We, the undersigned, request the University of Bristol Students' Union to consider recognising our new Buddhist Society, "BudhSoc", as an official new Union society.

BudhSoc will be a grouping of groups, not a single homogenous group, dedicated to encouraging and facilitating communication and cooperation between its constituent groups, improving publicity and accessibility through the Union, as well as offering fair and balanced information to newcomers about the various options available to them.

The constituent groups invited so far, include:

Theravada Buddhist Group (currently led by Ven. Piyobhaso)
Chan Group (partly led by Ven. Jin Ho)
Samatha Group (led by Rupert Gethin)
The Buddhist Society of Friends (just beginning, possibly)

This is not at all intended as an exclusive list, but it'll be impossible to amend the text of this petition later, so apologies if another group become interested before the close of the petition- you will be included!

The Constitution of BudhSoc, not yet drafted in detail, will aim: to preserve the full autonomy of the actual groups it serves just as at present; to define the required 'officers' as placeholders only with no actual independent authority and in fact operate the society by the consensus based, acephalous communal legal procedures taught in the presectarian Buddhist texts; to assist with publicity for its constituent groups and their events, and possibly to organise shared celebrations of Buddhist festivals if the society desires it. The society may also consider constitutionally proscribing against any official action that endorses or shows preference for any particular group, teacher or tradition, whether represented by one of our constituent groups or not; except for what is reasonably accepted by the society to be held in common between us as well as with our pre-sectarian roots; this would mean distinguishing in advance between providing information and forwarding the groups' own publicity *as their own* vs. *the society as a whole* promoting a group's events.

We request Student Societies Executive Committee to grant Union recognition to the "Buddhist Society" or "BudhSoc".

Thanks!