I’d like to report briefly on a visit to the German Buddhist Union (DBU) annual meeting in April this year – with apologies for the considerable lateness of this report.

The Diamond Way Sangha, at their wonderful lakeside Europe Centre in Bavaria, were wonderful hosts to around 50 representatives from various Buddhist traditions in Germany, including Triratna’s Vidyagita and Karunada. Their theme being ethics in sanghas, I was invited to address them on the topic of controversy in Triratna and what we have been doing about it, the president of the DBU having heard me speak informally about this at the last European Buddhist Union meeting in September 2017.

The atmosphere was extremely charged and I was publicly questioned and criticised very sharply by two or three people straight after the talk; however, a number of people later approached me privately to say how much they appreciated my frankness and the work we have been doing in Triratna on Safeguarding and Ethical Guidelines since 2013.

Munisha
Triratna Liaison officer and Safeguarding officer