Handbook for Members of the

European Triratna Chairs' Assembly

Produced by the Development Team.

This handbook reflects the Working Arrangements.

Please send any comments or questions to info@triratnadevelopment.org

Contents

1. A History of the Triratna Chairs' Assembly
2. Aims of the Chairs' Assembly
3. Chairs' Meetings
4. Joining the Assembly
5. The Executive
6. The ECA Development Team
7. Business and Decision Making
8. The ECA as a Registered Charity
9. Structure of the ECA
10. The ECA Development Fund
11. The International Council
12. The Presidents System
13. Strategic Priorities
14. Membership Guidelines for the ECA

1. History of the Triratna Chairs' Assembly

What is now called the European Triratna Chairs' Assembly (ECA for short) was originally set up by Bhante as a meeting of "senior and responsible Order members" to further cooperation between different aspects of the movement. It soon developed into a forum for general discussion and developing friendships between those people taking similar responsibilities in the movement.

With the evolution of the movement and the setting up of the presidential system, the Preceptors' College and, more recently, the International Council, the nature of the meeting has changed over the years. However it remains the main forum for Centre Chairs and Directors, and through the work of its Development Team it is a very effective and influential part of the Triratna Community.

In 2006 the Chairs' Assembly constituted itself as a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, providing a formal legal structure for its finances and employed staff. The company was originally incorporated as the Indrajala Trust and changed its name to the Triratna Chairs' Assembly in 2010.

In 2024 the ECA undertook a wide-ranging review of its structures, processes and ways of working, resulting in the adoption of new Working Arrangements. This handbook reflects those updated arrangements. The review was motivated by a desire to give greater clarity to roles and responsibilities, to make decision making more effective and inclusive, and to ensure the Development Team is well supported and able to do its best work for Centres and TBRLs.

2. Aims of the Chairs' Assembly

Mission statement:

"The mission of the European Triratna Chairs' Assembly is to help as many people as possible to go for refuge to the Three Jewels on the basis of the practices and principles of the Dharma as elucidated by Sangharakshita.

Our vision is a vibrant and united Triratna Buddhist Community, of Buddhist Centres, groups and other projects, throughout Europe.

We will achieve this by generating and supporting new initiatives, encouraging and resourcing excellence and high standards in all activities, promoting and facilitating collaboration and harmony between Triratna Centres, groups and other projects, and through providing support, inspiration and friendship for members of the ECA and others taking leading responsibilities."

The ECA's strategic focus is on shorter-term, responsive, movement-focused priorities for the UK, Ireland and Mainland Europe. This reflects the ECA's particular strengths — a close connection to the day-to-day realities of running Centres and TBRLs, and a membership that turns over frequently enough to remain attuned to current needs. Longer-term international strategic questions are held by bodies such as the International Council and FutureDharma, with whom the ECA maintains an active and collaborative relationship.

(a) A network of support and friendship for Triratna Chairs and Directors:

• The ECA aims to inspire and support members so they can fulfil their responsibilities
• To provide relevant training and information, especially to new Chairs and Directors
• To conduct meetings in a spirit of open communication and friendship
• Our meetings have sufficient time for conducting business, but also for developing friendship and for collective spiritual practice

(b) Promoting the unity of the Triratna Community in Europe:

• We aim to ensure the Triratna Community is spiritually united across Europe
• The ECA endeavours to maintain an awareness of the Triratna Community as a whole, especially across Europe, in order to ensure harmony
• The ECA maintains dialogue with other key unifying bodies in the Order and movement, especially the Preceptors' College, International Council, and Order Convenors

(c) A vibrant and effective Triratna Community in Europe:

• We aim to help as many people as possible to come into contact with the Triratna Community
• We want to focus on excellence and encourage high standards in all activities
• We aim to generate new initiatives, or encourage those who are generating them
• We will research and promote ways in which individual Triratna projects can collaborate, ensuring a more effective use of resources

3. Chairs' Meetings

The Chairs' meetings are the Assembly's principal forum for meeting and discussion. They take place twice a year, in early January and in the summer (about 7 days each). Most Triratna Centres and TBRLs send a representative to the meeting. Every two years, at the summer meeting, Chairs from Centres beyond Europe are invited as guests.

Meetings are designed to make the best use of a large gathering of experienced Chairs and Directors. In line with this, lengthy non-interactive update sessions from projects are kept to a minimum. Projects and Development Team members are encouraged to share updates by written report or short video circulated before the meeting. Where in-person updates are given, a time limit of 10–15 minutes per item (including questions) applies. This frees up time at meetings for collective practice, discussion of priorities, and training relevant to helping Centres and TBRLs thrive.

Who attends and what are their participation rights?

Different categories of person attend ECA meetings and it is important that everyone is clear about their participation rights. At the opening of each decision-making session the facilitator will clarify this for everyone present. The following table summarises the position:

This table is also included in the ECA Working Arrangements and will be shared with all attendees in advance of each meeting.

4. Joining the Assembly

If someone from a Triratna Centre or project would like to join the meeting, they should contact the Development Team, who will liaise with the Executive. The Executive is responsible for considering new membership requests, guided by the membership criteria set out in Section 13 of this handbook.

On joining the ECA, new Chairs and Directors will be invited to an induction session to familiarise themselves with the ECA's aims, objectives, structure, and ways of conducting business. There is also a members-only area on thebuddhistcentre.com where information and resources for Chairs are posted — new members will be added to this on joining.

Guidelines on appointing a Centre Chair can be found at appointing_centre_chairs_guidance.pdf

5. The Executive

The Executive is a small group of volunteer Chairs, Directors (or Chair of Trustees) of Triratna institutions, and former Chairs who serve as the governing body of the ECA. In legal terms, the Executive constitutes the Board of Trustees of the Triratna Chairs' Assembly charity, and Executive members are the directors of the company. This means Executive members carry formal legal and fiduciary responsibilities as charity trustees.

Composition of the Executive

The Executive consists of 6–8 members, made up of:

• A majority of currently serving Chairs (minimum 4)
• Up to 1 TBRL Director
• Up to 2 former Chairs, each within two years of having stepped down
• A Chair of the Executive (see below)
• ideally 2 members from Mainland Europe (this is a principle the Executive aspires to)

This composition is designed to bring a broad range of experience and perspectives to the Executive, whilst ensuring that currently serving Chairs and Directors always remain in the majority. Within their composition, the Executive strives to maintain a good gender balance.

The Chair of the Executive

The Executive has a designated Chair of the Executive, who also fulfils the role of legal Chair of the charity. The Chair of the Executive is responsible for setting agendas and chairing Executive meetings, monitoring outcomes, and working in close partnership with the Development Team Director to ensure the ECA's activities are carried out effectively.

How are Executive members appointed?

Executive members are appointed through a peer nomination process. When vacancies arise, the wider Membership is invited to make blind nominations — each person nominates one or more individuals from within the assembly without knowing who others have nominated. The current Executive reviews those with the highest nominations for suitability and approaches them to see if they would be willing to stand. Willing candidates are then presented to the wider Membership for approval.

In some cases, where the Executive identifies a specific need — such as a particular skill, better gender balance, or stronger Mainland representation — it may approach suitable individuals directly, subject to Membership approval.

This nomination process is designed to encourage people who might not put themselves forward voluntarily, and to give the wider Membership a genuine role in shaping the Executive.

The Development Team Director at Executive meetings

The Development Team Director attends all Executive meetings and participates fully in discussions, bringing essential operational knowledge and perspective. However, the Director is not a member of the Executive and does not hold a vote on any decision. This ensures a clear boundary between the Executive's decision-making role and the Development Team's operational role.

The role of the Executive

The Executive is responsible for:

• Allocating the ECA budget in accordance with the Membership's strategic priorities
• Making urgent decisions on behalf of the Membership between assembly meetings
• Overseeing the appointment and management of the Development Team (through the Development Team Director)
• Approving project proposals from the Development Team before funding is released
• Presenting the full ECA budget to the Membership annually for transparency
• Ensuring representation of the ECA at other movement-wide bodies including the International Council and FutureDharma Fund Trustees Board.
• Fulfilling all legal obligations as trustees of the Triratna Chairs' Assembly charity

Executive members are asked to serve for a minimum of 3 years and should be in a position to attend all Executive meetings as well as Chairs' meetings.

A current list of Executive members is maintained separately — see the second tab in the Triratna Contacts (except India)

6. The ECA Development Team

In 2005 the Chairs' Assembly decided to create an ECA Development Team to support the work of the ECA. The team is employed by and works for the Chairs' Assembly, and is managed day-to-day by the Development Team Director.

Structure of the Development Team

Following the 2024 review, the Development Team operates with a small permanent core team, supported by contracted project workers brought in for specific projects. This makes the team more flexible and responsive, able to scale up or down as priorities and resources change.

Core team members are those employed on an ongoing basis to carry out activities essential to the running of the ECA regardless of shifting priorities. Core roles currently include:

• Development Team Director — leads the team, develops project proposals, manages team members and contracted workers, and attends Executive meetings
• Assistant to the ECA — provides coordination support to the Executive and manages the logistics of ECA meetings
• Safeguarding Consultant— provides safeguarding support and guidance to Centres
• Bookkeeper — manages ECA accounts and financial administration

Project workers are contracted, freelance, or fixed-term specialists commissioned to work on specific projects for a defined period. They are managed by the Development Team Director and may be funded through the Development Fund or directly by Centres commissioning work.

A current list of Development Team members and their roles is maintained separately — see the second tab in the Triratna Contacts (except India) spreadsheet

The Development Team acts as secretary to the meeting and Executive. Queries and business can be directed to info@triratnadevelopment.org.

7. Business and Decision Making

The mandate model

The ECA operates on a mandate model, in which each of its three main bodies — the Membership, the Executive, and the Development Team — has its own clearly defined area of responsibility:

• The Membership is responsible for setting strategic priorities and direction — what should the ECA be focusing on, and what do Centres and TBRLs need most right now?
• The Executive is responsible for budget allocation and executive decisions — how should available resources be used to achieve the Membership's priorities?
• The Development Team is responsible for developing and implementing projects — how can projects be designed and delivered to best achieve the Membership's priorities within the resources available?

This structure means that the Membership does not get drawn into detailed budget discussions, the Executive does not try to design and run projects, and the Development Team does not set strategic priorities independently. Each body is empowered to do what it does best, within agreed boundaries.

Decision-making processes

At Membership level: Decisions are made by consensus wherever possible. Where consensus cannot be reached, a consent-based approach is used — meaning the proposal can proceed if no member has a strong enough objection to block it. Where neither consensus nor consent can be reached on an urgent matter, a vote may be called, requiring a 4/5 majority to pass.

At Executive level: Decisions are made by consensus where possible, and by simple majority vote where necessary. The Executive is also empowered to make urgent decisions on behalf of the Membership between meetings, reporting back to the Membership at the earliest opportunity.

Practical meeting protocol

To ensure that business sessions are well-prepared and that everyone has adequate time to reflect before discussing and deciding:

1. Ideas, proposals, or agenda items for Membership meetings should be sent to the Development Team 6 weeks before the meeting
2. The Executive meets approximately 4 weeks before the meeting to plan the programme and ensure all necessary information is in hand
3. The programme, agenda, and relevant papers are sent out so that everyone has time to read and consider them before the meeting
4. There is an Executive meeting on the day the assembly meeting starts, to handle any late items
5. Minutes of the meeting are sent out by the Development Team no more than four weeks after the meeting, to enable action points to be followed up

Conflicts of interest

All participants — members, Executive members, Development Team members, and guests — are expected to declare any personal or financial interest in a matter before discussion begins, and to step out of the room during discussion and any vote on that matter. For Executive members, this is a legal requirement as charity trustees. A summary of the Conflict of Interest policy is circulated to all attendees before every meeting, and the facilitator will remind everyone of it at the opening of each decision-making session.

8. The ECA as a Registered Charity

The Triratna Chairs' Assembly is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee (company no. 5950533), originally incorporated as the Indrajala Trust and renamed in 2010. This legal structure provides the framework under which the ECA handles its finances, employs members of the Development Team, and operates formally in the world.

Legal membership and assembly participation

It is important to understand that participation in the ECA assembly as a Chair or Director is distinct from legal membership of the Triratna Chairs' Assembly as a company. Legal membership of the company is held by the Executive (Board of Trustees) only. This keeps the formal legal structure simple and manageable, given the frequent turnover of Chairs and Directors across many organisations.

This does not diminish the authority of the wider Membership within the ECA. The Executive operates on a mandate model and explicitly commits to acting in accordance with the decisions of the wider assembly on all operational matters, including the setting of strategic priorities, the approval of Executive nominees, and the amendment of the Working Arrangements. The ECA places its trust in the shared commitment of successive Executives to honour this model in good faith — a commitment grounded in the cooperative and consensus-based spirit that is central to who we are as a community of Buddhist practitioners.

The Executive presents the annual accounts and Trustees' report to the full assembly, and all members are welcome to ask questions on these, even though formal voting rights at the AGM rest with the legal members.

A fuller explanation of this governance arrangement, and the reasoning behind it, can be found in the ECA Working Arrangements document.

9. Structure of the ECA

The diagram below illustrates the relationship between the three main bodies of the ECA and their respective areas of responsibility:

10. The Development Fund

The Development Fund is how the ECA collects money to fund its Development Team and the projects they undertake. It also makes contributions to other Triratna bodies whose work benefits the wider movement.

Contributing to the Development Fund

Centres and TBRLs are encouraged to contribute up to 5% of their annual income to the Development Fund. Income is calculated as all income received in the calendar year (1st January to 31st December), including class income, covenants and gift aid, bookshop income, and rental income. Book entries and special fundraising appeal money may be excluded.

The process works as follows:

1. Each autumn, the Development Team contacts Centres and TBRLs asking them to make a pledge for the following year. It is important that pledges are received in time for budget discussions at the Executive meeting prior to the January ECA meeting.
2. Centres making a pledge are making a firm commitment, which should only be broken in genuinely exceptional circumstances.
3. Those who prefer to pay in a lump sum rather than monthly standing order are contacted in the early part of the year, following the January ECA meeting.

How funding decisions are made

Under the mandate model, budget allocation decisions rest with the Executive rather than the full Membership meeting. The process works as follows:

1. The Membership sets strategic priorities, defining what the ECA should be focused on
2. The Development Team develops project proposals designed to achieve those priorities, and submits them to the Executive for funding approval
3. The Executive reviews proposals, approves funding, or returns them to the Development Team with feedback for revision
4. The Executive presents the full budget to the Membership annually for transparency, welcoming questions and perspectives

11. The International Council

The International Council was created to bring together the different geographical and cultural regions of Triratna, and also to bring together the different organisational strands — Order, College, and Movement. It comprises regional meetings of representatives from Order, College, and Movement strands, with an international gathering every two years.

The aims of the International Council include:

• Supporting unity and harmony throughout the Triratna Community
• Facilitating the flow of kalyana mitrata across the movement
• Maintaining core spiritual values and standards derived from Bhante's presentation of the Dharma
• Providing a structure for effective decision-making and coordination from the local to the international level

The ECA is represented on the International Council and on the UK/Ireland and Mainland European Area Councils. Delegates to these bodies are drawn from the Executive and wider Membership. The ECA's own strategic focus is on shorter-term, responsive priorities for UK, Ireland and Mainland Europe, while the International Council holds the broader international strategic role. The two bodies work collaboratively and their respective remits are designed to complement rather than duplicate one another.

12. The Presidents System

In the early 1990s a Presidents System was established as a way of providing Centres — and particularly those taking major responsibility at Centres — with friendship and support from experienced Order members outside their own local situation.

Most Centres now have active Presidents, with a new generation of Order members taking on this role. There is also a once-yearly Presidents Meeting.

Guidelines for appointing a President can be found atAppointing a Centre President Guidelines Jan2021.pdf

13. Strategic Priorities

Every three years the ECA undertakes a facilitated strategic prioritisation exercise with the full Membership. This process defines what the ECA should be focusing on and directs the work of the Development Team and the allocation of the Development Fund.

An annual lighter review ensures priorities remain current and that project progress is visible to all members. An extraordinary priorities session can be called by the Executive or a majority of the Membership at any ECA meeting if circumstances require.

The principles of the prioritisation process are:

• Sessions are well-facilitated and fully minuted
• A call for proposed priorities is circulated to all members in advance
• Any member, Executive member, or Development Team member may propose priorities
• A structured ranking or prioritisation process is used to reach agreement
• Where possible, members define specific, time-bound, measurable outcomes to guide project development

The current strategic priorities of the ECA, agreed at the June 2025 meeting, can be found at ECA 2025-2028 Priorities List

14. Membership Guidelines

Why we need membership guidelines

The ECA has substantial responsibilities including supporting Centres and TBRLs, setting strategic priorities, and planning the future direction of the movement in Europe. To tackle these effectively we need a Membership of a manageable size for collective decision-making, with a shared level of experience and responsibility, and with members who attend regularly and are therefore able to follow through issues from one meeting to the next.

Current membership list

A current list of ECA members, including all Centre Chairs, TBRL Directors, and Executive members, is maintained as a separate living document and updated regularly to reflect changes in Chair and Director roles. This can be found at Triratna Contacts (except India)

Organisational criteria

Centres or projects that fulfil the following criteria are eligible to send their elected Chair:

• Running Buddhist activities including introductory events and events for friends and mitras
• With a legal structure and a council or governing body
• Explicitly a Triratna centre and networked into the wider Triratna Community (as described in the IC document ‘What is a Triratna Centre’)
• Within Europe (UK, Ireland, or Mainland Europe)

Whether or not this entity owns or permanently rents a building is something the Exec can take into account whether an entity does or doesn’t qualify for membership of the ECA.

The ECA is keen to have representation from all eligible Centres and the Executive will be proactive in approaching Councils to seek representation. Triratna groups which cannot fulfil the above criteria will be directed towards support events for groups run by the Development Team.

Triratna projects with a significant impact in the Triratna Community are also eligible to send their elected Chair or, exceptionally where more appropriate, their executive Director, to serve as their representative. Such projects are expected to have a formal legal structure and be explicitly Triratna. The decision regarding which organisations meet these criteria and are admitted to the assembly is at the discretion of the Executive.

TBRL projects that fulfil the following criteria are eligible to send their elected director or chair of trustees:

• A non-local remit — serving the wider Triratna Community beyond their immediate geographic context
• A significant scale of activity — reaching a substantial number of people across the movement on an ongoing basis
• A formal legal structure with its own governing body
• Explicitly Triratna in identity and networked into the wider community
• Having activities or relevant to Europe (UK, Ireland, or Mainland Europe)

Personal criteria

The Chair or Director attending must be:

• An ordained member of the Triratna Buddhist Order
• Committed to attend ECA meetings in full
• Willing and able to observe and contribute to the aims, objectives and responsibilities of the ECA
• Able to participate in discussions and decision-making
• Willing and able to represent the views of their Centre or project council as well as their personal views

If a Chair or Director fails to attend 3 successive meetings, the Executive will contact them to establish what is preventing their attendance and offer any help or support that may be needed to encourage them to attend. If the issue cannot be resolved and the Chair or Director does not attend the next meeting without a compelling reason, their membership may, as a last resort, be revoked. Even if that happens, they will still be welcome to attend future meetings as a guest and to reapply for membership. 

Guests

Centres or project representatives wishing to attend ECA meetings but not fulfilling the above criteria can apply to attend as a guest. Guests include:

• Chairs who cannot attend regularly
• Representatives of Centres and projects which don't have an elected Chair at present
• Chairs from outside Europe
• Public Preceptors and Order Convenors invited as guests

Guests are warmly welcome and are invited to participate in discussions where invited to do so by the session facilitator. Formal voting rights rest with full members. A summary of participation rights for all categories of attendee is included in Section 3 of this handbook.

Induction

Both new members and guests are expected to attend an induction session to familiarise themselves with the ECA's aims, objectives, structure, and ways of conducting business.