About Sangharakshita

Sangharakshita

A unique fig­ure in the Buddhist world

Sangharakshita at Manchester Buddhist Centre 2008
Born Dennis Lingwood in South London in 1925, and largely self-educated, Sangharakshita developed an interest in the cul­tures and philo­sophies of the East and real­ised that he was a Buddhist at the age of sixteen.

The Second World War took him as a con­script to India, where he stayed on to become the Buddhist monk. Sangharakshita (‘pro­tec­ted by the spir­itual com­munity’) lived for four­teen years in the Himalayan town of Kalimpong, where he encountered ven­er­able Tibetan Buddhist teach­ers, giv­ing him the oppor­tun­ity to study intens­ively under lead­ing teach­ers from all major Buddhist tra­di­tions. During this time he taught and wrote extensively.

After twenty years in India, Sangharakshita returned to the UK to teach the Dharma. In 1967 he set up the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order — a new Buddhist move­ment for the mod­ern West, now called the Triratna Buddhist Community.

Sangharakshita in Buddhist cave in India

As trans­lator

A trans­lator between East and West, between the tra­di­tional world and the mod­ern, between prin­ciples and prac­tices, Sangharakshita’s clear think­ing and depth of exper­i­ence have been appre­ci­ated around the world. He has par­tic­u­larly emphas­ised the sig­ni­fic­ance of com­mit­ment in the spir­itual life, the value of spir­itual friend­ship and com­munity, the link between reli­gion and the arts, and the need for a new soci­ety that sup­ports spir­itual values.

Indian Buddhist women meditatingThroughout his life Sangharakshita has been con­cerned with issues of social reform; he played a key part in the revival of Buddhism in India, par­tic­u­larly through his work with the fol­low­ers of Dr Ambedkar. Around one third of the Order is in India, where the move­ment used to be called Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayak Gana, or TBMSG. In 2010 the WBO and TBMSG became the Triratna Buddhist Order.

Sangharakshita speak­ing at the Manchester Buddhist Centre in 2008:

Short clips of Sangharakshita speak­ing about the FWBO, now Triratna:

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