friends of the western buddhist order scandal

One of its authors, the Cambridge-educated Vishvapani, who heads the FWBO Communications Office at the London Buddhist Centre a beautifully converted brick fire-station in Londons East Endand edits its magazine, Dharma Life, views the accusations as an unfortunate distraction from the many strengths of the FWBO as well as from its main business, teaching and studying the dharma. One reason change is slow is that people dont question the teachings, because they question their own motivation. After thirty years of study, Ananda is convinced of Sangharakshitas qualities as a teacher. Sangharakshita is the founder and leader of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), whose center this is, and most present are his disciples. People took that whole sexual liberation thing too literally. All rights reserved. But last year, their thirtieth anniversary, was not an easy one for them. One woman who attended an FWBO centre in New Zealand in the 90s said: There was one ordained member when I was there who seemed to treat the centre as his own personal Tinder app, hooking up with one woman after another, using his position as guru to great advantage.. In joining a movement you buy belongingness, you buy an assured shared viewpoint. [27] "For the FWBO, Western Society as such needs to be subject to the unflinching scrutiny of Buddhist values. But for Ken Jones, a long time FWBO-watcher and author of The Social Face of Buddhism and Beyond Optimism: A Buddhist Political Ecology, all the current allegations miss the point: My original criticism of the FWBO was an alarm that along with two other leading groups in BritainNKT and Soka Gakkaithey are a Buddhist movement and therefore have a particular ideological skew. Many of the allegations are against Sangharakshita himself, but others make it clear that he was not the only alleged perpetrator. Weve instituted changes that would make it highly unlikely to happen again. Despite the name, the WBO is based not only in the West but is now a worldwide Buddhist movement. This is an informal process, the focus of which is to deepen one's commitment. One order member of more than 15 years said: I know of several cases and the details are awful. There has been the odd occasion elsewhere when people had to go in and say, Hold on, whats going on here? But nothing like Croydon. In addition, he officiates at the Buddhist ordination of over 200,000 ex-untouchables in central India, working alongside the famous activist Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. And, while some seem happy to have found their guide in Sangharakshita, others seem more concerned about their own authenticity than their teachers. Ian Tromp, a South African poet who works at Windhorse, told about a delivery-truck driver who got interested in the FWBO and took a meditation class. As more than one skeptic has pointed out, if Sangharakshita himself went to many different teachers, why doesnt he encourage his disciples to do the same? In the Triratna community, as in the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, sangha is interpreted as the Buddhist community as a whole. I am confident, though, that Sangharakshita himself is coming from a genuinely compassionate place. Late in 1997 the Guardian newspaper ran a long, damning article on the FWBO. Today it has more than 30 centres in the UK alone and operates in 26 countries. The rest is music. Protests against the beloved Tibetan leader provoked an outcry of criticism as well as exposing an arcane feud within the Dalai Lamas own school, the Gelugpa, that originated several hundred years ago. A heterosexual man, he felt compelled to have sexual relations with Lingwood over a four-year period. A message from Urgyen Sangharakshita. Those who wish to join the Order must request this in writing. Doesnt she feel like a second-class citizen? The young man has to realise that he must submit and become totally passive to that which will liberate him from the domination of his mother., Having abandoned the world of mother and all that it implies, the young man can now begin to realise that his assertiveness is natural to him and that it is no longer an act that he has to put on., Many mummys boys have a fear of passivity in a homosexual relationship even though that is what they may naturally want., I would even go so far as to suggest that taking the passive role in a homosexual relationship could, for some men, constitute an initiation into manhood as (a) the man is surrendering his own pseudo-assertive side and therefore undergoing a sort of symbolic death, and (b) is experiencing his sexuality in a situation that is free from women and all their associations (ie, emotional dependency)., Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. These days it goes by the name of Adhisthana, reflecting its reincarnation as the headquarters of one of the most influential Buddhist orders in the world, the Triratna Community, whose founder, Sangharakshita, lived there until his death last year at the age of 93. Buddhist groups and centers were founded during the 1970s or 1980s.2 Similarly, in Australia the number of Buddhists quadrupled from 35,000 (1981) to 140,000 (1991), these being organized in some . They reported it to other senior OMs. Its Tuesday night in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, in the heart of England. In October 1997, a report by Madeleine Bunting, then the religious affairs correspondent of the British Guardian newspaper, made wide-ranging allegations of sexual misconduct, dogmatism and misogyny within the movement during the 1970s and 1980s. One verse must have given him pause for thought: Lead a righteous life, not one that is corrupt. So he lays the ground for the institutions now in placesingle-sex spiritual communities, Right Livelihood businesses where work can be both an ethical and spiritual practice, and kalyanamitra, a sort of semi-official spiritual friendship. Not all, but most friends and Order members live under these conditions, rooming together, working in teams, meeting regularly for meditation and discussion, and forming close friendships with one another. In response to allegations that Sangharakshita does not have the proper credentials to transmit Tibetan practicessuch as tantric visualizationsto his students, the FWBO states: [Sangharakshitas] authority to draw inspiration from the Tibetan tradition in his teaching, and to pass on some of its insights and practices, is based not on the number of initiations he received, or their formal status, but on the sincerity and effectiveness of his practice, the clarity of his understanding, and the depth of his realization. But who is to be the judge of those? A lot of us grow up under the shadow of a hidden message that men are better than women and strive hard to prove that were as good as men. Many are suspicious, too, of the fact that the FWBO appears to be an ecumenical undertaking, yet is in fact highly exclusive, allowing no outside teachers. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Would you like to sign up for our other mailing lists? (modern). Maha Sthavira Sangharakshita (b. A report by a clinical psychologist said, among other things: He feels the community attempted to alienate him from his family and from women, and that direct attempts were made to encourage him to practise homosexuality. The first of these was formed after a retreat where some participants wanted to continue retreat-style living. The FWBO Files is just so silly and has so many inaccuracies that I was hoping people would look at it and laugh, says Vishvapani, who has been a member for over ten years. [22] These precepts are different from monastic vows and do not appear in the Vinaya Pitaka, but were formulated on the basis of the so-called "dasa-kusala-dhammas" (ten wholesome actions). In 2003, the public preceptors, responding to feedback, decided to move away from a formal relationship to the order and movement, and to concentrate on the ordination of new order members, teaching and dharma practice. In the early days we werent big on practice; we were just Buddhists hanging out, going to lectures, doing yoga. People are streaming into a large white house, a former synagogue, now the Birmingham Buddhist Centre. Published by Princeton University Press and copyrighted, 2002, by Princeton University Press, Pali sources: the Majjhima Nikya, (MN 41:814). The core of Sangharakshitas teaching is to make going for Refuge in the Three TreasuresBuddha, Dharma, Sanghathe heart of ones life. Many who came to it seeking enlightenment aspired to become members. He [Lingwood] thought that it might be a good thing for them to get over their fixed self-view, and one of the things they might try doing [to achieve this] is having sex with other men, explained Triratnas safeguarding officer, who goes by the single Buddhist name of Munisha. Lingwood, of course, escaped such censure in his lifetime, enjoying the tranquillity of his final years cosseted away in the idyillic setting of Coddington Court, feted by his followers. In a rundown house in Bristol lives one of the original twelve members ordained by Sangharakshita in 1968. Some claim that he was caught using rent boys, an allegation that the Triratna community said it had not heard before. nant form of Buddhism in the UK and reshape Western culture in what it alleged was a more Buddhist and progressive mode. The karma sections of the fundamental meditation texts of all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism also list these acts as basic guidelines for lay or ordained practitioners intent on observing the law of cause and effect. [62], On 4 January 2017, following his treatment in hospital for pneumonia, Sangharakshita issued a statement expressing deep regret for all the occasions on which I have hurt, harmed or upset fellow Buddhists, and ask for their forgiveness. The first thing I want to do is to thank people for this celebration. That expos prompted the resignation of one member of the order. The most serious allegation of all is that Sangharakshitas heterodox approach encourages a culture of coercive homosexuality that has led to severe psychological trauma and even suicide. Five years ago, an order member at another centre in London was caught exposing himself to a young child in a supermarket. Why arent there more deserters? Its incendiary findings have hitherto gone unpublicised: a current member explained that it was not the Triratna way to share internal criticisms with the outside world. Women conduct womens ordinations; men conduct mens. His decision to speak out followed discussion on social media from past and present members who expressed concerns about the culture he had promoted within the order. I told him I hated it. [52], As a movement, what was then the FWBO gave detailed responses and staunchly supported its founder,[54][55] while in 2010 the renamed movement published an official history which acknowledged widespread concern among order members that, at least in the 1980s and before, the founder had misused his position as a Buddhist teacher to sexually exploit young men. Our exchanges were recorded and I have gone through the For many years, the community charity Karuna Trust (UK) has raised money for aid projects in India.[17]. Buddhism is still a minority faith in the West, but it is growing stronger all the time. These are found in several places in the Pli Canon, as well as in some Sanskrit sources. Followers from Cambridge, three hours away, join others who have journeyed equally long distances. "Friends of the Western Buddhist Order" published on by Oxford University Press. It bought Adhisthana several years ago for a rumoured 5m. A new generation of Western teachers is emerging, and new experiments are being undertaken. He has no real authority from any lamas. The Files claim that Sangharakshitas history is largely personal mythmaking and that he had no formally recognized training. British-born guru Sangharakshita was mired in allegations of abuse for years. [20], Many cities with a Triratna centre also have a residential community. Now it seems the scandal in his wealthy order went far wider than previously acknowledged. He stated that he did not indulge in homosexual practices, although attempts were made for him to do so both by using inducements and by using threats., Following The Guardian report, a widespread debate ensued. The online bookstore offers specialty books (e.g. And indeed, its agenda on women is one issue that has recently dogged the FWBO. A t a Buddhist temple outside Hue, Vietnam's onetime capital, 92-year-old Thich Nhat Hanh has come to quietly "transition . FRIENDS OF THE WESTERN BUDDHIST ORDER, INC. is a Massachusetts Non-Profit Corporation filed on September 26, 1980. Sangharakshita says he wont respond to the accusations until he publishes the memoirs he is now writing. The orders safeguarding officer, who goes by the spiritual name Munisha, insisted the order had learned lessons from past mistakes and said every Triratna centre in the UK now has a safeguarding officer. Among the crowd, a few men and women wear white kesas over their Western clothesstrips of embroidered cloth worn around the neck, which, following the Zen tradition, distinguish them as ordained members. As a growing number of predominantly young men flocked to Triratna, then called the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), it expanded dramatically. But the real bombshell came with the Web posting of The FWBO Files. It was an unusual set of circumstances., A handsome man of South African Jewish extraction, Kulananda is one of a handful of Public Preceptors recently appointed to take over from Sangharakshita. A small academic figure, gray-haired, in gray suit and glasses, he takes up his position behind a lectern. Which does not mean that I always agree with him or Subhuti. Now it seems the scandal in. [31], As with followers of the Shingon school of Buddhism, order members observe ten precepts (ethical training rules). Mark Dunlop left the order in 1985 after many years working for it. In the UK, it is one of the largest Buddhist movements,[5] with some 30 urban centres and retreat centres. People who had been ordained by Sangharakshita tended to develop their own little castles of which they were the unchallenged masters., At Windhorse Trading, the warehouse shelves are interspersed witth shrines and rupas. But this is only part of the picture. And the fact that its members are often happy to work in its bookshops or cafes for very little helps keep its cost base low. His delight in telling me this story said a lot: that this Buddhism was really theirs, that they were making their own way in it, and that even if their teacher did have no traditional authority in the dharma, what was religious legitimacy anyway if not innocent zeal and willingness to devote your life to your faith? Tricycle. One member told the Observer that, in Cambridge alone, Triratna had eight or nine properties worth between 700,000 and 2m each. But they are generally suspicious of Householder Buddhism. As Kulananda observed: People who speak that language may be deluding themselves about just how serious their practice is. [7], The community has been described as "perhaps the most successful attempt to create an ecumenical international Buddhist organization". These centres teach Meditation, Buddhism, Yoga, and other forms of personal development. The centre's courses for depression, based on the mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy methodology of Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, featured in the Financial Times in 2008. This page was last edited on 23 May 2023, at 15:12. Critics would accuse him of a pushing a semi-intellectual potpourri of Buddhism but he shrugged off the attacks, claiming he was helping the religion find new followers in the west. [18] Community retreats can be broadly categorised into meditation retreats, study retreats, and solitary retreats. Take Sangharakshitas definition of the typical couple: Two people, usually of the opposite sex, who are neurotically dependent on each other and whose relationship is one of mutual exploitation and mutual addictiontwo half-people. Surely today most people with a smattering of psychology would acknowledge that even if this kind of coupledom was all right for mortgage-and-martini Daddy-and-Mummy, its not all right for them. San Francisco Culture Center (SGI) 2450 - 17th Street, San Francisco, California 94110 Tel: (415) 255.6007, Fax: (415) 255.6079 Certainly many women disagree and some have been vocal in expressing that.. Trine Brox Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg View Show abstract . But now a bombshell internal report, produced by concerned members and shared with the Observer, has found that more than one in 10 of them claim to have experienced or observed sexual misconduct while in the order. Windhorse Trading, their main business trading in imported gifts, grows from a one-garage outfit to a six-warehouse, nineteen-store concern, with a turnover of close to $15 million a year. V inter alia).Sanskrit sources:the Mahvastu, the, International Network of Engaged Buddhists, "The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order structure", "The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order", "Buddhist, teacher, predator: dark secrets of the Triratna guru", "Dangers in Devotion: Buddhist Cults and the Tasks of a Guru", "Working in the Right Spirit: The Application of Buddhist Right Livelihood in the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order", International Network of Engaged Buddhists > Committee, "Fears mount over scale of Buddhist sect sexual abuse", "A letter from Triratna's College of Preceptors", "Attorney general Suella Braverman belongs to controversial Buddhist sect", Triratna Buddhist Community Official Site, Many Bodies, One Mind: Movements in British Buddhism, Land of Beautiful Vision: Making a Buddhist Sacred Place in New Zealand, A Review of Extending the Hand of Fellowship, Dangers in Devotion: Buddhist Cults and the Tasks of a Guru, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Triratna_Buddhist_Community&oldid=1156577267. Someone who regularly attends community activities is considered to be a "friend". Friends of the Western Buddhist Order The FWBO , with over 75 public centres and retreats and several businesses in the UK, was founded in 1967 as the Friends of the Western Sangha (becom-ing the FWBO a year later) by Sangharakshita (1925- ), a white Englishman. [37] ("Triratna" is a Sanskrit term meaning Three Jewels), Although Sangharakshita studied under, and in some cases received initiations from, eminent Buddhist teachers during his two decades in India,[38] including Jagdish Kashyap, Dhardo Rinpoche, HH Dudjom Rinpoche, HH Dilgo Khyentse, and Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, author James William Coleman has noted that "he never worked closely enough with any teacher to be recognized as a dharma-heir". In 2012, U-T San Diego estimated U.S. practitioners at 1.2 million people, of whom 40% are living in Southern . The company's filing status is listed as Merger and its File Number is 042751021. After a gap of a couple of years, Sangharakshita marked the end of the millenium with 'Three Lectures to the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order', a triad of new talks that reflected his spiritual concerns and thinking at the time. [30] When members are ordained, they are given a white kesa to signify their ordination; golden kesas may be taken later by those choosing to make a public commitment to greater simplicity of lifestyle, including celibacy. VIII . All rights reserved. How then could Westerners be expected to get it right? It will then take several years to prepare for ordination. His goal is not so much to let Buddhism filter out into the forms of the wider community, but to create a new community for Buddhists. There are around eighty FWBO public centres and retreat centres in over twenty countries. One of the UKs largest Buddhist orders has been forced to report allegations of sexual abuse after a former follower claimed he was coerced into sex with one of its elders. As among Buddhists generally, Puja is a ritual practice at some events, intended to awaken the desire to liberate all beings from suffering. The head of the community was a very powerful, intrusive personality and incredibly manipulative. But no one in the FWBO could explain the second part: If they are the angels, then why more human? I was looking for something different and what it offered helped me.. Venturing out on his own, Lingwood developed his own, highly interpretative brand of Buddhism, drawing on elements of Nietzsche and Freud.

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