As this diary entry shows, Sangharakshita was working on the Dedication Ceremony (still used today in Triratna) on the very day that the new Movement – first known as ‘Friends of the Western Sangha’ – was born.

‘Down at Sakura soon after 6.30. Put finishing touches to shrine. Function started at 7.00. Spoke for 15 minutes, then all recited dedication together, followed by Sevenfold Puja. Finally 20 minutes meditation. Finished 8 o’clock. Very good atmosphere. More than two dozen people present, by invitation, including Jack Austin, Graham Petchi, Anne Dobstein, Mrs Phillips, Kim Wall. Gave Thein Chau and Vivien a lift back. Read Kaufmann’s “Hegel” and slept.’

Diary, Thursday 6 April 1967

‘The establishment of the Triratna Shrine and Meditation Room marked the birth of the Friends of the Western Sangha which was to become, with the founding of the Western Buddhist Order a year later, the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. The new Buddhist movement was no longer just an idea, much less still only a dream. It had begun to be a reality.’

Sangharakshita, Moving Against the Stream, (CW23), p.431