About this space
This space provides background information on the Triratna International Council, its aims, its guiding principles, its members and all of the previous Triratna International Council meetings.
Search the group or browse the archives for resources, pictures, videos and talks from past meetings, to get a flavour of the events themselves and of the long term work and practice of the Council.
We will be updating this space regularly to keep you in touch with how various International Council projects are progressing and to provide more information on the work of the Council and its Steering Group.
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About us
During a Question and Answer session in 2009, Triratna’s founder Urgyen Sangharakshita talked about the need for a structure that would allow the members of the Preceptors’ College, the Order and the Movement to come together so that ‘they are not each just going their separate ways or coming into some sort of conflict…’
Two years later, on 22 August 2011 at Padmaloka, Sangharakshita gave his support and blessing to the first meeting of a new coordinating structure developed to bring people together in that way - the Triratna International Council.
The aims of the Triratna International Council include maintaining unity and harmony throughout the Triratna Community, providing a means of consultation and participation that all members of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Movement can actively and easily engage with, as well as facilitating decision-making and coordination at all levels of the Order and the Movement - locally and internationally.
Importantly, the Triratna International Council is a framework that supports dynamic two-way communication between Strands (the Order, the Movement and the Preceptors’ College), between Areas across the world, between Centres, between Chapters and between individual Order members.
Members of the Triratna International Council have been put forward by people in their Strand and Area, so they are able to represent local interests at an international level. And, through their connections, dialogue and meetings with others in the Council they are able to better understand and share back international perspectives on issues affecting the Order and Movement.
The Triratna International Council, working together with other regional and local coordinating structures, such as Area Councils, Chairs’ Assemblies, Order and Mitra Convening groups, Centre Councils and Chapters, has the potential to provide a focus for unity, stability and sustainability of the Triratna Order and Community now and into the future, particularly after Sangharakshita’s death.