Lal Mani Joshi

Lal Mani Joshi

Dr. Lal Mani Joshi, photo taken around 1983
Born Lal Mani Joshi
(1935-07-27)27 July 1935
Kumaon Hills, Uttarakhand, India India
Died 16 July 1984(1984-07-16) (aged 48)
New Delhi, India India
Occupation University professor of buddhist studies and comparative religion
Nationality Indian
Citizenship Indian
Spouse Janaki Joshi
Children Dharmakirti, Avalok, Maya

Lal Mani Joshi (27 July 1935, Kumaon Hills, Uttarakhand, India – 16 July 1984, Delhi, India) was an eminent Buddhist scholar and professor of comparative religions and Buddhist studies in a number of distinguished universities of India and USA.

Early years

From 1956–1958, he studied at the University of Allahabad and obtained a B.A. in History, Philosophy and English literature. On the 2500th anniversary of Buddhajayanti (1956), befittingly celebrated in India at the insistence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indian Buddhists, L. M. Joshi was attracted to Buddhist Studies. From 1958–1960 he studied at the University of Gorakhpur and obtained a M.A. in Ancient History of Culture (with a special paper on the History and Philosophy of Buddhism). He had the privilege of studying Buddhism and Ancient Indian History under ProfessorGovind Chandra Pande. G. C. Pande played the decisive role in Joshi's formation as a Buddhist scholar. The former also supervised the latter's PhD thesis entitled "Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India (during the 7th and 8th Centuries A.D.)", later published as a book, which many modern scholars consider a work "of almost encyclopedic order". In 1964 Joshi obtained his PhD from Gorakhpur University and a second M. A. in Pali from Banaras Hindu University. He completed his studies in classical and Buddhist Sanskrit and also finished a diploma course in classical Tibetan.[1]

Academic career

L. M. Joshi held his first lecture post as Assistant Professor at the Department of Ancient History, Culture & Archaeology, University of Gorakhpur, from 1961–1967. In 1968 he was offered a senior research fellowship in the Department of Comparative Religion, Punjabi University, Patiala. Soon after, from 1969–1970, he went to USA as postdoctoral visiting fellow in Comparative Religion at the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. At Harvard Joshi shared his profound knowledge of Triyana Buddhism with theologians and simultaneously read Religionswissenschaft in general, and Christian theology in particular. There was where Prof. Joshi met his lifelong friend Robert Thurman, the well known Tibetologist, and Prof. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who impressed him deeply and whom he often quoted later on:[2] “No statement about a religion is valid unless it can be acknowledged by that religion's believers”.[3] Such guidelines on academic scrupulousness, honesty and enlightened tolerance, prerequisite for genuine scholarship in Comparative Religion, have always stood Joshi in good stead when he, himself a professing Buddhist, in his later writings dealt with other religions, especially with Jainism, Hinduism and Sikhism.

Back in India he was appointed Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, Punjabi University, a post he held from 1971 to 1975. In 1976 the same university offered him a professorship until 1981. In addition to his appointment he had to accept responsibility as editor of his department's biannual publication of The Journal of Religious Studies. In 1980 his university requested him to assume the headship of the Department of Religious Studies.

Professor Joshi spent the last years of his life in USA (from 1981 to spring 1984), first as Henry R. Luce Visiting Professor of Comparative Religious Ethics at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, and subsequently as Margaret Gest Visiting Professor of Comparative Religion at Haverford College, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Joshi was well known for his constant dedication and effort, vīrya-pāramitā. Besides the many courses taught by him (such as History and Philosophy of Buddhism, Methodology of Comparative Religion, Buddhist and Christian Ethics, etc.), supervised three PhD dissertations relating to Buddhism, Jainism and Comparative Religion and more than a dozen M. Phil. or M. Litt. dissertations in the field of Religious Studies. He also was associated with a number of learned institutions holding posts such as Member of the Board of Editors of The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (University of Wisconsin, USA), Representative in India for the Pali Text Society (London), Academic Expert Member of the Board of Governors of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (Sarnath), Academic Expert Member at the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies of Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi), etc.

Likewise, he never eschewed the troubles of travelling to far-away places in India or to Sri Lanka as academic consultant, expert member, external examiner or honorary lecturer. He, of course, also participated in many learned conferences, whether in Rome or Honolulu, at Oxford, Göttingen, or in Siberia.

Another example of his vīrya-pāramitā is his extensive written work. A large portion of his writings though, appeared as articles or book reviews in journals. Very few scholars have written so extensively at such a young age. His last major work, though already completed in the mid-1970s, appeared in 1983: "Discerning the Buddha, a Study of Buddhism and of the Brahmnanical Hindu Attitude to It" (Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi). This book testifies to the author's mature scholarship with respect to Buddhist and Religious Studies. A number of scholars have expressed their perplexity as to how Buddhism could have been wiped out of its native country. Here the author gives a satisfactory answer and provides much needed clarification as to what had happened to Buddhadharma in India during the Middle Ages up to the present.

All friends and acquaintances will certainly agree that Joshi was a most amiable and generous man, both privately and as a scholar. When necessary, however, for the sake of historical objectivity and scientific probity he could, tactfully though, speak out and even "slaughter holy cows" of outdated opinions and cherished convictions needing detached rectification or demythologisation. For instance, he was very critical of Swami Vivekananda's positions towards Buddhism, and also declared that celebrated exponents of the Sophia Perennis such as A. K. Coomaraswamy had not understood Buddhism properly.[4]

That Professor Joshi was an example of real religious tolerance is shown by his numerous contributions to Sikh and Jaina studies. In his writings showed that real tolerance comes from accepting differences and not from seeing only points of agreement.

Last days

Though still relatively young, his wish was to finish his academic career in India, his homeland and the homeland of Buddhism. So he turned down offers of extension at Haverford College to engage in his new responsibilities as Research Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, in June 1984 when he was 48 years old. He had been associated with this unique Institute (now a University) since its very formation.

For many years, it seems, he had been suffering from gastric ulcers, and in Spring 1984, soon after his return from the prolonged stay in USA, he had to undergo an operation in New Delhi. He appeared to recover his health satisfactorily within a short time when on the eve of his departure to attend a conference in Taiwan, he had new health complaints that deteriorated to an extent that necessitated an immediate second operation. But this time all surgical aid did not help. He was misdiagnosed with ulcer burst when in fact had suffered an appendix burst. It was a case of fatal medical negligence. His sudden demise was a terrible shock to the bereaved, friends and colleagues and a great lost in the field of Buddhist and Religious studies worldwide.

Following the wishes of Dr. Joshi to spend the last years of his academic life at Sarnath, the place where the Buddha taught his first Sermon, his family decided that his wonderful library be acquired by the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath. Nowadays, it is kept as a separate collection named after him.

Works

Books

Minor publications and papers

Book reviews

References

  1. ↑ Bhikkhu Pasadika's obituary, Tibet Journal, Vol. IX, No. 4, Winter, 1984.
  2. ↑ L. M. Joshi, Discerning the Buddha, p. 127—cf. below.
  3. ↑ W. C. Smith, “Comparative Religion: Whither and Why?”, The History of Religions; Essays in Methodology, ed. by Mircea Eliade and J. M. Kitagawa, Chicago, 1959, p. 42.
  4. ↑ Aspects of Buddhism in Indian History, Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka.
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