Selected Writings of Allan Bennett, Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya

Forthcoming, Late Summer, 2025

This is the first edited, annotated collection of the writings of Allan Bennett, 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. Bennett’s view of Buddhism reflects the intellectual history of his day and the debates that were happening between different religious groups in late Victorian and early Edwardian imperial Britain. His work represents some of the first writings by English converts to Buddhism and mobilized both British Buddhists and sympathizers. Controversy has surrounded his life, particularly in western Buddhist circles, because of his early involvement with the occult.

His writings included two published Volumes. The first recorded a series of talks he gave in London in 1917-1918, published just two months before he died, The Wisdom of the Aryas. The second was published posthumously, The Religion of Burma and Other Papers. Both of these are included in this volume as well as excerpts from his esoteric notebooks, essays published in the journal he established Buddhism – An Illustrated Quarterly Review, the prospectus of the International Buddhist Society (Buddhasāsana Samāgama) he founded, and excerpts from his letters and lectures as well as other publications.