Visit by Sangharakshita, founder of the FWBO, to Manchester on Monday 7th April
3 members of our Manchester Zen Peacemaker Circle - Kaite, Stacie and Zang - went tonight to the Manchester Buddhist Centre (belonging to the 'Friends of the Western Buddhist Order'... the main community of Howard in our circle, and the first community that Zang studied in depth with) for a very rare visit by Sangharakshita, founder of that movement 40 years ago. He is now an old man in his 80s, and no longer teaches often in public. He gave a 30 minute talk, standing up the whole time, in their beautiful shrine room to an audience of over 100 people.
His talk focussed on those aspects of the FWBO which make it distinctive from traditional Buddhist lineages- and I think it's worth writing them down here, because they seem to connect with what we're doing with the Zen Peacemaker Community too! There were 6 points:
1 The FWBO and Western Buddhist Order is a community of Buddhists where commitment is primary and lifestyle secondary. Going for Refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is most important, not whether you are a monk or lay person. He contrasted this with most Eastern Buddhism, where the laity are generally seen as less important and often their only role is to serve and feed the monks.
2 Women take part equally in all levels of the organisation, including leadership, giving initiations and precepts etc. Women in the Western Buddhist Order receive the same precepts as men, unlike many traditions where women are secondary to men and have extra precepts which keep them subservient.
3 The FWBO draws inspiration and study from all Buddhist sutras and scriptures, not just those used by any particular school or lineage. He said this is because they see themselves as simply Buddhist, rather than belonging to any particular lineage. They are really happy to be able to learn from and draw faith from any sutras that inspire them.
4 The Buddha told his attendant Ananda that "Spiritual Friendship is the whole of the spiritual life". Sangharakshita said he felt the full implications and beauty of this teaching hasn't been fully explored by any historical Buddhist lineage. He feels it's one of the greatest strengths of the FWBO that they really try to encourage, explore and develop deep and trusting friendships between members of the Sangha, to begin at least to taste what the Buddha meant!
5 The FWBO has developed many Team-Based Right Livelihood Businesses, to really allow the Buddhist ideal of Right Livelihood to be practiced in the modern world. Buddhist working together ethically, in cafes, shops, alternative health centres etc.
6 The FWBO has a strong tradition of appreciating and developing the Arts. He says that beauty has an important place in the spiritual life, it's always been a part of Buddhist culture, and the FWBO has many fine artists, scultors, performers etc who are expressing this is new ways in the modern world.
Later on after the talk there was a Seven-Fold Puja (as in the Tibetan tradition, with verses from Shantideva's 'Bodhicaryavatara', used regularly in the FWBO) which was very inspiring...
His talk focussed on those aspects of the FWBO which make it distinctive from traditional Buddhist lineages- and I think it's worth writing them down here, because they seem to connect with what we're doing with the Zen Peacemaker Community too! There were 6 points:
1 The FWBO and Western Buddhist Order is a community of Buddhists where commitment is primary and lifestyle secondary. Going for Refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is most important, not whether you are a monk or lay person. He contrasted this with most Eastern Buddhism, where the laity are generally seen as less important and often their only role is to serve and feed the monks.
2 Women take part equally in all levels of the organisation, including leadership, giving initiations and precepts etc. Women in the Western Buddhist Order receive the same precepts as men, unlike many traditions where women are secondary to men and have extra precepts which keep them subservient.
3 The FWBO draws inspiration and study from all Buddhist sutras and scriptures, not just those used by any particular school or lineage. He said this is because they see themselves as simply Buddhist, rather than belonging to any particular lineage. They are really happy to be able to learn from and draw faith from any sutras that inspire them.
4 The Buddha told his attendant Ananda that "Spiritual Friendship is the whole of the spiritual life". Sangharakshita said he felt the full implications and beauty of this teaching hasn't been fully explored by any historical Buddhist lineage. He feels it's one of the greatest strengths of the FWBO that they really try to encourage, explore and develop deep and trusting friendships between members of the Sangha, to begin at least to taste what the Buddha meant!
5 The FWBO has developed many Team-Based Right Livelihood Businesses, to really allow the Buddhist ideal of Right Livelihood to be practiced in the modern world. Buddhist working together ethically, in cafes, shops, alternative health centres etc.
6 The FWBO has a strong tradition of appreciating and developing the Arts. He says that beauty has an important place in the spiritual life, it's always been a part of Buddhist culture, and the FWBO has many fine artists, scultors, performers etc who are expressing this is new ways in the modern world.
Later on after the talk there was a Seven-Fold Puja (as in the Tibetan tradition, with verses from Shantideva's 'Bodhicaryavatara', used regularly in the FWBO) which was very inspiring...
Comments