March 23rd 2019, we lost Pali-translator and former chairman of the foundation Vrienden van het Boeddhisme (Friends of Buddhism). The emeritus Professor clinical psychology and personality theory, Prof. Dr. Robert Hubertus Conrardus Janssen, reached the age of 87 years. His name will be inseparably connected with Buddhism in the Netherlands, because of his vital role as a translator, together with his partner Jan de Breet (1959 – 2021), of the basic texts of the Buddha’s teaching, the Pali-Canon.
Raised in a Roman-Catholic family he became fascinated by Buddhism during a trip in India in 1974. He contacted the ‘Stichting Nederlands Buddhistisch Centrum’, the predecessor of our foundation. After that he immersed himself deeply into Tibetan Buddhism in the western order Arya Maitreya Mandala, founded by the (German born) lama Govinda. His intense spirital focus combined with his organisational skills and interests led Rob Janssen to important functions in the administration of AMM and the Dutch foundation, while working as a psycotherapist and a Professor. He has been chairman of our foundation for many decades.
After his retirement from the VU University of Amsterdam he studied both Sanskrit and Pali with Prof.Dr. T.E. Vetter in Leiden. In 2001 the first translation from Pali was published, by Jan de Breet and Rob Janssen, of the enormous Pali-Canon, the oldest scriptures of the Buddhist tradition.
Together they published 15 volumes of the discourses of the Buddha. The fifth and last volume of the Anguttara Nikaya, on which he was working when he died, has been finished by Jan de Breet and Yvon Mattaar and will be published probably in the winter of 2022. An anthology, Aldus sprak de Boeddha, (Thus spoke the Buddha) was published in 2007, and the revised edition will be available in the autumn of 2022.
At the funeral ceremony at the Rhijnhof in Leiden on the 27th March Jan de Breet quoted from the introduction by Rob Janssen to their translation of a verse on old age, from the Short Texts of the Buddha:
‘When one (…) has seen the course of things according to their essence one does not complain even though there would be reason for complaint: we feel embedded in a great cosmic event.’ (JdB)
From altar boy to Buddhist
Jacques den Boer
The following interview with Rob Janssen was published in het Kwartaalblad Boeddhisme, year, nr.4, summer 1996.
In a good catholic family of Limburgian origin it was a matter of course that son Rob became an altar boy in the parish church. ‘I had great faith. I thought the services beautiful. When I was some ten years old I wanted tot become a priest. An uncle of mine was a provincial of de order of Camillians, with monasteries in Vaals and Roermond. That may have encouraged me a bit.’
The Catholic upbringing faltered because of World War Two. The Franciscan Catholic high school in Rotterdam was just too far away for children living in Delft. Rob went to the local high school. ‘A completely heathen culture. In the first year, when talking about Greek and Roman myths the teacher said: “Of course this has all been made up, just stories, just like all believe in God.” That was a tremendous shock for me.’
‘When I was fifteen we read Cicero, Somnium Scipionis, The dream, of Scipo, a philosophical tract which fascinated me. I came into contact with antique religion and noticed that Christianity was in fact a rather limited vision. I got hold of a book Plato en zijn betekenis voor onze tijd, by mr. H. Groot, in which he compared Plato, as we read it in school, to Indian philosophy. My religiousness became a lot broader after that.
Moreover, I had a teacher of Greek, dr. de Vreese, who was a private tutor of Pali in Leiden. He gave derivations of Greek verbs to Indo-Germanic en Sanskrit. I remember well how he explained the origin of the word Buddha. At that time I bought a tiny buddha statue for one guilder at the market. I have had that for a long time.
During the last school year I also read the Bhagavadgita. I did not discuss these matters at home, it was not an issue there. Neither did I discuss it with my uncle when he came visiting. However, he knew about my interest in philosophy. He used to say: ‘Don’t forget: “Philosophia ancilla theologiae!”, philosophy is the maidservant of theology.
And my friends were not interested in religion either, except for one, Gijs Dingemans, who later on became a professor of theology. I was a member of the Catholic Boy Scouts. It was something of a double life: during the weekend in the Catholic world, during the week among the heathens. I easily switched from one to the other.
My parents were very tolerant. My mother had been baptized Netherlands Reformed , became Remonstrant en married Catholic. Her mother, my grandmother, was a very religious woman who said: ‘All faiths are equal; there is only one God.’ My father was the managing director of a few cinemas and he had a technical company and a factory for sound recordings to go with silent films. He wanted me tot study engineering in Delft. But when I chose psychology he agreed to that as well, as long as I enjoyed it – a very kind man.
I would have preferred studying philosophy, but there was no way one could earn a living in that. Psychology was nearest to that which interested me: human consciousness, the phenomenon of mankind and self-reflection. My teachers saw for me a future in orientalism or classical languages. Psychology they thought a disgrace, not a profession.
In Leiden, as from 1949, there were two worlds as well. I had friends from the field of psychology, but also from the Catholic movement, the student association Sanctus Augustinus. We went to Rome for the Holy Year, very nice indeed. And the professor of psychology, Chorus, was a Catholic as well, from Limburg, his mother was a niece of an aunt of mine…
Among my fellow students I was notorious because of bringing up the Indian religiosity time and time again. I had met Sierskma, the scientist of religion. He drew my attention tot Vestdijk, who in his De Toekomst der Religie wrote that he saw the Buddha as the greatest psychologist of all time. It was because of him that I started reading Buddhist scriptures, before that I was still on the Hindu tour.
I came into contact with practical Buddhism in a weird manner. One morning in 1973 while I was getting dressed the radio was on. A Buddhist monk was being interviewed. That was Jinamitto, from Indonesia who turned out to live in Amsterdam in the Sarphatistraat, the house number was mentioned, I believe it was 121.
I went there and was recieved very friendly. I received my first meditation instruction from him, while being seated at his feet, together with Piet Krul, now known as the venerable Dhammawiranata. I went there regularly, even when Jinamitto was succeeded by Sumangalo.
In the years before that I had fully concentrated on my work, graduated in Leiden In 1957. It took me quite a long time because from 1953 I worked part-time as an assistant of professor Chorus. I got private tutoring, worked at the concrete practice and lectured as well. I did not really think about graduating any more until Chorus said: it is time for you to take your PhD. I then really focussed for a couple of months.
I stayed with Chorus for another two years and started working then in Schakenbosch, at that time the psychiatric institution Hulp en Heil, in Leidschendam. I was incredibly lucky with my chief, Plokker, there. He was really interested in eastern religiosity, was a friend of Sierskma. Sierskma’s book, Freud, Jung en de religie was regularly discussed when we were having our coffee in the morning, a bit annoying for the rest of the staff.
I worked there for thirteen years, but part time. Professor J.H. van den Berg had started in Leiden with a course of clinical psychology and he thought that I should train students in clinical practice at the hospital (Schakenbosch). And so I was a supervisor internship and at the end of the week I lectured in Leiden. My work in Leiden en Leidschendam overlapped.
Because of Plokker I sometimes visited Sierskma at his home. We often analysed drawings by psychiatric patients. Sierksma saw all kinds of archetypes in them. Plokker was more of a Jungian. He has written a book on drawings by patients. When he had professor Rümke, psychiater in Utrecht, read it the latter said: ‘A marvelous book. You have finally written your dissertation.’ Plokker had not meant it that way, but he did get his PhD and became Rümke’ successor later on.
In the preface Plokker announced that an exact, statistical study of drawings by psychiatric patients according to psychological methods would be done by me! And so I was stuck with it. I collected hundreds of drawings, according tot a standardised methodology, everybody had tot draw a house, a tree and a human being.
A great piece of work, very exact, everything analysed according tot twenty of thirty variables. I had to learn programming, writing computer programs myself. That was in the sixties. That which nowadays you will calculate in two minutes, took me hours. I spent complete nights at the Centraal Rekeninstituut of the university. In 1970 I got my PhD with Chorus. The book was called Expressie in tekeningen en abnormaal gedrag (Expression in drawings and abnormal behaviour).
Two years later I started working full time at the Jelgersmakliniek in Oegstgeest with prof. Bastiaans. There I did psycho-fysiological research: measuring all sorts of fysical changes as a result of emotions, related to the personality structure. We also did research into the effects of psychotropic drugs. I have always continued giving therapy, even until the present day.
In 1978 I became a professor clinical psychology and personality at the Vrije Universiteit. The emphasis was a psychosomatic research, for example into the effect of behaviourl therapy on lower back pain. Due to government cutbacks I left at a certain moment. That had its pros and cons. The thing I missed most was working with PhD students. But it gave me more time for Buddhism and the study of Pali and later on of Sanskrit. I take things the way they come.
I cannot remember how it happened, but in 1974 I heard about the predecessor of our current foundation, the Stichting Nederlands Buddhistisch Centrum (Foundation Netherlands Buddhist). Because of that I came into contat with the order of Arya Maitreya Mandala (AMM), founded by the lama Govinda. It is true that I did start with Theravada, but Tibetan Buddhism attracted me as well, may be because of the works of C.G. Jung. I did not really care. I was never into sectarianism.
That year I had gone to India. Sarnath, one of the main Buddhist places of pilgrimage, was beautiful, a wonderful atmosphere. I then thought: yes, I really have tot do something with this. I have felt more or less a Buddhist since my visit to Sarnath where the Buddha gave his first sermon, at the source. A beautiful starting point!
The Vajrayana of the AMM appealed to me because it is psychological, or so I think. It was a nice group of people. We met every month at Mrs. Perk’s in The Hague. When the only two Dutch members of the order started to feel too old to lead the group the Dutch branche threatened to be disbanded.
From Berlin came an order member, Maitreya, actually Lionel Stützer, to settle the matter. I showed him around Leiden and became really impressed by him. He had a very special charisma. He was a pupil of Tao Chün, a German who had lived in China. No dogmatician, more Zen-like than Vajrayana, very down-to-earth en terribly humoristic, a great man.
Because of him I grew to be enthousiastic for the order and he became my kalyâna-mitra, my teacher. I took the three-year course, went regularly to Germany, to Roseburg, a tiny little village east of Hamburg. The ‘Exerzitium’ of the AMM was held at a beautiful estate, in the middle of the woods. I have wonderful memories of that.
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In 1976 I became a member of the order. After that I went to America a couple of times, where I met lama Govinda. I had met him once in Europe as well. A great man, very impressive, not only the author of good books, but also a wonderful man. His wife was very nice too.
After his death his successor, dr. K.-H. Gottmann, started changing the AMM: centralisation, efficiency. The local brotherhoods lost their autonomy, although lama Govinda was all in favour of diversity. We, in the Netherlands, where we had a nice group together, did not like that, and neither did de Austrians. We split off. There is a foundation Milinda, we have a number of ‘virtual’ members and are represented in the Boeddhistische Unie van Nederland, the Buddhist Union of the Netherlands.
Moreover, I see the De Stichting Vrienden van het Boeddhisme as an opportunity to introduce people tot Buddhism, a kind of reception desk, without giving priority to a particuar movement. There are quite some people who do not wish to accept the obligations of a group.
Some people say: the guru should be in charge, but I think that that does not go well with western mentality; I think one shoud encourage people to do their own research. I am in favour of a liberal attitude.
A disadvantage may be that one does not really get acquainted with Buddhism. But a free, inquiring mind is very important. It is worthwhile to go into a certain direction for just once, to take a very intensive training. In doing so one is left with what is truly valuable for oneself. I, for instance, do a small puja every day and use certain meditation techniques that I have learnt at the AMM.
So, what did I look for in Buddhism? Well maybe an alternative to Christianity. I was too modern, scientific a person to be able to believe in a personal god and in Christ literally rising from the dead. I understand that Protestants nowadays look at it in a far more symbolic way. As Van Peursen, a highly respected philosopher at the VU said: ‘If you had put a camera at Christ’s tomb on Eastern Monday the film would not have shown anybody coming out of it.’ Well to Catholics that is still pure heresy, you simply have to believe.
People in the Middle Ages talked about an ‘animal naturaliter religiosa’, I am a bit like that. I have never been able to settle for pure materialism. And from an early age onward I had that curious affinity with Indian philosophy, conditoned – the way according to the Buddha everything is conditioned – by my childhood experiences with teachers that were orientalists. It is a chain of events for which I do not see any deeper meaning.
From the philosophical interest I came down to concrete reality: how does the human mind function? Psycology gives one an entry into that, just like through Buddhist meditation.
Especially the concept of enlightenment appeals to me, because it expresses the healing of the human spirit, which one way or the other is broken, if you just have an eye for all the suffering around you, in the world and in individual man. The brokenness of mankind can actually be healed. I am sure that it is possible. I believe that as a Buddhist one can work on that within oneself and as psychotherapist in others. So that’s all the same to me.’