Remembering Sangharakshita

This evening will be a celebration of the long life of our founder and teacher, Sangharakshita. There will be a short talk and a film about him followed by a Three-Fold Puja (a devotional ritual) dedicated to him.

Sangharakshita was born in Tooting, London on 26th August 1925 and died on 30th October 2018. From his teens he devoted his life to study and practice of the Dharma and, after a brief spell out East in the army during the war, he chose to give away all his possessions and become a homeless Buddhist monk in India where he stayed practising, studying, teaching and writing for around 20 years.

On his return to England in the 1960's he noticed that the two main Buddhist organisations were mostly treating Buddhism as an intellectual pursuit and in 1968 he started a new Buddhist movement - initially called ‘The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order’ or FWBO - which brought a fresh, unique impetus to Buddhist practice in the West.

Sangharakshita may have been a controversial figure in some respects, but he devoted his life to the Three Jewels (The Buddha, the Dharma (the Buddha's teaching), and the Sangha (Community of Buddhists though the ages and today) and he put together a presentation of the Dharma which, rather than being limited to any single tradition, embraces the whole of Buddhism and offers a very accessible approach to people in the West.

 This event is open to everyone over 18. There is no charge but we would appreciate a small donation to cover our costs.