The
Great Western Vehicle is a 4th Wheel Buddhist tradition that seeks to
teach Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practices within the
context of any culture or religious tradition. We are not interested in
Buddhism as a religion, but as a philosophy and practice strategy
(dharma) that any one can follow to enlightenment, regardless of one’s
cultural or religious background.
We are Mahayanist because we
believe in being a tradition for everyone, and we acknowledge parity
between monastic and lay teachers. However we do not reject
enlightenment at any time. All of our members are fully committed to
enlightenment in this very lifetime. And, we dedicate every thought,
word, action and resource to the benefit of all beings.
Western
Buddhism needs a canon of Buddhist literature therefore we embrace the
Pali canon in English translation as the foundation of the Western
canon of Buddhist literature. We however also accept the literature
from all three Asian vehicles into our canon, as well as contemporary
Buddhist literature. And, since Western thought is founded upon
Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, Roman and Islamic literature, then
we embrace those literary traditions into our canon as well. Since
Buddhism is founded upon Vedic literature we also embrace the Vedas.
And finally, we also embrace Confucian and Taoist literary sources,
because Chinese, Korean and Japanese forms of Buddhism are founded upon
those literary traditions.
The Great Western Vehicle is
committed to training native speakers of the various cultures of the
world to become teachers of Western Buddhism, because we believe every
contemplative tradition should be taught by native speakers of that
culture.
