college working arrangements
The public preceptors have a number of agreed ways of going about our work. While we observe them quite carefully, these are not fixed rules, but flexible responses to how best we can work together in the clearest and most spiritually useful way for the Order. From time to time we may refine or change them.
A. The internal organisation of the college
A1 The College
A2 Public Preceptors' kulas
A3 The council of kula representatives
A4 Chair and Deputy-Chairs of the College
A5 Advisory meetings
B1 Duties of Public Preceptors
B2 Qualifications Of Public Preceptors
B3 Appointment Of Public Preceptors
B4 Review Of Public Preceptors
C1 Duties of Private Preceptors
C2 Qualifications Of Private Preceptors
C3 Appointment Of Private Preceptors
C4 Review Of Private Preceptors
D Preparation, selection and ordination of new order members
A The Internal Organisation Of The College
A1The college
1.1 The Public Preceptors collectively (the College) are responsible for their own internal arrangements, such as the appointment of officers, setting up of committees, delegation of responsibilities and powers. All such arrangements are to be agreed by consensus of the College and can be ended or rearranged by consensus of the College.
1.2 There will be at least one meeting of the full College each year at which all matters concerning the functioning of the College will be open to review and revision.
1.3 The College will each year review these working arrangements.
1.4 Since Public Preceptors will be operating in different countries and cultures, regional meetings of the College may be called from time to time, to discuss matters of regional concern. Such regional meetings may evolve their own internal organisation, as they see fit.
A2 Public Preceptors' kulas
2.1 The working unit of the College will be the kula, consisting of at least five Public Preceptors.
2.2 Kulas may be formed on any basis their members think appropriate and kulas will not have exclusive responsibility for ordinations in any particular geographical area or FWBO/TBMSG Dharma Centre.
2.3 Some kulas will be teams that stay together for some time, while others may be put together in special circumstances, for instance to perform a single ordination in urgent circumstances.
2.4 Each Public Preceptor who is active in conducting Public Ordinations will belong to at least one kula that has some continuity: some may belong to more than one, especially to facilitate the formation of new kulas.
2.5 Kulas will make decisions on the basis of consensus and will organise themselves in whatever way they see fit.
2.6 Kulas may consist of Public Preceptors who are not working directly alongside each other, but all members will have sufficient understanding of how the others are working to be confident that those they are proposing to ordain are ready.
2.7 Kulas may consist of members of both sexes when necessary and convenient but will be single-sex wherever possible.
2.8 Each kula will appoint one member to sit on the Council of Kula Representatives (see under). It would be preferable if each representative were to serve for at least two years, so as to provide some continuity, but this will be left to the discretion of the kula.
2.9 The kula's representative may or may not have other responsibilities, such as chairing meetings or coordinating the kula, at the kula's discretion.
2.10 If a kula consists of both men and women then two representatives may be appointed, one of either sex.
A3 The council of kula representatives
3.1 The representatives of the kulas collectively constitute the Council of kula representatives.
3.2 The Council will assist in looking after the smooth running of the College between meetings.
3.3 The Council will have the function of ensuring common standards of ordination and selection of Private Preceptors and of maintaining harmony between the different kulas.
3.4 The Council will provide training and information to assist Public and Private Preceptors in carrying out their duties.
3.5 The Council may decide to organise itself into regional meetings, which will meet to discuss matters of regional concern.
A4 Chair and Deputy-Chairs of the College
4.1 A Chair of the College will be elected by the whole College and will normally serve for five years.
4.2 The Chair is responsible for ensuring the unity and common standards of ordination and appointment of Private Preceptors for the College as a whole.
4.3 The Chair will arrange the meetings of the whole College in consultation with and with the assistance of the Deputy-Chairs.
4.4 The Chair of the College will chair, or arrange for the chairing of, meetings of the College, collecting items for the agenda and notifying all members of topics for discussion.
4.5 The Chair will also call and chair, or arrange for the chairing of, meetings of the Council.
4.6 The College will also elect two or three Deputy-Chairs, normally for a five year term. At least one of the Deputy-Chairs will be of the opposite sex to the Chair.
4.7 The Deputy-Chairs will assist the Chair of the College in carrying out his or her function and will deputise for him or her when necessary.
A5 Advisory meetings
5.1 The Chair and/or Deputy-Chairs may establish from time to time meetings to advise them.
5.2 Such meetings may consist of whomever the Chair or Deputy-Chairs consider suitable and shall meet on whatever terms they consider appropriate, with whatever terms of reference they chose.
5.3 In particular the Chair may establish an advisory meeting to keep under review relations between the College and other Order members and between the College and various institutions of the movement. Such a meeting should consist both of College members and others.
5.4 Any such meetings are purely advisory and have no executive responsibilities or powers.
B1 Duties of Public Preceptors
1.1 Public Preceptors are responsible for conducting Public Ordination ceremonies, witnessing that the candidate is effectively Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels and is ready to join the Order.
1.2 This requires them to be confident, by direct experience, that the candidate is ready, has been given an adequate training, and has been selected with the general consent of those Order members who know him or her. In addition Public Preceptors should be confident that the Private Preceptor is the appropriate person to carry out their Private Ordination.
1.3 Public Preceptors are also responsible for liasing with the Private Preceptors of the candidate to arrange for the two ceremonies to be conducted appropriately.
1.4 Public Preceptors are not expected to keep up a personal relationship with those they have ordained, or even to have personal dialogue with them, but should be able literally to be seen by them from time to time. They should therefore be willing to offer opportunities for those they have ordained to see them, if only on retreats, giving talks etc.
1.5 If for any reason the Private Preceptor is unable to keep up contact with the person they have ordained then the Public Preceptor should take their place, or ensure that it is taken.
1.6 Public Preceptors are responsible for the harmony of the College and for maintaining common standards of ordination and appointment of Private Preceptors, by cooperating with other Public Preceptors through the annual College meetings and their own kulas.
B2 Qualifications Of Public Preceptors
2.1 Public Preceptors will normally be Private Preceptors of at least five years standing.
2.2 Public Preceptors will only be appointed when there are people whom they could potentially ordain.
2.3 Qualifications to be looked for in Public Preceptors are:
a proven effectiveness as kalyana mitras and Private Preceptors, especially able to deal with the complexities of kalyana mitrata, above all not being prone to inflation and able to work with other people's projections in an appropriate way.
b good understanding of their own character, personality, and personal conditioning.
c good skills in communication, especially being open to criticism and comment.
d strong and deep spiritual practice, especially in terms of meditation and ability to realise the Dharma in their experience.
e consistently skilful ethical practice with all serious breaches from the past cleared up.
f harmony with the spirit of the Order, active in its life, and no major difficulties with other Order members, especially other Preceptors.
g willingness to work with other Public Preceptors to ensure the unity of the Order and common standards of ordination.
h willingness to attend meetings of the College, to participate in a kula, and to attend retreats and training with other College members.
B3 Appointment Of Public Preceptors
3.1 Public preceptors will be appointed with the active consent of all members of the College.
3.2 Candidates to be Public Preceptors can be proposed by any kula of Public preceptors, who will notify the Chair.
3.3 The Chair, after ascertaining that the candidate is willing to be a Public preceptor and is open to comment from other Order members, will, in consultation with the Deputy-Chairs, determine the best way of testing and preparing the candidate, ensuring that their qualifications are thoroughly explored.
3.4 All College members will be notified by e-mail that the candidate is being put forward and will have the chance to comment.
3.5 If there is no objection from Public Preceptors within a month of notification, the Chair will give all Order members the opportunity to comment on the candidates suitability, especially by a notice in Shabda, and will seek out especially views from their chapter and past and present colleagues, as well as those they have privately ordained or been kalyana mitra to. Although it may not always be possible to have a complete consensus on their suitability from Order members, a thorough attempt will be made to resolve any objections that are raised before submitting the proposal to the College.
3.6 Once the candidate has the backing of other Order members, the Chair of the College will e-mail all College members, asking them to respond as soon as possible approving or objecting to the appointment. Any College member can ask for the proposal to be deferred to a regional or full meeting of the College. Any College member who is out of contact for more than one month will be deemed to have consented.
3.7 Once all College members have signified their consent in writing, the Chair will announce the appointment in Shabda.
3.8 The Chair, with the advice and assistance of the Deputy-Chairs, will arrange for the new Public Preceptor to be trained in his or her responsibilities and to join a kula.
B4 Review Of Public Preceptors
4.1 At seven-yearly intervals after first appointment as a Public Preceptor, the suitability of a Public Preceptor will be subject to review.
4.2 The Chair, in consultation with the Deputy-Chairs, will determine the best way of reviewing the Public Preceptor, ensuring that their qualifications are thoroughly explored. If the Chair or Deputies are themselves to be reviewed, they will hand this responsibility to another member of the College.
4.3 All College members will be notified by e-mail that the Public Preceptor is being put forward for review and will have the chance to comment.
4.4 If there is no objection from Public Preceptors within a month of notification, the Chair will give all Order members the opportunity to comment on the Public Preceptors suitability, especially by a notice in Shabda, and will seek out especially views from their chapter and past and present colleagues, as well as those they have ordained, privately and publicly, or been kalyana mitra to. Although it may not always be possible to have a complete consensus on their suitability from Order members, a thorough attempt will be made to resolve any objections that are raised before submitting the proposal to the College.
4.5 Once the Public Preceptor under review has the backing of other Order members, the Chair of the College will e-mail all College members, asking them to respond as soon as possible, approving or objecting to them continuing to act as Public Preceptors. Any College member can ask for the proposal to be deferred to a regional or full meeting of the College. Any College member who is out of contact for more than one month will be deemed to have consented.
4.6 Once all College members have signified their consent in writing, the Chair will announce in Shabda that they will continue to act as Public Preceptor.
4.7 Public Preceptors will be presumed to be suitable to continue conducting ordinations until the College decides otherwise, so they will be free to continue while the review is in progress, unless specifically asked by the Chair not to do so.
4.8 If the Chair, in consultation with the Deputy-Chairs, considers that valid objections have been raised and have not been resolved, he or she will notify other College members, asking them to approve or not that the Public Preceptor under review is asked not to continue to conduct Public Ordinations. Any College member can ask for a decision to be deferred to a regional or a full meeting of the College. Any College member who is out of contact for more than one month will be deemed to have consented.
4.9 If approval to continue is not given, the Order will be notified in Shabda that they will not be conducting ordinations for the time being.
4.10 If it is not thought appropriate that the person continues to conduct ordinations, they remain Preceptors to the people they ordained. At the discretion of the other members of the College, they will still be eligible to attend meetings of the College.
4.11 At any point they can submit themselves for review again, following the same procedure.
4.12 If any Public Preceptor raises objections to a Public Preceptor continuing to conduct ordinations at any point, then the Chair of the College will submit the matter to the College as a whole, and the rest of the College will decide by consensus whether they are to continue or not. The Chair may ask the Public Preceptor not to continue while this is being considered.
C1 Duties Of Private Preceptors
1.1 Private Preceptors are responsible for conducting Private Ordination ceremonies, witnessing that the candidate is effectively Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels in the same sense as they do and is ready to join the Order.
1.2 This requires them to be confident, by direct experience, that the candidate is effectively Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels and ready to join the Order.
1.3 To have that confidence they should be closely involved in the candidate's preparation for ordination over a number of years.
1.4 Private Preceptors should keep regular contact with those they have ordained for at least the first five years after they have been ordained and thereafter as appropriate. This means that they should be careful that they have sufficient time and should therefore take on only as many ordinees as they can keep in appropriate contact with.
C2 Qualifications Of Private Preceptors
1.1 Private Preceptors will normally have been Order members for at least ten years.
1.2 Private Preceptors will only be appointed when there are is at least one person approaching ordination who would like them to be their Private Preceptor.
1.3 Qualifications to be looked for in Private Preceptors are:
a. proven effectiveness as kalyana mitras, especially able to deal with the complexities of kalyana mitrata, above all not being prone to inflation and able to work with other people's projections in an appropriate way.
b. good understanding of their own character, personality, and personal conditioning.
c. good skills in communication, especially being open to criticism and comment.
d. strong and deep spiritual practice, especially in terms of meditation and ability to realise the Dharma in their experience.
e. consistently skilful ethical practice with all serious breaches from the past cleared up.
f. harmony with the spirit of the Order, active in its life, and no major difficulties with other Order members, especially other Preceptors.
g. willingness to work with the Public Preceptors to ensure the unity of the Order and common standards of ordination.
h. willingness to attend meetings of Private Preceptors and special retreats organised by the College.
C3 Appointment of Private Preceptors
3.1 Any Order member who has been ordained for more than ten years who is asked by anyone of the same sex as them who has asked for ordination to be their Private Preceptor and who is willing to carry out the responsibility should apply to a Public Preceptor, willing to put forward their candidacy. No Private Preceptor, potential or actual, should approach anyone, offering to be their Preceptor.
3.2 The Public Preceptor will initiate consultation with other Order members as to their suitability to act as a Private Preceptor by placing a notice in Shabda and by writing to the candidate's chapter, kalyana mitras, preceptors, people they have been kalyana mitra to, and other close colleagues or associates. At this stage the candidacy is put forward without any decision from the College about its suitability.
3.3 Once the Public Preceptor responsible for the consultation is satisfied that all parties have been given adequate time to respond, and have checked with another senior Order member that that is the case, he or she should put the proposal to their own College kula.
3.4 The kula will ensure that all proper steps have been taken by the correspondent for the private preceptor. If the kula is satisfied that the candidate will be a suitable Private Preceptor, the kula may make the appointment. A member of the kula, usually the correspondent, will announce the appointment in Shabda, and inform all other college members of the appointment.
3.5 The kula that made the proposal will induct the new Private Preceptor into the performance of his or her duties. paragraphs
3.4 and 3.5 are changes to the original working practices, and will be reviewed in autumn 08.
3.6 The Chair will try to develop ways of testing and training Private Preceptors, with the help of the Deputy-Chairs, and will train other College members in this work.
C4 Review of Private Preceptors
4.1 At seven-yearly intervals after first appointment, the suitability of a Private Preceptor will be subject to review.
4.2 The Chair, in consultation with the Deputy-Chairs, will determine the best way of reviewing the Private Preceptor, ensuring that their qualifications are thoroughly investigated.
4.3 All College members will be notified by e-mail that the Private Preceptor is being put forward for review and will have the chance to comment.
4.4 If there is no objection from Public Preceptors within a month of notification, the Chair will give all Order members the opportunity to comment on the Private Preceptor's suitability, especially by a notice in Shabda, and will seek out especially views from their chapter and past and present colleagues, as well as those they have ordained, privately and publicly, or been kalyana mitra to. Although it may not always be possible to have a complete consensus on their suitability from Order members, a thorough attempt will be made to resolve any objections that are raised before submitting the proposal to the College.
4.5 Once the Private Preceptor under review has the backing of other Order members, the Chair of the College will e-mail all College members, asking them to respond approving or objecting to them continuing to act as Private Preceptors. Any College member can ask the proposal to be deferred to a regional or a full meeting of the College.
4.6 If no College members have signified an objection, the Chair will announce in Shabda that they will continue to act as Private Preceptor.
4.7 Private Preceptors will be presumed to be suitable to continue conducting ordinations until the College decides otherwise, so they will be free to continue while the review is in progress, unless specifically asked by the Chair not to do so.
4.8 If the Chair, in consultation with the Deputy-Chairs, considers that valid objections have been raised and have not been resolved, he or she will notify other College members, asking them to approve or not the Private Preceptor under review's not continuing to conduct Ordinations. Any College member can ask for a decision to be deferred to a regional or a full meeting of the College.
4.9 If approval to continue is not given, the Order will be notified in Shabda that they will not be conducting ordinations for the time being.
4.10 If it is not thought appropriate that the person continues to conduct ordinations, they remain Preceptor to the people they ordained.
4.11 At any point they can submit themselves for review again, following the same procedure.
4.12 If any Public Preceptor raises objections to a Private Preceptor continuing to conduct ordinations at any point, then the Chair of the College will submit the matter to the College as a whole, and the College will decide by consensus whether they are to continue or not. The Chair may ask the Private Preceptor not to conduct ordinations while this is being considered.
D Preparation, Selection, And Ordination Of New Order Members
1.1 Any kula of Public Preceptors may make the final decision about an ordination, including who acts as Private Preceptor, and will be free to organise preparation for and conducting of the ordination in whatever way they think appropriate.
1.2 The members of the kula are not all expected to know the candidate for ordination personally or to have been involved in their preparation. Their duty is to ensure that preparation has been sufficiently thorough and that proper consultation has taken place with other Order members.
1.3 Ordination requests may be directed to any member of the Order. The requester should be directed to a Public Preceptor, who will explain the procedure to them. A leaflet is to be produced explaining the various options.
1.4 Candidates for ordination will be free to prepare for ordination with and be ordained by whichever Private and Public Preceptors they choose who are willing to accept them. However Private Preceptor's may only ordain members of their own sex and Public Preceptors may only ordain members of the opposite sex under situations of exceptional emergency, such as terminal illness, and may only do so with the approval of the Chair, in consultation with the Council and Deputies.
1.5 Names for new Order members should, for the time being, be in Pali or Sanskrit and not reproduce ones already given at any time. Proposed names should be checked by the Private Preceptor with two scholars and checked against the list maintained by the ordination team secretary at Padmaloka. Any variation in these arrangements will be authorised by the Chair or a Deputy Chair.
1.6 It is the responsibility of the Public Preceptor to notify the Order registrar of new ordinations and to publish them in Shabda.
1.7 Kalyana mitra proposals for mitras will be submitted to any kula for final approval, and the ceremony may be carried out by any Preceptor, Public or Private, according to the wishes of the participants.
1.1 Since it is the Public Preceptor's witnessing of going for Refuge in the ordination ceremony that introduces them into the Order, it is for a person's Public Preceptor to declare that they are no longer a member of the Order if they resign or if, after following proper procedures, they are found to have acted in ways incompatible with membership of the Order.
1.2 When someone resigns from the Order, the Public Preceptor will accept it at his or her discretion - although a resignation cannot truly be refused, but sometimes can be usefully delayed to give more time for consideration.
1.3 When an Order member speaks or acts in a way that is grossly incompatible with membership of the Order (such as committing physical violence against another Order member) and refuses to confess or make amends , then the Public Preceptor may no longer be able to recognise them as a member of the Order. Before declaring them to be expelled or suspended, however, the Preceptor will discuss with their kula, the Private Preceptor and with the Council. Those Order members who know the person, especially in their chapter and region, will also need to be consulted and to support the action.
1.4 All such acceptances of resignations, suspensions, and expulsions will be notified to Shabda with as much of the circumstances spelled out as is appropriate and full details of the process whereby the decision has been reached.
1.5 If someone has been suspended from the Order, their Public Preceptor, together with their Private Preceptor, should decide when to reinstate them to the Order, if he or she has fully cleared up the issue that led to their suspension, having consulted the Council and Order members in the region to ascertain that they are willing to accept them back, and other Order members who know the person or were affected directly by whatever caused the suspension.
1.6 If the Public Preceptor is no longer available, through death or other circumstances, then the Chair or a Deputy Chair of the College will act in their place.