Paul Debes, engl.

Researcher and disseminator of Buddhism in Germany.

* September 8, 1906  Wuppertal Elberfeld.

† June 6, 2004  Bindlach.

In 1931, with his brother Heinrich, P.D. boarded a freighter from Trieste to Ceylon; The goal was the >Island Hermitage< on Polgasduwa near Dodanduwa, which was headed, as abbot, by the monk and scholar Nyanatiloka Mahathera. This monk was from Germany and had been ordained in Myanmar. But the extremely strict meditation practice, which is focused on perishing and death, in complete seclusion in huts and caves in the jungle, caused problems for P.D. and so the two brothers travel back to Germany, after a good six months, with a new wealth of experience.

In 1950 P.D. founded the publication organ “Circular letters for orientation in reality”, which from 1955 bore the title “Wissen und Wandel – Buddhistische Anschauung und Lebensführung [Knowledge and Change – Buddhist Philosophy and Way of Life]” and would appear for over 60 years. When Konrad Adenauer directed his German policy against Russia, it was done one-sidedly towards the USA and thus sealed the division of Germany for a long time, P.D. decided to initiate the publishing of the “Streitlose Blätter [Peaceful Pages]“. He did this from 1951 to 1954, travelling throughout Germany with a small group of supporters under the motto “Peace through negotiation”.

His real concern, however, was not a political one. For three decades, P.D. held 14-day to 3-week research and reflection seminars at various locations in Northern Germany. Here he gave several lectures every day, all conducted in a low voice, always without a manuscript, highly concentrated and so thoughtful while speaking that the listeners were not only spellbound but also directly involved in the thought process, participating in it. Recordings of some of his lectures were later digitized by friends and followers and posted on the internet on youtube (see list of publications below).

As early as 1948, P.D. founded the “Buddhist Seminar“. It was at first based in Großhansdorf, north of Hamburg, but was later moved to the Berliner Tor in Hamburg. In this context, P.D. conveyed and profoundly explained the teachings of the Buddha to thousands of people. In 1959 the “Buddhist Seminar” moved to Rohlfshagen near Bad Oldesloe, as a more exclusive research facility, at which his daughter Monika Debes and Irma Lübcke collaborated until 1966 alongside his future wife Inge Anders. P.D. had meanwhile developed not only a philosophy but also the psychology of Buddhism as a system. In cooperation and in parallel with him, learned friends and companions began researching and disseminating the original teachings of the Buddha in Germany, most significantly Helmut Hecker and Fritz Schäfer.

1963/64 P.D. travelled to Myanmar and Ceylon and returned to the >Island Hermitage< monastery, where he had meditated more than 30 years ago.

In 1966 P.D., and with him the Buddhist Seminar, moved to Neugraben (south of Hamburg), and in 1974 to Bindlach/Beng in Bavaria.

From 1976 P.D., largely withdrawn from public life, first lived in Wangen on Lake Constance, then on a farm in Bindlach (Bavaria).

1994 Marriage to Inge Anders, who had worked with him for decades and who manages and publishes his writings. 

Publications by Paul Debes (selected):

Publications on Paul Debes (selected):