I’d also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Subhuti and Vishvapani. They’ve written many articles and papers (often quoted in the text) that helped me make sense of the development of the FWBO, especially its last ten years. Lastly, thank you, Sangharakshita, for commenting on the manuscript, and, most of all, for having the courage to start a new Buddhist movement for the West. Without you, there would be no story to tell in the first place.
About the author
n Vajragupta was born as Richard Staunton in 1968 and grew up in London. He studied social science at university and first came into contact with Buddhism at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre (a centre of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) in the early 1990s. He was ordained in 1994 and given the name Vajragupta which means ‘secret, or hidden, diamond-like truth’. He was director of the Birmingham Buddhist Centre from 1997 to 2005, and is now director of the FWBO Development Team – working for a collective of 50 FWBO centres and projects across Europe. He currently lives in Worcester, England where he teaches Buddhism and meditation, enjoys walking and wildlife, reading, poetry, and travelling over to nearby Stratford to watch productions of Shakespeare plays. His first book, published in 2007 by Windhorse Publications, was Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life.
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