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Since it was established in February 2017, the members of the Adhisthana Kula have been working together in response to renewed criticism of Triratna, and we recently published a ‘Next Steps’ document setting out how we intend to take this work forward. 

The first of our ‘Next Steps’ was:
We will issue a clear statement of acknowledgement, regret and undertaking, inviting other Order members to add their name or support to it.

It became clear that while many Order members appreciated our 'Next Steps’ and were in favour of issuing a statement, it would be difficult for any statement to reflect fully the wide range of views in the Order.

Today we are publishing A Message of Apology and Regret, which we have kept short and specific, signed by the Adhisthana Kula, in order to be as clear as possible. 

We recognise that there are other areas that still need to be looked at, including problematic attitudes from the past, for example around women and around families. We are setting up a consultation to make sure everyone in our Order has an opportunity to contribute. We hope their participation – and the experience of anyone in our wider community affected by these issues – will help us get a clearer sense of what still needs to be addressed.

Our second and third points were: 

• We will summarise the work of the Adhisthana Kula in a way that is clear and readily accessible, on a stand-alone website, making it clear what we have done so far and our next steps.
• We will present this with clear pathways for comments, questions and suggestions.

In order to keep up the momentum of this work another Order member will start working with us in October to produce an overview of the issues and a record of our responses to date. The College assistant will be working on a new webpage for this work. 

We hope this will show clearly what has already been done, and we will very much want to hear from people if they think there are gaps in our work or other areas that need to be addressed.

In the meantime, we will continue to work on our other next steps: responding to anyone hurt as a result of misconduct by any Order member; continuing to strengthen our safeguarding processes; and developing our procedures for addressing ethical misconduct, and training for Order members, to lessen the risk of future harm. 

With Metta

The Adhisthana Kula

Saddhaloka: Chair, College of Public Preceptors
Ratnadharini: Deputy Chair, College of Public Preceptors
Lokeshvara: International Order Convenor
Aryajaya: International Order Convenor
Dhammarati: Convenor, International Council
Parami and Mahamati: College members and former International Order Convenors

Read the Adhisthana Kula’s next steps

Read our founding intentions (2017)

Read about the history of all these issues as dealt with previously within Triratna