SAngharakshita

Sangharakshita is the founder of the WBO (Western Buddhist Order) and of the Buddhist movement associated with it - the FWBO (Friends of the Western Buddhist Order).

He was born Dennis Lingwood in South London in 1925. Largely self-educated, he became interested in the cultures and philosophies of the East, and at the age of sixteen he realised that he was a Buddhist. The second world war took him, as a conscript, to India, where he stayed on to become the Buddhist monk Sangharakshita.

He spent the next twenty-five years in India studying, teaching and writing extensively on Buddhism. Sangharakshita had teachers from each of the three major Buddhist schools and he founded a non-sectarian Buddhist Centre in Kalimpong (North-eastern India). He was closely involved in India’s ‘Dharma Revolution’ of the fifties where hundreds of thousands of former ‘untouchable’ Hindus converted to Buddhism through the inspiration of their leader Dr B. R. Ambedkar. Sangharakshita played a key role in this peaceful revolution and his subsequent work amongst these ‘new Buddhists’ has helped to re-establish Buddhism in India.

In the sixties Sangharakshita returned to England, and in 1967 founded the FWBO (called Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayak Gana, or TBMSG, in India).

A translator between East and West, between traditional society and the modern world, between principles and practices, Sangharakshita’s depth of experience and clarity of mind have been appreciated by thousands of Buddhists throughout the world.

He has always particularly emphasized the decisive significance of commitment in the spiritual life, the paramount value of spiritual friendship and community, the link between religion and art, and the need for a `new society' supportive of spiritual aspirations and ideals. Sangharakshita recently handed on most of his responsibilities to his senior disciples in the Order. From his base in Birmingham, he is now focusing on personal contact with people, and on his writing.

For more information about Sangharakshita see the following links:

Info about Sangharakshita
on the main FWBO Web Site

Info about Sangharakshita's writings and distinctive teaching
on the main FWBO Web Site

Sangharakshita's own site which features articles, poems and book reviews he has written
at the website for Dharma Life magazine

Extract from the book 'The Tantric Path' by Sangharakshita

'Buddhism Without Beliefs?' an article by Sangharakshita
at the website for The Western Buddhist Review

Windhorse Publications
sell many books by Sangharakshita. See this site for the range of books, prices, and book extracts.