The Bodhisattva ideal

It’s December which seems unbelievable to me! Where did this year go to? It has been a very full and rich year with a strong presence (for me at least) of Padmasambhava. This evening (Tuesday) I will give a talk on the practice of Transference of Merits, the final stage of the Puja. When thinking about this, it is natural to look back over the actions, from which one’s merits have accumulated. So that has been a bit of a filter in thinking back over 2025. This probably isn’t the last blog of the year but looking back is in my mind.

The first big event for us as a sangha was purchasing 2 Woodside Crescent and many of the highlights of my year have taken place there: the mandala day in March; festival days; the skills auction to name a few. We also held the AGM there in July. I naively thought that we would be fully moved in there by the end of the summer but, as we all know, that was not to be. Planning holdups are still being followed up and, hopefully, there will be updates soon. I have found this frustrating but I am sure that it will all be worth the wait. 

A month or so back, I wrote to the membership (Order members) and associate members (mitras who have asked for ordination) to let them know that I don’t plan to continue as chair of the GBC after the next AGM, which is likely to take place in May 2026. There is still a process to go through. For those of you reading this who are not members or associate members, this is from the update which I sent after our council meeting on Thursday 27th November:

While there is one clear candidate, there is still a lot to be discussed in terms of the consequences - practical and otherwise - of a new appointment. We will meet again on the 15th December having had time to think through some of those consequences, at which point we will let you know where it has got to.

Meanwhile I am asked sometimes where the decision lies to appoint a centre chair.  Legally, all office bearers are appointed by the trustees (ie the centre council). Trustees are appointed by the membership at the AGM and then the offices are filled at the first council meeting after the AGM. Spiritually, you could say that the council would have the last word in such a decision as the council ultimately holds responsibility for the spiritual well being of the centre mandala. However, obviously whoever is chair has implications for the whole mandala and so an appointment would be taken to the membership before being ratified.  There would be time for anyone with questions or concerns to voice them and, hopefully, have them resolved before an appointment was made. The candidate would also have a number of conversations with their chapter, their preceptors and Kalyana Mitras.  

So, things still to think through. This is an important moment with the transition to a new Centre on the horizon and so we need to be clear about our resources and how best everyone can serve the vision of the centre.

Back to my talk on Transference of Merits, I am again amazed at just how much our community has been set up in accordance with the Bodhisattva Ideal. Sangharakshita was very much influenced by that and by Santideva’s Bodhicharavatara (the Guide to the Life of the Bodhisattva). That text and the commentary on it by Marion Matics was the first text that Sangharakshita studied on a seminar with very early Order members. The seminar (called the Endlessly Fascinating Cry - a reference to an image found in the text) took place in 1973 and you can see several ideas that were beginning to take shape in the fledgling (F)WBO. I believe that we can see that influence in many aspects of our community and I will be exploring that in my talk. I would go so far as to say that Sangharakshita didn’t just quote Śāntideva — he built a modern Buddhist movement on his vision.

I know that people have differing degrees of relationship with Bhante - and varying responses to him. Some of us had strong personal relationships over many years (40 years in my own case) and some have no sense of him beyond his writings and talks. Some still feel uncomfortable or unhappy with the controversies around his sexual relationships through the 70s and start of the 80s. I hope that, while those feelings are to be acknowledged where necessary, people can also appreciate and enjoy the legacy he has left us as a thriving, modern Buddhist community. 

He ends the seminar by saying:

What the whole section, - indeed the whole Bodhicaryavata, boils down to is this: With the help of urgent expostulations and rather subtle arguments Santideva is trying to talk us into being at least a little bit more unselfish - into considering the sorrows and sufferings of others as our own, and being sensitive to them as we are to our own. In other words, he is trying to talk us into devoting ourselves - in the Bodhisattva spirit - to helping relieve the whole mass of human suffering without going too much into whether it’s your suffering, or my suffering, or anybody else’s suffering. There’s a big cloud hanging over the whole human race, and it needs to be dispelled by the united efforts of us all.

That was in 1973 - over 50 years ago - and today, I believe, that cloud is darkening. I hope that our community can act in that Bodhisattva spirit and take part in the united effort to alleviate suffering.

So, of course, I will end with:

For now, as always, may all beings be well, may all beings find true happiness and its causes and may all beings be free from suffering.

Where the Bodhichitta has not yet arisen

May it arise

Where it has arisen

May it flourish

Where it flourishes

May it never die