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Order Members, Mitras and Friends at Padmaloka after a Public Ordination

Creating a New Society

The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (known in the West as the FWBO, and in India as Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana - TBMSG) is the interface between the Order and the World. As such, it implies the presence, the meeting or coming together of both Order members and Friends in mutual support and encouragement. The Order inspires the Friends to truer and deeper spiritual practice, and the Friends provide the context for the activities of the Order. In principle, both Order members and Friends give what they can (both spiritually and materially) and take what they need. In order to facilitate spiritual development, followers need leaders; in order to live in the world whilst avoiding rapacious greed, and in order to help others, we all need to practice generosity to the fullest extent we can, and to practice it with wisdom. This is the activity of Compassion, (karuna, in Sanskrit), which is the whole principle and practice of the New Society which is little by little brought into being by the presence and activity in ordinary society of an effective spiritual Order and supportive friends.

In applying their understanding of the path of the Buddha to their lives, many of the men and women in the FWBO have developed living and working structures which together are the spiritual seeds and material basis of a radically new kind of society. They often choose to live together in residential communities and work together in co-operative ventures known as Team-Based Right Livelihood (TBRL) businesses.

There are six distinctive emphases in the FWBO

1       The Movement is Ecumenical.

In the first place, the FWBO/TBMSG is what may be called an ecumenical movement. This means that in principle we accept the whole Buddhist tradition as it has developed over the centuries in the East. It means that we do not identify ourselves exclusively with any one Eastern sect or tradition. We learn from all the Buddhist traditions, we appreciate all of them and are inspired by all of them.

2       The Movement is Unified

Secondly, we are a unified movement. We are a unified movement in a general sense and in a specific sense. In a general sense, membership of the FWBO/TBMSG is open to all. It is open to all regardless of nationality, race, colour, education, class or caste, cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, or age. All are accepted, all are welcomed, all have a place in our Movement. All are seen and valued, by themselves and by others, primarily as individuals. We are also a unified movement in a more specific sense - that membership of the Order, which is the heart of the movement, is open to both men and women on equal terms.

3       The Act of Going for Refuge is central

Thirdly, the centrality of the act of Going for Refuge in the Buddhist spiritual life is emphasised in the FWBO. It is the Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels that makes us Buddhists. To the extent that we Go for Refuge, to that extent we are a Buddhist. Going for Refuge is of course found in all forms of Buddhism, at least, references to it are found. Unfortunately it is often spoken of, at least in English, as 'Taking' Refuge. This not only contradicts the plain language of the scriptures, where the word is gacchami, 'I go', it also has the wrong sort of connotation, a connotation of appropriation and possession, even of grasping. So it is best never to speak of 'Taking' Refuge. But though Going for Refuge is found in all forms of Buddhism, it rarely, if ever, has a central place in them.

4       The Emphasis upon Spiritual Friendship

The fourth emphasis in the FWBO is on the importance of spiritual friendship. Friendship is a basic human need. Relations between friends is one of the six basic Buddhist relationships dealt with by the Buddha in the Sigalovada Sutta where the Buddha has quite a lot to say about the subject, especially how to distinguish the good friend from the bad friend. Without friends, good friends, one is hardly human, and without spiritual friends one can hardly be a practising Buddhist. Spiritual friends help us to make spiritual progress. They encourage us when we're downhearted, challenge us when we're slack, inspire us when we lose touch with the ideal. They also help us in practical, even mundane ways. In fact spiritual friendship, kalyana mitrata as it is known in the classical Indian languages, is itself a means of spiritual progress, itself a spiritual practice. In spiritual friendship we learn to forget ourselves, our petty self-interest and concern. We begin to transcend the difference between oneself and others. Perhaps we get a glimpse of the bodhicitta, the Will to Enlightenment

5       Team Based Right Livelihood is emphasised.

Our fifth emphasis is on team based right livelihood. Team based right livelihood businesses are one of the fundamental institutions of the FWBO/TBMSG, together with chapter meetings, public centres and residential spiritual communities. In the UK alone, there are more than thirty Team-based Right Livelihood businesses, with nearly two hundred and fifty full-time and fifty or so part-time workers between them. This represents a significant achievement, considering how difficult it is to establish and run a business of this kind in which personal gain is not paramount. The workers in these Team-based Right Livelihood businesses are therefore pioneers, not only within the FWBO but within the context of world society. They are pointing the way towards the development of a more ethical economic order.

Team based right livelihood businesses have four distinguishing characteristics. (1) They provide those who work in them with a means of support. They do not pay wages or salaries; they give each worker what he or she needs according to their individual circumstances. (2) They engage only in activities that are ethical, i.e. in accordance with the precepts. Not only are the Team-based Right Livelihood businesses run in an ethical manner, the workers treat one another ethically. (3) They provide opportunities for the development of spiritual friendship within the work situation. This is particularly the case where the workers not only work together, but live together in a community. (4) The profits of the business are distributed as dana, for the benefit of FWBO/TBMSG activities of various kinds. (See under: Charitable work)

6       The importance of the Arts for the spiritual life is emphasised.

Sixthly and lastly, in the FWBO/TBMSG we emphasise the importance of the Arts for the spiritual life. We emphasise the importance of culture, great music, literature, drama, painting, sculpture, architecture - all help us to broaden our sympathies and extend our experience. They enlarge our imagination, they refine and direct our emotions. At their best and greatest they may be bearers of spiritual values, values which are in principle identical with those of the Dharma, values which can help us to transform our lives. They offer ways of engaging the emotions in the spiritual life and of making a bridge between Buddhism and Western culture.

Charitable Work

In India the FWBO (known there as TBMSG - Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana) is one of the principal Buddhist movements at work among the ex-Untouchable Buddhists. Alongside Buddhist work is a very extensive network of social work projects undertaken by Bahujan Hitay, a sister organisation to Karuna Trust, the charitable wing of the Movement in the West.

 

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This page was updated on Monday 14 March 2005