Triratna, a global Buddhist Community
The Triratna Buddhist Community is an international Buddhist movement with centers in over forty countries.
The Triratna Buddhist Community was originally founded as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order in 1967 in London by Urgyen Sangharakshita, an Englishman who had returned to the West from Asia with twenty years experience as a Buddhist monk and independent scholar. While in Asia he studied under teachers of the Theravada, Chinese Ch’an, and Tibetan Vajrayana traditions. His survey of the teachings of Buddhism, at a time when relatively few resources were available to Westerners, inspired him to create a new Buddhist movement when he returned to the UK.
Central to the Triratna Buddhist Community is the Triratna Buddhist Order, consisting of people who have wholeheartedly committed themselves to living out the teachings of the Buddha in their lives. The first ordinations into the Western Buddhist Order took place in 1968. Things grew rapidly throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s. The Order now numbers over two thousand members worldwide, and a third of the Order is in India.
In 2010 the Western Buddhist Order and its sister-order in India, Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayak Gana, were renamed as the Triratna Buddhist Order, while the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order was renamed the Triratna Buddhist Community. The name ‘Triratna’ means ‘Three Jewels’. The Three Jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha himself, who inspires us to awaken to how things really are; the ‘Dharma’, the teachings of the Buddha and those teachers who follow in his path and who show us the way; and the ‘Sangha’, the community of those, past and present, who share in the path.
Embedded in the larger Buddhist World
Triratna is well embedded in a wider web of spiritual friendship and accountability across traditions.
In Europe we are long-standing and active members of the European Buddhist Union and of Buddhist Teachers in Europe. We have regularly hosted their meetings and gatherings. See a report here of our recent engagement.
Several of our North American Order Members have played key roles on the Planning Committees of the Dharma Teachers Gen X conference. The Triratna Buddhist Community was also an important contributor in organizing the last Senior Dharma Teachers Conference, which was hosted at Omega in 2015, and for which our center in San Francisco provided fiscal sponsorship.