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Newcomers

Regulars

Mitras

Order Members

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Newcomers

Regulars

Mitras

Order Members

What I’ve seen at centres & where things go can go wrong

Diagram 1 - “Waistline / Teardrop”

Happens when a centre was thriving, something changed, or the energy/attention just stayed with one cohort - all your eggs in one basket

A lot of focus on the existing mitras / promising young people

Seems a sensible response to limited resources - “just get the next generation ordained”��PROBLEMS

they disappoint you - they don’t do what you want, they leave, stop coming to the centre, etc
this levels of people can be really busy - TFO / spiritual life / life, so not very available to help out at the centre - manifests as difficulty finding teams and volunteers
the same people around all the time - sangha feels static & lacks the fresh energy of newcomers

Diagram 2 - “Spinning top”

People not moving through / going deeper - getting stuck at one level

Can happen when the vision at a centre is weak or not being shared widely, and kept to the core - people not aware there is a pathway or not being invited/encouraged to take the next step

�PROBLEMS

newcomers stay as ‘consumers’, they don't take ownership & don’t see it as their sangha
few Order members to teach, so can be busy - can feel like they are just providing a service for people - think this is where that lack of inspiration/energy/enthusiasm can come from, and therefore the communication of this gets weaker
those living a committed Dharma life are few, so not that visible or obvious to newcomers. Less opportunity for effective Kalyana Mitrata with more committed practitioners
no new mitras/Order Members for some time, meaning succession becomes very difficult - if not careful the whole thing can fall over. - e.g. main leader leaves

Thought - diagram 2 can turn into diagram 1, if you are effective at moving people on but then just stay focused on that cohort and don’t look to newcomers

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Newcomers

Regulars

Mitras

Order Members

Ideal Model - good numbers all the way though, with multiple cohorts at different stages and regular progression

The mature approach is to hold both:

a strong gateway
and a clear route into depth

However, ‘holding both’ does not mean dividing effort equally. Its true everywhere that few people ‘stick’- many don’t come back.

The pyramid needs to be wider at the top — and because commitment at this phase of the part is most fragile - need many more people coming though if you want to have just a few more at the bottom.��So in a healthy pathways usually have to place more energy, more intentionality, and often your strongest teachers early on. This can feel counter-intuitive.

But consider:

newcomers are deciding whether to trust you
their commitment is fragile
they are comparing your offering with many other options
a single uninspired experience may mean they never return

Regulars, by contrast, are more resilient. They already trust the centre. They are more forgiving. They are more invested.

This does not mean giving regulars poor teaching. But it may mean recognising that the gateway needs excellence.

In many thriving centres, some of the strongest teachers are intentionally positioned at the gateway — as a strategic choice to try to attract and retain more promising people.

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e.g. Dharma study course, becoming a mitra, asking for Ordination, living in communities, working for the Dharma, Taking on teaching or leadership

Vision -

‘Intensity of Experience’

Gateway - ‘Contacting’

Going Deeper - ‘Exploring’

Transformation - ‘Committing’

e.g. dharma courses, dharma talks, Sangha/Dharma nights, study mornings, working retreats, weekend retreats etc

e.g. drop in meditation classes, intro courses, open days, secular mindfulness course, 8-step, intro retreats etc

e.g. longer retreats, deeper meditation experiences, meaningful responsibility, transformational kalyana mitrata, situations of intensity e.g teams/service etc

4 stage model - I came up with this model at Brixton, and developed it further by what i seen at other centres since that are thriving and effective

Not telling you what to you, each situation is different, but aim of the model is to get you to think about the pathways in your own circumstances and situation

Can have different types of events can be used at each level - needs to be adapted to specific situation, circumstances and opportunities - one of reasons why I do this individually with centres

1. Gateway - newcomers, like low commitment drop-ins etc, wish to check people out, don’t want to create too many obstacles. Might be fairly light Dharma, meditation/secular focus

2. Exploring / Going Deeper

- Regulars/friends & some newcomers. Often more explicit Buddhism. Focus on exploring how Buddhism can positively affect their lives.

3. Vision / Intensity

This stage is a hinge - the point where someone might just start thinking about going for refuge provisionally - the point they might first think of themselves living as a Buddhist. Hardest to orchestrate, a personal experience, can only provide conditions. This cannot be forced, but it can be invited.

This often happens through:

retreat
strong kalyāṇa mitratā
meaningful responsibility
situations of intensity
significant personal insight

4. Commitment / Transformation

[Starting to] Live a Dharma Life - Study groups, mitras, ordination training etc. Our pathways well worked out here, and people are usually less depend on their local centre at this point - so naturally when a centre doesn’t necessarily need input quite some much energy

Principles

People can move through these stages quickly with the right conditions - easily less an a year if able to engage fully

The Arrows are important too - not only are the events vital but the signposting/encouragement to next steps is vital too.

But they do move at their own speed

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e.g. dharma courses, dharma talks, Sangha/Dharma nights, study mornings, working retreats, weekend retreats etc

Vision -

‘Intensity of Experience’

Gateway - ‘Contacting’

Transformation - ‘Committing’

e.g. drop in meditation classes, intro courses, open days, secular mindfulness course, 8-step, intro retreats etc

e.g. longer retreats, deeper meditation experiences, meaningful responsibility, transformational kalyana mitrata, situations of intensity e.g teams/service etc

e.g. Dharma study course, becoming a mitra, asking for Ordination, living in communities, working for the Dharma, Taking on teaching or leadership

Going Deeper - ‘Exploring’

Principles

- make sure you have something working at each level - and can be very different for each centre depending on circumstances and resource

- as a minimum just need one thing working well at each level to provide a fully effective pathway (will work for at least some people and ensure succession)

- you can builf more pathways that suit others better once you have more help!

In my experience: �- centres often not clear which activities are serving which purpose

- many centres try to do too many different things, often serving the same purpose, especially for this going deeper/regulars level

- Centres can cling to the things which worked in the past, and are often slow to drop things which are no longer working instead of innovating i.e. sangha night (works well in smaller situations, seems to work less well in bigger ones with more activities)

- if short on OM’s / teachers don’t need to (and can’t) do everything, better to focus on the core pathway

Of course, the arrows are very important too - how people move through

�Entry arrows - external publicity (website, flyers, posters, word of mouth, networks, social media etc

Between boxes - internal publicity (announcements, personally contact, mailing list)

Principles

Won’t say too much about publicity - another workshop - but:�

- often too much emphasis on social media - trying to advertise to 1000’s of non-local people, but just need 25 local people to fill shrine room. Local physical marketing usually far better return on time investment - flyers, posters & word of mouth AND now much more attractive to young people �- people often confuse internal publicity with external publicity, e.g. putting lots of energy into a weekly mailer/newsletter, but less trying to attract newcomers

Not all the arrows are the same - need to think about each of these arrows independently

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Case Studies / Examples

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Dharma Courses - 6 or 8 week [Sikkha]

Vision -

‘Intensity of Experience’

Gateway - ‘Contacting’

Going Deeper - ‘Exploring’

Transformation - ‘Committing’

Retreats - Weekend, Camping (7 days), Men’s working retreats & recommending to other intensive retreats

Drop in Meditation Class w/Dharma teaching�Newcomers (taught by GFR mitras) and ‘New Regulars’ room (taught by OM)

Foundation year study groups - ideally new men’s and new women’s group each year

Teams, Men’s Community

Case Study 1 - Brixton Model

Big sangha - 50-60 mitras, 40 GFR, classes/courses often 50+, weekend retreats 50-60, but small order team - 8

Needed to be highly efficient and streamlined as main limitation is teachers time - wanted to make sure any OM engagement with activities is the most effective. ‘Bang for buck’

Have difficulties getting enough retreats - so stage 3 hardest for us. Do what we can, then strongly encourage people to go on longer retreats elsewhere - LBC intensives, Adhisthana, Padmaloka, Taraloka etc.

Channel people to study groups, esp foundation year is main place when people deepen - get people into these as quickly as possible

Mitra convenors in Brixton focused on getting people to point of becoming mitras, not so much looking after mitras themselves - attend newcomers classes, lead courses to seek out promising people to form new study groups. Work actively to get these new groups going as a key pathways for people.��Also a strong focus on teams as a place for people to deepen. Once someone has moved through the pathway the help support the classes and course which bring others in

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Open Dharma Night - course like series but drop-in

Vision -

‘Intensity of Experience’

Gateway - ‘Contacting’

Going Deeper - ‘Exploring’

Transformation - ‘Committing’

Going Deeper/Regulars Retreats - several in the year.

Drop in Med & Dharma @ Stockholm Centre (one room)�Foundation Retreats @ Dharmagiri Retreat Centre

Centre team / starting a volunteers day / Men’s Community. One rolling study group. Aiming to start more foundation year study groups in future

Case Study 2 - Stockholm Model

They were struggling with numbers - so we reviewed their pathway.

Relatively small sangha and few active OMs, many sangha people live outside of the city centre so getting to weekly classes not always easy.

However, had own retreat centre - opposite to Brixton’s conditions. Much greater opportunity to take people to depth quickly - 3rd stage will be there strength. Revised on a much more retreat focused model which could be serviced by the OMs present and help create an exciting pathways for newcomers. Retreats - much more intensive programme than Brixton could run

Open Dharma Night - aimed at friends/regulars, not OMs/mitras unless they are part of the team (previously was more of a sangha night with everyone expected)

Weakness is that they struggle to offer so many study groups due to teacher and attendee numbers, also true with teams or other situations of intensity, so perhaps weaker in the last commitment stage at the moment. Likely to improve in future as more people come though as a result of change to early stages of the pathways.

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Vision -

‘Intensity of Experience’

Gateway - ‘Contacting’

Going Deeper - ‘Exploring’

Transformation - ‘Committing’

Intro Buddhism Course/Retreats etc

Threshold

Note on thresholds

Works and some places and not others

Also seems the culture in some places might have changed - Swedish culture of education

�Still trying to think this through, gathering info etc. Current theory - Pros & Cons

Threshold by its nature will put some people off - not willing to commit to a course, can’t do the day/times etc, don’t like structured activities etc

Threshold Pros -

Those that come likely to be more invested

Does express that its a pathway

Creates a strong cohort effect, people move through together

[Arguably] gives people a basic grounding is Buddhist ideas first

Threshold Cons -

- will put some people off - timing or content, or the ‘educational’ model

- many people start with meditation, not Buddhism - is a meditation class a more effective gateway for newcomers?�- courses especially likely to discriminate against some groups who can’t make regular weekly commitment - shift workers, single parents etc

Drop-in Class / No Threshold

Pro

- people can come try you out/meet you before signing up for something more committed

- can drop in whenever they like according to their lives

- [arguably] might be more attractive to young people

- weekly class can create a ongoing context for people

Cons

- lower commitment and therefore engagement - a lot more turnover

- can set up a consumer/service relationship if people not encourages to move on to other activities and go deeper

When might a threshold be good?

- if you’re at capacity venue size, then good to ensure most engaged come along and get the spaces

- where your only or most interested in attracting people interested in Buddhism (compared to welfare/meditation etc)

- where you want to create strong cohorts which might go onto do other things together

Where might you now want a threshold?

- if you newcomers classes/course are small - better to get people in the door and give a chance for interactions

- where you want to access groups who might struggle with a structured model, or regular commitments - single parents

- where you want to create a energetic ongoing context the people can keep returning too

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The 1–2–3 Model

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How many nights can people do?

Level of Commitment	Regular Nights Per Week
Newcomer	1 night per week
Regulars/Mitras	2 nights per week
(engaged) OM	3 nights per week

How many nights per week do people do Dharma activities (for the centre) - All activities - chapter, study groups, classes etc?

Theory - people have lives - degree with which are willing to do do things at centre is proportional to their level of commitment

This is not a rigid rule, but it’s useful concept to consider

Newcomer - 1 evening a week e.g. class

Mitra - 2 evenings per week - study group + something else

Engaged OM / GFT Mitras - 3 evenings per week

4+ regularly feels a bit of a stretch, people start feeling guilty and resistance

Note - Study Groups, GFR groups, Chapters all count as talking up a slot

This matters because, in practice, people often fill their limited time with what is easiest or most familiar — rather than what is most valuable for them in terms of deepening commitment

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What is the best thing these people can be doing to help people deepen?

Level of Commitment	Most Valuable Activities
Newcomer - 1 night	Weekly Class or on a Course
Regulars/Mitras - 2 nights	Study Groups, On Teams
engaged OM/GFR Mitra - 3 nights	Teaching/On Team, �Chapter/GFR Group,�Leading/Supporting Study Group

Brixton - mitras doing a weekly Dharma Study Group and were on the team supporting the drop-in meditation class, that was enough. There was no more pressure to do any more — not attend sangha night, or courses, etc. That was good enough for the time being for them to deepen by fully engaging with those contexts.

Probably not the best use of time to have your valuable OMs/GFR mitras always attending sangha nights, going deeper courses etc as participants, when the could be helping other deepen though teaching, leading or just offering kalyana mitrata. (unless they want to of course!)

Usually my experience is with active teachers, unless they are going to these events in the spirit of offering Kalyana Mitrata/service often they can just create extra unwelcome strain. ��By giving people permission not to come to everything, it frees up energy to allow people to engage more fully with the things they are already doing, and from a place of inspiration rather than duty. This naturally creates depth, and helps them contribute from a place of inspiration - not busyness or fatigue.

So just something to think about when you are deciding who to invite to events - it not just about numbers or bums on seats - who actually needs to be there - who might it help deepen? (And who can give it a miss, to put their energy elsewhere?)

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Pathway Reflections

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Reflections - How to make use of this at your centre

Does your centre need to rebalance its pathways?

What are all you centre’s activities? Where might they each fit in the 4 step model?

Is there doubling up or missing stages?

What are the strengths and assets of your situation?

What are its weaknesses or limitations?

Have not given many answers mainly a lot of questions

- whether explicit or not a working pathway is the foundation for success in all the other areas of your centre - income. Fundraising, volunteering succession etc - so really worth giving time to thinking about this

- it needs to be explored and adapted for your situation and circumstances - it’s a sufficiently general model that is flexible enough to cover a wide range of situations

- might find this helpful to do yourself, or in your team - do you need help?��The key thing is to become explicit about which purpose each of your activities to serve and if the balance is right - given the nature of deepening commitment, probably need to be putting proportionally the most energy into newcomers activities, and working on helping them move to the next step

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Reflections - How to make use of this at your centre

How good is your signposting - do your ‘arrows’ work?

Are your teachers clear on what to direct people to next?

Is you team clear on the difference between internal and external publicity?

Do you need to invite everyone to everything or can you be more selective?

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Pathways Workbook for Centre Teams Now Available!

Designing Effective Dharma Pathways

A strategic workbook for Centre Chairs and Leadership Teams

By Viryanaga (February 2026)

Available at: triratnadevelopment.org

(see main menu: Centres; then the section on Building Sangha, then Pathways)