Howard: Hammer on the mountain, life of Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907); Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton 1972; 0-8356-0210-9

ISBN

Prothero, Stephen R.: The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott; Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1996; 0-253-33014-9

ISBN

Prothero, Stephen R.. "Henry Steel Olcott and 'Protestant Buddhism.'" Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63: 281–302.

Williams, Gertrude Marvin. Priestess of the Occult, Madame Blavatsky. New York : A. A. Knopf, 1946

Henry Steel Olcott