U Dhammaloka (Burmese ဦးဓမ္မလောက) lived from 1856–1914. He was an Irish-born migrant worker [1] who became a Theravada Buddhist monk.
He was a strong critic of Christian missionaries and a temperance campaigner who took an active role in the Asian Buddhist revival around the turn of the 20th century.
Venerable Dhammaloka (because "U," pronounced ooh, is not a name or initial but a Burmese honorific) was ordained in Burma prior to 1900, making him the earliest attested Western Buddhist monk in modern times.
He was a celebrity preacher, vigorous polemicist, and prolific editor in Burma and Singapore between 1900 and his conviction for sedition and appeal in 1910–1911.
Drawing on Western atheist (freethinking) writings, he publicly challenged the role of Christian missionaries and resisted attempts by the colonial government to charge him for sedition. More
Buddhism is the THIRD largest religion in the world when we restored the 1 billion Buddhists in China the communist regime refuses to count since communism is officially atheist and insists party member comply.
Nearly all Chinese Buddhists follow three blended traditions (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism) and now have to mix those with a communist version of capitalism). The country's regime is trying to supplant religion with this new capitalist-friendly communism and a nanny state with mass surveillance, bringing the actual total number of Buddhists to more than 1.5 billion. That makes Buddhism the third largest missionary (universalist) "world religion."
Catholicism is the biggest religion in the world. Combining its total with Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy, and many strange sects and post schismatic traditions, Christianity has the most nominal adherents.
Islam is said to be growing but is already the second biggest world religion, having gone from place to place by the sword, just as Christianity used to do with imperial crusades, ethnic cleansings, and forced conversions.
Buddhism is the original missionary tradition, but neither then nor now is it out to convert anybody away from their faith. Exposing them to the Teachings of the Awakened One capable of curing suffering and making people better at adhering to their beliefs and practices, it has been most welcome.
Why? Just as in the Buddha's time, the Buddha's Dharma ("Doctrine") is not actually a "religion." But the West treats all daily activities and beliefs as "religious" systems when, since the time Sumer, Greater Egypt, and the very advanced Indus Valley Civilization held sway, what we now call "religion" was just the collective daily habits and somewhat superstitious customs of whole societies that made little to no distinction between ordinary life and spirituality.
Buddhism in Celtic Britain and Ireland before Christianity?
Irish Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk Ven. Dhammaloka in 1902, age approximately 50
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The Irish Buddhist: Forgotten Monk
His name was Venerable (U) Dhammaloka (born Laurence Carroll in the 1850s) from Boostertown, Dublin County, Ireland.
He reportedly gave at least five names for himself, including Laurence O'Rourke and William Colvin [2]. On occasion he used the nom de plume "Captain Daylight."
It is accepted that he was Irish, almost certainly born in Dublin in the 1850s, and emigrated to the United States, possibly via Liverpool. More
Welcome to CelticBuddhism.org, a site of benefit and inspiration to those who enter and proceed on the path of Dharma.
The lineage of Celtic Buddhism was suggested in the 1970s during a conversation between the renowned [and abusive, scandal-ridden, Shambhala] Tibetan lama Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his student John Perks. The actual development is the result of the mixing of their minds.
What would an Irish Buddhist do?
The lineage was formally incorporated as a non-profit in 1989, when it took on official status. After meeting for years in rented rooms, Venerable Seonaidh Perks established the Anadaire Celtic Buddhist Center on 11 acres in Saxtons River, Vermont, where the sangha ("spiritual community") erected a stone circle that has aided in increasing and focusing energies for transformation.
Sangha members are encouraged to establish a daily meditation practice. Practices range from a host of traditional Tibetan [Vajrayana] Buddhist practices to the more contemporary practices of the Celtic Fire visualization and working with the mandala of the Celtic cross. We also encourage integrating everyday practices in art, music, healing through various modalities -- including animals, and in the world of business.
As a group, some members have gone on yearly retreats to Maine (USA) or to further connect with latent Celtic energies to Ireland and Scotland. One member has delved into thangka painting to explore the emerging Celtic Buddhist mandala.
In March 2010, we celebrated the ordination of Sister Griffin as abbess of Glen Ard Abbey, a newly formed Celtic Buddhist monastery. More: celticbuddhism.org
Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
In this series, JK explores the full story of the Proto-Indo-European migrations — from the Yamnaya Steppe nomads of prehistory, through the ancient and medieval periods, all the way to the present day. The goal here is to create a simple, digestible overview that explains:
How these migrations occurred
Where the various archaeological, linguistic, and tribal names come from, and
How they shaped the modern world we live in today
In Part 4, the series concludes by exploring the branches of the Proto-Indo-Europeans who migrated south into Anatolia, the Middle East, and India.
Part 1 covered Northern and Western Europe, following the chronicles of the Celtic and Germanic peoples. Part 2 explored the branches that gave rise to the Hellenic, Italic, Balkan, and Balto-Slavic peoples of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. Part 3 covered the branches that remained in the vast and ever-changing Eurasian Steppe.
Follow on social media where posts are posted daily: Instagram (jonaskilker), TikTok (jonaskilker). X (x.com/jonaskilker), Website: jonaskilker.com. Sons of the Steppe merch: constantinegraphicsco.com...Thanks to everyone who has supported this endeavor through the creation of this series through comments, shares, subscriptions, and even insights and bits of research. (A collaborative effort is truly enjoyable.)
THE SERIES
With this series completed, it is thrilling to have a solid framework to be able to reference as we move ahead and explore the virtually THOUSANDS of exciting and thought-provoking histories within all of these regions and cultures. Of course, this channel will also be exploring various topics in philosophy, mythology, and much more. This is only the beginning, the very, very beginning.
Jonas Kilker, Jan. 4, 2026; Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
It seems that ancient Irish tales of "hollow hills" (underground caverns in mountains, as in Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" where ogres and supernatural beings dwell) are true. There are hillforts throughout the Emerald Isle. And the largest ever found in Northern Europe has just been uncovered, and it's massive.
Ireland discovery: the largest site ever
What, our pre-Christian roots go way back?
A vast prehistoric settlement hidden in the hills of County Wicklow is forcing archaeologists to rethink how people lived in Ireland more than 2,700 years ago.
What began as a closer look at a single hillfort has revealed a sprawling complex of ramparts, houses, and enclosures that specialists now say may be the largest clustered village ever identified in Ireland and Britain.
The scale of the discovery, and the suggestion that it could be the biggest prehistoric site of its kind in Northern Europe, is already reshaping debates about when urban-style living first emerged on the Atlantic edge of the continent.
The story starts with a familiar landmark in the Irish landscape, a hillfort in Baltinglass that locals have long known as a dramatic feature above the County Wicklow countryside.
Archaeologists had catalogued it as one of several prominent fortified sites in the region, but new survey work has shown that the hilltop is only the core of a much larger complex.
What once looked like a single enclosure now appears to sit within a dense cluster of prehistoric houses and additional earthworks that extend across the slopes and surrounding ridges. More
Cassian Holt, Morning Overview via MSN (msn.com/AA1Ts3), Jan. 2, 2026; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Today, Nov. 1, is Día de los Muertos. It’s a time when people celebrate the lives of those who've passed on -- a time to remember family members, close friends, pets, even strangers, perhaps all of humanity.
The Mexican American holiday holds a special place for many people as a way to grieve those who have died and keep their memory alive.
People usually celebrate with an ofrenda or offering altar that has photos of their loved ones, their favorite meals, orange marigolds, pan de muerto[bread for the dead, dead bread, soul cake offerings], sugar skull candies, and other items that have special meaning to those being remembered.
Home altar feels like Halloween
In celebration of the holiday, LAist.com asked readers: "What is a memory of a loved one you would like to share for Día de los Muertos?"
LAist heard from people across Southern California about those favorite moments. This digital ofrenda is meant to highlight those memories.
Offerings (ofrendas) to benefit the deceased who are grateful to be remembered by the living
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Photos of the dead on home altar
Joanne Pineda of Monterey Park (a small city in the San Gabriel Valley of LA County) has made a tradition of celebrating Día de los Muertos with her family. She said she’ll always remember the time when her dad asked her mom to dance to Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” in the living room.
“Thinking about it now really brings me tears because it just brought them so much joy. It brought them close together,” Pineda said. “For me to be there, to see that, how special it was to them I just think about it all the time.” More
David Rodriguez and Gillian Morán Pérez, LAist.com, "Angelenos are celebrating Día de los Muertos. Here’s who they’re honoring today," Nov. 1, 2025; Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Samhain (SOW-in) or Sauin is a Gaelic festival in Ireland that falls on the Mexican Day of the Dead, Nov. 1st, marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year [1].
It is also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name for November. Celebrations begin on Halloween, the evening of October 31st, since the Celtic day began and ended at sunset [1].
This is about halfway between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasa.
Historically it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Its Brittonic Celtic equivalent is Calan Gaeaf in Wales. More
The Citizens of Halloween: "This is Halloween" (from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas")
(DisneyMusicVEVO) Oct. 14, 2021: Stream “Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” on Disney+, the only place to stream favorites from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more [because there's absolutely nowhere else to stream. All hail the Disney Corporation!]
(BbaGumpSkrimp) The Making of The Nightmare Before Christmas
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
It was a time of innocent childishness and evil.
Remember waiting all October for Linus to see the Great Pumpkin? This Halloween classic wasn’t just wholesome—it changed American (and Canadian) TV forever. From hidden gags to production secrets and the real reason it almost got banned, here are 10 wild facts about It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! most people didn’t know. Relive the magic of a simpler time. More
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