Edward Conze
Encyclopedia
Eberhart Julius Dietrich Conze (1904 – September 24, 1979) was an Anglo
-German
scholar probably best known for his pioneering translations of Buddhist texts.
of mixed German
, French
, and Dutch
ancestry. His father belonged to the German landed aristocracy, and his mother to what he himself would have called the "plutocracy". His background was Protestant, though his mother became a Roman Catholic
in later life. He seems to have had a rather difficult relationship with his mother. Conze claimed to be related to Friedrich Engels
.
He was born in England because his father happened to be posted there as German Vice-Consul, but this meant that he had British nationality. He was educated at various German universities, graduating with a Ph.D.
from the University of Cologne
in 1928, he then proceeded to carry out post doctoral
studies in comparative European and Indian Philosophy at the University of Bonn
and the University of Hamburg
. Conze had a talent for learning languages and picked up fourteen of them, including Sanskrit
, by age 24. Like many other Europeans, he came into contact with Theosophy
early in life. He also took up astrology
, and remained a keen astrologer throughout his life. While still a young man, he wrote a substantial book called The Principle of Contradiction.
During Hitler's rise to power, Conze found himself so strongly opposed to the Nazi
ideology that he joined the Communist Party
and made a serious study of Marxist
thought. It seems that for a while he was the leader of the communist movement in Bonn
, and his autobiography, Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic, talks about organizing communist street gangs in Hamburg
, which briefly put his life in danger.
In 1933 he came to England, having earlier taken the precaution of renewing his British nationality, and he arrived at the age of 29, virtually without money or possessions. He supported himself by teaching German and taking evening classes, and he became a member of the Labour Party
. He met many prominent figures and intellectuals in the Labour movement and was not impressed. However, Secretary of State for Education, Chair of the Labour Party and MP
Ellen Wilkinson
did impress him, and the two later published two books together entitled Why War? and Why Fascism?.
Conze became very active in the socialist movement in Britain, lecturing and writing books and pamphlets, until eventually becoming disillusioned with politics. At 35 he found himself in a state of intellectual turmoil and collapse. Even his marriage had failed. Indeed, in his memoirs he admits "I am one of those unfortunate people who can neither live with women nor without them."
From 1933 until 1960 he lectured in psychology, philosophy and comparative religion at the University of London
and the University of Oxford
. Between 1963 and 1973 he held a number of academic appointments in England, Germany and the United States, including a significant amount of time as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster.
At this point he discovered – or rather rediscovered – Buddhism
. When 13 years old he had read Gleanings in Buddha Fields by Lafcadio Hearn
. However, Conze's first significant contact with Buddhism
was at this midpoint in his life, at the beginning of the Second World War
, through the writings of D.T. Suzuki
.
Once intrigued, Conze devoted the rest of his life to Buddhism
, and in particular to translating the Prajnaparamita
or Perfection of Wisdom sutras, which are the fundamental scriptures of Mahayana
Buddhism. However, he wasn't just a scholar in the academic sense. During the war he lived on his own in a caravan in the New Forest
and practised meditation
, following very seriously the instructions given by Buddhaghosa
in the Visuddhimagga
, and allegedly achieving some degree of meditative experience. Being brutally honest, especially about himself, he would confess in his later lectures in America that he was just a Buddhist scholar and not a monk and therefore people should not be disappointed if his actions and behaviors did not live up to the Buddhist ideal. Reflective of Conze's prominent position as a Buddhist is the fact that he served as vice president of the Buddhist Society.
After the war he moved to Oxford
and remarried. In 1951 he published Buddhism: Its Essence and Development, a very successful book, which is still in print. However, his real achievement over the following twenty years was to translate over thirty texts comprising the Prajnaparamita
sutras, including two of the most well-known of all Buddhist texts, the Diamond Sutra
and the Heart Sutra
.
In the 1960s and '70s he met with university students of Buddhism in Canada
and lectured at several universities in the United States
; he was appreciated by his students. However, he was very outspoken, and gained the disapproval of the university authorities and some of his colleagues. With the combination of his Communist past and his candid criticism of American involvement in Vietnam
, he was eventually obliged to leave. He died on September 24, 1979 at his home in Sherborne
, Dorset
.
was essentially elitist
. Neither did he approve of democracy
or feminism
.
He is certainly representative of a Western pre-war generation that became disillusioned with Marxism, especially in its Soviet
form. Where he differed from others was in the fact that he did not really lose religious beliefs. He transferred his idealism from politics to Buddhism
.
Dr. Conze was one of the great Buddhist translators, comparable with the indefatigable Chinese translators Kumarajiva
and Hsuan Tsang. He has been called "the foremost Western scholar of the Prajnaparamita literature." It is especially significant that as a scholar of Buddhism
he also tried to practice it, especially meditation. This was very unusual at the time he started his work, and he was regarded as eccentric in the 1940s and 1950s – objective scholars were not supposed to have any personal involvement in their subject. He was hence a forerunner of a new strain of Western scholars in Buddhism who are practicing Buddhists.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
scholar probably best known for his pioneering translations of Buddhist texts.
Life and work
Conze was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
of mixed German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
ancestry. His father belonged to the German landed aristocracy, and his mother to what he himself would have called the "plutocracy". His background was Protestant, though his mother became a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in later life. He seems to have had a rather difficult relationship with his mother. Conze claimed to be related to Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
.
He was born in England because his father happened to be posted there as German Vice-Consul, but this meant that he had British nationality. He was educated at various German universities, graduating with a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the University of Cologne
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with over 44,000 students, one of the largest universities in Germany. The university is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, an association of Germany's leading research universities...
in 1928, he then proceeded to carry out post doctoral
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
studies in comparative European and Indian Philosophy at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
and the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
. Conze had a talent for learning languages and picked up fourteen of them, including Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, by age 24. Like many other Europeans, he came into contact with Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
early in life. He also took up astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, and remained a keen astrologer throughout his life. While still a young man, he wrote a substantial book called The Principle of Contradiction.
During Hitler's rise to power, Conze found himself so strongly opposed to the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
ideology that he joined the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
and made a serious study of Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
thought. It seems that for a while he was the leader of the communist movement in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, and his autobiography, Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic, talks about organizing communist street gangs in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, which briefly put his life in danger.
In 1933 he came to England, having earlier taken the precaution of renewing his British nationality, and he arrived at the age of 29, virtually without money or possessions. He supported himself by teaching German and taking evening classes, and he became a member of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. He met many prominent figures and intellectuals in the Labour movement and was not impressed. However, Secretary of State for Education, Chair of the Labour Party and MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...
did impress him, and the two later published two books together entitled Why War? and Why Fascism?.
Conze became very active in the socialist movement in Britain, lecturing and writing books and pamphlets, until eventually becoming disillusioned with politics. At 35 he found himself in a state of intellectual turmoil and collapse. Even his marriage had failed. Indeed, in his memoirs he admits "I am one of those unfortunate people who can neither live with women nor without them."
From 1933 until 1960 he lectured in psychology, philosophy and comparative religion at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. Between 1963 and 1973 he held a number of academic appointments in England, Germany and the United States, including a significant amount of time as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster.
At this point he discovered – or rather rediscovered – Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. When 13 years old he had read Gleanings in Buddha Fields by Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
. However, Conze's first significant contact with Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
was at this midpoint in his life, at the beginning of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, through the writings of D.T. Suzuki
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature...
.
Once intrigued, Conze devoted the rest of his life to Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, and in particular to translating the Prajnaparamita
Prajnaparamita
Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...
or Perfection of Wisdom sutras, which are the fundamental scriptures of Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
Buddhism. However, he wasn't just a scholar in the academic sense. During the war he lived on his own in a caravan in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
and practised meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
, following very seriously the instructions given by Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa
Bhadantācariya Buddhaghoṣa（Chinese: 覺音）was a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation...
in the Visuddhimagga
Visuddhimagga
The Visuddhimagga , is the 'great treatise' on Theravada Buddhist doctrine written by Buddhaghosa approximately in 430 CE in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive manual condensing the theoretical and practical teaching of the Buddha, it is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka...
, and allegedly achieving some degree of meditative experience. Being brutally honest, especially about himself, he would confess in his later lectures in America that he was just a Buddhist scholar and not a monk and therefore people should not be disappointed if his actions and behaviors did not live up to the Buddhist ideal. Reflective of Conze's prominent position as a Buddhist is the fact that he served as vice president of the Buddhist Society.
After the war he moved to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and remarried. In 1951 he published Buddhism: Its Essence and Development, a very successful book, which is still in print. However, his real achievement over the following twenty years was to translate over thirty texts comprising the Prajnaparamita
Prajnaparamita
Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...
sutras, including two of the most well-known of all Buddhist texts, the Diamond Sutra
Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sūtra , is a short and well-known Mahāyāna sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā, or "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment...
and the Heart Sutra
Heart Sutra
The Heart Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. Its Sanskrit name literally translates to "Heart of the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom." The Heart Sūtra is often cited as the best known and most popular of all Buddhist scriptures.-Introduction:The Heart Sūtra is a member of the Perfection of...
.
In the 1960s and '70s he met with university students of Buddhism in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and lectured at several universities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; he was appreciated by his students. However, he was very outspoken, and gained the disapproval of the university authorities and some of his colleagues. With the combination of his Communist past and his candid criticism of American involvement in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, he was eventually obliged to leave. He died on September 24, 1979 at his home in Sherborne
Sherborne
Sherborne is a market town in northwest Dorset, England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The A30 road, which connects London to Penzance, runs through the town. The population of the town is 9,350 . 27.1% of the population is aged 65 or...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
.
Legacy
Conze was a complex figure, and it is not easy to assess his overall significance. He was a Middle European intellectual refugee, fleeing from Germany before the war like many others. However, he wasn't representative of the dominant strains in 20th-century intellectual life, being very critical of many trends in modern thought. He was a self-confessed elitist. Indeed, he entitled his autobiography Memoirs of a Modern Gnostic, believing as he did that GnosticismGnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
was essentially elitist
Elitism
Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
. Neither did he approve of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
or feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
.
He is certainly representative of a Western pre-war generation that became disillusioned with Marxism, especially in its Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
form. Where he differed from others was in the fact that he did not really lose religious beliefs. He transferred his idealism from politics to Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
.
Dr. Conze was one of the great Buddhist translators, comparable with the indefatigable Chinese translators Kumarajiva
Kumarajiva
Kumārajīva; was a Kuchean Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator. He first studied teachings of the Sarvastivada schools, later studied under Buddhasvāmin, and finally became a Mahāyāna adherent, studying the Madhyamaka doctrine of Nagarjuna. Kumārajīva settled in Chang'an, which was the imperial...
and Hsuan Tsang. He has been called "the foremost Western scholar of the Prajnaparamita literature." It is especially significant that as a scholar of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
he also tried to practice it, especially meditation. This was very unusual at the time he started his work, and he was regarded as eccentric in the 1940s and 1950s – objective scholars were not supposed to have any personal involvement in their subject. He was hence a forerunner of a new strain of Western scholars in Buddhism who are practicing Buddhists.
Publications
- Why War? (1934) - with Ellen Wilkinson
- Why Fascism? (1934) - with Ellen Wilkinson
- The Scientific Method of Thinking: An Introduction to Dialectical Materialism (1935)
- An Introduction to Dialectical Materialism (1936)
- Spain To-day: Revolution and Counter Revolution (1936)
- Contradiction and Reality: A Summary (1939)
- Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (1951)
- Abhisamayālaṅkāra (1954)
- Selected Sayings from the Perfection of Wisdom (1955)
- The Buddha's Law Among the Birds (1956)
- Buddhist Meditation (1956 & 1972)
- Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā (1957)
- Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines and its Verse Summary (1958)
- A Short History of Buddhism (1958)
- Buddhist Scriptures (1959)
- The Prajñāpāramitā Literature (1960)
- The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom with divisions of Abhisamayālaṅkāra (1961)
- Gilgit Manuscript of Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā (1962)
- Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy (1962)
- Materials for a Dictionary of the Prajñāpāramitā Literature (1967)
- Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies: Selected Essays (1967)
- The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts (1974)
- Further Buddhist Studies: Selected Essays (1975)
- The Memoirs of A Modern Gnostic (1979)
External links
- Edward Conze & Prajnaparamita literature
- Edward Conze papers University of Bristol Library Special Collections
- Edward Conze Memorial Site