Urgyen

A New View of Sangharakshita

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Help Me Write a Book About Sangharakshita

I started working on this project in 2017 thinking I understood Bhante’s teachings fairly well having read, studied and practiced his teachings for over four decades not to mention living with him for six years. But doing justice to those teachings and applying them to the issues facing Triratna, required me to go much deeper. I needed to explore the inner life that lies behind both the writing, in both wisdom and originality of Bhante’s teachings and it the tensions we’ve also experienced.

Urgyen – sets out to open up the inner life that lies behind both the wisdom, originality and inspiration of Bhante’s teachings, and the tensions within his life that have brought us some difficulties. It will bring these themes to life in a compelling way that does justice to the richness and complexity of Bhante, himself.

I believe it will do something that other books on Bhante haven’t yet done and I hope it will make a significant and lasting contribution to our understanding of the Bhante, in all his complexity.

Talks

I’ve been sharing my thoughst as I’ve been writing. Here are two talks from 2022 which explain my thinking and share my inspiration

‘A Deeper Rhythm’

We can find the sources of Sangharakshita’s inspiration by entering imaginatively into his connection to Padmasambhava. But that also brought some problems

The Organic Core

Sangharakshita is an organic thinker who set out to find the organic core that gives coherence to the whole of Buddhism

Endorsements

‘[This book] will have a big impact on the current discourse, because it takes fully into account the problematic issues, whilst demonstrating very clearly the extraordinary genius of the man. And that will be of enduring importance, given that the facts are now completely open and will be known by each succeeding generation. Vishvapani is qualified by way of his experience and his particular somewhat sceptical perspective, but he is also a gifted writer of proven ability. His magisterial biography of the Buddha shows that he can write, and write very well, and is capable of tackling large subjects in considerable depth. And his writing and understanding have matured considerably since then.

[The book] will have considerable influence on the way people understand our remarkable teacher. He is unlikely to write it, at least unlikely to write in the next few years when it is truly needed, if he does not get financial backing.

Subhuti

Vishvapani’s thoughts, feelings, inspirations and reflections, distilled into the book he is writing, give us something entirely new and immensely valuable – and I say that as someone who has also read Subhuti’s books on Bhante’s teachings and Nagabodhi’s recent book about Bhante. Those works are of great value too, but Vishvapani has found a way to go even deeper, considering and putting into clear and evocative words not just the teachings Bhante gave and the life he lived, but the forces that shaped that life and gave life to those teachings. Not just what, but why.

No one else could write this book, and I am quite sure that it will be of deep and lasting value both to those of us involved in Triratna now, and those at present and in the future who are not involved yet, but for whom this book could be a way in.

As it happens, in my last ever conversation with Bhante, Bhante asked me whether I thought that Vishvapani would be the right person to write about his life. That’s in my mind too as I write this – as though ‘coming events were casting their shadows before’, as Bhante himself would say. The answer was yes. I very much hope that this book can come into existence, and that funding can be found to allow it to do so.

Vidyadevi

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