Introduction to Triratna
The Triratna Buddhist Community is an international network
dedicated to communicating Buddhist truths in ways appropriate to the modern
world.
Originally known as the FWBO (Friends of the Western
Buddhist Order), it was founded in London in 1968 by Sangharakshita. Having
originally taken ordination as a Theravadin Bhikkhu in India, during his twenty
years practicing Buddhism on the IndoTibetan border he went on to take
initiations from a number of the Lamas escaping the Chinese occupation of
Tibet. When he returned to England, he experienced first-hand the limited
context in which Westerners had to practice the Dharma and his response was to
found a new Buddhist movement.
Bringing Buddhism into an entirely new culture implied to
Sangharakshita that we needed to go back to basics — to look at the principles
underlying all forms of Buddhism and work out how best to apply them in this
new context. So Triratna is based on the principle of ‘critical ecumenicalism’:
aligned to no one traditional school, but drawing on the whole stream of
Buddhist inspiration.
Now that Buddhism has come to the West, Westerners are faced
with the task of creating new and viable Buddhist traditions for the modern
world. Triratna has pioneered new structures that allow people to live out
Buddhist teachings as an authentic Buddhist way of life in the 21st century: team-based
right livelihood businesses, communities, socially engaged fundraising projects
such as the Karuna Trust, and more. Over the last forty years the Triratna
Buddhist Community has grown to be one of the largest Buddhist movements in the
West, with centres and activities in many cities around the world including
India.
According to Sangharakshita, Triratna has six distinctive
features, which constitute its particular individuality - an individuality
which has developed as a result of practicing the Dharma under the conditions
of modern, industrialised, urbanised, secularised, living; conditions which are
fast becoming worldwide.
First, the Triratna Buddhist Community is an ecumenical
movement, signifying that in principle it accepts the whole Buddhist tradition
as it has developed over the centuries in the East. Specifically it bases
itself upon the principle of critical ecumenicalism, trying to understand what
the various texts and traditions really mean - and to apply that meaning to the
living of our lives as Buddhists.
Secondly, it is a unified movement in the sense that membership
of Triratna is open to all regardless of nationality, race, colour, education,
class or caste, cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, or age: it
seeks to welcome and value all as individuals. More specifically, the Triratna
Buddhist Order is open to both men and women on fully equal terms: this is
revolutionary compared to traditional Eastern Buddhism, where ordination (or its
equivalent) is generally not open to women.
Thirdly, it holds the act of Going for Refuge to the Three
Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) to be the central and definitive act of
a Buddhist.
Fourthly, Triratna places great on spiritual friendship or
kalyana mitrata, and fifthly, on team based right livelihood, where it has been
a pioneer in the field. Sixthly and lastly, it emphasises the importance of the
Arts for the spiritual life, seeing them as potentially bearers of spiritual
values, which can help people to transform their lives.
In the last 40 years the Triratna Buddhist Community has
grown into a movement with dozens of centres all over the world. And not only
in the West — Triratna has a substantial presence in India, as well as Dharma
activities in other developing countries.
Sangharakshita has now handed-on responsibility for the
Triratna Buddhist Community and Order’s spiritual vitality to his followers.
Triratna is entering a new phase of growth and consolidation, learning from,
and building upon its history, and developing into a broad-based, mature and
experienced spiritual community. It is playing a significant role in bringing
Buddhism to the West.
In India Triratna is known as the Triratna Bauddha Mahasangha,
where it has been established for some 30 years. The work in India has two
aspects: firstly providing facilities for teaching the Dharma among Buddhists
from the communities formerly known as ‘untouchable’, and secondly running social
work projects to contribute to the betterment of those communities. Much of
this is funded by the Karuna Trust and other Triratna projects in the West.
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