Triratna Safeguarding
Triratna Safeguarding

Triratna Model Safeguarding policies and Ethical Guidelines 2020

By ECA Safeguarding on Wed, 24 Jun, 2020 - 17:16

Here are Triratna’s model Ethical guidelines and policies for Safeguarding children and adults, updated for 2020 by Triratna’s ECA Safeguarding team.

(See below for more information on Safeguarding, the Safeguarding team, the Ethics Kula and the difference between Safeguarding matters and Matters of Order conduct.)

Safeguarding and ethical policies and procedures are a practical expression of ahimsa, non-harming, the value underlying Buddhist precepts and the Bodhisattva activity of protecting living beings from harm.

The model Ethical guidelines (first published in 2015 on the initiative of Triratna’s International...

Triratna Safeguarding
Triratna Safeguarding

Why is Triratna's Safeguarding internal?

By ECA Safeguarding on Thu, 18 Jun, 2020 - 12:07

Why is Triratna's Safeguarding internal?

By ECA Safeguarding on Thu, 18 Jun, 2020 - 12:07

Safeguarding for Triratna charities is internally managed but externally accountable. The Charity Commission (England and Wales) and Scottish Charity Regulator require charity trustees to take internal measures to prevent and address harm in the course of their own activities. Where they are found to have failed in their duties they will be held externally accountable to those regulators, the police and the law.

Since responsibility and authority always go together, only trustees have the authority to implement Safeguarding policies...

Triratna Safeguarding
Triratna Safeguarding

The Safeguarding team's enquiries into concerns about Sangharakshita and sex

By ECA Safeguarding on Thu, 18 Jun, 2020 - 11:31

The Safeguarding team's enquiries into concerns about Sangharakshita and sex

By ECA Safeguarding on Thu, 18 Jun, 2020 - 11:31

In early 2018 (in collaboration with members of the Adhisthana Kula) the ECA’s Safeguarding team looked in detail into concerns that a number of men had been told to share Sangharakshita’s bed with him in the 1980s. The following is the text we wrote which forms part of the Triratna Controversy FAQ

In 2003 a then Order member published an account of how, in the early 1980s, he attended an Order weekend at Padmaloka and found himself allocated

...
Triratna Safeguarding
Triratna Safeguarding

Triratna contributes to UK public inquiry into child sexual abuse in public institutions

By ECA Safeguarding on Wed, 17 Jun, 2020 - 16:21

Triratna contributes to UK public inquiry into child sexual abuse in public institutions

By ECA Safeguarding on Wed, 17 Jun, 2020 - 16:21

NB: the videos in this post were taken down by IICSA following the closing of the inquiry in October 2022.

On Thursday 21st May 2020 Munisha appeared as a witness at a public inquiry relating to child sexual abuse in England and Wales, speaking about child protection, and Safeguarding more generally in Triratna, from her experience as the Safeguarding officer employed by the European Chairs’ Assembly to support Triratna centres’ Safeguarding officers with policies and advice.

Please note: this was not an...

Triratna Resources
Triratna Resources

Safeguarding and Coronavirus: teaching online with adults and with children

By Munisha on Wed, 22 Apr, 2020 - 13:49

Triratna Buddhist Order and Community
Covid-19: Safeguarding adults and children

Updated advice 21st April 2020

Formal Safeguarding requirements

1. Safeguarding in online teaching with adults
where most of the participants are unknown to each other and the team

  • Avoid pairs
    In classes and activities where most of the participants are unknown to each other and the team, avoid dividing people up into pairs. Put people in groups of at least three instead. If a teenager happens to take part in a class intended for adults
  • ...
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coronavirus_safeguarding_v3.pdf78.2 KB
European Chairs' Assembly
European Chairs' Assembly

Triratna Model Safeguarding policies and Ethical Guidelines 2020

By Munisha on Tue, 7 Apr, 2020 - 15:51

Triratna Model Safeguarding policies and Ethical Guidelines 2020

By Munisha on Tue, 7 Apr, 2020 - 15:51

Members of Triratna’s European Chairs’ Assembly (ECA: the Chairs of Triratna centres, retreat centres and other initiatives in Europe) take seriously their responsibility to protect children and adults from harm in the course of Triratna activities.

The ECA employs an overall Safeguarding officer, Munisha, who works with the Safeguarding Adviser, Amaladipa, who is very senior in the criminal justice system in the UK.

Triratna has model Safeguarding policies and ethical guidelines, updated every year. 
Read about the 2020 documents and find...

Triratna News
Triratna News

Triratna Model Safeguarding policies and Ethical Guidelines 2020

By Munisha on Tue, 7 Apr, 2020 - 15:06

Here are Triratna’s model Ethical guidelines and policies for Safeguarding children and adults, updated for 2020 by Triratna’s Safeguarding team, part of Triratna’s Ethics Kula.

(See below for more information on Safeguarding, the Safeguarding team, the Ethics Kula and the difference between Safeguarding matters and Matters of Order conduct.)

Safeguarding and ethical policies and procedures are a practical expression of ahimsa, non-harming, the value underlying Buddhist precepts and the Bodhisattva activity of protecting living beings from harm.

The model Ethical guidelines (first published in 2015 on the...

Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Responses to Observer Article of 16th February 2020

By Centre Team on Wed, 26 Feb, 2020 - 12:31

Responses to Observer Article of 16th February 2020

By Centre Team on Wed, 26 Feb, 2020 - 12:31

On 16th February the Observer newspaper published an article referring to the Triratna Buddhist Community. Subsequently the Adhisthana Kula released a statement emphasising that the Triratna Buddhist Order is committed to acting in accordance with Buddhist ethical guidelines, including those on avoiding sexual misconduct and affirming our community’s commitment to continually working to develop strong ethical guidelines and Safeguarding policies and procedures.

Read statement from the Adhisthana Kula

Following this statement, Ratnadharini -...

Adhisthana Kula
Adhisthana Kula

Letter to the Editor in Response to Observer Article of 16th February

By ratnadharini on Mon, 24 Feb, 2020 - 16:46

Letter to the Editor in Response to Observer Article of 16th February

By ratnadharini on Mon, 24 Feb, 2020 - 16:46

On 16th February the Observer newspaper published an article referring to the Triratna Buddhist Community. The following letter to the editor was submitted in response and was published by the newspaper on Sunday 23rd February.

Triratna Buddhists respond to Observer front page

We were surprised and deeply disappointed to read the Observer’s piece about the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community last week.

Triratna is not a ‘sect’ in the pejorative sense, but an integral and well established...

Adhisthana Kula
Adhisthana Kula

A comment from the Triratna Buddhist Community regarding the Observer article of 16th February 2020

By ratnadharini on Sun, 16 Feb, 2020 - 22:31

A comment from the Triratna Buddhist Community regarding the Observer article of 16th February 2020

By ratnadharini on Sun, 16 Feb, 2020 - 22:31

The Triratna Buddhist Order is committed to acting in accordance with Buddhist ethical guidelines, including those on avoiding sexual misconduct.

We take the reports of our founder Sangharakshita’s sexual relations extremely seriously and have undertaken a great deal of investigation into what took place. We have been transparent about the findings, outlined in detail on our website: Triratna Controversy FAQ

Sangharakshita published his own apology in 2016. Although the police confirmed in...

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