Reimagining Buddhism : Understanding Sangharakshita and His Teachings

Reimagining Buddhism explores Sangharakshita's pivotal role in modern Buddhism, from founding the Triratna Buddhist Community to his innovative yet controversial approach of drawing from the entire tradition. The book details his life, teachings, and the impact of his ideas, offering both an introduction and in-depth analysis of his legacy.

Reimagining Buddhism is a sparkling, deeply felt and penetrating account of the English Buddhist teacher, Sangharakshita - one of the most complex and brilliant figures in modern Buddhism. A key figure in Buddhism's arrival in western countries and its revival in India, for many years, Sangharakshita's sexual activity attracted controversy and coloured his reputation beyond Triratna The book offers a comprehensive account of Sangharakshita's understanding of Buddhism and perhaps the fullest account of any modern Buddhist teacher. Drawing on the whole of his vast output, it sets out to trace the contours of Sangharakshita's imagination, recognise the inner dimensions of his spiritual life and show how these forces shaped his life and his teachings. The book covers Sangharakshita's life as a poetically inclined scholar-monk in India, his equivocal embrace of the counter-culture in 1960s England, his inspired teachings in the West, his careful development of a Buddhist community and his continuing reflections in old age. Vishvapani presents Sangharakshita as a subtle and far reaching thinker and a creative prodigy with an intuitive understanding of the spirit or current of energy at Buddhism's centre. In the course of a long life he founded the Triratna Buddhist Community which grew into a worldwide movement, and wrote many volumes of Buddhist teaching and commentary as well as memoirs and poetry. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he drew on the whole Buddhist tradition rather than adapting one of its Asian forms, and developed modern expressions without embracing secularism. He insisted he was remaining faithful to the tradition, even as he recast it in fundamental ways. His supporters said he was revitalising Buddhist teachings while his critics said he distorted them. The learning, sensitivity and resonant prose of the acclaimed Gautama Buddha: the Life and Teachings of the Awakened One has been brought to this remarkable account of a unique Buddhist teacher. For those new to Sangharakshita's life and work, this is a wide-ranging introduction; for more experienced readers it presents his teachings as a whole and in their full depth.