Western Buddhist Order
Western Buddhist Order or Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. An eclectic movement established in London, England, in 1967 by Venerable Sangharakshita, an Englishman who had studied extensively in India, writing prolifically (e.g. A Survey of Buddhism, 1957).
There is no exclusively monastic membership of this Order, which attempts to make known the Buddhist path by using a language appropriate to the contemporary Western world. All who participate are known as ‘friends’, and saṅgha refers to the whole community, but those who advance with commitment can be ordained as mitras, and then as Order Members. There is some argument among Buddhists whether this eclecticism represents the true Westernization of Buddhism (cf. the diffusions into Tibet), or whether it is an erosion of tradition.
There is no exclusively monastic membership of this Order, which attempts to make known the Buddhist path by using a language appropriate to the contemporary Western world. All who participate are known as ‘friends’, and saṅgha refers to the whole community, but those who advance with commitment can be ordained as mitras, and then as Order Members. There is some argument among Buddhists whether this eclecticism represents the true Westernization of Buddhism (cf. the diffusions into Tibet), or whether it is an erosion of tradition.
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Western Buddhist Order