ALLAN BENNETT &
the Emergence of Buddism in the West

by John L. Crow

The Theosophical Society in England
Insight magazine Summer 2008 vol. 49 # 3

Mention the name Allan Bennett and most of those in Britain will think of the Yorkshire playwright. But a very different Allan Bennett was at the ‘cutting edge’ of spirituality in the early 1900s. Just last month - on Sunday 28th September - the World Buddhist Foundation held a centenary celebration at Brent Town Hall to honour the mission in 1908 of the Ananda Metteyya (the name taken by Allan Bennett on becoming a bhikkhu) and 100 years of Buddhism in the UK. Academic researcher John L. Crow spoke at the Round Table and contributed a biography of Bennett to their centenary book called Dharma to the UK. Extracts of John’s chapter, entitled Venerable Ananda Metteyya’s Buddhist Mission to the UK are reproduced here:

John L. Crow is a graduate student at the University of Amsterdam researching Western Esotericism. His main interests are the emergence of occultism in the modern world and its
interactions with Eastern religions.

On the evening of 21 May 1902, Charles Henry Allan Bennett stood before a large gathering of the local Burmese sangha. The group included numerous famous monks, lay members of the sangha and curious onlookers. The events of the day were unique: the young Western male received the upasampada (higher) ordination, the second Englishman in history to ever take monastic vows. The bhikkhu ordination was an event that set many things in motion. Within a few months he had created the Buddhasasana Samagama, the International Buddhist Society. Next, he published pamphlets in English about Buddhism and sent them to the West. Similarly, he started an English language journal called Buddhism: An Illustrated Review, which presented essays about Buddhism both as a philosophy and as a religion. Over the twelve years he was a bhikkhu, he wrote much, travelled promoting Buddhism, and urged thousands to take refuge. Much like Colonel Henry Steel Olcott in Ceylon he promoted Buddhism in his new home, Burma, and he stressed the need for the young to be educated in Buddhist schools and colleges.

Allan Bennett was born in London on 8 December 1872. His father was a civil and electrical engineer. He died while Charles was still young and his mother struggled to support the family. Moreover, Allan suffered from acute asthma that debilitated him for weeks at a time. He was educated in Bath and, following in his father’s footsteps, showed a propensity towards physical sciences. During the early 1890s he was a chemical analyst with Dr. Bernard Dyer, an analytical and consulting chemist in London. Bennett also conducted his own experiments with a variety of inventions. Unfortunately for him and those who lent him money, none of his inventions or patents ever delivered substantial funds. Bennett was devoutly Catholic in his youth but his scientific mind and education caused him to abandon his faith. During his late teens and throughout his twenties, he explored a variety of Eastern religious and Western mystic and occult systems. This led him to join two very influential 19th century organisations: The Theosophical Society and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Allan Bennett was searching for a spiritual and religious truth to fill the void left by the collapse of his discarded Catholicism. A potential answer to this quest was promised in the occult sciences. The concept of occult sciences arose in the 16th century and centred around three main topics: astrology, alchemy, and (natural) magic. These three were often augmented with other magical or mystical systems including Jewish and Christian Cabala, and ceremonial magic said to derive from individuals such as John Dee or the Biblical Solomon.

The first organisation Bennett joined was the Theosophical Society. It had a strong connection to Buddhism as the founders, H. P. Blavatsky and H. S. Olcott declared themselves Buddhists in Ceylon in 1880. Bennett joined London’s Brixton Lodge in March 1893. During his time in the Theosophical Society Bennett would have attended lectures about yoga, consciousness and reincarnation, as well as had the opportunity for classes on the Secret Doctrine.

In July 1894, Bennett gave a lecture to the Lodge about Egyptian mythology entitled, The Lore of Khem, in which he introduced a theory as to the real meaning underlying the mystical phraseology of the Book of the Dead. Bennett remained a member of the Lodge until 1895 when it was dissolved.

By this time Bennett had already become deeply involved with another group, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was an initiatory system similar in some ways to Freemasonry. Bennett took initiation into the Golden Dawn in February 1894 (the Neophyte initiation) and took initiation into the Second Order (the Adeptus Minor initiation) on 22nd March 1895. Western occultism was not the only interest of Bennett’s during this period. He also studied Hinduism and practiced yoga. At the beginning of 1900 Bennett had virtually abandoned the work of the Golden Dawn and left London for a better climate and to study yoga and Buddhism in the East. Upon arriving in Ceylon, Bennett’s health began to improve. Needing work to support himself, he became the tutor to the son of Ponnambalam Ramanathan, the Solicitor-General of Ceylon. In return for
educating his child, Ramanathan taught Bennett yoga. While still studying yoga and meditation, Bennett’s interest in Buddhism was ever increasing. In July 1901, he presented a paper at Hope Lodge of the Theosophical Society, Colombo, entitled ‘The Four Nobel Truths’.

At the end of 1901, Bennett prepared to take novice Buddhist ordination yet felt that Ceylon was not the best place to enter the sangha; as the Burmese sangha was more pure and less mixed with non-Buddhist customs. He left Ceylon and travelled to Akyab where, on 12th December 1901, he took the novice ordination (samaera) and assumed the name Ananda Maitriya. Not long afterwards, Ananda Metteyya received upasampada (higher) ordination and became a full bhikkhu on 21 May 1902. After the ordination, Ananda Metteyya gave a speech describing his goal of creating a sangha in England. He explained how the West needed a religion of truth based on a belief compatible with science, asserting that Buddhism was the truth that the West needed to embrace.

Shortly after the ordination, Ananda Metteyya established the International Buddhist Society. In July 1903, the first issue of the journal Buddhism: An Illustrated Review was released. It was sent to libraries and organisations sympathetic to the Buddhist message, including The Theosophical Society. Earlier the pamphlet describing the ordination of Ananda Metteyya was sent to the Theosophical Society in India and Henry Steel Olcott, a lay Buddhist, reprinted large portions in the international journal, The Theosophist. Upon receiving a copy of the new journal, Olcott described it as, “calculated to fill a long felt want among the adherents of this faith throughout the world”.

On 3rd November 1907 in a private house in London, twenty-five lay-Buddhists, or those interested in Buddhism, formed themselves into the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland. At its first meeting on 26 November, the eminent Påli scholar, T. W. Rhys-Davids was chosen President of the new society. On 23rd April 1908, a small party from the Buddhist Society welcomed Ananda Metteyya when he arrived in England. During his time in London he helped grow the membership of the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and gave a considerable number of lectures - including one on ‘Buddhism’ on 10th June to H. P. B. Lodge of the Theosophical Society. The month of September was particularly busy: every Sunday he met the members of the Buddhist Society. Many of these lectures were later reprinted as pamphlets or included in various issues of The Buddhist Review, the journal of the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

On 29 September, Ananda Metteyya and his group left London to Liverpool where they boarded the ship to Burma. While Burma’s climate was better than England’s, the monastic lifestyle caused him great difficulty. First, he could only eat before noon; this generally kept him weak. Second, venturing out in the morning at 6 am when the air is damp and chilled aggravated his asthma. In 1913 Ananda Metteyya decided to leave the sangha for health reasons. After discussing the issue with his sister, they decided he should move to California because the climate was better and she would be able to assist in his recovery.

Ananda Metteyya disrobed in May 1914 to return to England and on 12 September 1914, Bennett went to board the ship to travel to California and was stopped; the same health problems preventing him from staying in Burma also were inhibiting his travel to the United States. A family from the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland housed him in Liverpool for two years. From there he relocated to various accommodations in London. All the while he lived on the donations of charity of others. By the winter of 1917, Bennett was feeling better and presented a series of six lectures on Buddhism hosted by Clifford Bax. Also in 1918 Bennett began contributing to The Buddhist Review again.

The last project that Bennett undertook was publication of his lectures given in the winter of 1917-1918. The Wisdom of the Aryas, published in January 1923, contained a large introduction and an additional essay on transmigration because as a topic, it was “one of the most difficult of Buddhist Teachings to make clear to the western mind”. Bennett must have been overjoyed to see the publication of The Wisdom of the Aryas but this joy was short lived. Bennett died around 5 p.m. on 9 March 1923.

After Bennett’s death the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland was coming to an end. Without the vitality and support of Ananda Metteyya, it began to diminish as an organisation. As Christmas Humphreys described in his Sixty Years of Buddhism in England (1968), the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland was eventually dissolved and its assets turned over to the Maha Bodhi Society. Eventually the Maha Bodhi Society joined together with the Buddhist Lodge to create The Buddhist Society, an organisation still in operation today. In 1929, the Theosophical Society’s publishing house compiled a number of essays written by Ananda Metteyya under the title The Religion of Burma and Other Papers.

For a list of recordings of talks send a stamped addressed envelope to:
Tapes Department, Theosophical Society, 50 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8EA
or telephone Paulina on 0207 563 9815.

The Theosophical Society in England 2008
reproduced from 'Insight' Autumn 2008, The Journal of The Theosophical Society in England