Sangharakshita considers that some knowledge of at least some few canonical texts is indispensable toa serious Buddhist practitioner. That study must be firmly based on a thorough acquaintance with thebasic teachings as presented in the oldest texts - of which the most accessible to Western students arethose found in the Pali Canon. In his teaching, Sangharakshita has strongly emphasised several importantscriptures from various traditional sources. He has given lectures and conducted seminars on many majorworks and has written a comprehensive account of the canonical literature of Buddhism, The Eternal
Legacy, again giving expression to his vision of the unity of Buddhism.

The scriptures act as a touchstone by which the validity of new developments can be tested. They areafter all, to some extent, records of what the Buddha taught, particularly those portions that deal withBasic Buddhism. They therefore provide some contact with the mind of Enlightenment. If some newteaching evolves or an old teaching is elaborated, it should be possible to see whether it is in the spiritof the basic teachings of Buddhism as expressed in the scriptures. In his important essay, The Meaningof Orthodoxy in Buddhism, Sangharakshita gives as one definition of Buddhist orthodoxy:

According to, or congruous with, the scriptures common to all schools of Buddhism, especially as

expressed in the stereotype formulae such as the Four Noble Truths and the Three Characteristics

(tri-lakshana), which are found in both the Scriptures which are and the Scriptures which are not common

to all schools.51

Another criterion is that the teaching should be

of Right Views (sammaditthika); hence, adhering to the Dharma of the Buddha as formulated in the

formulae such as the Four Noble Truths and the Three Characteristics (tilakkhana) without inclining either

to the extreme of Eternalism (sassatavada) or the extreme of Nihilism (ucchedavada).52
These criteria ensure that the pragmatic definition of the Dharma as whatever conduces to Enlightenmentis not used to give licence to self-indulgence and whim. In order to apply that definition effectively onemust know to some extent what Enlightenment is; only then will one be able to tell whether a practiceis actually leading towards it. The scriptures and the basic doctrinal formulae, emanating from the

The Unity of Buddhism Page 14
Extracted from Sangharakshita: A New Voice in the Buddhist Tradition by Dharmachari Subhuti


Enlightened mind, offer some means of ascertaining whether the new teaching is genuinely ‘the Master’sMessage’ - or Buddha-sasana, as it was traditionally termed.

THE PRINCIPLES OF A NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENT

Sangharakshita’s understanding of the unity of Buddhism and his perspective on the Buddhist traditionfound practical application when he came to found the FWBO in 1967. The principles on which it shouldbe formed were by then very clear to him. The first and most basic was that the new movement shouldhelp the individuals it consisted of to grow towards Enlightenment. Teachings and practices were takenup because they worked. There was no question of simply continuing unthinkingly any one school ortradition in its existing form. Using the Buddha’s pragmatic criteria for recognising the ‘Master’sMessage’, Sangharakshita built a body of teachings and practices - still growing and changing - whichmet the spiritual needs of his disciples. Since he viewed the entire Buddhist tradition as likely to containvalid means to Enlightenment, he could draw from any part of it whatever was appropriate to the present.
This was no mere eclecticism, in the sense of a selection according to a preconceived system, rationallydeduced. No more was it simply a matter of personal whim or preference. Teachings and practices wereincorporated because they answered his disciples’ definite spiritual needs.

Clearly it was not possible to take up every teaching of every school of Buddhism. Even within a singleschool there is far more material available than any individual could ever usefully take advantage of.
There had to be a selection - a selection based upon real spiritual needs. Indeed, as Sangharakshita points
out,

In selecting doctrinal and practical elements from one or more Eastern Buddhist tradition the FWBO is

doing no more, in principle, than individual Eastern Buddhists, or groups of Eastern Buddhists, do in the

case of their own particular tradition. A Sinhalese Theravada monk, for example, while in principle

accepting the Theravada tradition in toto, will not familiarize himself with all the doctrines ... nor will he

practise all the forty methods of meditation (kammatthana) described in the Visuddhimagga.53

There was however a clear starting point. Sangharakshita saw the Buddhist tradition as consisting ofelaborations and explications of the essential principles contained in the Buddha’s original teaching. Hetherefore drew his main corpus of material from that core of doctrine he called ‘Basic Buddhism’.