With just 60 days to go until Sangharakshita is 90, we've found out what he really wants!

Has Bhante's life’s work transformed your life? Will you help make his 90th birthday wish a reality?

Amalavajra, Triratna’s European fundraiser, explains:

“I’m lucky enough to live next door to Bhante at Adhisthana, so I asked him what he’d like for his 90th birthday on 26th August. He said that he didn't need anything personally, but he'd like some money to give away - for a very particular purpose. Read on...

He is dismayed that more than half his writings are out of print and unavailable. It's also currently impossible to search his entire oeuvre, even digitally. Not only that, but far too few of his books have been translated into other languages.

So, the idea is to publish Bhante’s Collected works for the first time, including unpublished or ‘lost’ material, and with new prefaces and endnotes and a comprehensive index for easy exploration – all verified by Bhante and beautifully produced. These will be the definitive texts for us and for future generations, in durable hardback, affordable softback and flexible digital. In turn, Bhante himself will support the translation of more of his books.

To make this happen, all of us around the Triratna world need to gather £100,000/€140,000/$155,000 by 26th August. It’s a lot, I know, but here’s how I think we can do it, in three steps:

1 Contribute 
Go to www.justgiving.com/Bhante90th, and leave a personal message which we will copy into Bhante’s birthday card.

2 Collect
Raise as much as you can in pledges from members of Triratna groups such as mitra study, class teams, chapters, Going for Refuge groups and centres. Give them the Just Giving link www.justgiving.com/Bhante90th, and give me your total pledges at Amalavajra@triratnadevelopment.org.

3 Celebrate

• Express your appreciation of Bhante’s life and work on his Facebook page.
• Put up this poster in your local centre (in English, Spanish or German).
• Share this Triratna News story with your Facebook friends.
• Perform a special puja on 26th August.

Let’s make this landmark birthday a very happy one indeed for Bhante!”

+Follow Sangharakshita90 on The Buddhist Centre Online to get the latest on how the collection is going.