Allan Bennett in Colonial Ceylon
The Life of Allan Bennett, Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya - (Volume 1 of Allan Bennett, Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya: Biography and Collected Writings) - Elizabeth J. Harris
Elizabeth J. Harris [+]
University of Birmingham
John L. Crow [+]
Florida State University
Description
Chapter Two examines Bennett’s brief but important time in Ceylon, when he explored both Buddhism and Śaivism, opting in the end for Buddhism. Bennett arrived at the beginning of 1900 and almost immediately travelled from Colombo to the south of the island to study Pali and Buddhism at a vihāra (Buddhist monastery/temple) in Kamburugamuwa. After about six months, he returned to Colombo, where he then studied yogic practices under a Hindu politician and Śaivite teacher, who was becoming internationally known, Ponnambalam Ramanathan (1851-1930). In July 1901, he delivered a lecture on Buddhism at a Theosophical Society lodge in Colombo. Shortly afterwards, he travelled to other parts of the island with Aleister Crowley, and then to colonial Burma for ordination as a Buddhist monk. This chapter demonstrates that Bennett’s path towards ordination passed through Hindu yoga, meditation and ritual.