About the FWBO

The Ipswich Buddhist Centre is part of an international spiritual movement called the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO). The FWBO has at least 50 major centres worldwide as well as retreat centres and various businesses that provide ethical livelihoods for their employees. It was founded in 1967 by Sangharakshita, an English Buddhist who lived in India as a Buddhist monk for many years. The objective of the FWBO is to make fundamental Buddhist teachings and practices available in a form accessible to people in the modern West.

At the heart of the FWBO is the Western Buddhist Order - a world-wide spiritual community of individuals who have been ordained into the Order and received a new, Sanskrit name. You will be able to recognise Order members at the Ipswich Buddhist Centre as they wear akesa, or garment of ordination, when at classes etc. (Order members in the West only rarely appear with the traditional orange robes and shaven head of the Buddhist monk).

The FWBO has a substantial presence in India, where it is known as the Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana (TBMSG)

The organising principles of the FWBO are spiritual lineage and friendship (rather than any formal legal or administrative framework).

Six distinctive features characterise the FWBO - these features are as follows:

• The FWBO draws upon all the various Buddhist traditions for guidance and inspiration - it doesn't identify exclusively with any particular tradition such as Tibetan or Zen.
• The FWBO is open to all regardless of nationality, race, colour, education, class or caste, cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, or age. Membership of the Western Buddhist Order, the heart of the movement, is open to both men and women on equal terms.
• Throughout the Buddhist world, you will hear the chanting of the Three Refuges (in Pali, the ancient language of Buddhism):

  "Buddham saranam gacchami [To the Buddha for refuge I go]
  Dhammam saranam gacchami [To the Dharma for refuge I go]
  Sangham saranam gacchami [To the Sangha for refuge I go]"

  
  In the FWBO it is held that the act of Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels - the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha - is the central act of the spiritual life, and what makes one a Buddhist. Essentially, this is about commitment - making the Three Jewels one's central reliances in life, instead of other common refuges such as one's career or material prosperity. It follows that this takes priority over lifestyle choices and so there is no formal monastic order in the FWBO or Western Buddhist Order.
• The FWBO believes in the importance of spiritual friendship. 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 is in itself a means of spiritual progress and a spiritual practice. In spiritual friendship, we learn to forget ourselves, our petty self-interest and concern. We begin to transcend the difference between ourselves and others.
• The FWBO has set up Team Based Right Livelihood businesses as one of its fundamental institutions. These businesses do not pay wages or salaries; they give each worker what he or she needs according to their individual circumstances. They engage only in ethical activities, both internally and externally, and provide opportunities for the development of spiritual friendship within the work situation. The profits of these businesses are distributed in support of FWBO activities of various kinds.
• Buddhism has traditionally been a bearer of culture and the FWBO emphasises the importance of the Arts for spiritual life. Great music, literature, drama, painting, sculpture, architecture - all help us to refine and elevate our emotional responses and to make a bridge between Buddhism and Western culture.