Western Buddhist Order becomes Triratna Buddhist Order

In January FWBO News carried a story announcing Sangharakshita had suggested a change of name to the Order and Movement, and that he had asked the Order and Movement to adopt the new names of the Triratna Buddhist Order and the Triratna Buddhist Community respectively.

Parami and Mahamati, the two International Order Convenors, have now written with confirmation that the Order has adopted Sangharakshita’s suggestion, and officially became the Triratna Buddhist Order on April 7th, the 42nd anniversary of the founding of the Order. They say “This means that we can celebrate the founding of the Western Buddhist Order and the renaming to the Triratna Buddhist Order on the same day now and in the future”.

The Movement is expected to follow suit, and indeed a ceremony to mark the adoption of the name “Triratna Buddhist Community” is being planned for the International Retreat at the end of May - watch this space for more details.

Mahamati and Parami continue with a couple of specific requests from Sangharakshita, saying -

“In India there is no suitable exact translation into modern Indian languages for the term “community”. So that the names in India will match the rest of the world as closely as possible, and after considering several possibilities that were suggested to him from India, Bhante has decided on Triratna Bauddha Sangha for the Order and Triratna Bauddha Mahasangha for the movement. Also Bhante has asked that we don’t use initials (e.g. TBO and TBC in English) but use Triratna when referring to the Order and Community”.

Triratna means "Three Jewels", specifically the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, which are the central foci of a Buddhist's life and practice. They've long been represented in our logo and on the kesas worn by Order Members, we're delighted that our name will now reflect them as well.