A pleasure to hear from you, and to read about your reasons for
studying Pali. I will reply to your questions using this group forum,
and I hope this is OK with everyone, as it is not quite in line with
the group's purpose and I don't want to presume an interest.
The 'Western Buddhist Order' is a movement of men and women committed
to Dharma practice in a somewhat new and experimental form. The Order
was founded by an Englishman whose Buddhist name is Sangharakshita.
He was a bhikkhu in India for 20 years, and returned to Britain in
1964, where he began teaching Buddhism in London. For various reasons
he decided to try to establish a new Buddhist movement, based on two
ideas - that the most important thing in Buddhism is going for refuge
to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and that therefore whether you are
living as a monk or as a lay person is less important than your going
for refuge. So in the Western Buddhist Order there aren't monks and
lay people, just committed Buddhists, some living monastic lives,
others in families, and a lot in between (like me). The 'Western' bit
of the name is a bit of a misnomer now, as there are Order members in
many countries - there are hundreds in India, mainly among the new
Buddhist converts, and even one in Sri Lanka (near Galle). Our idea
of Buddhism, or Dharma, in the Western Buddhist Order is not really
new - many of us are inspired by the Buddhism of the Pali canon - but
we are eclectic, drawing on the riches of doctrine and practice of
the whole Buddhist tradition. So some of us practice Tibetan style
meditation (sadhana) and our puja is Mahayana.
As for me, I have always been most interested in the Buddhism of the
Pali canon - I call it 'early Buddhism' because it is historically
the earliest form of Buddhist, compared for instance to Indian
Mahayana, or Theravada, or Tibetan Buddhism. It is also of course
just 'Dhamma', and I only use the phrase 'early Buddhism' to make a
historical distinction between the Dhamma of the Pali canon and later
developments. I am definitely a practitioner of Dhamma as well as a
student of Pali and early Buddhism - but I have an academic mind
which likes to wrestle with ideas and interpretations of Buddhism,
and I would not want to say that this is always Dhamma-practice!
You ask about my conversion - I was brought up as a Roman Catholic
Christian, but from teenage years I had a strong interest in
meditation and 'eastern religions'. I learned to meditate with the
Western Buddhist Order when I was 18, and then spent some time
practising yoga, learning about Indian religions, and thinking about
these things. Only when I was 26 did I decide that I was definitely a
Buddhist and not a Christian or something else. So it was a gradual
conversion. There are many kinds of Buddhism practised in Britain,
and many sorts of religious groups, and so there is a lot to sort out
if one changes religion! It was not easy for me to give up the
religion of my childhood, which I loved in many ways, but I found
myself drawn to the teaching and the personality of the Buddha
irresistibly. I have been a Buddhist now for 15 years and the path
continues to unfold with increasing richness. In relation to your
interest in religious motivation, I would say that for me the idea of
enlightenment has been a tremendous source of motivation for my
dhamma practice.
In my opinion it is not necessary to know Pali to be a Buddhist and
practise Buddhism, as there are good teachers and excellent
translations in different languages, and anyway learning Pali is
quite a lot of work of an intellectual sort. But I am doing so
because I want to get as near as possible to the word of the Buddha,
as I am sure is the case for yourself and everyone else studying Pali.
With thanks for your kind interest and best wishes for your studies,
Dharmacari Dhivan