Charles Henry Allan Bennett

This article is about the spiritual pioneer who rallied the first Buddhist Mission to England. For other people, see Alan Bennett (disambiguation).

Charles Henry Allan Bennett
Ananda Metteyya, First Buddhist Mission to England, 1908
Ordained as a Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya
Personal
Born(1872-12-08)8 December 1872
London, United Kingdom
Died9 March 1923(1923-03-09) (aged 50)
Clapham Junction, London
Resting placeUnmarked grave buried in Morden Cemetery, South London, England
ReligionBuddhism
SchoolTheravada
Notable work(s)The Religion of Burma and Other Papers,[1] & The Wisdom of the Aryas.[2]
Monastic nameAnanda Metteyya (also early version: Ananda Maitreya)
Occupation
  • early life: analytical chemist & occultist.
  • later life: buddhist monk & buddhist; writer, teacher, advocate.

Charles Henry Allan Bennett (8 December 1872 – 9 March 1923) was an English Buddhist and former member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He was an early friend and influential teacher of occultist Aleister Crowley.[3][4][5]

Bennett received the name Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya at his ordination as a Buddhist monk and spent years studying and practising Buddhism in the East. He was the second Englishman to be ordained as a Buddhist monk (Bhikkhu) of the Theravāda tradition[6] and was instrumental in introducing Buddhism in England. He established the first Buddhist Mission in the United Kingdom and sought to spread the light of Dhamma to the West. Co-founder of international Buddhist organisations and publications, he was an influential Buddhist advocate of the early 20th century.

  1. ^ Bennett 1929.
  2. ^ Bennett 1923.
  3. ^ Melton 2000, p. 169.
  4. ^ Kaczynski & Wasserman 2009, Chp. 6 Crowley credited... "his focus on concentration and awareness practices to the influence of his two early mentors, Oscar Eckenstein and Allan Bennett.".
  5. ^ Crow 2008c, p. 1.
  6. ^ Batchelor 1994, p. 40.