Seventeen years since his last Q&A session at the LBC, Bhante Sagharakshita, founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, returned to a packed shrine room, responding fully and frankly to questions drawn from around a hundred Order Members across the Mandala. Questions ranged widely, from 'form-less' meditation practices to the efficacy (or otherwise) of parenthood; the dangers of formalism in some Asian Buddhist cultures and by contrast the tendency towards individualistic attitudes and materialism here. Bhante responded freely and crisply, keen to engage all questions including the controversial such as racism and the Order and the importance of hearing criticism robustly. For me, there was a sense of history and preciousness to the evening, some sixty years since Sangharakshita's Going Forth. "Looking at the quality of the Preceptors' Meetings, I have no serious concerns about the survival of the Movement" Bhante said.

Dh Padmadhara