Welcome to our new space for the whole Triratna Buddhist Community and anyone who wishes to connect with others in the spirit of the Dharma. We’re excited to see what directions the site takes – thanks for being part of it!

Here are our community content guidelines, which are designed to help create a positive environment for everyone…

1. Please be courteous at all times. If you’re engaged in any kind of discussion, please avoid swearing/cursing and be as prepared to listen as you are to express yourself. Remember that there’s always a real person behind a computer screen, and they are likely quite different from you!

2. Think twice before posting anything that’s likely to give offence or be inflammatory. That doesn’t promote good conversation. If you’re upset at something you see here, perhaps let a little time pass before responding. Bear in mind this isn’t a space to vent our views, it’s about exploring respectfully with others what it means to be a Buddhist within our community and in the modern world generally. 

3. This site is intended for the discussion and sharing of Buddhist practice in the Triratna community. Please do not make posts or comments that are unrelated to the context you’re taking part in, are primarily commercial in nature, or advertising non-Triratna Dharma events. We may remove posts or comments that are considered off-topic. Please do not make posts or comments with, or linking to, gratuitously violent or explicitly sexual content on any space on the site. Please also abide by our position with regard to the posting of copyrighted material.

4. Everyone has off-moments, and we’ll always try to be in friendly dialogue with you if a problem arises with one of your contributions. But we reserve the right to remove posts and comments (or even suspend user accounts) when we feel these guidelines are not observed. Needless to say, we won’t tolerate any kind of hate speech, ‘trolls’ or ‘flame wars’ here.

5. Our current editorial policy around Safeguarding is aligned with the advice given by those tasked with developing Triratna’s approach to this important area of ethical life. If anyone breaches current policy by posting in ways that mean The Buddhist Centre Online potentially break the law by hosting the material, then we will have to remove their posts or comments. We respectfully request that all users bear this in mind when posting. If in doubt, please feel free to support [at] thebuddhistcentre.com (ask first before posting). It will save time, energy, and lead to less potential polarisation in these spaces, even if

there is disagreement.

Whatever you contribute we very much encourage you to think about it in the light of the Buddhist ethical precepts around ‘Right Speech’. These encourage communication that is: truthful, kindly and gracious, helpful and harmonious. We look forward to all you have to bring to the site!

We’ll be glad to see your pictures, video, audio, texts, resources and links to The Buddhist Centre Online. Your posts should appear on the site almost instantly. If there’s a delay, please support [at] thebuddhistcentre.com (get in touch) and we’ll take a look.

This space is intended primarily for the discussion and sharing of Buddhist practice. Please do not post links or upload images, video, audio recordings or any files that are obviously unrelated to the context you’re taking part in. We may remove posts or uploads that are considered off-topic from groups and blogs.

Please do not post links or upload media with gratuitously violent or explicitly sexual content to any space on the site. And please abide by our position with regard to the posting of copyrighted material.

The legal bit!
All content uploaded and published publicly to The Buddhist Centre Online, or to any of our other publicly available online spaces, may be shared or re-published by us and others (non-exclusively) on social networks and in other media contexts associated with our website within the terms of our site’s non-commercial license.

View our site’s Creative Commons license.

Basically, you still own all of your personal contributions to The Buddhist Centre Online across the web even if you upload them for all to see, but please remember they may appear elsewhere too. You can edit and delete your own contributions at any time on our website, but they may persist in other spaces if they have been shared or re-published there.

We try to keep things light when it comes to moderation of posts and comments within this shared space. And we ask the community itself to lead with this. If you have seen something that concerns you, please feel free to support [at] thebuddhistcentre.com (contact us). However, we do ask that you bear in mind the following guidelines, which will help preserve a harmonious atmosphere throughout the site:

1. Remember there is always a person behind the post or comment you’re objecting to. They may just be having a bad day… If you’re upset, perhaps let a little time pass before responding to them or us.
2. Try contacting the person first in a spirit of open, courteous engagement to see if hearing their perspective changes your own view of things, or if hearing yours changes theirs.
3. Take care to make sure what you are asking us to look at is actually against the spirit of the group or the site itself, rather than simply a difference of view or of personal taste. If in doubt, ask a friend and/or the administrator of the group.

Please also be aware of the specific purpose of a group. If you’re unsure, ask the administrator of it before taking part, or familiarise yourself with the content posted by other users.

In terms of keeping an eye on group content, we prefer to leave this to the people who set them up and who take part. However, please note that in some cases (especially with public groups and those for formal Triratna projects) we may ask you to reconsider the names of Groups you set up or contributions you’ve made if they’re obviously off-topic and/or not in the spirit of the group itself.

We’ll always try to engage in a friendly way if a problem arises, but we reserve the right to remove posts and comments (or even suspend group/site membership) if we feel these guidelines are not observed.