Sister Uppalavanna

Sister Uppalavanna
School	Theravada
Personal
Nationality	German
Born	11 February 1886 Hamburg, Germany
Died	1982 Mallika Nivasa, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Sister Uppalavanna (Else Buchholtz) was a German violinist who converted to Buddhism, becoming the first European Buddhist nun. She lived as an ascetic in Sri Lanka from 1926 until her death.

Else Buchholtz was born in Hamburg in 1886. Both her parents died in a Cholera epidemic soon after.

Adopted by wealthy foster parents, she was brought up in the Tiergarten quarter of Berlin. She led a carefree life, with all the comforts of German high society, and music, singing, dancing and horseback riding were an important part of her upbringing. She was proficient in the violin and possessed a trained musical voice.

In 1912, her foster parents also died and she inherited a considerable fortune from them. She moved to Odenwald, in the Schwarzwald. Here she found many poor and needy people, whom she helped financially. The loss of her parents and foster parents caused her to question the concept of the All Merciful God. She immersed herself in philosophical works and became interested in the philosophy of Buddhism. Amidst the chaos and destruction of the First World War she taught herself Meditation.

In 1919, she gave shelter at her home to two German Buddhist monks, Ven Nyanatiloka (the first non-British European to become a Buddhist monk) and Ven Vappa. The former, before his ordination, had been a violinist. Their common musical background helped bring about her conversion to Buddhism.

Buchholtz determined to go to Sri Lanka to renounce worldly desires, since she felt that the country's Buddhism represented the original teachings of the Buddha. In 1920, she paid for the passage of the two monks and herself to the island. However, the country was still a British colony and the three were denied entry as enemy aliens.

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