Devotion in Buddhism (1909)
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 one of the last addresses that Metteyya gave to the Rangoon College Buddhist Association, before he returned to Britain in 1914. He argues that Buddhism is not only a philosophy, as some western orientalists claimed, but also a vibrant, lived religion with higher and lower forms of devotion to the Buddha. He links the lower form with the kind of generous living that, according to Burmese Buddhist cosmology, could lead to rebirth in the heavens. The higher form, on the other hand, could inspire the whole of the Buddhist path towards nibbāna (Pali: liberation, enlightenment), by reminding the devotee of the selflessness of the Buddha and his teaching.