In honor of Buddhist Action Month, please join us for the opening night of our Film Festival! We are raising funds for Karuna-USA to help reduce the suffering of many thousands of beings.  One hundred percent of funds raised will go to Karuna USA's climate change projects in three countries: India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

We have four inspiring, highly rated and fascinating films on the theme of climate justice and recovery and adaptation efforts happening now.

• Friday, June 23, 2023  7pm PST   Pad Yatra
• Sunday, July 16, 2023  5pm PST  The Biggest Little Farm
• Friday, August 11, 2023, 7pm PST  Writing with Fire
• Sunday, September 17, 2023, 5pm PST Inhabitants
   

Click here for more information and tickets

Please join us: either in person OR on Zoom.

Please help us spread the word about this fundraiser to your respective sanghas, communities and contacts by forwarding this email and or posting the event link on social media.

Thank you so much on behalf of all the beings at risk and suffering now and in the future as our climate continues to change. Any donation amounts translate to a big difference in this part of the world.

With gratitude,

The Green Sangha/San Francisco Buddhist Center/Karuna-USA

Buddhist Action Month (BAM) has been a feature at Triratna Centres over the past decade or so. And now we have news of BAM 2023 from the organising team at the Network of Buddhist Organizations.

Get involved with BAM 2023!

What will you do for BAM 2023?
Perhaps you’ll take stock of the compassionate action that we are already doing. Perhaps you’ll ask how can we refine or supercharge those actions. Perhaps you’ll try something new.

We can use Buddhist Action Month to examine how it is to be a human in this world. How do we cause harm? Or collude with causing harm? How do we take compassion action? Or support the compassionate action of others?

There are lots of resources collected over previous years’ Buddhist Action Months to inspire you. Or view the BAM archives for ideas from past celebrations here on The Buddhist Centre Online.

Buddhist Action Month Posts  |  BAM-related Posts

Join the Buddhist Action group to connect with others

BAM is a great opportunity to make a difference – you are encouraged and invited to take personal action, and to lead your community in taking collective compassion action.

BAM is about compassion action for others, and about compassion action for ourselves.

What does genuine self compassion look like? keeping active, learning new things, giving  to others and mindful awareness. Get the leaflet “Five Ways to Good  Mental Wellbeing and Buddhism” which can be freely shared.

BAM is about action: June might be a chance to kickstart a mid-year resolution! Let us  know what you’re doing…it could be small or large, increasing your personal practice  and encouraging others could be the start of a new wave of positive change rippling  out into the world. 

Find more ways to take action at the BAM 2023 website

Just in case you are wondering if there is a theme for BAM this year, this is what the Network of Buddhist organisations writes:

https://www.nbo.org.uk/bam-2022/

Hi all,

I thought you would want to know that Joanna Macy, who I know is a great inspiration for many of us, is in hospital with pneumonia.  She is 95 now but apparently is fighting the infection.

Please think of her in your meditation, prayers, metta.

Parami

From communist to Buddhist.... Vimalavajri talks of her personal involvement in the spheres of politics, feminism and Buddhism.  Using Indra's net as a classic Buddhist image of interconnectedness, the talk explores what the dharma might have to say about social or political action, and asks what helps when we feel overwhelmed or stuck in ill-will.  If we really see Indra's net, we will connect more deeply with life at all levels and our action will be more joyful and wholehearted.

This talk was given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2017.

***

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Buddhist ethics is practical, it’s to do with engagement with the world. Parami is an ideal guide for this sort of material, steeped as she is in study and practice engaged within the light of the 'Bodhichitta', and the Bodhisattva Ideal itself. 

From the talk entitled The Awakening Heart given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2006.

***

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

Bite-sized inspiration three times every week.

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting!

Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service!

Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now!

Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Soundcloud

25-27 November 2022

Conference begins Friday

USA PST 11:00 | México 13:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 | Europe CET 20:00 | India 00:30 (next day) | Australia AEDT 06.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 08:00 (next day)

Visit the Triratna Earth Sangha’s website for the full programme

Reserve your space!

***

Join the Triratna Earth Sangha in November for a weekend of talks, workshops and practice exploring how we as Buddhists can respond to the climate and ecological emergency.

This year we are broadening our remit to include papers, workshop outlines, guided meditations, puja, music, poetry and the visual arts. We will present perspectives of particularly affected communities and show what Buddhists can do in this current time of multiple crises. We will also introduce the work of the Triratna Earth Sangha.

Featuring:

• Active Hope in a Triratna context
• Buddhism and the Economic Web
• Ecological Grief Circle
• A film showing the development of the East Devon Forest Garden
• The Karuna Trust’s climate change-related work
• Christine Thuring (TMX pipeline activist)
• Professor Jon Gibibins (engineer working on achieving net zero and net negative CO2 emissions)
• Olivia Fuchs (NBO) on Buddhism and Deep Ecology
   

This initiative is supported by the Triratna European Chairs Assembly.

***

Who are the Triratna Earth Sangha?

A group of Triratna Order members, Mitras and Friends worldwide who are deeply concerned about the climate and ecological crises we face and see it as part of their practice to do something about them. We are all too painfully aware of the Buddha’s core teaching that actions have consequences. The accelerating destruction of ecosystems in the natural world caused by greed, hatred and ignorance is causing untold suffering to beings of many kinds, and we feel that it is our duty as Buddhists to do what we can to raise awareness of the plight of the planet, demonstrate an alternative way of life based on stillness, simplicity and contentment and act to relieve suffering where we can. 

Website

Facebook Group

Slack Channel

***

Suggested donation for the conference:

$175 / £125 / €150 for all days and events
$90 / £65 / €75 per day
$15 / £10 / €12.50 for single events

This event is offered freely, in the spirit of dana (generosity). At the same time, we would deeply appreciate your financial contribution. Proceeds will be split between the Triratna Earth Sangha (TES) and the Buddhist Centre Online. TES funds will go towards supporting eco-projects and funding a part-time coordinator to continue their work.

***

Find out more and book your place here!

Visit the Triratna Earth Sangha’s website for the full programme

Donate and Support here!
 

We are happy to share the People to People Project report 2021-2022.

People to People is a social charity in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Started in 2008 by the initiative of Tejadhamma Khobragade and others, running projects for the upliftment of the underprivileged at Amravati, Bhandara, and Nagpur districts in India. People to People works in the areas of education, the empowerment of women, youths development, culture, and health. At present projects are being run in urban slums and villages of Maharashtra in the Vidarbha Region. The charity is guided by the values of Buddhism and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

The project reached 61,343 people by running programmes like these:
 

• People’s Kitchen - Free cooked food distribution to poor families in rural and urban slums.
• Free Ambulance Service - This service was provided in the Kamptee slums to take poor patients to hospitals from their home. We were able to save 19 lives out of 22 patients supported.
• Financial Assistance - In the slums of Kamptee, elderly poor residents, single parents, and patients with low life expectation, had no financial support to purchase medicine, pay educational fees, access food, water, electricity, and so on. People to People helped with grants totalling INR 80,300.
• Free Educational Material Distribution to poor students - During the pandemic and lockdown, daily wagers lost earning resources and were unable to purchase educational materials for their children. People to People provided 10,000 notebooks to poor students as educational support.
• Free Grocery Kit Distribution - In 14 slums in Kamptee, poor families were provided with free grocery kits to help them avoid going hungry.
• Bridge Project (Learning Club) - 144 poor students received an opportunity to continue their education after the Corona Crisis through this project.
• Beginners’ Meditation Retreat for Transgender People in India - This retreat helped transgender people engage with strategies for emotional and psychological wellbeing through meditation.

***

To download and read the full report we've attached the PDF document below.

https://www.peopletopeople.org.in/">To find out more visit the People to People website

+follow People to People on The Buddhist Centre Online

Judging by this space it looks like not much is happening with BAM this month of June.
I know this is not the case.

In Mainland Europe I'm aware of these events:

• programme of events in Essen, Germany
• programme of events in Amsterdam and Arnhem, The Netherlands
  • short report of opening session at BCArnhem
  • short report of the Saturday morning session at BCAmsterdam

Please feel free to share what you're doing at your centres or groups in this Buddhist Action space.

Looking for an action to participate in for Buddhist Action Month?

I participated in last month's Big Sit in Cambridge - see the video below:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeL5InTKby_/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

I was so inspired by what they are doing in Cambridge that here at the Triratna Earth Sangha we'd like to encourage all local Triratna Earth Sangha groups to participate in the Big Sit on Saturday 25 June, 2-3pm. Organise a Big Sit in your local town or city and post your photos here!

More information and inspiration about Cambridge's Big Sit: https://bigsit.info/

Love and life, Shantigarbha

Would you like to read a transformational book about race, by a Buddhist author, over the summer? 

We’re offering opportunities to explore two wonderful works, within supportive online Reading Circles with other Triratna sangha members. And at the end of each cycle, the authors will join us for a conversation!

June & July: ‘The Race Conversation’ by Eugene Ellis is a deeply compassionate book that illuminates why having conversations about race can be difficult, and how we can have more healing encounters with each other on this issue.  Subhuti described the book as ‘ground-breaking’. The author is a mitra and therapist based in the UK.

August & Sept: ‘Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition’ by Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad draws out the specific approaches to Buddhist doctrine, practice and ritual emerging from the thriving multi-lineage movement of Black Buddhists in the US. The fruit of years of ethnographic study, this book offers precious insights for anyone exploring cultural competency in Dharma teaching and committed to liberation and the flourishing of multi-racial sanghas.

The Reading Circles will meet weekly on Sundays via zoom, for 90 mins, starting at 20:00 UK & IE  | US PST 12:00 | Mexico 14:00 | US EST 15:00 | Europe CET 20.30 | New Zealand 07.00 (Monday)

This initiative is a collaboration of the Triratna (white) Awareness is Revolutionary collective, and members of the Triratna BIPOC/BAME community.  Most of our time will be spent in racial affinity groups (see FAQ for more info on these), and there will also be opportunities to all gather together.  

For more information, discount codes to purchase the books, and to register - https://www.awarenessisrevolutionary.com/summer-2022-reading-circles

To mark Earth Day 2022, we’re joined by four friends who, one way or another, are involved with Buddhist activism. From the Buddhafield project to XR Buddhists to Silent Rebellion, we hear tales from the edge of socially engaged Buddhist practice, exploring what, if anything, Buddhists have to offer the world of protests, disruptions and often polarized issue-based politics. 

Amaragita, Katja Behrendt, Priyadaka and Yogaratna offer a thoughtful set of reflections in articulating why a distinctive Buddhist approach to urgent issues like climate change and racism can be effective; both at transforming ourselves as we move deeper into Dharma practice—and at attracting anyone looking to speak out but wanting to avoid negative cycles of violence and harmful speech or action. As you’d expect, we hear a number of key questions held without easy answers; and in them also a call to action rooted in kindness, awareness and the desire to connect. This is an inspiring conversation moving from curiosity to empathy, resilience to a vision of the ‘Ecosattva’ as an ideal for anyone who aspires to to change the world.

***

Show notes
Buddhism and Politics by Vajragupta (audio series)

The Earth is Our Witness: Loving Self and World Through the Climate Crisis

Triratna Earth Sangha

Buddhafield

***

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News, event coverage, mantras and rituals, Dharma discussion with diverse guests from the Triratna Buddhist Community around the world, keeping you up-to-date with the latest in our sangha. 

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Our long form podcast, featuring great in-depth conversations with Buddhists from around the world. Inspiring stories that illuminate for modern times the Buddha's example of how to live and find true freedom.

The theme for this year is Compassion and Connection in Times of Crisis. 

Here is a link to the BAM 2022 space on the website of the Network of Buddhist Organisations where you can find ideas, links and so on. 

You can find the same information as a pdf here: BAM 2022

And here's a link to the leaflet Five Ways to Wellbeing which has been produced by the Good Thinking project and can be freely shared.

Five Ways to Wellbeing

Feel free to post your own BAM 2022 events in this Buddhist Action space!

Mokshini introduces us to Buddhist Action Month and asks us to consider how our actions have consequences and how we practise the precepts as consumers.

From the talk entitled Altruism, Actually - Getting Out and Doing It given at the Triratna International Retreat, 2014.

***

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

Bite-sized inspiration three times every week.

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting!

Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service!

Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now!

Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Soundcloud

Karuna is growing and is looking to diversify our Board of Trustees.

Karuna exists to end caste-based discrimination, poverty and inequality in South Asia. Our work focuses on education, dignified livelihoods and gender equality, transforming communities and changing society.

Since the outbreak of covid, we have supported 350,000 people – enabling them and their families to survive the trials of this pandemic. We are looking for new trustees who are able to dedicate time, energy and skills to help us grow and steer the charity.  

​​The Board of Karuna seeks to better represent the communities we serve, and as such we are looking to appoint new members to the Board with a diversity of experience and perspective. We are looking for Order Members with lived experiences of caste or other forms of discrimination. 

Our trustees are responsible for the strategic direction of the charity and to help us move forward we are looking for trustees with particular experience of:

• lived experience of caste-based or racial discrimination
• Digital strategy
   

We will consider those with no previous Trustee experience, but you must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the duties and responsibilities of being a Board and committee member.

The Board meets four times a year along with optional/additional subgroup meetings. Trustees serve on a voluntary basis, although reasonable expenses will be paid.

For a detailed description of the role or for an informal, confidential discussion with our Human Resources Manager, please contact Chandrasurya at csp@karuna.org 

Closing date 31st October 2021

Buddhism, the Environment and You

Sunday October 3rd 10.30am to 12.30pm

It’s a crucial time in the relationship of humans with our environment. How to live? What to do? Come and join some of the most thoughtful members of our Order as they reflect on the issues, and how they can be addressed in our Buddhist practice.

You are invited to take part in this event hosted by North London Buddhist Centre, FutureDharma and Windhorse Publications.

[You can attend in person at North London Buddhist Centre or via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81911582128?pwd=OHZGU3hsM0ZwckdEeXd6UUE4Q296UT09]

There's a fantastic panel, hosted by Dhammamegha, the director of Windhorse Publications.

Vajragupta published Wild Awake: Alone, Offline and Aware in Nature with Windhorse Publications. In it he talks about solitude, sensitivity, and being alive to the natural world of animals, plants, and weather as an integral part of Buddhist practice.

Maitridevi is the chair of Taraloka women’s retreat centre, and has been leading retreats and developing a meditation practice to connect with more life. During lockdown she recorded a series of meditations on Awakening with trees.

Shantigarbha has just released his second book with Windhorse Publications: The Burning House: A Buddhist Response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency. He is an activist, and non-violent communications trainer.

Join us to explore such questions as: What does it mean to be human in the environment? Which views and actions condition separation and which connection? How do we become more sensitive? What is the nature of wisdom in the context of the natural world?

This is a fundraising event by the FutureDharma Fund for Windhorse Publications. The event is free, but please consider responding to a call for donations to support Windhorse Publications to keep publishing life changing dharma books.

Attend in person at North London Buddhist Centre or via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81911582128?pwd=OHZGU3hsM0ZwckdEeXd6UUE4Q296UT09

We're delighted to announce that Bhikkhu Analayo has agreed to be interviewed in relation to his book and online course on Mindfully Facing Climate Change as part of Triratna Earth Sangha's online conference, 24 - 26 September.

Registration for Triratna Earth Sangha's conference is now open

For those of you who don't know Analayo, here at the Triratna Earth Sangha we are deeply impressed by his book and online course on Mindfully Facing Climate Change. He is a faculty member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and a professor at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg.

Find out more about his research and activities, including courses, by going to his profile at the Barre Centre.

Bhikkhu Anālayo completed a PhD on the Satipatthana-sutta at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000, published in 2003 by Windhorse Publications under the title Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization.

View a full list of Analayo's publications

See the full programme for the Triratna Earth Sangha conference

Reserve a space on the conference, 24-26 September

Friday 24 - Sunday 26 September 2021, Online

Conference begins Friday: 
USA PST 11:00 | México 13:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 | Europe CET 20:00 | India 23:30 | Australia AEST 04.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 07:00 (next day)

The Triratna Earth Sangha is a group of Triratna Order members, Mitras and Friends worldwide who are deeply concerned about the climate and ecological crises we face, and see it as part of their practice to do something about them. 

Join them in September for a weekend of talks, workshops and practice exploring how we as Buddhists can respond to the climate and ecological emergency.

The conference will involve a keynote talk from Zen teacher and Buddhist activist David Loy, as well as the the launch of the Triratna Earth Sangha initiative and workshops on how to set up a group in your area. The conference will finish with a Shambala Warrior Puja.

This initiative is supported by the European Chairs Assembly.

Reserve a space on this conference

Visit the Triratna Earth Sangha's website for the full programme

A Conversation with Shantigarbha and Dhivan

Saturday 25th September
11.30 US PST | 13.30 Mexico | 14.30 US EST | 19.30 UK & IE | 20.30 Europe CET | 04.30 Australia EDT | 07.30 New Zealand

Reserve a space on this event

The first ethical precept in Buddhism outlines the central importance of non-harm in all our behaviour. Of course, in the Buddha’s day over 2,500 years ago, there was no climate emergency, or impending biodiversity loss, or species extinction. So how do we, as Buddhists today, respond creatively to the crisis we find ourselves in?

Are there lessons we can draw from the Buddha’s life and teachings, and those of other Buddhist practitioners throughout the ages? What is a Buddhist perspective on ecology?

Shantigarbha will be joined in conversation with Dhivan, as they bring to bear on this crucial topic stories from the Pali Canon, Jataka tales, White Lotus Sutra, and the fundamental Buddhist teaching of interconnectedness and dependent arising.

This conversation is part of the Triratna Earth Sangha conference, supported by the European Chairs Assembly as part of their strategic priority on Dharmic Engagement with Social and Ecological Issues.


***
Shantigarbha is an international NVC trainer, certified with the Centre for Nonviolent Communication. He teaches on CNVC’s International Intensive Trainings (IITs) and coordinated the New Future Process’s Social Change and Peacemaking working group.

In 1996 he was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order. He was given the name Shantigarbha, which means “seed of peace”. He currently serves on the Triratna International Council,  is Secretary of the Triratna Trust (the Order charity), and coordinates the Triratna Restorative Pilot Project.

Dhivan was born in Somerset, England, in 1965. After obtaining a BA in Religious Studies and a PhD in the philosophy of love at Lancaster University, he moved to Cambridge to live and work with Buddhists. He was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2004, receiving the name 'Dhivan', meaning 'thoughtful' or 'intelligent'. In 2009 he gained a degree in Sanskrit and Pali from the University of Cambridge, to allow him to read Buddhist texts in their original Indian languages. He teaches philosophy and religious studies and enjoys writing fiction and poetry.

Monday 30 August
11.00 US PST | 13.00 Mexico | 14.00 US EST | 19.00 IE & UK | 20.00 Europe CET | 06.00 New Zealand (next day)

Windhorse Publications are holding an online book launch to celebrate the publication of their latest title The Burning House: A Buddhist Response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency by Shantigarbha.

In the book Shantigarbha explores how we can wake up and respond to the climate and ecological crisis from a Buddhist perspective. It will be of interest both to Buddhists concerned about the climate and ecology, and to eco-activists wishing to ground their work in a spiritual context. 

Join Windhorse Publications' Director Dhammamegha Leatt in conversation with Shantigarbha Warren, discussing the topics covered in the book as well as exploring the broader dimension of climate change, how this affects our lives and how we can act to avoid more serious consequences.

***

Find out more + link to join

Buy the book here

Support Windhorse Publications