Ellis/The Thought of Sangharakshita, 5. Controversies

The aspects of Sangharakshita’s ideas that have caused most controversy are those that relate to his personal authority in the Order he founded, the use of his image, and his attitudes to feminism, single sex practice, families and sexual activity. In all of these areas this section tries to focus on Sangharakshita’s underlying assumptions, and assess how far they were responsible for unhelpful outcomes. The sexual abuse allegations are put in the context of his thought rather than judged on an individual basis. In many of these areas his odd mixture of traditionalism, Platonism, and bias towards promiscuity seem to have created serious conflict, although there are also a few genuine practical achievements.