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Henry Steel Olcott

Henry Steel Olcott

1832 CE–1907 CE · Modern · Galle

August 2, 1832 – February 17, 1907

Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) was an American who, with H. P. Blavatsky, co-founded the Theosophical Society (1875) and became one of the first Westerners to formally take Buddhist precepts, doing so in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1880. He played a significant organizing role in the late-19th-century Sinhalese Buddhist revival, helping found Buddhist schools and writing a widely translated 'Buddhist Catechism.' His engagement was framed through Theosophy, an esoteric movement of his own, which colored his interpretation of Buddhism; he is presented here as an early Western convert and organizer rather than a traditional lineage figure.

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Did you know?

  • From the Lincoln assassination inquiry to the Buddhist flag

    Henry Steel Olcott was a US Army colonel who helped investigate the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Fifteen years later he became one of the first Americans of European descent to formally take up Buddhism, and in 1885 he advised the committee that designed the five-colored Buddhist flag now flown by Buddhist communities worldwide.

    How we know

    Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907): US Army colonel, assisted the investigation of Lincoln's assassination in 1865; with H.P. Blavatsky took the Three Refuges and Five Precepts in Ceylon in 1880 (first Westerners to do so formally, per Wikipedia); advised the design of the Buddhist flag in 1885 — the flag has five distinct colors (blue, yellow, red, white, orange) in six stripes, with the sixth stripe combining all five. Sources: Wikipedia 'Henry Steel Olcott'; Wikipedia 'Buddhist flag'. Graph Author bud-henry-olcott (b. 1832, d. 1907).

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Galle

What they did here

DOCUMENTED: in 1880 he and H. P. Blavatsky publicly took the Five Precepts in Ceylon; he became a leading organizer of the Sinhalese Buddhist revival, promoting Buddhist schools and writing a 'Buddhist Catechism' (1881).

About Galle

Galle, a historic port city on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, was a centre of the late-nineteenth-century Buddhist revival. The American Theosophist Henry Steel Olcott, a Western convert who campaigned for Buddhist education and revival on the island, was active in the Galle area, where he and Helena Blavatsky formally took the Buddhist precepts in 1880.

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The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Henry Steel Olcott’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Buddhist world

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