9. The Faith of the Future or The Law of Righteousness (1903)
Selected Essays of Allan Bennett, Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya - (Volume 2 of Allan Bennett, Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya: Biography and Collected Writings) - Elizabeth J. Harris
Allan Bennett [+]
Allan Bennett (1872-1923) was one of the first British men to gain higher ordination as a Buddhist monk and one of the seminal figures in the development of Buddhism in the UK.
Description
This was the lead article in the first issue of Buddhism and the first that Ananda Metteyya wrote with an international audience in mind. It laid out Ananda M’s stall, as he sought to attract westerners to train as Buddhist monks. Western society is denounced for its lack of compassion and its violence, and Buddhism is presented as the antidote, holding out the possibility of harmony. Misconceptions of Buddhism in the west are then corrected - that it is idolatrous, that it is mysterious and ‘miracle-mongering’, and that it is apathetic and pessimistic. It was re-printed both in Ananda M’s lifetime and after his death.