I first encountered Mary Mikahala Elizabeth Robinson Foster (1844–1930) on a trip to Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu, Hawai‘i in 2021. I had surprisingly encountered a bo tree (ficus religiosa), a direct descendant of the Maha Bodhi tree of Bodh Gaya, which was gifted by Sinhalese Buddhist reformist Anagarika Dharmapala in 1913. Standing there, I recalled first hearing about Mary Foster during my dissertation research.  She was a Hawaiian benefactress of the Buddhist girls’ school I attended for my primary schooling in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which was supported by Anagarika Dharmapala. Like the long, climbing sinews of the ficus tree roots, the under-told story of Mary Foster reveals the far‑reaching and transnational power of women’s philanthropy—one that in this case bridges Sri Lanka, India, Japan, and Hawaiʻi across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

“Mary Foster, was second only to Visaka,” Bishop Eric Matsumoto says to me emphatically. He and I are pouring over documents, letters, newspaper clippings, and photographs that he has meticulously compiled for me to help trace the early history of the founding of the Japanese Buddhist Jōdo Shinshū Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi. Mary Foster was a benefactress to this mission, which has been a cornerstone of Japanese Buddhist life in the Hawaiian islands and perhaps the first Buddhist institution to have been established in the Americas.

It is impressive that Bishop Matsumoto draws a direct line of succession between Mary Foster, arguably the first known Hawaiian Buddhist and Vishaka, a wealthy aristocratic woman who lived during the time of the historical Buddha, but it doesn’t surprise me. Vishaka is a prominent figure in Buddhist historical narrative. She is famous as the chief female benefactor and female lay disciple (Maha upasika) of the Buddha. On numerous occasions in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, the Buddha extols Vishaka for her exemplary love of giving to the sangha. The Buddha identifies her as the ideal benefactor, as someone with abundant wealth to give coupled with a love of giving. (Willis 1985; Falk 1990) Indeed, Vishaka is a common gendered term used throughout Buddhist history to honor women who have played a role as benefactresses of the Dharma These women, like Mary Foster, created and sustained some of the most enduring Buddhist monasteries, educational institutions, devotional cultures, and reform movements. (Gajaweera 2020)

Foster’s lifelong friendship with Anagārika Dharmapāla—who would later refer to her as his “Foster mother”—began in 1893, when Dharmapāla’s ship, the Oceania, stopped briefly in Honolulu on his return from the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago and on his way to Yokohama, Japan. Foster had been widowed a few years earlier—her husband, Thomas R. Foster, founder of the Interisland Steam Navigation Company, died in 1889, and she had inherited substantial property both from him and her father. Through her mother—herself the daughter of Kamakana, a Maui chiefess—Foster was also of Native Hawaiian ancestry. That same year, Hawaiʻi was thrown into political upheaval with the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by American plantation interests. Foster, a childhood friend and confidant of Queen Liliʻuokalani, was one of only two people permitted to visit the Queen during her imprisonment at ʻIolani Palace. Although raised Christian, Foster had long cultivated an interest in Hawaiian cultural traditions, Theosophy, and Buddhism. Dharmapāla’s diaries recount that she boarded his ship seeking guidance—reportedly to help navigate feelings of anger amid the unfolding political environment—and he offered her Buddhist teachings and Vipassana practice that she found meaningful. (Masters 2017)

Their meeting was brief, but it initiated a friendship and philanthropic partnership of remarkable scale. Despite the reservations of some in her family, Foster became a devoted supporter of Dharmapāla. She pledged to assist in the restoration of the Mahābodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya and followed through with extraordinary commitment: over the next forty years, she established trusts and contributed the equivalent of approximately US$10 million to Dharmapāla and the Maha Bodhi Society. (Masters 2017: 5–15, 46–49, 76)

She funded hospitals, orphanages, temples, and schools in India and Sri Lanka, including the very primary school I myself attended in Sri Lanka. Her generosity extended far beyond South Asia—she granted land to the Japanese immigrant community in Hawaiʻi, enabling the establishment of the Hongwanji (Honganji) Jōdo‑Shin Buddhist temple, a pillar of Japanese American religious life in Hawaiʻi.

At home, Foster was equally influential. Her role in preserving Buddhist heritage was matched by her commitment to the empowerment and cultural continuity of Native Hawaiians. She funded scholarships for impoverished Native Hawaiian children at Kamehameha Schools and Punahou, supported the establishment of local hospitals, and played a decisive role in protecting Hawaiian land and cultural practices. (Masters 2017) Through the purchase and creation of a land trust for Kahana Valley, she ensured the preservation and promotion of traditional Hawaiian lifeways. Today, this area—now known as the Ahupua‘a ‘O Kahana State Park—remains one of the few publicly owned, relatively unspoiled ahupua‘a (traditional Hawaiian land divisions).

Tracing this genealogy of female benefactresses in Buddhist history also offers a unique and often underappreciated aspect of the concept of dana or generosity in Buddhism. More than only an interior moral discipline—an opportunity to practice open‑heartedness and to support teachers and centers voluntarily—the acts of generosity of women benefactresses to Buddhist institutions offers a lens into understanding dana as a material and economic system; one that has functioned to establish some of the most enduring institutional and cultural legacies in the Buddhist world.

Indeed, Mary Foster donated land along the Pali Highway in Honolulu to build the first temple of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission in Hawaiʻi, where members of the Buddhist Churches of America still gather. She is said to have proclaimed to its founding Bishop, Bishop Imamura, “This land is yours!” Foster further helped legitimize the institution’s local roots when, in 1901, she served as a distinguished guest at the temple’s opening ceremony and invited her friend, Queen Liliʻuokalani, to a special service. Her involvement helped generate significant international publicity and elevated the status of both the temple and the Japanese Buddhist community in Hawaiʻi. (Masters 2017: 59–60, 65–66)

Today, Japanese American Buddhist leaders in Hawaiʻi—such as Bishop Eric Matsumoto—continue to recall Mary Foster’s legacy not only to honor her pivotal role in establishing their presence in Honolulu, but also to affirm the community’s long-standing relationship to the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi. In December 2019, Bishop Matsumoto organized a special appreciation service for Foster, held in lieu of the Buddhist funeral rites she had wished for but never received. The ceremony served as a gesture of gratitude and a symbolic act of rooting the Japanese American Buddhist community more firmly in the history and land of Hawaiʻi. It also paid homage to the two Native Hawaiian women—Foster and her friend, Queen Liliʻuokalani—whose early support helped legitimize the Japanese Buddhist presence in the islands. Foster’s extraordinary life and cross-cultural commitments are now being introduced to new audiences through the recent 2025 documentary Nā Wāhine Buda Kiakahi, directed by Eleni Gill Avendaño and produced with Jon Matsuoka, former executive director of Honpa Hongwanji Hawaiʻi Betsuin, which situates her story within a broader history and lineage of women, Buddhism, and Indigenous–Asian solidarities in Hawaiʻi.

Acknowledgements: This article was made possible through the support of grant #63243 from the John Templeton Foundation.

References

Falk, Nancy. 1990. “Exemplary Donors of the Pali Tradition.” In Ethics, Wealth, and Salvation: A Study in Buddhist Social Ethics, Russell F. Sizemore and Donald K. Swearer, eds.: 124–143. University of South Caroline Press.

Gajaweera, Nalika. 2020. “The Mothers of the Righteous Society: Lay Buddhist Women as Agents of the Sinhala Nationalist Imaginary” 21 (2020): Special Focuses: Bad Buddhism and Alternate Buddhist Modernities. Available online: https://www.globalbuddhism.org/article/view/1287

Masters, Patricia Lee. 2017. Searching for Mary Foster: Nineteenth-century Native Hawaiian Buddhist, Philanthropist, and Social Activist. United States: American Buddhist Studies.

S. Dhammika, 2019. “Mary Foster: Patron of Buddhism,” in Essays on Buddhist History and Culture, Open University, Available online: https://smallpdfs.buddhistuniversity.net/dhammika_2019_mary-foster.pdf

Willis, Janice D. 1985. “Nuns and Benefactresses: The Role of Women in the Development of Buddhism.” In Women in Buddhism, Yvonne Haddad and Ellison Banks Findly, eds.: 59–85. Albany: State University of New York Press

See more

Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani’s remarks at “Recalling Mary Foster” event (London/New York/Zoom, 2/1/25) (Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii)
Mary Elizabeth Mikahala Robinson Foster Remembrance Service Message (Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii)
“Kahana”, November 5, 2022 by Peter T Young (Images of Old Hawaii)
“Ahana: What Was, What Is, What Can Be” Susan Jaworowski (State of Hawaii)
Nā Wāhine Buda Kiakahi
Mrs Mary Elizabeth Foster (Maha Bodhi Society of India)

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