Researching Richard Hayes

Hayes is a noted scholar in the field of Buddhist Sanskrit, specializing in the study of Dharmakīrti and Dignāga.

Hayes was formerly Associate Professor of religious studies at McGill University in Canada. He joined the University of New Mexico in the fall of 2003 and retired in 2013.

Hayes was co-founder, moderator and a prolific contributor to the online discussion group Buddha-L. Buddha-L attracted a mix of scholars and amateurs and hosted vigorous and at times acrimonious debates.

As well as teaching Buddhism and Sanskrit, Hayes is himself a Buddhist and a Quaker. In a brief blog bio he says he was "Initiated as a dharmachari with the name Dayāmati into the Triratna Buddhist Order on January 26, 2000. I am also a member of Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)." Hayes is a noted essayist (Land of No Buddha) and blogger (New City of Friends, Out of a Living Silence https://dayamati.blog) of considerable wit and clarity. He has expressed vehement political opinions, and been critical in particular of Republican politicians. His website "Inquiring Buddhist" is at http://dayamati.org.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for Limerick East at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to attend the British House of Commons and instead assembled in the Mansion House, Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann. Hayes could not attend as he was imprisoned by the British authorities at the time.

During the War of Independence he was interned in the Curragh Camp. He was elected at the 1921 elections as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for Limerick City–Limerick East and was released after the truce. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted in favour of it. He was re-elected at the 1922 general election as a pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TD and subsequently as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD at the 1923 general election.

He resigned from the Dáil in January 1924 and retired from politics. He later became Irish Film Censor (1941–1954) and Director of the Abbey Theatre. As a historian, he was a leading authority on Irish connections with France from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. He authored several major historical studies, including The Last Invasion of Ireland: When Connacht Rose (1st ed. 1937), which has been reappraised by Guy Beiner as a groundbreaking book for its use of oral traditions alongside more conventional archival sources. Other titles include Ireland and Irishmen in the French Revolution (1932), Irish Swordsmen of France (1934), Old Irish Links with France (1940), and Biographical Dictionary of Irishmen in France (1949), alongside numerous articles. For his work on the Irish military in France he received the Légion d'honneur.

He was a hard-working and much-loved doctor. Frank O'Connor records that he deduced, correctly, that their mutual friend George William Russell had terminal cancer simply because Russell (who had moved to England) in a letter to O'Connor complained of what he believed to be colitis. When O'Connor showed Hayes the letter he read it quickly and said "I am sorry but that is cancer, not colitis."

For several years he was the closest friend of Frank O'Connor, who acknowledged the extraordinary help Hayes gave him in researching The Big Fellow, his biography of Michael Collins. After some years, however, the friendship cooled, and the portrait of Hayes in O'Connor's memoir My Father's Son, is surprisingly unflattering, given their earlier closeness.

He is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.

Hayes was best-known and remembered for his music. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 5, 1930, Hayes had much success as a recording artist while in his late teens. Between 1948 and 1953, Hayes had fourteen top 25 hits. That included four top-10 hits recorded and produced during his time at Mercury Records. His most successful record was his rendition of The Old Master Painter which was released in 1949. The song, produced by Mitch Miller, reached no. 2 on the national charts in December 1949 and remained on the charts for twelve weeks until March 1950.

In addition to Mercury, Hayes recorded and produced songs for ABC, Decca, Columbia and finally Contempo Records. After leaving Contempo in 1964, Hayes pursued a further career in television making several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Robert Q. Lewis Show. Hayes also was a regular guest on Arthur Godfrey's television and radio series between 1958 and 1972.

Hayes was also noted for his military service and career during that time. He was drafted into the military, (Army specifically), in 1953. His rank was second lieutenant. Hayes was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey then Governors Island, New York. He served during the Korean War which ended in June 1953, a few months after Hayes' conscription, and the Cold War. The fact that he was in the army and his musical/acting background, Hayes earned a permanent spot as the emcee and co-host with Arlene Francis on the ABC competition series Soldier Parade in 1954. He was hired after the departure of Steve Allen. He remained on the show until its cancellation in June 1955. He also left the army that same year.

In the 1970s, Hayes retired from acting and became a game show host. Several game shows he hosted include the syndicated version of Name That Tune from 1970–71 and All About Faces. He also worked as a talk-radio host at several radio stations in Philadelphia and New York City before retiring in 1990.

Hayes died on March 10, 2014 at the age of 84 in his home in Los Angeles, California after battling a long illness.