The InterKula.Net initially formed in response to a letter from Lokeshvara of the Adhisthana Kula in April 2017 outlining a proposed Reconciliation process requesting help and assistance with this project.
We started as an offshoot of the Triratna Order Member Facebook Group. A working group open to anybody who was interested in actively responding to that request and contributing to the unfolding process of debate, discussion and resolution in the Order that the Adhisthana Kula were trying to manage.
While still keen and happy to fulfil this role and continue to assist the Adhisthana Kula with their work it soon became apparent that there was scope for a wider contribution to the current debates, discussions and issues within the Order. As we started meeting and discussing what our role could be we quickly started to feel that we could also contribute by working independently to produce a number of Exploratory Papers opening up the questions being raised by the current debate about our troubling history and also the ramifications of Sangharakshita’s .confession that:
“Triratna sometimes bears the mark not of the Dharma but of my own particular personality”
Rather than being didactic in style presenting a fixed and finished conclusion to the topics under discussion our intention is that these papers should be more the starting point and catalysts for exploration of the topics and will include questions and suggestions for ways of moving the discussion forward rather than just answers. In this spirit we also hope to invite and include others who may have particular interest or experience in an area we are investigating not just to participate in the the subsequent discussions and explorations of the issues but also in the development of the catalyst papers themselves.
To assist with this, we may publish simple surveys alongside each topic that will help us all gauge opinion as we explore these areas.
Why “Inter Kula”? We started looking for a Sanskrit name, that fitted with our use of the Internet, particularly playing on Indra’s Net. Eventually we landed on the name “Inter” because it has so many references, whether to the “internet” itself, which is facilitating so much conversation that wasn’t possible before, or because of its suggestions of ‘interaction’, ‘interfacing’, ‘interconnectedness’, all of which are suggestive of some of the qualities that we deeply appreciate in the Triratna community.
