The History of the Order

The Order was founded on October 14, 1933 in Darjeeling, India, by Lama Anagarika Govinda following the direction of his root guru, Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, The Honorable Lama Ngawang Kalsang. 14 founding members, important Indologists and Tibetologists met on the occasion of a special session of the „All India Buddhist Conference“ and set themselves the following goals.

1. Living the Dharma, each member of the Order is commited to making Buddhas teachings the path of his own life.
2. To help those people who earnestly desire to understand the message of the Enlightened and who look for a way to follow it. For that task the Order seeks a teaching discourse that encompasses the entire Buddhist tradition and corresponds to the specific spiritual and psychological determinations, given by the social historical and cultural conditions, under which the various branches of the Order must work.
3. To make methods of religious practice (sādhana), based on the tradition of Vajrayāna, accessible to its members, as far as possible concerning their specific abilities and individuality.

Initially the foundation of the Order was intended to give Mahāyāna Buddhism in India a new voice - also in its specific form of Vajrayāna. In 1952, the German Buddhist and yoga teacher Hans-Ulrich Rieker asked Lama Govinda for permission to set up a European branch of the Order. This took place on November 30, 1952 in Berlin and in Sanchi, India. Shortly after the Eastern European branch of the Order was founded by Dr. Ernö Hetényi
on behalf of the Hungarian Government. Small groups of the Order have also been established in many places (USA, South Africa, Great Britain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Singapore) as a result of Lama Govinda's worldwide lecturing activities,

Until 1983, Lama Govinda personally headed his Order as Mandalacarya. Then his closest disciples Advayavajra, and Vajramālā as his deputy, were delegated to this task. It was 1973 when Vajramālā became a personal pupil of Lama Govinda. In 1984 he authorized her to teach as Vajracarya. She was significantly involved in the translation and publication of Lama Govinda`s works and responsible for the spiritual support of the Eastern European Order.

After Lama Govinda`s death in January 1985 a period of struggle followed concerning the preservation and deepening of the tradition. It led to a seperated development of the eastern and western branches of the European Order.The members of the Eastern European branch elected in 1990 Vajramālā to be their spiritual leader. The political change made it possible for the different Buddhist groups, which had since been united under the umbrella of the Buddhist Mission, to go their own way in Hungary. The members of the Order Arya Maitreya Mandala concentrated their work on Lama Govinda`s vision of a living Buddhism . They built the Maitreya House and a center in Budapest and offered summer retreats and training courses.
In 25 years of development work in Hungary, Germany and Switzerland, under the direction of Vajramālā, a living network of centers, groups and communities has emerged, practicing in the tradition of Lama Govinda.

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