Dear Order Members and friends,

I’m writing from Adhisthana during the annual international meeting of the Preceptors’ College, where you may be aware we have been deciding who will take over from me as Chair of the Preceptors’ College when I step down in a year’s time.

I’m delighted to let you all know that there was a clear consensus to invite Mahamati to become the next College Chair. Happily, Mahamati was able to respond wholeheartedly, and will take up the appointment during our next meeting in November 2024. Mahamati will then become the fifth Chair of the College of Public Preceptors, since Bhante appointed Subhuti as the first Chair on his seventy-fifth birthday in 2000.

Mahamati will be well known to many of you having already held significant responsibilities in the Order and Movement – especially as International Order Convenor, which he handed on ten years ago. Mahamati has been a member of the College since 2004 and now lives in Malvern, only a few miles from Adhisthana, with Kalyanaprabha. He is a member of the Adhisthana Teaching Community and also Chair of the Urgyen Sangharakshita Trust. He has strong international connections across our community, including having lived for seven years in India. 

With Metta,
Ratnadharini