Triratna Buddhism in the West

Overview

Recall questions on Triratna's origins and central commitment, its handling of the lay and monastic divide and the unity of the sangha, the rules it sets aside, its success and reception, and Vajragupta and Coleman.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is Triratna, and where did it come from?

   Model answer

   A Buddhist movement founded in Britain in 1967 by Sangharakshita, an Englishman who had spent around two decades in India, most of them as an ordained monk. It was set up deliberately for Western conditions rather than as a branch of an Asian school, and was renamed Triratna in 2010 from its earlier title as a Western Buddhist Order with its associated Friends.

2. 2

   What does Triratna put at the centre of Buddhist life?

   Model answer

   Going for refuge. Sangharakshita argued that the act of committing to the Buddha, the dhamma and the sangha is what makes someone a Buddhist, and that everything else, including monastic or lay status and school affiliation, is secondary to it. The movement's ordination is an ordination into that commitment.

3. 3

   How does Triratna handle the lay and monastic divide?

   Model answer

   It sets it aside. Members ordained into the order are neither monks nor laypeople in the traditional sense: they may be married or celibate, employed or not, and they undertake a set of training principles rather than the Vinaya. Triratna argues that the traditional divide reflects Asian social conditions rather than the essence of the teaching.

4. 4

   What does Triratna mean by the unity of the sangha?

   Model answer

   That the community should not be split by ordination status, gender, nationality or school. Men and women are ordained on equal terms into a single order, and the movement draws on Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan sources rather than affiliating to one, on the argument that what unites Buddhists is the shared commitment rather than a lineage.

5. 5

   Why does Triratna set aside particular traditional rules?

   Model answer

   On the grounds that many are culturally specific and unhelpful transplanted: rules about handling money, eating times or dress developed for wandering mendicants in ancient India. What it keeps is a set of ethical training principles it regards as the actual content of Buddhist conduct. Critics answer that the Vinaya is the discipline that has protected communities for millennia and that discarding it removes an external check.

6. 6

   How does Triratna spread the teaching?

   Model answer

   Through urban Buddhist centres offering introductory meditation and study to the general public, through retreat centres, publishing and online courses, and through team-based right livelihood businesses in which members work together and support the movement. The intention is that Buddhism should be accessible to people with jobs and families rather than only through monastic contact.

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