Sangharakshita (1925-2018) was a Buddhist writer and teacher, founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community (previously FWBO). Apart from his practical achievements, Sangharakshita was an original thinker on the adaptation of Buddhism to modern conditions, an autodidact whose intellectual creativity was stimulated by both cross-cultural experience and practical contingency. His thinking is little known or appreciated outside the movement he founded, but over-dominant within it. This means that there is a shortage of balanced critical discussion of his work that finds any middle way between hagiography and dismissal. Sangharakshita has also been an object of controversy in recent years, but his more controversial views and actions need to be seen in proportion to the whole of his thinking.

This book surveys Sangharakshita's most important and original ideas with an eye that combines appreciation and critical awareness in equal measure. It celebrates Sangharakshita's pioneering syntheses of Buddhist and Western ideas, but warns against the inconsistencies and dogmas that are also found in Sangharakshita's work -- dogmas whose negative practical effects can also be traced.
The Thought of Sangharakshita: A Critical Assessment, Robert M. Ellis, Equinox Publishing Ltd, Paperback, 268 pp, $32.00

Robert M Ellis has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and a Cambridge BA in Oriental Studies and Theology. Originally from a Christian background, he spent about 20 years practising Buddhism, including as a member of the Triratna Order. However, he now describes himself as a Middle Way practitioner without exclusive loyalty to any one religious tradition. Over the last 20 years he has developed Middle Way Philosophy, initially in his Ph.D. thesis. In 2013 he founded the Middle Way Society (www.middlewaysociety.org) to develop and apply Middle Way Philosophy beyond the limitations of the Buddhist tradition, both in theory and practice.

CONTENTS: Thought of Sangharakshita
1.	Introduction		1
	a.	Meeting Sangharakshita	1
	b.	A Sketch of Sangharakshita's Life and Work	7
	c.	The Practical Standpoint for Assessment	14
2.	Making Buddhism Universal		18
	a.	The Universal Dharma	18
	b.	Mind Reactive and Creative	23
	c.	Provisionality	33
	d.	Integration	42
	e.	Individuality	51
	f.	The Middle Way	62
3.	Practice		72
	a.	The Eightfold Path	72
	b.	A System of Meditation	79
	c.	The Ten Precepts	87
	d.	Friendship	94
	e.	Institutions and Power	102
	f.	The Arts	110
	g.	Ritual	117
4.	Interpreting Buddhist Tradition		123
	a.	Enlightenment and "Reality"	123
	b.	Conditionality	132
	c.	Karma and Rebirth	138
	d.	The Buddha	145
	e.	The Unity of Buddhism	151
	f.	Faith and Going for Refuge	158
5.	Controversies		167
	a.	Sangharakshita's Personal Authority	167
	b.	"The Bearer of the Archetype"	179
	c.	Women, Men and Angels	185
	d.	The Single-Sex Idea	195
	e.	Sex and Scandal	203
	f.	Marriage and Family Life	216
6.	Conclusion		222
	a.	Review of the Argument	222
	b.	Responses to the Argument	225
	c.	Sangharakshita's Legacy	233
Bibliography			242
Reference List of Sangharakshita's Lectures and Seminars			247
Index			249