BUDDHIST CHAPLAINCY TO THE ARMED FORCES: ENDORSING AUTHORITY
A STATEMENT
July 2009
In the late summer of 2004 the Government decided that the chaplaincy in the Armed Forces should be extended to include a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh. Each of these chaplains was expected to minister to members of their faith throughout the entire Armed Forces. And apart from the Muslim who was to be full-time, they were to be part-time appointments and all would be civilian, although it was suggested that when the initial three year appointment had been completed each might become a uniformed post.
Some members of the wider Buddhist community were horrified at the prospect of a Buddhist chaplain to the Armed Forces and protested that Buddhism and the military were incompatible but others felt that despite Buddhism’s denunciation of war and violence members of the armed forces should be able to access guidance and comfort from a Buddhist chaplain.
It appears now that the the Ministry of Defence already considered Ron Maddox, the former General Secretary of the Buddhist Society in London, as its Buddhist Adviser and therefore asked him to organise an Endorsing Authority (EA) which they defined as ‘a United Kingdom Faith Community which acknowledges and accepts specific responsibilities when any of its members or clergy are selected for military chaplaincy service in the Armed Forces.’ The MOD also stated that the EAs would have a role in identifying and selecting suitable chaplains, would accredit and endorse them and would retain religious responsibility for their chaplains who would in turn retain religious accountability to their EAs. And the EAs must offer faith specific advice to the MOD with a nominated official EA representative as a point of contact for the MOD.
Ron Maddox invited Dr Desmond Biddulph, Colin Ash and Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo to join the Buddhist EA and in late 2004 the MOD advertised for a part time Buddhist chaplain to the Armed Forces. In March 2005, Colin Ash and Ajahn Khemadhammo represented the EA on the Board which interviewed and selected Dr Sunil Kariyakarawana who was duly appointed as the part time Buddhist Chaplain to the Armed Forces and took up his duties later that year.
In a letter to Ron Maddox in May 2005 the MOD stated that ‘the Endorsing Authorities should encompass as wide a range of traditions and views within their faith community as possible, in order to ensure a broad base of support within that community for the chaplain and his appointment.’ Consequently two more members were added to the Buddhist EA: Rev. Saido Kennaway and Dharmachari Sunanda. This meant that Theravada, Zen and the FWBO were each represented on the EA and it was intended that a Tibetan Buddhist would be added in due course.
On December 19th, 2005 at a meeting of the EA at the Buddhist Society a constitution for the BUDDHIST CHAPLAINCY TO THE ARMED FORCES: ENDORSING AUTHORITY (BCAF:EA)was drawn up and adopted by its founding members present. It was strongly felt that it should be an independent organisation and the constitution determined that ‘all decisions will be by consensus of the membership present.’ Ron Maddox was duly elected Chairman, Dharmachari Sunanda was elected Secretary and Rev. Saido was elected Treasurer. And a bank account was opened in the name of the EA into which the MOD has ever since paid an annual grant of £2,000 to cover the EA’s expenses.
Over the following two years the BCAF:EA met regularly every quarter, usually with Sunil Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist chaplain, joining for all or part of the meeting. And some headway was made with helping and supporting Sunil with the difficulties that he faced. For instance, it rapidly became obvious that there was more for him to do than had been anticipated and much more than he could possibly cope with in 15 hours a week. The EA took up the case for extending his number of hours and by September 2006 the appointment had become full time.
In April 2007, a weekend Buddhist Conference was organised by Sunil at Amport House, the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre in Hampshire and Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Colin Ash, Rev. Saido and Dharmachari Sunanda all took part and gave of their time and expertise.
At the September 2007 meeting of the BCAF:EA it was decided to hold an AGM on December 7th, 2007. An agenda was duly prepared and circulated. The AGM Agenda had only four items: 1) Apologies; 2) Any reports from Chair, Secretary, Treasurer; 3) Re-election of Chair, Secretary, Treasurer; 4) Any other business. The remainder of the afternoon was expected to be taken up with a regular meeting of the EA.
Then on the afternoon of December 7th as the AGM was about to begin, Ron Maddox produced his own agenda and declared that he as Chairman had decided that there would be no AGM. The other members protested but Maddox would not back down and stated that he intended to remain the Chairman for the foreseeable future. This behaviour was unacceptable to the meeting and Mr Maddox was asked to leave the room while the situation was discussed. In his absence it was decided that the afternoon’s meeting could only go ahead with someone else in the Chair and Maddox was invited back for the meeting to resume with Colin Ash as Chairman. Maddox flatly declined and stated that he would not return unless he was the Chairman. The other members then had no alternative but to abandon the AGM and rescue the afternoon with a regular meeting.
It was decided that Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo would email the contact at the MOD to explain what had happened and request a meeting. That was done on the 10th and the reply was that it was not for the MOD to interfere in the internal affairs of a faith community.
But by the end of the week after the aborted AGM, Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Rev. Saido Kennaway, Dharmachari Sunanda and Colin Ash had each received a letter from Mr Maddox, typed on Buddhist Society headed notepaper and dated December 11th, 2007, dismissing them from the BCAF:EA. Furthermore the letter received by the Treasurer, Rev. Saido, required that he return the cheque book to the Buddhist Society!
The BCAF:EA’s constitution does not give any of its members the authority to dismiss another and the letters were therefore ignored. But why they were written on Buddhist Society headed paper has remained unexplained. Apart from the hire of a meeting room the EA has had no links with the Buddhist Society and is an independent organisation.
In the weeks that followed there were attempts to effect a reconciliation with Ron Maddox and Desmond Biddulph (who was not present at the December meeting but who sided with Ron Maddox) but with no success. Requests for a meeting with the MOD were also rebuffed and the MOD declared that they were returning to what they referred to as the status quo, apparently Ron Maddox as their Buddhist Faith Adviser. But to this day, when, how or by what authority that appointment was ever made remains unclear.
Since Ron Maddox effectively ceased to act as Chairman and refused to attend meetings it was decided at the March 2008 meeting to replace him with Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo. At that meeting the representation was further extended and strengthened with the addition of two new members, Lama Jampa Thaye (Director of the Dechen Community and Venerable Chueh Yann Shih (Abbess of the London Fo Guang Temple) although shortly afterwards she was moved by her organisation from London to Geneva.
Desmond Biddulph and Ron Maddox continued to be invited to meetings of the BCAF:EA and to be counted as members. Then after a meeting between Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo and Lord Avebury and the then Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Derek Twigg MP, Ron Maddox was specifically asked by Mr Twigg in a letter dated April 14th, 2008, as a matter of urgency, to meet with the members he had sought to dismiss to resolve the issue of the EA. Maddox did nothing and did not attend the next meeting. In consequence, at the BCAF:EA meeting in May 2008 it was decided to write by recorded delivery to ask Ron Maddox if his continued absence indicated his resignation, failure to reply by June 9th, 2008 was to be taken that he had. There was no reply and Ron Maddox’s name was removed from the membership. So far Desmond’s still remains on the membership list although he has consistently refused to answer letters and emails or return phone calls. Despite all of this the BCAF:EAhas continued to make clear that the door remains open for a reconciliation and as recent as January 23rd 2009, Dh. Sunanda, the Secretary of BCAF:EA wrote to both of them and stated that “We are still open to meeting at any time to continue that dialogue and discussion. We hope you are too. Please do contact any of us if you wish to engage with us to move this situation forward.” Again there has been no reply!
Correspondence about this unsatisfactory state of affairs continued between Lord Avebury and Mr Twigg’s successor, Mr Jones and was supported by letters from a number of senior Buddhists representing important and influential Buddhist organisations and temples within the United Kingdom. At the meeting of TBSUK in August last year a letter addressed to Mr Twigg was signed by senior monks of thirteen Theravada temples. It stated that they had not been consulted about Mr Maddox’s appointment as Buddhist Adviser to the Armed Forces, nor would they wish to approve it retrospectively and that while Mr Maddox no doubt had many good qualities his ability to represent the broad scope of British Buddhism was questionable. It went on to commend the members of the properly constituted Endorsing Authority. Ven. Ajahn Sumedho of Amaravati wrote a separate letter in a similar vein and there were letters too from Rev. Master Daishin of Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, a senior Dharmachari of the FWBO and the Administrators and Coordinators of the Dechen Community Centres all expressing disquiet at the current situation and supporting the properly constituted Endorsing Authority that Ron Maddox has tried to disband. Despite all this, Mr Jones and the MOD continue to say that the provision of a Religious Endorsing Authority for the Buddhist Civilian Chaplain to the Armed Forces is a matter for the Buddhist communities to agree on. But then they obstruct that process by continuing to champion Maddox.
Unfortunately it is perceived by some and probably put about by others that Ron Maddox was badly wronged by the four members of the BCAF:EA who attended the aborted AGM in December 2007 and that at that meeting they were going to remove him from the BCAF:EA. But even if that had been their intention it couldn’t have happened because the Constitution specifically states that decisions have to be by a consensus of the members present and in any case the relevant item on the agenda was Re-election of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer!
What in fact has happened is that it is Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht (Ajahn Khemadhammo), Rev. Saido Kennaway, Dharmachari Sunanda and Colin Ash who have been wronged and their reputations tarnished by the divisive actions of Ron Maddox, who, having issued notices typed on Buddhist Society paper purporting to dismiss them from the BCAF:EA, has since with the support of the MOD recruited an alternative EA. Furthermore, the MOD have told Dr Sunil Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist Chaplain to the Armed Forces, to have no contact with any of them.
Out of this mess emerge three serious and important questions that ought to be answered:
How should Government and its agencies contact and relate to the Buddhist communities?
How should Buddhist teaching and practice be made available to the Armed Forces, bearing in mind that Buddhism is essentially pacifist?
How can a split amongst Buddhists, such as this, be remedied?
Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht (Ajahn Khemadhammo) OBE
Abbot of the Forest Hermitage
lpkhem@foresthermitage.org.uk
tel: 01926 624385
Rev. Saido Kennaway
Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC) European Adviser
saidotbp@googlemail.com
01952 615574
Dharmachari Sunanda
dhsunanda@gmail.com
0121 441 5088
Colin Ash
j.c.k.ash@reading.ac.uk
014946 71043
Lama Jampa Thaye
Spiritual Director of the Dechen Community
The Lama’s Office www.dechen.org
_____________________
Dh Sunanda has had a reply to questions he requested answers to under the Freedom of Information Act.
Date 27 May 2009
Dear Mr Sunanda,
Release of Information
Thank you for your e-mail of 24 April 2009 to the Secretary of State for Defence about the Buddhist Religious Adviser to the Armed Forces. Your letter has been considered to be a request for information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and I have been asked to reply. I am sorry that you did not receive a response to your previous enquiries and that it has taken so long to respond to you latest letter.
Taking each of your questions in turn:
1. because of organisational changes in the Department, I have not been able to establish precisely when the Religious Advisers to the Armed Forces, including the Buddhist Religious Adviser, were nominated, although the roles seem to date from the mid-1990s;
2. the current Buddhist Religious Adviser to the Armed Forces is Mr Ronald Maddox;
3. for the reasons set out at 1. above, we have not been able to establish what consultations were undertaken prior to the nomination of the Religious Advisers to the Armed Forces, although it seems likely that the individuals were selected on the advice of faith group organisations and the Home Office which, at the time, had cross-Government responsibility for faith issues;
4. there is no specific time limit for the role of Religious Adviser to the Armed Forces;
5&6. the Religious Advisers to the Armed Forces are voluntary appointments and not MOD employees and therefore have no formal terms of service;
7. a number of letters have been received from members of Buddhist community about the Buddhist Religious Adviser;
8. the role of the Religious Adviser is voluntary and no monies from public funds have been paid to the Religious Advisers, although they are entitled to claim any expenses incurred as a result of attending meetings.
If you are unhappy with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Director of Information Exploitation, 6th Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-maillnfo-XD@mod.uk). Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.
If you remain unhappy following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate the case until the internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner’s website, http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
I hope this is helpful.
Yours Sincerely,
John Gow
_____________________
THE MINISTER HAS REPLIED TO LORD AVEBURY
19th April 2009
Dear Lord Avebury,
Thank you for your letter of 15 March 2009 about the Endorsing Authority for the Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces.
I note that you felt it necessary to disclose my letter to you of 27 February 2009 to a wider audience.
As you are aware, I have discussed this issue with Mr Maddox and I am satisfied that he consults with a range of representatives from different Buddhist traditions in his role as Endorsing Authority representative. I know that there are a very wide range of different Buddhist traditions and that it would accordingly be impractical to seek the views of them all. The individuals whom Mr Maddox consults are:
Dr D R Biddulph
Revd G E Rock
Mr S Sessions
The Venerable B Seelawimala
I regret that you did not feel able to accept my invitation to discuss these issues and, given our lengthy previous correspondence, I do not think there is anything further that I can usefully add to what I have said in my earlier letters. Nevertheless, we do periodically revisit our processes for the review appointments as Religious Advisers and Endorsing Authorities. Although we do not have an agreed timescale for the next review at present, the next time we conduct one of these reviews I will inform you of the outcome.
Yours,
signed
KEVAN JONES MP
_____________________
LETTER FROM LORD AVEBURY TO THE MINISTER
March 15, 2009
Dear Mr Jones,
Thank you for your letter of February 27, ref D/Min(Veterans)/KJ MC00598/2009, about the Endorsing Authority for the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy. Will you please let me have the names of the persons on the EA which has been appointed by Mr Ron Maddox, and how you reached the opinion that they represent a broad spectrum of Buddhist traditions – other than being assured of this by Mr Maddox himself?
You say that the appointment of Mr Maddox was made on the advice of the Buddhist Society, of which Mr Maddox was an official at the time. The Buddhist Society doesn’t ‘represent a broad spectrum of Buddhist traditions’ but has been run by a small inner circle for some years. Perhaps that helps to account for its declining membership and other internal problems. I used to be a member of the Society but discontinued my membership some years ago, after Christmas Humphreys died.
You now repeat, as you have said several times already, that the provision of a Religious Endorsing Authority is a matter for the Buddhist communities to agree on There was a working EA, and by your own logic there ought to have been consultation when Mr Maddox decided to write to the majority of its members purporting to dismiss them. Why did you not then say to Mr Maddox, as you keep reiterating to me, that the EA is a matter for the Buddhist communities? I agree with you, it shouldn’t be for one autocrat to decide or suddenly alter the composition of the EA, without any consultation whatsoever.
Equally, by the principle you say you are following, the appointment of Mr Maddox should be a matter for periodic consultation with the Buddhist communities. You haven’t responded to my challenging the permanence of this appointment, and I ask you to address that point now.
In the meanwhile, as I said in my last letter, since we have made no progress through private correspondence, I agreed with the Ven Khemadhammo Mahathera that your letter be made available to a wider circle of the Buddhist communities, and to this end he has placed your letter on his blog, accompanied by the attached comment. I am considering whether any additional means of disseminating the problem are needed, so that you may know whether ‘the Buddhist communities’ think there has been adequate consultation, either on the appointment of Mr Maddox as Buddhist Adviser t the Armed Forces, or his purported dismissal of members of the Endorsing Authority. In the meanwhile, I venture to hope that your letter of February 27 wasn’t your last word on the subject, and that you will now heed the advice we have been trying to offer, which I respectfully suggest is more representative than the advice your officials have taken so far.
Yours Sincerely,
Eric Avebury
Kevan Jones Esq MP,
Ministry of Defence,
Floor 5, Zone B Main Building,
Whitehall,
London SW1A 2HB
_____________________
BUDDHIST CHAPLAINCY TO THE ARMED FORCES: ENDORSING AUTHORITY
AN UPDATE
15th March 2009
More than fifteen months have elapsed since Ron Maddox purported to dismiss the four of us from the properly constituted Endorsing Authority for Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces (see the Statement below), even though the constitution gives no one the power to dismiss another, let alone the entire membership. The four of us strengthened by the addition of Ven. Lama Jampa Thaye continue to meet under my chairmanship but without any contact with the Ministry of Defence or the Buddhist Chaplain to the Armed Forces and without Ron. We understand that another group has been formed and although we are not entirely sure who are its members, we have heard that they include Ron Maddox, Desmond Biddulph, a former Colonel of the Gurkhas, Ganshin Rock and a Theravada abbot. We presume that the Theravada abbot is Ven. Seelawimala of the London Buddhist Vihara. We know that he was approached and may have been considered a member, although he never attended any meetings and recently told Ron that he wanted nothing to do with it.
In those fifteen months there have been a number of representations to first Mr Twigg when he was the Minister responsible, including a meeting with Lord Avebury and myself, and more recently Mr Twigg’s successor, Mr Jones. These representations have been mostly through correspondence between the Minister and Lord Avebury but have also included letters from a number of senior Buddhists representing important and influential Buddhist organisations and temples within the United Kingdom. At the meeting of TBSUK in August last year a letter addressed to Mr Twigg was signed by senior monks of thirteen Theravada temples. It stated that we had not been consulted about Mr Maddox’s appointment as Buddhist Adviser to the Armed Forces, nor would we wish to approve it retrospectively and that while Mr Maddox no doubt has many good qualities his ability to represent the broad scope of British Buddhism is questionable. It then went on to commend the members of the properly constituted Endorsing Authority. Ven. Ajahn Sumedho of Amaravati wrote a separate letter in a similar vein and there were letters too from Rev. Master Daishin of Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, a senior Dharmachari of the FWBO and the Administrators and Coordinators of the Dechen Community Centres all expressing disquiet at the current situation and supporting the properly constituted Endorsing Authority that Ron Maddox has sought to disband.
Those letters and recent correspondence from Lord Avebury have been answered in a letter from Mr Jones, a scan of which I reproduce here with the text below.
Dear Lord Avebury,
Thank you for your letter of 5 February about the Endorsing Authority for the Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces. I have also received letters from representatives of a number of Buddhist organisations, and I hope you will accept this as a response to those letters.
I would like to begin by explaining that Religious Advisers to the Armed Forces from the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths were appointed on the recommendation of faith bodies recognised as the primary points of contact by the Home office, who were then lead Government Department on matters of religion and belief. On the advise of the Buddhist Society, Mr Ron Maddox was appointed as Buddhist Religious Adviser to the Armed Forces.
As I have said before, the provision of a Religious Endorsing Authority for the Buddhist Civilian Chaplain to the Armed Forces is a matter for the Buddhist communities to agree on. I understand that Mr Maddox, on his own initiative, chose to convene an Endorsing Authority committee in an attempt to represent a broad a spectrum of Buddhist traditions. It is regrettable that differences, which appear to be irreconcilable, have meant that the committee with its original membership became unworkable and Mr Maddox felt that he had no option but to disband it and reconvene a new committee with a different membership. However, I am satisfied that this new committee also represents a broad spectrum of Buddhist traditions (although clearly with over 600 Buddhist groups in the UK, it cannot claim to represent them all). I further note that Mr Maddox has the support of the Buddhist Chaplain to the Armed Forces who, in turn, is well respected by members of the Armed Forces who follow the teachings of Buddha.
It was disappointing that you felt unable to accept my invitation to discuss these matters, but I hope this helps to explain the position.
In particular this letter raises the serious point about how the Government should contact and consult the various schools and organisations that together make up the Buddhist community in this country. It is unclear how long ago the Home Office considered the Buddhist Society of Eccleston Square, London SW1 as the Buddhist primary point of contact and whether even then other Buddhist groups knew about it and would have agreed. Right now it is obvious that such an arrangement whereby the Buddhist Society is the Government’s primary point of contact for Buddhist matters is no longer tenable, out of date and must most urgently be reviewed.
Other points that have not been answered include whether this appointment of Ron Maddox as the Buddhist Adviser to the Armed Forces is for life or not, and why when the Minister keeps on saying that it is for the Buddhist Communities to agree on the provision of an Endorsing Authority he doesn’t take notice of the fact that senior members of those communities have voiced their disagreement and concern about the current situation that he, the Minister, stubbornly continues to accept and support.
Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht (Ajahn Khemadhammo) OBE 15/03/09
_____________________
A LETTER TO RON & DESMOND
Friday 23 January 2009
Dear Desmond and Ron
Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces: Endorsing Authority
The members of the BCAF:EA committee have asked me to write to you regarding your involvement with the EA.
We remain disappointed that there has been no substantial communication between us for over a year. We have written to each of you several times asking about your involvement.
But we have received nothing since 11-Dec-2007 when Ron sent letters on Buddhist Society note paper to Rev. Saido, Yen Khemadhammo, Mr Colin Ash and Dh. Sunanda. The letters stated that Ron was taking immediate action to terminate their membership of the Endorsing Authority.
As you may remember, we did not endorse Ron’s action; and we have remained active as the formally constituted Endorsing Authority, pending further dialogue and discussion.
We are still open to meeting at any time to continue that dialogue and discussion.
We hope you are too.
Please do contact any of us if you wish to engage with us to move this situation forward.
With best wishes,
Dh. Sunanda
_____________________
A STATEMENT
March 9th, 2008
In the late summer of 2004 the Government decided that the chaplaincy in the Armed Forces should be extended to include a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh. Each of these chaplains was expected to minister to members of their faith throughout the entire Armed Forces. And apart from the Muslim who was to be full-time, they were to be part-time appointments and all would be civilian, although it was suggested that when the initial three year appointment had been completed each might become a uniformed post.
Some members of the wider Buddhist community were very worried by the prospect of a Buddhist chaplain to the Armed Forces and protested that Buddhism and the military were incompatible but others felt that there would be some amongst the suffering humanity who are in the Army, the RAF and the Royal Navy who would benefit by hearing the Dhamma. It has been necessary however to make clear that Buddhism neither condones nor supports war or the threat of war.
The Ministry of Defence contacted Ron Maddox who had not long retired after a number of years as the General Secretary of the Buddhist Society in London and asked him to organise an Endorsing Authority (EA) which was defined as ‘a United Kingdom Faith Community which acknowledges and accepts specific responsibilities when any of its members or clergy are selected for military chaplaincy service in the Armed Forces.’ The MOD went on to explain that the EAs would have a role in identifying and selecting suitable chaplains, would accredit and endorse them and would retain religious responsibility for their chaplains who would in turn retain religious accountability to their EAs. And the EAs must offer faith specific advice to the MOD with a nominated official EA representative as a point of contact for the MOD.
Ron Maddox invited Dr Desmond Biddulph, Colin Ash and Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo to join the Buddhist EA and in late 2004 the MOD set about advertising for a part time Buddhist chaplain to the Armed Forces. In March 2005, Colin Ash and Ajahn Khemadhammo represented the EA on the Board which interviewed and selected Dr Sunil Kariyakarawana who was duly appointed as the part time Buddhist Chaplain to the Armed Forces and took up his duties later that year.
In a letter to Ron Maddox in May 2005 the MOD stated that ‘the Endorsing Authorities should encompass as wide a range of traditions and views within their faith community as possible, in order to ensure a broad base of support within that community for the chaplain and his appointment.’ Consequently two more members were added to the Buddhist EA: Rev. Saido Kennaway and Dharmachari Sunanda. This meant that Theravada, Zen and the FWBO were each represented on the EA and it was intended that a Tibetan Buddhist would be added in due course.
On December 19th, 2005 at a meeting of the EA at the Buddhist Society a simple Constitution for the Buddhist Chaplaincy to the Armed Forces: Endorsing Authority was drawn up and adopted by its founding members present. An important principle enshrined in that constitution is that ‘all decisions will be by consensus of the membership present.’ Ron Maddox was duly elected Chairman, Dharmachari Sunanda was elected Secretary and Rev. Saido was elected Treasurer. And a bank account was opened in the name of the EA into which the MOD has ever since paid an annual grant of £2,000 to cover the EA’s expenses.
Over the following two years the EA met regularly every quarter, usually with Sunil Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist chaplain, joining for all or part of the meeting. And some headway was made with helping and supporting Sunil with the difficulties that he faced. For instance, it rapidly became obvious that there was more for him to do than had been anticipated and much more than he could possibly cope with in 15 hours a week. The EA took up the case for extending his number of hours and by September 2006 the appointment had become full time.
On the weekend of the 20th – 22nd of April a Buddhist Conference was organised by Sunil at Amport House, the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre in Hampshire and Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Colin Ash, Rev. Saido and Dharmachari Sunanda all took part and gave of their time and expertise.
Although the EA’s Constitution made no mention of an Annual General Meeting it is usual for organisations like the EA to have one, to review the business of the previous year, develop a strategy for the year ahead, and elect or confirm the re-election of the officers. By the end of 2007 most members of the Buddhist EA felt it was high time for such a review. It was therefore decided at the meeting of the EA in September 2007 to hold an AGM on December 7th, 2007 and an agenda was duly prepared and circulated. The Agenda had only four items: Apologies; Any reports from Chair, Secretary, Treasurer; Re-election of Chair, Secretary, Treasurer; Any other business. The remainder of the afternoon was expected to be taken up with a regular meeting of the EA.
When on the afternoon of December 7th the members of the EA, with the exception of Dr Biddulph who as had often been the case was unable to be present, sat down to commence the meeting, Ron Maddox produced and distributed another agenda which he said that he as Chairman had decided would be followed that afternoon and there would be no AGM. The other members were shocked and surprised and protested but Ron Maddox would not back down and stated that he intended to remain the Chairman for the foreseeable future. Understandably this behaviour was not acceptable to the meeting and he was asked to leave the room while the situation was discussed. In his absence the other members of the EA present decided that in the circumstances the meeting could only go ahead with, for that meeting, someone else in the Chair and Ron was then invited back to continue the meeting with Colin Ash as Chairman. He flatly declined and stated that would not return unless he was the Chairman. The other members then continued with a regular meeting.
Mr Maddox was no doubt aware that his style of chairmanship had not been popular with other members of the EA and he may have acted as he did to preempt any decision to elect another member of the EA as chairman. But here it must be repeated that the Constitution states clearly that ‘all decisions will be by consensus of the membership present.’
It was decided that Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo would email the contact at the MOD to explain what had happened and request a meeting. That was done and the reply was that it was not for the MOD to interfere in the internal affairs of a faith community.
By the end of the week following Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Rev. Saido Kennaway, Dharmachari Sunanda and Colin Ash had each received a letter from Ron Maddox, typed on Buddhist Society headed notepaper and dated December 11th, 2007, dismissing them from the EA.
The Constitution does not give anyone the authority to dismiss anyone from the EA, and the letters were accordingly treated as invalid and of no effect by the recipients. For the same reasons, furthermore, the demand made in the letter to Rev. Saido, the Treasurer of the EA that he return the cheque book to the Buddhist Society was ignored.
Since then there have been attempts to effect a reconciliation with Ron Maddox and Desmond Biddulph (who was not present at the December meeting but who appears to have sided with Ron Maddox) but with no success. Requests for a meeting with the MOD have also been rebuffed and they have said that they are returning to what they refer to as the status quo which they say is Ron Maddox as their Buddhist Faith Adviser. When, how or by what authority he was ever appointed to this position is not clear.
In the meantime the EA continues. There have been two meetings, one in January and another in March and Ron Maddox and Dr Biddulph have been informed of these and invited but have not appeared. Since Ron Maddox has effectively ceased to act as Chairman it was decided at the March meeting to replace him with Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo. At that meeting the representation was further extended and strengthened with the addition of two new members, Venerable Chueh Yann Shih (Abbess of the London Fo Guang Temple) and Lama Jampa Thaye (Director of the Dechen Community), making eight in all. And of course the EA continues to be there to support Sunil, the Buddhist Chaplain.
To avoid any split or conflict within the Buddhist community, if anyone reading this is or has been approached about possible membership of an alternative Endorsing Authority or participation in the forthcoming Buddhist conference for the Armed Forces in May this year, it would be helpful if you would kindly contact Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo, Rev. Saido, Colin Ash or Dh. Sunanda.
Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht (Ajahn Khemadhammo) OBE
Abbot of the Forest Hermitage
lpkhem@foresthermitage.org.uk
tel: 01926 624385
Rev. Saido Kennaway
Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC) European Adviser
saidotbp@googlemail.com
01952 615574
Dharmachari Sunanda
dhsunanda@gmail.com
0121 441 5088
Colin Ash
j.c.k.ash@reading.ac.uk
014946 71043
