But the doubts had not vanished. Most Order members had supported the College’s maintenance of final control over ordinations, but some felt we were entering uncharted waters and were uncertain about the best arrangements for the future. Many had asked that changes be implemented slowly so they could absorb their implications, but by late 2003 the College had reached breaking point and reform happened fast. A small but vocal group of Order members believed that an entirely new arrangement was needed in which the authority to ordain derived not from Sangharakshita but from the Order as a whole. The new, expanded group was much less cohesive than its predecessor. Several of the more experienced members withdrew from active involvement in ordinations, and the involvement of some others in the College was very part-time. New members were keenly aware that Order members’ support could no longer be assumed and this made them cautious. Arrangements for ordination evolved slowly, but the College was not willing or able to offer direction and leadership beyond that. One motive behind the changes to the College and the PCC had been a desire to free their members from involvement in meetings so they could be more available and effective as Dharma teachers. But, initially at least, most of those who were freed up by the ending of the PCC chose to reduce their involvement in FWBO activities altogether. Some were exhausted and needed a break; some wanted to focus on meditation and reflection; some were angry with Sangharakshita or smarting from the difficulties of the roles he had given them; some could not find new ways to be effective without their old roles; and some saw an opportunity to pursue other interests. Madhyamaloka, which had been the bustling headquarters of the movement, dwindled in significance as many of those who had been carrying movement-wide responsibilities left.
difficulties in the movement When the Madhyamaloka Meeting discussed the FWBO’s future in 2003 the lurking question was, will it all fall apart? For a number of years the ideas and shared lifestyles that had helped hold the movement together had been waning in influence. Many of us had seen how, as well as being exciting and inspiring, in the long term these ideas had produced feelings of resentment and exclusion. The institutional changes were intended to allow space for new approaches to emerge. We bravely declared our trust in the integrity of the Order and its depth of practice, and articulated the benefits of removing emotional pressure to participate in the movement’s institutional life. We hoped that new forms that were appropriate to the new circumstances would emerge organically as expressions of individuals’ practice; and we saw that these could not be imposed from ‘above’. We hoped that a new cohesion would arise in the Order that had the more active consent of people involved in it. But we also feared that if those of us working for the FWBO lost a sense that we were part of a shared project, a cause for which it was worth making sacrifices, then much that we valued, and to which we had given decades of our lives, would dissolve away. A year on, as I traveled around the UK in 2004 and met people who were still working within the FWBO’s institutions, I saw the mounting challenges they faced.
thebuddhistcentre.com: triratna history