Sangharakshita is the founder of the Western Buddhist Order and my main Buddhist Teacher. For information about Sangharakshita's life and teaching go to the FWBO Website What I aim to do with this page is to summarize my understanding of what Sangharakshita has taught me. I will do this under several themes Going for RefugeThe Buddha and the Dharma Ethics Meditation Sangharakshita's unique contribution Also... This is my personal understanding and does not represent an official FWBO or WBO position. I've also written about Sangharakshita for the Wikipedia.
The Buddha has a special place in the cosmos as the rediscoverer of the principle of enlightenment. Before his achievement enlightenment for most people was practically impossible - now that he has reopened the way it is possible for everyone. The Buddha's realisation has been described in various ways e.g. as Nirvana (extinction) or Bodhi (awakening). The Pali Canon represents enlightenment almost entirely by negation, while the Mahayana is more concerned with positive formulations. The content of that realisation is of course transcendental and is by definition not able to be described in words. In conceptual terms the Buddha talked of his realisation as Pratitya-Samutpada. Of the many translations of this important term Sangharakshita favours Conze's Conditioned Co-production. There are vary many descriptions of this concept in Buddhist Literature. One of the more traditional renditions of it is...
The Four Noble Truths are perhaps the best known formula of conditionality - in which the general principle is applied to suffering. Another well known application is that of the 12 Nidanas or Links, which apply the general to the birth, death and rebirth process. The classic Mahayana application of conditionality to the arising of Bodhi is that of the cultivation of the 6 or 10 perfections. Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara is a wonderful exposition on the six perfections in the context of anuttarapuja or Supreme Worship
Do good Purify the mind Sangharakshita's teaching and the way he has lived his life have given me a deep appreciation for the Buddha's ethical teachings. In fact I feel that they are the most important part of the Dharma for me. I have seen through personal experience that all my actions of body, speech and mind have consequences. I'd like to be able to say that I take full responsibility for all of my actions, but that's probably stetching things a bit - still I acknowledge the principle. Ethics are one of the primary ways of purifying the mind, and as a discipline ethical behaviour is absoulutely indispensible. As the Buddha makes clear to Cunda in the Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya X.176 ), ethical behaviour is purifying, that is that it has a positive effect on the individual who practices it. Given that our actions result from our thoughts, the extent to which we are able to be ethical is a measure of where we are on the path. Buddhism recognises that people are complex and that, though not in reality separate, there are different aspects to the individual. We may talk about mental and physical aspects without assuming that they are unrelated. Buddhism has many divisions but one of the most fundamental is that of body, speech, and mind. We would expect a complete set of ethical guidelines to cover every aspect of the individual. In fact the most well known sets of ethical guidelines are not complete in that they lack precepts covering the mind. The 10 types of skilful action described in the above Sutta are mentioned in many other places in the Pali Canon (notably the sevitabba-asevitabba Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya - not online unfortunately) and also in the Mahayana Scriptures including the Vimalakirti Nirdesa. In that they include precepts specifically directed towards mental actions they represent the most comprehensive set of standards for ethical behaviour. It is these 10 precepts that the members of the WBO undertake to observe when the are Ordained.
The FWBO teaches a system of meditation which has roots stretching back to the earliest days of the Buddhist tradition. Two main practicesare taught to newcomers. The mindfulness of breathing is said to be the practice in which Siddhartha engaged as he sat beneath the the Bodhi tree. The other practice is the Metta bhavana. Both practices are described by Buddhaghosha in his Vissuddhi Magga and the teaching of them conforms to that tradition. For me learning meditation at the Auckland Buddhist Centre was my first substantial contact with Buddhism. I was there because a friend had insisted that I learn to meditate to help with my recurring depression. I'm not what you might call a "natural" meditator. For me it is hard work, though I do enjoy it, and I do benefit from doing my practice. I mostly practice the Mindful of Breathing and Just Sitting. Although I can see the the Metta practice would be of benefit, I tend to avoid it because I find it a lot more difficult - sigh. The benefits of having a meditation practice for me are that I am more able to deal with stress, my mood swings tend to be less dramatic, I feel better about myself. These are somewhat incidental I guess compared to the goal of meditation which is Enlightenment, but I think it's hard to make spiritual progress without the good mental health that comes from the practice. Also I have had some very positive meditation experiences which have confirmed for me that what Buddhism teaches is the Truth. Perhaps not Insight into the true nature of phenomena, but enough to convince me that I'm on the right track.
Sangharakshita sees himself as not as an innovator but as a translator - translating the Dharma from the Asian culture into the Western. I believe he has been very successful in making the Dharma accessible to the west. However he has made some distinctive contributions to the teaching of Buddhism. Sangharakshita's re-emphasis on the primacy of Going for Refuge is very important. In much of the Buddhist tradition the act of Gofing for Refuge has been downgraded to a merely symbolic act performed with no real feeling. But the Pali scriptures are full of examples of men and women who upon meeting the Buddha, are so struck by what he says, or even at times just his presence that they make a heartfelt and emotionally charged commitment to him and his teachings - traditionally this is expressed in the formula
To the Buddha for refuge I go, Sangharakshita has sought to reanimate this expression of commitment to reinvest it with meaning and significance - he calls it the fundamental Buddhist act - the highest common factor An important teaching for me is found in Sangharakshita's discussion of the Four Noble Truths in his Survey of Buddhism. In it he makes the very clear distinction between doctrine and method. Sangharakshita points out that in the Sammaditthi Sutta that Sariputta is able to substitute for suffering in the first Noble Truth food, decay and death, craving, name and form, and ignorance. Hence the four Noble Truths are not a doctrine but a specifc application of the general formula of conditionality. Buddhism doesn't deny pleasent emotional experiences, but it is concerned to cultivate an aversion to samsara, hence it focuses on the unpleasent ie the focus on suffering is a methodological rather than doctrinal.
Sangharakshita is a poet of some merit and there are several that I particularly like.
Forgive me if I have stained... The Veil of Stars - selected verses
Sangharakshita has published two books of aphorisms - here are some of my favourites... Peace is a fire. You don’t have to justify your existence by being useful. You yourself are the justification for your existence.
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