Safer Sangha  » Community Agreements

Community Agreements

Community agreements are agreements created by the group that delineate the consensus of individual needs, the ways to meet these needs, and how members envision to interact and exist with each other. In our article about community agreements, we discuss the process and examples of developing these agreements. 

Once the agreements are developed, it is important to use the agreements as an anchor and not let it drop into the background and be forgotten. Facilitators and meetings may implement the following suggestions in meetings:

For Every Meeting

One of the common issues of community agreements is that the agreements become one of the things that members forget or take for granted, like that poster next to a classroom door that no one ever reads! Agreements are only helpful if everyone at the meeting is aware of them. 

We recommend that facilitators read the community agreements at the beginning of every meeting, whether in its full form or as an abridged or summarized version. You may also include/attach the full community agreements if your meeting has weekly email reminders or calendar invites. Cornell University’s Center for Dialogue and Pluralism also has a great example of implementing and putting community agreements into practice: Strategies for Implementing Community Agreements in Meetings & Group Settings. These can serve as specific ideas for facilitators to enact on the agreements.

Ongoing Feedback and Inquiries

Just as being aware of the agreements is central to their effectiveness, so is regularly evaluating the agreements and checking in about the psychological safety in meetings. Sanghas can conduct regular anonymous surveys to inquire about the culture or climate of the meetings. These inquiries can include what members feel about the agreements, if there has been any violations of the agreements, how effective the agreements are, general psychological safety felt by members, or suggestions from the members. 

It is wise to evaluate community agreements from time to time and adjust them to accommodate the current needs and context of the group. Sanghas can set a regular schedule (e.g., every 4 months, 6 months, or 12 months) in business meetings to discuss the workability or appropriateness of the agreements. There can also be a process set up for members to submit feedback when agreements are broken in meetings. 

Post-Rupture Growth and Healing

As humans in recovery, we are intricately complicated with our own habitual tendencies. Each meeting has members with a plethora of personalities and life experiences. Hence, it is not possible for community agreements to always be abided. When agreements are broken, it is an opportunity for post-rupture growth and healing. These opportunities allow us to know ourselves more intimately, because it is in these moments that we can deeply examine our triggers and explore how discomfort manifests through our body, speech, and minds, and further transform the causes of suffering into the wise path of recovery. Rupture in groups is then the compass that guides us to the wise action that can be taken for ourselves and others, a chance to cultivate bodhicitta and compassion, and to find solutions that work for our mutual recovery without grasping and clinging. 

During meetings, when we notice that agreements are broken, it is important to first check in with ourselves. We cannot take care of others or their emotional needs if we are in a state of reactivity. We cannot act in alignment with awareness, compassion, and wisdom if we are stuck in feeling triggered, frozen, fearful, withdrawn, or angry. As facilitators, the first person to look after and check in with is always ourselves. The following inquiries may help orient you to your body, mind, and heart:

Depending on the situation and severity, an intervention in the meeting might be needed to restore and maintain the harmony, or perhaps it is better to wait until after the meeting to process and discuss with your wise friends or in a business meeting first, then reach out to the individual(s) to restore balance. You may also want to consider how to best address those who are involved. Consider if it is better to address the whole sangha, a few people, or with an individual. It would be important to consider the values of the group and how the rupture can help the sangha grow and heal together. Identify commonality, interconnectedness, and growth area, instead of focusing on differences, division, shaming, or blaming. 

Transforming Conflict into the Path

When conflicts arise, it is an opportunity to transform conflict or rupture into a process of trust-building and deepening of the path (Arai, 2017). Based on Arai’s (2017) article regarding a Buddhist theory of conflict transformation, there are a few theorized components that may be used to transform conflicts into the compassionate path, as highlighted below: 

1. When conflict arises, begin with recognizing the inner conflicts within ourselves. These inner conflicts are the causes of suffering, which are greed, anger, and ignorance. 
2. Examine how the inner conflicts (i.e., causes of suffering) have externalized to manifest as the conflict at hand. When it is a more complex issue, we can examine the structural roots of suffering; these are the collective causes/karmic seeds of suffering. 

• For some of the structural roots of suffering that may exist, Buddhist Recovery Network has compiled a list of trainings and resources that you may consider for further learning. 

3. Upon recognizing the conflict, apply the Buddhist teachings of non-self and interdependence to examine and aspire beyond the duality of self and others. 
4. Recognize all those involved, understand their goals in this conflict, and examine the underlying contradiction/paradox of the situation. 
5. It is important to understand that conflict is transformed by transforming the root causes of conflict, the causes of suffering. 
6. Apply the Noble Eightfold Path and the Five Precepts, cultivate the heart practices, awareness, and wisdom, and develop open conversations and shared solutions/actions. Aim for creating sustainable and healthy relationships. 
7. The long-term goal of the conflict transformation is to seek greater unity in humanity.

• In a Buddhist recovery community, you might understand this as the recovery and emotional well-being for all those struggling with addictions. 

We also encourage you to continue to learn about ways of conflict resolutions, nonviolent communications, and trauma-informed approaches, whether by reading books and different forms of literature/media, or attending training, workshops, and classes. 

Facilitators are also community members! To read about our resources for communities and members, please visit here.