Building Sangha
Dear All,
Sangha is at the heart of all FutureDharma projects, whether seeding new sanghas throughout the world or strengthening existing sanghas, all the projects you support have one thing in common: sharing the Dharma with each other.
With Triratna day just passed, we’re bringing you two stories about friendship and sangha. In the first, you’ll hear why friends from across the world, now studying together on the Dharma Life course, asked others to give to our projects. In the second, we catch you up on the latest develops from the Sikkha project, which is making high-quality teaching materials available to all Triratna sanghas.
Enjoy! And thank you for all the sangha projects you are making possible.
Warm wishes,
Nandavajra, Amalavajra, Viryanaga & Patrick
Fundraising appeals – asking people to give money to support our projects, happen in the background, behind the scenes. But this month we want to tell you about an appeal that took place at Adhisthana because it has sangha building at its heart. Caroline from Oxford, UK and Gleysa from Merida, Venezuela stepped forward together at the end of a retreat and asked people to give.
“I had a sense of not just being me, I happen to be the person doing the appeal but it’s not about me, it’s about FutureDharma, a momentum of energy, a call and response like in a puja, a ritual of engagement in the world. The Dharma is the best way to respond to suffering, we can’t fix it, but we can support people to form friendships and transform their minds.” – Caroline
Caroline and Gleysa are on the Dharma Life course together and wanted to share what they’ve been given with others. They joined with Vajranatha who spoke movingly about his experience of holding the Merida sangha during the upheavals in Venezuela.
Forty-two people pledged to give single or regular gifts during this and a second appeal at Adhisthana – promises which are worth £4,495 over the next year. If you were one of those people – thank you!
The Sikkha Project is developing our sanghas by ensuring the same high-quality teaching materials are available in all centres no matter how small or where they are in the world. Four tried, tested and well-loved courses from the Sheffield and London centres are the first in a growing online resource for anyone leading study groups. You can listen to Dhammamegha to hear about new developments from the Sikkha
project, and visit Sikkha.online to find out more.
Thank you for supporting our projects and sharing the Dharma with others.