Despite the name, the WBO is now a world-wide Buddhist movement with activities in every continent except Antarctica. Membership of the order is limited by one main criterion, the ability to Go for Refuge to the Three Jewels; that is the Buddha, Buddhadharma, and the Sangha. Since, as Sangharakshita has emphasized, it is the act of Going For Refuge that makes one a Buddhist, it makes sense for this to be the fundamental principle of the order. That said, the order is on one level simply a network of friendships - friendships based on a shared vision of human potential.
Order members are known as Dhamrmacaris (masculine) or Dharmacarinis (feminine) and are ordained on the same basis, and take the same precepts at ordination. There are no higher ordinations. Although many order members take vows of celibacy, this is seen as secondary to Going for Refuge.
Having rejected traditional Buddhist organizations, both lay and monastic, Sangharakshita has attempted to create a new type of order, where lifestyle is secondary to commitment to the Three Jewels. This is something of a radical departure in many eyes, but is in keeping with the spirit of the Buddhist teachings. Recent histories of Buddhism, such as Reginald Ray's Buddhist Saints in India, point out that monasticism as we now know it was a later development, and that the lay/monastic split was not so crucial in the past. That said, few traditional monastics would be prepared to grant a member of the WBO equal status - they tend to consider them lay people.
Order members undertake to observe a set of ten precepts. These are different from monastic vows, but the set is mentioned in the oldest Buddhist scriptures, the Pali Canon. Beyond this, and a commitment to remain in good communication with other order members, there are no requirements on order members. Ordination confers no special status, nor any responsibilities, although many order members do choose to take on responsibilities for such things as teaching meditation, and the Buddhadharma.
There are now more than 1,000 members of the order, in over 20 countries in Europe, India, Africa, Australasia, and elsewhere in Asia.
There are six characteristics of the FWBO that help to define the movement.
Right from the beginning there has been an emphasis on teaching meditation in urban centers. Retreats in the countryside soon followed, as did lecture series on aspects of Buddhist thought and practice. Residential communities developed out of retreats, when people decided they wanted to live together, and team-based right-livelihood projects were started to fund activities. Eventually, permanent retreat centers were established.
Centers were quickly established in other countries including New Zealand and Australia. The FWBO is now actively teaching Buddhism and meditation in France, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Mexico, USA, Venezuela, New Zealand, India, Malaysia, and elsewhere.
More recently FWBO activities have diversified to include outdoor festivals, online meditation teaching, arts festivals, poetry and writing workshops, yoga, karate, and pilgrimages to Buddhist holy sites in India.
For many years the FWBO charity Karuna Trust has raised money for aid projects in India, including supporting the small school for Tibetan refugees established by Dhardo Rimpoche, and a range of projects to assist the Dalit or ex-Untouchable community.
Because it draws on the whole of the Buddhist tradition there are a wide variety of practices current in the FWBO.
Many meditation practices are current within the FWBO. Sangharakshita has described the way he teaches meditation as having four phases, and the practices fall roughly into these four phases. The first two are, broadly speaking, calming or samatha practices, and the last two are insight or vipassana practices.
Worship or Puja can be thought of as a kind of theatre, in which one recites verse, performs physical acts such as mudra and prostrations, and uses imaginative imagery to evoke a particular experience. The experience is one which includes comapssion for all living beings, and a desire to liberate them from suffering. The FWBO has a range of pujas but the most common one is composed of verses from the Bodhicaryavatara of Shantideva. It consists of seven stages: worship, salutation, going for refuge, confession of faults, rejoicing in merit, entreaty and supplication, and transference of merit & self-surrender.
These verses can be thought of evoking an image of the Buddha as being like a far-off mountain. First one glimpses the mountain-top peeking through some clouds; then the clouds clear and one has a stunning vision of the mountain; in that moment one knows that one must go to the mountain; but one realizes that one has many unnecessary burdens; having unburdened oneself one stocks up on energy; then one asks for directions; and finally one expresses gratitude and devotes any good that accrues to the benefit of all beings.
Retreats provide an opportunity for practitioners to focus on their practice with little or no interruption. Even just a few days of intensive practice can make quite a difference. Beginners' retreats are usually 2 or 3 days, whilst a regular program of two-week retreats is avilable to more experienced and committed members. The typical retreat program would include several sessions of meditation, some Dharma study, and a puja or devotional ritual in the evenings. Afternoons are usually free for people to rest or meet together. More intensive retreats might have less study and more meditation.
Unlike in the Christian tradition, Buddhists do not confess in order to be forgiven. Buddhists believe that actions have consequences, and that regret after the fact is only useful if it prevents a repetition of the deed. Hence true confession can only be made when it is accompanied by remorse and resolution not to repeat the deed. Confession is seen as an act of purification.
Early on in the history of the FWBO it became apparent that it needed to raise funds for various projects. This became especially apparent with the decision to purchase and renovate a disused fire station in Bethnal Green. At this time several small businesses were set up including a wholefood shop and a building team. These were run by collectives of people who almost immediately discovered that working together as a team seemed like a very good spiritual practice in itself. Right livelihood is one of the limbs of the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path and consists essentially in applying Buddhist ethics to work. Right livelihood businesses now contribute substantial funds for the movement as well as providing very positive environments for spiritual growth.
Another practice that emerged from the early milieu of the FWBO is residential spiritual communities. The first community was formed after a rereat when several of the participants decided they wanted to try to continue the retreat-style living. The most stable communities tended to be single sex, and most FWBO communities these days are single sex affairs. Some of the most intensive situations are where people live and work together as a spiritual practice - the constant reminders about ethics, and the support from fellow practitioners, is seen to be particularly effective in helping people to grow.
As an international movement diversity is a distinguishing feature. While England remains the main stronghold, the movement in India is growing rapidly. Most Indian members come from the lowest strata of Indian society, from the castes that were formerly known as untouchables (Untouchability was outlawed by the first Independent Indian government).
There are a wide range of people involved, from academics to working-class people, artists, accountants, and doctors. About 1 in 6 are celibate, and another 1 in 6 are married in traditional families. Many live in single-sex communities and work in right-livelihood businesses - a lifestyle which has come to be called semi-monastic.
A recent innovation has come from a group of people who are involved in the festival scene in the UK. Buddhafield both attends festivals such as Glastonbury, and runs its own outdoor events which regularly attract several hundred people.The Western Buddhist Order
Distinctive Emphases of the FWBO
Activities
Practice
Meditation
Other common practices include just sitting, a formless meditation with no focus where one just sits and nothing else. Just sitting can be a good practice to help assimilate experience from other meditation practices. A similar practice that has recently become popular is Pure Awareness where the focus of the meditation is whatever happens to be in one's mind at the time - one allows sensations and thoughts to arise, observes them, and lets them go. Walking meditation is popular on retreats. The focus in this case is the physical movements of the body, or the soles of the feet. This is an integrative practice.Ritual
Retreats
Confession
Right Livelihood
Communities
Diversity
| 1925 | Sangharakshita born |
| 1943 | Sangharakshita conscripted |
| 1944 | Sangharakshita takes refuges and precepts from U Thittila, thereby officially becoming a BuddhistSangharakshita posted to India, and later transferred to Ceylon |
| 1949 | 12 May: Dennis Lingwood ordained by U Chandramani, and given the name Sangharakshita. |
| 1957 | A Survey of Buddhism is first published |
| 1964 | Sangharakshita returns to England after 20 years in India |
| 1967 | Founding of the FWBOAspects of Buddhist Psychology Lecture series |
| 1968 | Founding of the Western Buddhist Order 7 April, 12 men and women ordained
Noble Eightfold Path Lecture series (later published as Vision & Transformation) |
| 1969 | Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal Lecture series |
| 1971 | Sangharakshita takes a year off, leaving order members to run things on their own. |
| 1972 | First single-sex retreats |
| 1975 | First ordinations in New Zealand. Sukhavati project started - a derelict fire station is transformed into the London Buddhist Center and a residential community. Out of this project would also come the first team-based right-livelihood businesses. |
| 1976 | Padmaloka Retreat Centre purchased, Sangharakshita makes it his base |
| 1978 | Indian wing of the FWBO founded. Known as the Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana (TBMSG) |
| 1980 | Formation of Aid for India, now known as the Karuna Trust, to raise funds for aid projects in India, particularly amongst the so called "ex-untouchable" Buddhists. |
| 1990 | Death of Dhardo Rimpoche, one of Sangharakshita's main teachers |
| 1992 | Sangharakshita addresses the European Buddhist Union. |
| 1997 | The Guardian publishes an article which is critical of the FWBO; the FWBO response is largely ignored even though it is clear that the reporter has misrepresented the movement. |
| 2000 | Sangharakshita hands on the headship of the order to the College of Public Preceptors. |
| 2002 | The order reaches 1,000 members. Major changes announced in the "mitra system" |
In recent times there has been quite a lot of controversy about the FWBO. There was a highly critical article in The Guardian in 1997, and there has been an internet-based campaign to discredit the movement, and its founder, by a former member of the Order and a handful of disgruntled people who were more superficially involved.
The issues are more complex than most people seem to admit, but it is clear that there have been problems in the movement. In the 1980s a small number of people created a cult-like culture at the Croydon Buddhist Centre. Suggestions that this was an isolated incident have tended to be met with a "where there's smoke, there's fire" attitude. The fact is that some of the attitudes and behaviour of members of the movement have been questionable, even misguided. FWBO centers are largely autonomous, and to a large extent set their own agendas and standards, although since the difficulties in Croydon there is more oversight.
Claims that the movement is a hotbed of sex, especially between men, and that the founder is a "sexual predator" are grossly overstated. However, Sangharakshita was sexually active for a long period, and his partners were most frequently from within the ranks of the FWBO. This has led to doubts about the appropriateness of his behaviour. Like other spiritual groups where sex has been an issue (and that is most of them) there have been some difficulties, although the members of the order seem to be willing to address these now.
Another criticism of the FWBO is that, in stepping outside the traditional structure of Buddhism, it does not have the checks and balances that exist in traditional schools. The argument is that in traditional organisations cells of cultish behaviour would be detected and taken care of earlier, and that there is an appeal to a higher authority. It is said, in Usenet discussion groups for instance, that Sangharakshita is a law unto himself, and that this is a fundamental flaw in the structure of the FWBO.
Criticism of the FWBO
External links
FWBO Sites
Outside Views of the FWBO