Every year, as Triratna’s Liaison officer, I attend the residential meeting of Buddhist Teachers in Europe, a very informal gathering of people who teach in various Buddhist traditions.

Our latest meeting took place 24th-29th September in a newly built Ch’an retreat centre in the hills west of Zagreb, Croatia, hosted by the country’s oldest Buddhist group, started decades ago in what was then Yugoslavia.

We were about 20 participants, from Theravada, Tibetan, Ch’an, SGI, Reyukai, Pure Land and Zen traditions, including two bhikkus and two bhikkhunis, as well as Vassika and me from Triratna. Some of us have been friends over many years and it's always a great pleasure - also fun - to have time to meditate, walk, talk and eat together over several days.

Our theme was ‘One Dharma: many sanghas’. Apart from talking about our lives and presenting some examples of our forms of practice there were a couple of presentations, including a short talk from me about Bhante’s long interest in the unity of Buddhism.

I referred to his article ‘The Unity of Buddhism’, published when he was just 18, and his 1996 talk, ‘Extending the Hand of Fellowship’, in which he outlined the spirit in which he considered Order members should relate to Buddhists from other traditions – in essence, solely on the basis of shared Going For Refuge to the Three Jewels.

This talk shows how often in those days Bhante found Order members being treated as laypeople by monastics. Although this is certainly still the case in some quarters, I must say that in over a decade as Liaison officer I have never experienced this. The UK and European Buddhists I work with tend to talk about ‘ordained sangha’, referring to anyone who is ordained whether monastic or not, and the monastics are always in a minority and rarely behave as though different or superior to the rest of us.

Still, not everyone does see Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels as the defining characteristic of a Buddhist, so we had an interesting and very friendly discussion.

Who can attend meetings of the Buddhist Teachers in Europe?
The BTE is for duly authorised teachers in any Buddhist tradition, who have been teaching for at least 10 years. In Triratna terms that means Order members ordained at least 10 years. They also welcome 'younger teachers' (ordained at least 5 years) when introduced by an existing member. If you would like to attend please email me at munisha@triratnadevelopment.org. 
NB Please note that you would need to cover your own expenses for travel, food and accommodation (usually in low cost retreat centre facilities)