Ananda Metteyya in Colonial Burma
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 Three covers Allan Bennett’s ordination as Venerable Ananda Maitriya (later changed to Metteyya) in Burma until his mission to Britain in 1908. He gained his novice and higher ordination in Akyab (now Sittwe in Rakkhine State) and, whilst there, wrote two articles that he sent to friends in Ceylon for publication. These laid the foundation for much of his later writing. Soon after his higher ordination, he moved to Mandalay, where he was re-ordained within a relatively new, reformist monastic fraternity. From there, he travelled to Rangoon (now Yangon), from where he developed his plan to bring Buddhism to the west, through the Buddhasāsana Samāgama (International Buddhist Society) and the publication of the journal, Buddhism. During this period, Ananda Metteyya, although still hindered by asthma, was productive and energetic. Although unable to speak Burmese, he taught in other parts of the country with the help of translators and was influential among English-speaking Buddhists in Rangoon, becoming a symbol of Buddhism’s resilience under British colonialism and the Christian missionary threat.