The Essential Sangharakshita A Half-Century of Writings from the Founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order

by Sangharakshita, Urgyen; Stout, Vidyadeva Karen

• ISBN13: 9780861715855
• ISBN10: 0861715853
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-06
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Essential Sangharakshita is the culmination of over fifty years of one mans study, practice, and personal experience of Buddhism. Sangharakshita is unique in his experience with many different Buddhist traditions and his distillation of their core practices. Transmitted into a set of teachings and practices that forms the basis of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO); one of the largest and longest running international Buddhist communities. Sangharakshita is not of the East, and he is not of the West, but he springs forth from both, now on this side, now on that, like a master swordsman sparring your preconceived ideas, and you never know where he will come at you from in the next second. He is a Renaissance man, and he uses his knowledge of every field of human experience deftly to force us into a deeper understanding of timeless truths. He engages our intellect and stirs our heart deeply, countless times in one chapter, without ever pausing for breath, and the feelings such an approach evokes are pretty much unparalleled in my experience. "Religion", he says, "is concerned with our total personality". And so it is to our total personality that Sangharakshita addresses himself.

Author Biography

Urgyen Sangharakshita began studying Buddhism at the age of sixteen. After twenty years studying in India in both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions, he returned to England in 1967 and founded the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), which now has over sixty-five centers worldwide. He is the author and translator of over thirty books on Buddhism.

Karen Stout (Vidyadevi) has worked with Sangharakshita as an editor since 1987, as well as editing many other books for Windhorse Publications, UK. She became a member of the Western Buddhist Order in 1993 and was given the ordination name Vidyadevi. The Sanskrit translates as ""shining one or goddess of intuitive wisdom and aesthetic appreciation""-an aspiration, not a description, she hastens to add!-but an appropriate one because of her interest in the affinities between Buddhism and Western culture. She has traveled widely and feels special connections with Aryaloka Buddhist Center in New Hampshire and the Buddhist movement in India, both of which continue to be the source of joy and inspiration. She lives with her partner in rural Herefordshire, UK, close to the border between England and Wales.