In search of Alan Bennett
A few days ago I stayed briefly in the village called Denuwala, down
South, situated between Ahangama and Weligama. All of a sudden it
occurred to me that I should go to a particular place, where a certain
Englishman named Alan Bennett came in search of a better erudition in
Pali language and Buddhism.
Perhaps one may not be aware of the fact that Bennett was one person
who lived in a particular temple under the tutelage of a scholar monk
named Ven. Weragampita Revata, who knew English. It was Ven. Revata who
had taught Alan Bennett Pali language and helped him study Buddhism.
The village I entered is named as Kamburugamuwa, and there is one
more place name given to the very same place, as Devagiri Viharaya or
Devigala Pansala. As Alan Bennett later wrote quite a number of articles
on Buddhism, I was interested on knowing more about the person and the
place where he studied.
Bennett who became an upasaka lived for more than six years in the
temple. But he was ordained as a Buddhist priest in Burma with the name
as Ananda Metteyya. My intention is not to go into all these details as
most of them have been recorded in several learned papers and works in
to two researches. They are namely Elizabeth J. Harris’ ‘Ananda Metteyya’
(1998, Kandy, Sri Lanka) and Ven. Dr. Handapalpola Mahinda’ learned
paper titled ‘Some Research on Venerable Ananda Metteyya’s Legacy’.
Dr. Cassius Perera, who later became ordained as Ven. Kassapa, had
written the obituary of Alan Bennett, when he died in March 9, 1923. He
was born in the UK on December 8, 1872. The most significant factor I
came to know during my brief stay in the temple swas that there was not
a single person who had known Alan Bennett or Upasaka Ananda Metteyya.
But they had heard from their elders that there was an Englishman who
was known by the nickname kehetu sudda or slim white man. As recorded by
Ven. Handapalpola Mahinda, the great scholar who lived in Devagiri
Viharaya and tutored Alan Bennett, had been the great teacher of such
learned monks as Venerables Narada, Madihe Pannasiha, Piyadassi too.
Alan Bennett had studied Pali language until he could converse fluently.
As a result he had delivered Dhamma talks both in Pali and Sinhala.
After a successful course of studies in the village temple this would
be monk had come to Colombo. Eventually he had the chance of meeting
persons such as Anagarika Dharmapala and Dr. Cassius Perera. He started
giving lectures on Buddhism to the English speaking community in
Colombo. One such lecture had been printed and titled as ‘Four Noble
Truths’. A series of lectures had followed and the text had been
published for world distribution.
This had resulted in his venture to start the very first Buddhist
magazine titled as ‘The Buddhist’ which attracted the attention quite a
number of would be Buddhists who lived in the UK. Alan Bennett also had
the chance to compile some of these talks into the form of pamphlets and
monographs which led him to contribute more and more.
Colonel Steel Olcott had been one of the few scholars who had
encouraged Bennett to take up the publishing venture. While in Colombo
Alan Bennett had the chance of staying in the Buddhist Lodge, the
headquarters of the Theosophical Society in Pettah, Colombo.
His association with the Buddhists in Colombo had paved the way to
deliver sermons, even as a monk at Maitriya Hall, in Bambalapaitiya and
meeting Budhdist monks of Vajirararama temple. Maitreya Hall was built
by the father of Dr. Cassius Pereira mainly for the purpose of Dhamma
preaching. In fact the hall was later named after Bhikkhu Ananda
Mettyeya and accountant of which is found in the work of Elizabeth
Harris.
Those who gathered to listen to Dhamma preaching and the Particular
place form themselves into a group named as the Servants of the Buddha.
As a teenager of 19 years Alan Bennett had the good chance of reading
Sir Edwin Arnold’s ‘Light of Asia’ which perhaps kindled the spiritual
start within him. This was the year 1890 and Bennett was curious on
knowing the teachings of the Buddha.
It is also recorded that his short span of life had been dedicated
for the propagation of Buddhism and writing learned articles on aspects
of Buddhist doctrine, enveloping the orthodox Theravada Buddhism as laid
down in Tripitaka text.
He was a regular contributor to the Buddhist journal which he edited
and the one that followed and printed as ‘The Buddhist Review’. One of
the main works attributed to him is titled ‘An Outline of Buddhism or
Religion in Burma’. His last book was titled as ‘The Wisdom of Aryas’
(1923). With a lot of work linked to Buddhist studies his failing health
due to a chronic asthmatic condition prevented him from over tiring both
bodily and mentally. But his series of books and articles remain as
treasures to be rediscovered.
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