Lama Anagarika Govinda founded the Arya Maitreya Mandala order on 14 October 1933 and made fourteen Indian scholars members. The order's activities concentrated on India until 1952 Phue-Tuê, a Buddhist monk from
Hanoi, and the German author
Hans-Ulrich Rieker (1920–1979), set up branches of the order in Eastern Asia and in Europe. During the following decades the Arya Maitreya Mandala established branches in
Vietnam,
Singapore,
Germany,
Belgium, The Netherlands, England, Austria and the United States of America. In Hungary
Ernő Hetényi became the leader of the order's Eastern European branch. In 1982 Govinda appointed as his successor Karl-Heinz Gottmann who became the head (Acharya) of the Arya Maitreya Mandala. In 1999 Armin Gottmann became the Acarya. He is currently the spiritual leader of the worldwide Arya Maitreya Mandala. Beside him leading members of the order are Austrian philosopher
Volker Zotz and Robert Janssen, a clinical psychologist and indologist from Amsterdam. == Philosophy ==