The Triratna Story Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) worn by members of the Western Buddhist Order when teaching and on ceremonial or ritual occasions. 97 The refuges and ten precepts are verses of commitment to the Buddhist ideals of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and ten ethical trainings. 98 Buddhist ordinations in Asia have often been monastic, although there are ordinations in Pure Land, Chan, Zen and Shingon Buddhism, for example, which are not exclusively monastic or celibate traditions. 99 Once an ordination lineage dies out, it cannot be revived. Full Buddhist monastic ordination for women is now available in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam, and possibly elsewhere in Asia, and even these lineages are not universally accepted as valid. In other Buddhist countries, women often live and practice as nuns, though they only have the ‘novice’ ordination, and therefore often receive less support and have lower status than the men monastics. See Gross 2001. 100 It is important to be clear that it is not the monastic lifestyle that is being criticized, but the over-identification of this as being synonymous with a true Buddhist spiritual life, and the undervaluing of other Buddhist lifestyles that may be equally committed and effective. 101 ‘Tantric initiation’ is the giving of a special mantra and meditation practice in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. It is important to realize that Bodhisattva vows or Tantric initiations are not being criticized in themselves. They may be spiritually highly significant and meaningful. What is being criticised is the perception of them as spiritually superior to other forms, or expressions, of Going for Refuge. 102 For example, see Sangharakshita. 1996a. Extending the Hand of Fellowship. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications. 103 Dhammapada, verses 168, 169. 104 Sangharakshita 1988. 105 ����������������������������� Sangharakshita 1988, pp.90–1. 106 �������������������������� Sangharakshita 1988, p.93. 107 Saccanama. 2009, in Shabda (privately published WBO/TBM newsletter), April, p.24. 108 Quoted in Sangharakshita. 1990. My Relation to the Order. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications, p.8. 109 Sangharakshita 1990, p.6. 110 Rodney Stark. 1996. ‘Why Religious Movements Succeed or Fail’. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 11(2), pp.133–46. 111 Subhuti. 1995a. Bringing Buddhism to the West. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications; 1994. Sangharakshita: A New Voice in the Buddhist Tradition. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications.
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