We have some wonderful news coming in from both sides of the big pond, with Buddhists in the UK and the US organizing and making plans to take part in social action in the upcoming months…

Buddhist Action Month:

In June Buddhists in the UK will begin 2014’s Buddhist Action Month (or BAM), and Triratna is taking the lead in promoting BAM across the UK’s Buddhist Sanghas. BAM has great potential to make connections between our ethical commitment as Buddhists and the needs of our society and our environment. Other UK Buddhist groups will be participating, led by the NBO (Network of Buddhist Organisations), and it will form part of TiS (Together in Service), an English interfaith initiative backed by the UK government.

BAM encourages Buddhists and Buddhist Centres to take any action they wish for the benefit of others, especially ones that benefit the environment or society. BAM 2014 will especially focus on actions around Climate Change.

You can learn more about BAM, find some excellent resources to get familiar with how you can take part, and + follow along with the latest at the Buddhist Action Month space on The Buddhist Centre Online.

New Hampshire Chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship:

Aryaloka Buddhist Center, in the state of New Hampshire in the US, is one of a handful of Buddhist groups reaching out to each other and to other faith groups more intentionally to take part in action off the cushion in an organized way.

To support these efforts a fledgling New Hampshire chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has been formed and discussions about how it will evolve have taken place in the month of March at Aryaloka. As a starting focus the chapter will take part in vigils and write-in campaigns in anticipation of a New Hampshire state vote to abolish the death penalty.

More information on the chapter’s first meeting and a vision of the future possibilities can be found here.