International Chairs Course 2025
A six-week online course led by Jnanadhara (International Movement Coordinator)A Life for the Dharma –
Bhante’s 100th
For the last two years I’ve led these courses as part of my work as International Movement Coordinator; however, this year’s course will have brand new content. As this year is his Centenary we’ll be making the most of the auspicious moment by taking as the theme for our explorations our teacher and founder Urgyen Sangharakshita.
We’ll be delving into different aspects of his life as a Dharmafarer – devotee, mystic, teacher, friend, writer, lover, revolutionary – and see what we can learn from these qualities and activities for our own lives as Dharmafarers working as Chairs. There is rich material to draw on, and I’m sure significant inspirations and insights will pass between us.
Aims for the Course
The aim for these courses is to help us all gain greater clarity, confidence and effectiveness in our work and a deeper understanding of how to approach it so it is a transformative spiritual practice. A wider aim is to bring chairs together across the world in order to build friendships and connections and to know and feel more keenly our unity as an international spiritual community.
The course is not only for new chairs, it is for experienced chairs as well – if you have been a chair for a while please come and share your experience, knowledge and perspective! While it is mainly focussed on running centres the content will be widely applicable so if you are a director of a charity or team based right livelihoods please join us.
Photo from the Triratna Picture Library
Times & dates
The course will be offered on Zoom twice each time to catch all time zones. Some parts of the world will have the option of coming at either time. The session will be 2 hours long. Slightly awkwardly the clocks change at that time of year so the time of the course will change for all of us at some point, and for some time zones it’ll change twice. I’ve put the times for each week below for clarity.
(You are welcome to come at whichever time is most convenient, however it would be optimal to attend the same time each week so we can build up connections in our break out groups. Don’t worry if it is not possible for you to come at the same time each week, or to attend every session, please just come whenever you can.)
The course is free to join and will be led by myself in English.
The session times and dates are as follows (in 24 hour format). We’ve drawn attention to where the session time changes from the previous week.
1: Tuesday, September 30th
Session 1
San Francisco, US : Tue, 30 Sept at 01:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 30 Sept at 02:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 30 Sept at 04:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 30 Sept at 09:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 30 Sept at 10:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 30 Sept at 11:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 30 Sept at 13:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Tue, 30 Sept at 18:00 AEST
Auckland, NZ : Tue, 30 Sept at 21:00 NZDT
Session 2
San Francisco, US : Tue, 30 Sept at 11:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 30 Sept at 12:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 30 Sept at 14:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 30 Sept at 19:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 30 Sept at 20:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 30 Sept at 21:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 30 Sept at 23:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Wed, 1 Oct at 04:00 AEST
Auckland, NZ : Wed, 1 Oct at 07:00 NZDT
2: Tuesday, October 7th
Session 1
San Francisco, US : Tue, 7 Oct at 01:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 7 Oct at 02:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 7 Oct at 04:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 7 Oct at 09:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 7 Oct at 10:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 7 Oct at 11:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 7 Oct at 13:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Tue, 7 Oct at 19:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Tue, 7 Oct at 21:00 NZDT
Session 2
San Francisco, US : Tue, 7 Oct at 11:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 7 Oct at 12:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 7 Oct at 14:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 7 Oct at 19:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 7 Oct at 20:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 7 Oct at 21:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 7 Oct at 23:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Wed, 8 Oct at 05:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Wed, 8 Oct at 07:00 NZDT
3: Tuesday, October 14th
Session 1
San Francisco, US : Tue, 14 Oct at 01:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 14 Oct at 02:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 14 Oct at 04:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 14 Oct at 09:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 14 Oct at 10:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 14 Oct at 11:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 14 Oct at 13:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Tue, 14 Oct at 19:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Tue, 14 Oct at 21:00 NZDT
Session 2
San Francisco, US : Tue, 14 Oct at 11:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 14 Oct at 12:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 14 Oct at 14:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 14 Oct at 19:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 14 Oct at 20:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 14 Oct at 21:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 14 Oct at 23:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Wed, 15 Oct at 05:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Wed, 15 Oct at 07:00 NZDT
4: Tuesday, October 21st
Session 1
San Francisco, US : Tue, 21 Oct at 01:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 21 Oct at 02:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 21 Oct at 04:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 21 Oct at 09:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 21 Oct at 10:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 21 Oct at 11:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 21 Oct at 13:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Tue, 21 Oct at 19:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Tue, 21 Oct at 21:00 NZDT
Session 2
San Francisco, US : Tue, 21 Oct at 11:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 21 Oct at 12:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 21 Oct at 14:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 21 Oct at 19:00 BST
Paris, France : Tue, 21 Oct at 20:00 CEST
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 21 Oct at 21:00 EEST
Mumbai, India : Tue, 21 Oct at 23:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Wed, 22 Oct at 05:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Wed, 22 Oct at 07:00 NZDT
5: Tuesday, October 28th
Session 1
San Francisco, US : Tue, 28 Oct at 02:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 28 Oct at 03:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 28 Oct at 05:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 28 Oct at 09:00 GMT
Paris, France : Tue, 28 Oct at 10:00 CET
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 28 Oct at 11:00 EET
Mumbai, India : Tue, 28 Oct at 14:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Tue, 28 Oct at 20:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Tue, 28 Oct at 22:00 NZDT
Session 2
San Francisco, US : Tue, 28 Oct at 12:00 PDT
Mexico City : Tue, 28 Oct at 13:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 28 Oct at 15:00 EDT
London, UK : Tue, 28 Oct at 19:00 GMT
Paris, France : Tue, 28 Oct at 20:00 CET
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 28 Oct at 21:00 EET
Mumbai, India : Wed, 29 Oct at 00:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Wed, 29 Oct at 06:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Wed, 29 Oct at 08:00 NZDT
6: Tuesday, November 4th
Session 1
San Francisco, US : Tue, 4 Nov at 01:00 PST
Mexico City : Tue, 4 Nov at 03:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 4 Nov at 04:00 EST
London, UK : Tue, 4 Nov at 09:00 GMT
Paris, France : Tue, 4 Nov at 10:00 CET
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 4 Nov at 11:00 EET
Mumbai, India : Tue, 4 Nov at 14:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Tue, 4 Nov at 20:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Tue, 4 Nov at 22:00 NZDT
Session 2
San Francisco, US : Tue, 4 Nov at 11:00 PST
Mexico City : Tue, 4 Nov at 13:00 CST
Boston, US : Tue, 4 Nov at 14:00 EST
London, UK : Tue, 4 Nov at 19:00 GMT
Paris, France : Tue, 4 Nov at 20:00 CET
Tallinn, Estonia : Tue, 4 Nov at 21:00 EET
Mumbai, India : Wed, 5 Nov at 00:30 IST
Sydney, Australia : Wed, 5 Nov at 06:00 AEDT
Auckland, NZ : Wed, 5 Nov at 08:00 NZDT
Jnanadhara
Originally from New Zealand where he met Triratna at the Wellington Buddhist Centre, Jnanadhara now lives in Dublin, Ireland. He joined the Order in 2003 after spending some years working at Windhorse Trading in the UK. He served as chair of the Dublin Buddhist Centre for twelve years before taking on being International Movement Coordinator, a new role that seeks to join up our Buddhist community worldwide.
Testimonials
The is the second time we’ve run the course.
Here is what some of the participants from the first course said:
Khemabandhu (chair of Adhisthana)
It was great simply to come together as Chairs from all over the world and have mutual support in the discussion groups while at the same time learning some very practical and helpful skills from others who have so much more experience, skills that I could immediately put to use.
Suvarṇachandrā (chair of Helsinki Buddhist Centre)
The course was in my view just what was needed. We heard well prepared talks about different topics the chairs of centres are working with. Then we had a chance to meet as a chapter with four or five other chairs around the world, and to guide the conversation we had well thought through questions. This is really what I as a chair need, and sounds like others as well, so it would be good to have some sort of continuation to this, there are lots of topics chairs need to know.
Thank you Jnanadhara!
Ananta (chair of New York / New Jersey)
This has been an excellent course and one that has come at an ideal time for me as I have taken on the Chair role. Jnanadhara covered a lot of important and helpful ground around what it means to be a Chair and some of the challenges and pitfalls to navigate. I’m coming away with a clearer sense of what my role is and how I might face challenges as they arise.
Muditadevi (chair of Oslo Buddhist Centre)
I found the online chairs course with Jnanadhara very inspiring and useful for me as a chair. I got useful tips for preparing and chairing meetings and inspiration to see the spiritual practice in being a chair. I very much enjoyed meeting up with other chairs too and sharing our experiences. It was inspiring hearing Jnanadhara share his personal experience as chair.
Prajnaketu (chair of Oxford Buddhist Centre)
This course came at a perfect time for me, as I’d just taken on the Chair at the Oxford Buddhist Centre. I found it comprehensive – in covering all the aspects of the role, from chairing meetings to the spiritual practice of running a sangha – and deep, drawing on Jnanadhara’s hard-won experience. I feel his input has already helped me to pre-empt some common pitfalls, as well as preparing me well for the wider dimension of life as a Chair. It was also helpful and enjoyable to chew over elements of this unique responsibility with others in the same position. I’d gladly do it again!
Sudaka (chair of Suryavana Retreat Centre, Spain)
Really enjoyed the recent five week course for chairs led by Jnanadhara. Principally for me, as a Chair out at the periphery of the Triratna heartlands, it gave me a wonderful opportunity to share, laugh and learn with others. The Chairs are such a valuable group within Triratna and it was a real balm and support for those of us participating. The content was concise and thought provoking. Thanks and hope to do again.
Vajracaksu (Triratna Istanbul)
I wasn’t able unfortunately to go to all the classes of the recent chairs course but did manage three sessions. I found it a very useful course and just loved listening to and sharing thoughts and experiences with other chairs, we are in the same, very particular boat! Jnanadhara poured a great deal of thought and love into the course and his very helpful presentations, respect to him. I’m looking forward to the next similar online event.
Dayavāsīnī (chair of Tierra Adentro & Pachuca Buddhist Centre)
After being in charge of a couple of small local Triratna projects in Mexico for more than 14 years I much appreciate the opportunity of sharing experiences through the Chairs Workshop led by Jnanadhara. Not only the experience of sharing with other Order Members , but also the opportunity to learn more about their experiences and particularly the way they manage their council meetings, meant a refreshing and significant encounter.
Maitridevi (chair of Taraloka Retreat Centre)
I’ve been listening to the recordings of your International Chairs course whilst I’ve been weeding the garden, and I’m really enjoying them. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it feels like lovely cosy sessions where you relay all the wisdom you’ve gleaned from your years of Chairing and pass it on to the rest of us. There’s something very comforting listening to you say things like ‘as a Chair you’re bound to attract criticism – but don’t worry… you can always practice patience…’ etc.
Just your simple but thorough explanations on how to run Council meetings are – for me – a helpful reminder of best practice. Listening to you does also make me aware of the ways in which retreat centre chairing is different from urban centre chairing (I think retreat centre chairing might be easier!), but still it’s all interesting and helpful.
Well done for organising it all – I imagine you’ve got really good feedback as I think that this course is very helpful and relevant.