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To those who were talking about getting all the facts before postingâŠyou were correct! 
Geetha does say at the end of the meeting that she had the most proxies with 17 and that she thought using them was within the constitution. I also look forward to legal councilâs opinion.
My apologies.
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Heard that the constitution lawyer said that the proxy voting is legal (though not ethical 
).
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This from Anagarika Stephen via âthe big blue fâ
âStephen Mayersâ to Buddhist Society of Western Australia
6 hrs ·
I have lost a lot of sleep since the events of Saturday night and I remained troubled by the application of the proxies.
My recollection of the relevant act has been proved to be inaccurate and I apologise unreservedly. I am also sorry that the matter had to be referred to a lawyer.
The proposition 4.2 does fail by the valid acceptance of the proxy votes.
Those of us who were trying to help Not only Ajahn Brahm but all monastics and all lay people ( this is a large charity - with an outstanding worldwide folllowing) with appropriate competent resources were taken aback by the unexpected denial of a simple proposition that had been passed by the committee after a number of agreed amendments.
A period of healing is required for we cannot continue in this fashion. Months, if not years of good work, can be overturned in a second of greed,anger or delusion.
I hope all will turn back to the Buddha,Dhamma and Sangha and apply the teachings to resolve suffering between each other. And try and apply the 4 Brahmaviharas to each other.
I apologise again.
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Does this mean the decision is final or will there still be a special meeting called? It seems another vote after the proxy limit is âratifiedâ might change the outcome.
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There will be a live stream starting at 7pm WA time on Friday with some announcements before Ajahn Brahmali give the meditation and talk. I guess we will find out then.
Until then I think we should avoid speculation and finger pointing.
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Please read Ajahn Brahmâs response here:
Is this a verbatim transcript of a conversation or is it paraphrase? Or is it written text that is extracted? It doesnât read like direct speech.
Quote marks have been used to indicate the âConcernâ (which was, significantly, actually a variety of different people, not a single person) but the response text is not clearly quoted - the text changes voice from âIâ to âAjahn Brahmâ which is a bit confusing. It seems odd that Ajahn Brahm would be referring to himself in this way, but if itâs your polite paraphrasing maybe that should be indicated?
I notice that you have also posted these remarks on other social media sites, so itâs probably a good idea to be as cautious and as accurate as possible.
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Will edit the post now.
Thank you.
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Iâm confident with the like of Ajhan Brahm, Ajhan Brahmali, Ajhan Sujato etc at the forefront this issue will be well resolved. They are people I feel I know and are capable of settling this in the best way possible. However proxy votes should eassentially be a representative sample of the patterns of voting in the wider group in the room. The fact that they were all negative should be a good indicator that 1. they were unduly influenced 2. acted without capacity 3. were tampered with, by the submitter.
With metta
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Are there no buddhist contractors/engineers/technicians to build a fence, clean a room and relocate a meditation hall (and I forgot the others)? This is what scares me. DIY. Why can we not voluntarily complete the tasks at hand? Thatâs where us lay people should incline our attention.
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I donât mean to be so direct, because I know life is more complex than what I know, but itâs the olâ âpushing the wheelbarrow is easy, thinking about it is the hard partâ. Ok Iâm done trolling and playing devils advocate
From what Iâve read itâs not the pushing the wheel barel that is the issue.
Itâs spending hours sitting at committee table to decide x and no decision being made for y reasonsâŠ
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In the PÄli term kÄma chanda, chanda is what you have to do if you cannot attend a meeting of the community of monks, and you want to give approval and agreement to whatâs happening there, you give your chanda to go ahead in your absence. Itâs agreement, approval, consent, and itâs much more subtle than mere desire. This means that you are buying into, giving in to this, you want it, you approve of it, and you allow it to happen. In the same way that we have Chanda in the Vinaya, we have that kÄma chanda. Itâs as if you give your approval for the sensory world to be in your consciousness, in your mind, you accept it, approve of it, and you play with it, thatâs all chanda. Itâs letting it completely occupy the mind, and itâs much more subtle than just mere desire. The kÄma part of kÄma chanda, thatâs all that is comprised in kÄmaloka, the world of the five senses, which goes from the hell realms, the animal realms, the ghost realms, the human realm, and the Deva realms, to everything that is concerned with those kÄmaloka realms. KĂ„ma Chanda is acceptance, agreement, and consent for that world to occupy you.
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I want to add âan editâ to my first comment in this thread but 'am doing it here so itâs clearer.
I had another look at the outgoing presidentâs message⊠I donât know if it has been edited or it was just my perception at the time⊠But looking at it now, it actually seems reasonably balanced. Thus I would like to retract the following statement:
Right, over and out! (I hope!)
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Friday the 30th oh Friday the 30th 2018, you do not exist yet. 