Beyond the monk-lay divide
According to Sangharakshita, going for Refuge to the Three Jewels isn’t something one does just once. It’s an orientation not an event. Buddhist practice is about going for Refuge more and more deeply. He, therefore, speaks of various levels of going for Refuge. Whatever stage one has reached on the path, the next step is always to transform one’s actions, thoughts and values from those based on worldly aspirations to those embodied in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
In many Asian Buddhist cultures the sangha is divided between monks and nuns, who can be seen as the ‘real’ full-time Buddhists, and lay people, who can be regarded as part-timer supporters. In some countries the role of the laity is simply to serve the monastics. However, all Buddhists face the same spiritual and existential issues: suffering and death; the fact that actions have consequences; and the need to transform one’s mind. So all Buddhists — whether monk or lay — go for Refuge to some extent, and all have the challenge of doing so more fully.
Sangharakshita emphasises that going for Refuge to the Three Jewels is primary in any Buddhist life. How one expresses that in one’s individual life may vary enormously. As he puts it — Commitment is primary; lifestyle is secondary
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For this reason the Western Buddhist Order was set up as neither lay nor monastic. Order members live in a range of ways: some have families, some live in communities, others are chaste monastics (anagarikas). But there is no difference in status, simply a different approach to practice. The WBO is a united sangha — it includes men and women, people from many countries and cultures, and practitioners following a wide variety of lifestyles. The WBO is also financially independent in the world — not reliant on funding by local lay people.
Generally speaking, Sangharakshita does not believe all lifestyles are equally supportive of spiritual practice. He holds up brahmacarya — a chaste and simple life based on detachment from possessions, craving and sexual activity — as an ideal towards which all Buddhists could be actively working. However, he maintains that people can deepen their wisdom and compassion under any circumstances, and it is not always easy to predict what conditions will give rise to spiritual growth.