[Buddha-l] Ii don't see that there's any problem

[Richard Hayes]

On Fri, 8 Jan 2010 07:56:11 +0100, Stefan Detrez 
<stefan.detrez at gmail.com> wrote:

> Vrienden van de Boeddhistische Triratna-orde

This seems like a natural way to interpret the compound. 
The emphasis here, I take it, is on Triratna simply being 
the name of the order. Just as there is a hotel named the 
Watergate, there is a Buddhist order named the Triratna.

> Vrienden van de Boeddhistische Orde van Triratna
> Vrienden van de Boeddhistische Orde der Drie Juwelen.
> Vrienden van de Boeddhistische Orde van de Drie Juwelen.

All these seem to capture well what Sangharakshita hopes 
the name will mean to people. I tend to prefer the latter 
two, simply because I tend to like names that are all in 
one language rather than een verrückt mélange van 
different lenguajes.

> De Boeddhistische Triratnavrienden.

That would be a good name for those of us who can't follow 
orders.

> De Triratna-vrienden.
  
> I like the last one best ('The Triratnafriends'), 
>eventhough it deviates
> from the original FWBO. Triratna already suggests it's 
>Buddhist

The official name of the Quakers is 'The Religious Society 
of Friends (Quaker).' In this age of abbreviations, that 
would be RSF(Q). It took the Quakers a generation or so to 
arrive at a good name. They first called themselves 
something like 'The Children of Light,' but eventually 
they thought it would be good to have something that 
sounded more adult. Then they got the idea of calling 
themselves 'The Society of Friends,' but thst sounded a 
little too much like a lonely hearts club or a dating 
service. So they added the word 'Religious.' People 
outside the Religious Society of Friends called them 
quakers by way of poking fun at the habit many of them had 
of trembling when they spoke up in meetings for worship. 
So the name grew into a parenthetical monstrosity.

If anyone had asked me for suggestions for new names for 
the FWBO, I might have suggested The Buddhist Society of 
Friends. And just as the Quakers eventually took a term 
meant to be an insult and wore the insult as a badge of 
honor, the new name for the FWBO might have been The 
Religious Society of Friends (Dharmachari Cult). Another I 
quite like, because it brings out th Protestant flavor of 
the organization, is The Reformed Anglican Buddhist Order. 
Just as there is an Anglican Church of Canada and an 
Anglican Church of Nigeria, there could be a Reformed 
Anglican Buddhist Order of India and so on. For reasons I 
do not quite understand, that name has not met with 
widespread approval among my co-religionists.

> The name Friends of 
>the Western Buddist
> Order sounds a lot like 'The Knights of the Round 
>Table', so maybe something
> more up to date is better.

I had not thought of that. Now that you mention it, I am 
feeling a little drawn to a name like The Buddhist Order 
of the Knights of Saint George. (What would that be? De 
Boeddhistiche Orde van de Ridders van Sint Joris?) Yes, I 
think that's just the sort of name that appeals most 
deeply to my complex sense of reverence, absurdity and 
chivalry.

It would be pleasing, of course, if I could work in some 
references to my Maoist past. How about The Running Dog 
Lackeys of the Buddha (Coyotes)? I may reserve that name 
for the order when New Mexico throws off the oppressive 
yoke of yankee imperialism and becomes an independent 
people's socialist Buddhist republic (a move that will 
require ridding the land of Republicans. And who can rid a 
land of Republicans better than Boeddhistiche ridders?)

> My doughnuts.

I can see I owe you three oliebollen as a reward for 
peforming the impossible task of translating Friends of 
the Triratna Buddhist Order into Flemish. I'll bring the 
bolas de aceite to you next time I visit Antwerpen.

Good knight to all of you beloved denizens,
Richard, the Red Buddhist Knight of Saint George