56 issues, monthly and bi-monthly, unbroken run, Vol. I, No. 5 (May, 1888) to Vol. VII, No. 11-12 (Nov.-Dec., 1894). 10¾x7, first 3 volumes issued without wrappers, others in original wrappers.
Nearly complete run of this rare periodical, the first English-language magazine published in America, "Devoted to Buddhism in general, and to the Buddhism in Swedenborg in particular." Publication was discontinued after the seventh volume. Born in Sweden in 1849, Vetterling immigrated at an unknown date to the United States, and became a follower of the Swedish mystic Swedenborg. After studying for the ministry, he served Swedenborgian communities in the Midwest for four years until scandal marred his clergical career. In July, 1881, The Detroit Post and Tribune reported that fellow passengers on a steamer from Alaska had accused Vetterling of having "taken improper liberties" with an eight-year-old American girl and a twenty-year-old Chinese woman. Neither proven nor ever brought to trial, these allegations remain one of several mysteries that surround his reputation. Attempting a new start, Vetterling, who now called himself Philangi Dasa, moved west, and began publishing the first Buddhist journal in the United States. The inaugural issue of The Buddhist Ray, which he edited from his cabin in the mountains above Santa Cruz, proclaimed itself devoted to Buddhism in general, and to the Buddhism in Swedenborg in particular. The prospectus on the first page informed readers that it would "set forth the teachings imparted by the Mongolian Buddhists to Emanual Swedenborg, and published by him in his mystic writings." As this declaration suggests, Philangi Dasa was not afraid of controversy, and whatever the scholarly shortcomings of his journal it was not dull.