When Vaddhaka first came into contact with Buddhism in his mid-forties he was, to use his own words, "a hard-bitten materialist, a disillusioned, sceptical Marxist, a rationalist." He was ignorant of the basics of Buddhism, and yet he was caught by something in Sangharakshita's communication of the spirit of enlightenment. What was it that caught him? And how does that spirit still inspire Vaddhaka?