Mahasraddha receives a token of gratitude on behalf of the Abhayaratna Trust at the Order convention in India.
The presentation was in acknowledgement of all the support that the Trust has given to individual Order members in India. This includes raising funds for 147 Order members to be able to attend this convention, grants given to individuals to be able to create their own livelihood, as well as grants for retreats and conventions over the years.
A big thank you to all those who helped us raise money to fund 147 places on the Order convention in India for members of the Order there, who otherwise could not afford it. For many of them this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The International Convention in India every 8 years enables Order members living there to meet those from around the world, creating and developing friendships across continents and enhancing the unity of the Order.
Thank you!
Singhadharma is our solo Order member living in Patagonia-Argentina. She was ordained in 2022 and works full time as a teacher to support herself, her young son and mother.
She’s an incredibly positive young woman but living so far away from sangha can be hard going. She wants and needs to get on retreats and gather with other Order members to remain inspired and deepen her connections with the Order. Such trips will also support Singhadharma’s plans to start a sangha group in her hometown of Provincia de Neuquen.
The Abhayaratna Trust supports international travel to retreats in exceptional circumstances, and because Singhadharma is so far away from sangha, this is one of those exceptions. Because getting on retreat anywhere means overseas travel for Singhadharma, and the inflation rates of around 30% in Argentina means her monthly salary is nowhere near enough to buy a flight out of the country.
We are appealing for your help to raise £5,000 as a retreat fund for Singhadharma, that she can draw on to get to Mexico and further afield to meet and practice with her preceptor, Paramachitta, and other Order members.
Paramachitta writes: ‘Since I met Singhadharma, many years ago, I have seen her make it a priority to cultivate and maintain the friendships and relationships she has in Mexico and Spain. She has used her initiative and incredible dedication to the Dharma to inspire her to do what she needs to do to keep her practice alive.
‘Although she lives so far away I am impressed by her efforts to make her life as an Order Member meaningful, that it be effective and also not only sustained by online activities. She is a bit of a heroine really and will hugely benefit from attending in person retreats and Order gatherings (as will others from meeting her). Given her situation, financial support is necessary to make this happen. So I wholeheartedly support this appeal.’
To help Singhadharma, please donate here, if you bank in the UK, or if you bank elsewhere email jinavamsa@abhayaratnatrust.org
See how things are going and what we have been doing over the past year. You will find a director’s report from Mahasraddha, as well as reports from each of the team on their particular areas of work and a foreword by Dharmashura who is chair of the Abhayaratana Trust.
Let us know what you think. And if you are not already doing so, we hope you will feel moved to support our work either by a regular donation and/or by getting involved in our work by, for example, helping to set up a Local Care Network at your Centre.
You can also view our past annual reviews here.
As you may be aware, the Abhayaratna Trust has been working on a Local Care Network project, aimed at helping local sanghas embody a more explicit culture of care, able more effectively to meet the needs of sangha members (and navigate the complexities of government and charity support services).
This aim is beautifully evoked in a short video by Akashamitra. In describing how Order members came together to provide care for Vidyajyoti he says, ‘I had never seen anything like it before’. Seeing this level of care amongst Order members inspired Akashamitra, a young man in his 30s at the time, to ask for ordination.
Click here to watch video.
If you’d like to find out more about Local Care Networks, and maybe get involved in setting one up around your local Centre, please email Mahasraddha: mahasraddha@abhayaratnatrust.org.
In this video, Taradakini talks with the Indrajala women’s community in Bethnal green, whose members span a wide age range. They discuss how they might support each other as they age, or become less able.
They also talk about how they adapted when a number of community members were ill with covid, as well as the need to continue to be honest about what they might need and what thy might be able to give to the community.
Click here to watch video.
Nagabodhi’s message is very timely. Click here to watch video.
It coincides with our 'looking out for the Order appeal' to raise £10,000 a year. Not for a specific Order member, like you often see in our appeals but for our work worldwide. Why? Because for every appeal for an individual you see, there are at least another 20 Order members requesting support that you don’t hear about.
We are very pleased to have Kavyamani join us as a Trustee. Kavyamani brings valuable experience and skills to the work of the Trust.
She writes; ‘I have long been aware of and quietly impressed by the work of the Abhayaratna Trust. I was initially approached by my good friend Danayutta, herself a Trustee, to find out if I would be interested in getting involved. After initial conversations with members of the Trust and having attended the recent Trustee meeting, I instantly sensed that my work background (15 years in the NHS in integrated community health and social care services) could be put to good use in the day to day work of the Trust, as well as plans the organisation has in future. It is a great honour to have become an Abhayaratna Trustee and I look forward to seeing how I can contribute my energy, skills and enthusiasm to the charity.’
The Abhayaratna Trust made modest grants in 2022 to support 20 individual Order members in India whose livelihoods had been lost or badly affected by the covid pandemic.
One of those we supported is Anomaraja from Kandiveli, Mumbai. His Sanskar Coaching Centre closed completely during lockdown. With a financial livelihood grant from Abhayaratna, he started coaching again and now has 25 children attending. This is many less than before covid but he is optimistic that before long he will have enough students to make a profit.
The Abhayaratna Trust exists to relieve financial hardship among members of the Triratna Buddhist Order, particularly in the face of sickness, old age or disability. Inspired by Sangharakshita’s teaching of A Case of Dysentery, we see our main role as offering the infrastructure to help Order members to help each other.
We are now looking for one or two more Order members to become Trustees to help oversee and develop the work of the Trust at an exciting time in our development. We would particularly like to hear from you if you have some experience in the areas of finance, or health and social care, or welfare and benefits, or are younger members of the Order, or have experience of Triratna in India.
Alongside the financial support we give to Order members around the world through grants (over 100 a year) and appeals (for those in greater need), we also offer advice and support to mitigate or pre-empt financial hardship. Last year we launched two substantial schemes to support Order members in India in the wake of the COVID pandemic. We are also developing an ambitious programme of Local Care Networks aimed at establishing more explicit and organised frameworks for care in the Order. (See our website for more information about our work.)
Our Trustees meet about four times a year, usually at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, UK, and sometimes online, as well actively contributing to the work of the Trust between meetings (not particularly onerous as the Trust is very ably supported by a team of 1 full-time and 3 part-time staff).
If you have the right experience and aptitude, as well as energy and enthusiasm for the ethos of the Trust, then please contact Dharmashura, Chair of the Abhayaratna Trust, in the first instance for an informal discussion.
Closing date for informal enquiries: 20th November
Closing date for written application following informal enquiry: 30th November
The Abhayaratna Trust will have a stall in the ‘shopping mall’ at the UK & Ireland convention at Wymondham college this month, where you can come and talk to one of the team and find out more about what we do. We will also be putting on some events.
Mahasraddha, the Trust’s director, will be running a workshop in which he will provide information and invite discussion on the need for care in the Order and how that need might adequately be met. This is a topic that affects all of us and you would be welcome to come along and participate.
You may have attended one of the musical performances that Taradakini and Jinavamsa have offered at previous Order events, with original songs and narrative on the myths of Orpheus or Persephone. This year in a performance called The Moon and the Mariner, they will be playing some new songs they have written, inspired by Coleridge’s great ballad poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Don’t miss it.
Thursday. 18th Aug. 2.15pm. Mahasraddha; Care in the Order Workshop.
Friday 19th Aug. 2.15pm. The Moon and the Mariner; songs written and performed by Taradakini and Jinavamsa based on The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
Saturday 20th Aug. 4.00pm. Main stage, short presentation making it clear what the Abhayaratna Trust do.
The Abhayaratna Trust is once again offering bursaries to Triratna Order members within the UK & Ireland Area to attend the convention at Wymondham college this August. if you have less than £10,000 in savings you can apply for help with the cost of accommodation and/or travel. To apply click here. We aim to respond to your request within 4 working days or less. If you have any questions or don’t wish to fill in the online form, email taradakini@abhayaratnatrust.org. Don’t forget you will still need to book your place on the convention with the Order Office - after you have heard back from us. To book click here.
We also welcome donations to support this bursary fund. We are aiming to gift 30+ Order members a place on the convention at a cost of approximately £9,000. If can support this appeal please donate here.
Mahasraddha writes: You may be aware from the news and messages from the key Triratna charities operating in India (Karuna, FutureDharma Fund and The Abhayaratna Trust), that the past few weeks have seen major changes affecting the NGO sector in India. More than 150 large Indian charities, including at least one of our Triratna Trusts, have had their permission to receive foreign funding revoked by the Indian Government.
The changes affect transfers to Indian charities. Because of the remit of The Abhayaratna Trust – to provide help to individual Order Members in hardship, our work in India will be affected very little by the Indian Government changes.
Many of you gave to the Trust’s Emergency India Covid Appeal last year, and we continue to get donated money to Order Members there who, along with their families, are in desperate hardship as a result of the pandemic. We continue also to support Order members in India to attend retreats.
Working closely with the Order Convenors in India, we are developing projects identified as priority areas, including helping Order Members re-establish livelihoods lost as a result of the pandemic. Funding to these projects will also not be affected by the recent changes to overseas funding to India.
So, please be assured that the money you gave to the Abhayaratna Trust’s 2021 India COVID Emergency Fund will continue to bring relief to Order Members and their families badly affected by the pandemic; the Indian Order remains incredibly grateful for the solidarity shown by fellow Order members who responded so magnificently to help them.
As you may have seen in the news, the past few weeks have seen major changes affecting the NGO sector in India. More than 150 large Indian charities, including at least one of our Triratna Trusts, have had their permission to receive foreign funding revoked by the Indian Government.
Most significantly, TBMSG Pune has had its foreign contributions permission removed. This is one of the main trusts supporting Triratna social projects in India. It employs 67 staff, mostly Mitras and Order Members, and also owns the land and buildings on which many of our projects are based.
This decision is being appealed against but, as it stands, we want to let you know how it will affect the Karuna Trust, Future Dharma Fundraising / India Dhamma Trust and The Abhayaratna Trust:
Karuna Trust
Sadly Karuna will no longer be able to fund the residential education hostels in Nagpur, Kolhapur, Ulhasnagar, Wardha, and Pune, and those projects will now have to rely on funds generated entirely from within India. These hostels currently receive funds from the Maharashtra State Social Welfare Department which means they should be able continue to function, albeit with a reduced number of students.
Furthermore, a number of other partners may no longer be able to receive funds from Karuna because they are managed by TBMSG Pune. These are Bhaja and Bor Dharan Retreat Centers, and Jeevak women's project Pune.
Where we are not able to continue funding individual projects we will reallocate funds to new projects that address caste-based poverty and inequality. We are looking for ways to continue to support these affected partners through the provision of training and professional consultancy services.
As a whole, these changes affect approximately 10% of our Indian programme and whilst we are sorry not to be able to fund TBMSG Pune, we want to reassure you that our current programme in India, Nepal and Bangladesh remains very robust. We are continuing work with strong Indian partners and, over the past year, we have launched a number of new projects in Nepal and Bangladesh; projects which willI help people from the most marginalised communities as they start to recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic. Karuna will continue to fund Triratna projects, such as the Aryaloka Computer Institutes, Amravati Schools project, and Green Tara Adolescent Girls’ project.
Padmadaka, CEO and Suddhaka, Head of Programmes.
FutureDharma Fund & India Dhamma Trust
We are also sad to let you know that our work in India has also been affected. One of the movement Trusts we support, TBMSG Pune, have had their FCRA registration renewal request denied, which means that they are no longer permitted to receive foreign funds from 1st January 2022.
This doesn't affect all the projects we support - we are still able to send funds to the Indian Communications Project and our Indian Movement Coordinator. However, Bordharan Retreat Centre definitely is affected, and the Indian Ordination Teams and Youth Project probably will be.
In the medium term, we have reallocated funds we already held in India, including - with their kind permission - a gift of £60,000 from a UK Dharmachari and Dharmacharini. We are able to continue to support the Indian Ordination Teams for the next 18 months, and we are looking at how to make sure we can continue to support Bordharan Retreat Centre and our Youth Project. In the long term we are looking at a number of creative solutions, including stepping up our support and encouragement of Indian fundraising within India.
Nandavajra (FutureDharma Fund) and Vajratara (India Dhamma Trust)
Abhayaratna Trust
Because of the remit of the Abhayaratna Trust - i.e. providing help to individual Order Members in hardship, including in India - our work will be affected very little by the recent changes affecting the NGO sector in India. Many of you gave to the Trust’s Emergency India COVID Appeal last year, and we will continue to get donated money to Order Members and their families who are in desperate hardship as a result of the COVID situation, as well as taking a longer-term, sustainable view to help Order Members re-establish livelihoods lost as a result of the pandemic.
So, please be assured that your money will continue to bring relief to Order Members and their families badly affected by the pandemic.
Mahasaraddha, Director, The Abhayaratna Trust
In this interview, Jinavamsa asks Vajradevi if trauma surfaces, could that be the result of long term practice or is it something we are doing, or not doing in our approach? And could meditation teachers benefit from some training to recognise when people they teach are coming up against trauma and acute anxiety?
Watch video interview here
You can also catch up with the rest of our mental wellbeing and the Order series here
Utpalavajri explains why we need your help; click here
Fundraising for the Order in India during Covid; setting up local care networks; giving grants worldwide for Order members with insufficient resources to meet basic living costs; investigating mental wellbeing in the Order… these are just some of the projects that The Abhayaratna Trust team takes on to benefit the Triratna Order.
If you have donated £50 for example, to one of our Appeals, all that £50 goes to the appeal individual or cause. We don’t keep a percentage for our ‘running costs’, other than any gift aid we can collect if we go over an appeal’s target.
So we rely on regular monthly donations to enable us to run the Trust and support the team.
You have seen what we can do, and we would like to do so much more with your support. Will you help us to further develop care and grant programmes for our Order sangha, so that no-one is left by the wayside when they encounter a financial or health difficulty or crisis?
Please give £10 a month, or the equivalent in your currency. You can support us for as long as you wish, such as 24 or 36 months. Click here to donate now. https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/18320
If donating from outside UK; Go to Paypal site and donate to our Paypal account finance@abhayaratnatrust.org
Thank you.
We will soon close our appeal to help Order members and their families in India, who have been affected by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, if you still wish to make a donation you can still do so here;
https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/16534#!/DonationDetails
We have now raised £191,600.
So thank you again to all who have donated to this appeal; sadhu!
The Order convenors in India are meeting soon to make a longer term plan, as the hardships from this crisis are likely to continue for sometime. We will update you with this in the near future.
The Karuna Trust are currently running an appeal for Covid relief in India, which you will find by following this link: https://www.karuna.org/coronavirus-crisis
From The Abhayaratna Trust, FutureDharma Fund / India Dhamma Trust and The Karuna Trust.
The Abhayaratna Trust, Karuna Trust and FutureDharma / IDT are working together with our partners in India to coordinate relief to people and projects affected by the devastating second and third waves of COVID in India.
The remits of the three charities are different – the Abhayaratna Trust works with individual order members, Karuna Trust with the wider community and FutureDharma / with Triratna movement organisations and projects but we are working together to ensure that all communities in need in India are supported. Moreover, we are committed to transparency and keeping people informed of our work by providing regular updates on our fundraising activities – and the impact they are having.
Many of you have given to the Abhayaratna Trust, Karuna and other appeals. The solidarity that the Order and Movement have shown to the suffering in India has been overwhelming and deeply appreciated in India – thank you!
At the time of writing, 4 July 2021, recorded cases in India have fallen from a peak of 414,000 per day at the start of May to 48,000. The situation in many parts of India is becoming easier with lockdowns lifting in many areas. However the official death toll has now passed 400,000 and many experts are issuing dire warnings of a third wave later in the year.
1. The Abhayaratna Trust
In response to the suffering arising from the coronavirus pandemic in India, the Abhayaratna Trust set up an Appeal for a Coronavirus Emergency Fund. The Abhayaratna Trust is working very closely with the Indian Order Office and India Order Convenors to get financial support to those individual Order members across India most in need of help for food, housing bills, medicines, oxygen, hospital fees for them and their families.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of Order members, mitras and friends from around the world, the Appeal has raised over £190,000 which is helping to alleviate suffering and save lives in India. For example, a grant of £150 from the Abhayaratna Trust India COVID Appeal funds has been enough to help an Order member from Pune buy food for his family of four as well as medicine for his daughter. A grant of £100 is helping an Order member in Delhi buy food for their family of six. And a grant of £100 is helping an Order member in Pune buy food; her husband passed away a few years ago and her son has lost his job because of COVID so little money is coming into the household.
We believe it is the right time to scale back the Appeal as we have raised sufficient funding to support a short, medium and long term plan to support those pushed into need by the pandemic. We estimate that the need for individual Indian Order members and their families arising from the current pandemic in India will continue for at least another 2 years and we want to be able to continue to support them through the difficult process of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods.
There are other communities that have been devastated by the pandemic in India who you may wish to support, or are already supporting, by giving, for example, to Karuna (see below).
Visit www.abhayaratnatrust.org to learn more.
2. Karuna Trust | Karuna Germany
The Karuna Trust makes grants to organisations working with marginalised communities in India, Nepal and as of April 2021 – Bangladesh. Our programmes focus on Education, Livelihoods and Women’s Empowerment. We work through a network of 45 grassroots partner organisations, many of whom are Indian Triratna charities (such as TBMSG and Bahujan Hitay). This large network enables us to reach out to some of India, Nepal and Bangladesh’s poorest and most marginalised communities.
Since March 2020 Karuna has been responding to changing needs of those affected by the virus. So far we have been able to deliver emergency relief, including 29,820 food parcels and 22,580 medical kits, to 223,000 people from marginalised communities across 6 Indian States and 3 districts of Nepal. In the past 3 months alone we have made emergency relief grants in excess of £250,000 GBP.
Watch this video update about Aryaloka
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to large numbers of Order members supporting our emergency relief work and our ongoing projects. Your generous support has made a huge and life changing impact.
However, we urgently need to provide additional emergency relief to unemployed migrant workers, children out of school, women at risk of violence, and people suffering directly with virus infection.
Our first priority is to support those directly impacted by the crisis. This includes:
● Distributing emergency supplies, food kits and sanitation equipment
● Communicating accurate information on preventative healthcare, (including physical distancing, use of PPE and sanitisers, and vaccinations) for vulnerable communities
● Working closely with local Governments to ensure emergency relief and welfare support reaches the most vulnerable
● Protecting women and girls vulnerable to increased risk of violence during lockdown
● Giving direct medical care to covid sufferers unable to access mainstream medical facilities and helping people without internet access to register for vaccination.
What can you do?
3. FutureDharma Fund / India Dhamma Trust
The FutureDharma Fund in partnership with the India Dhamma Trust (and in consultation with the Indian Public Preceptors Kula) funds a number of projects and teams in India, including the Ordination Teams, the Movement Coordinator, and the Indian Youth Teams. Many of these are actively involved in coordinating the distribution of food parcels and other emergency responses to the coronavirus.
The experience of courage, inspiration, guidance and solidarity provided by our Sangha and the Dharma has been crucial in these times of great uncertainty, challenge and fear and the Indian men’s and women's Ordination teams are playing a vital role in offering spiritual training, friendship, and counsel. In 2020 £72,000 in funding was provided and £62,000 in 2021, including an uplift to help with the financial hardship experienced by members of the team, and it is vital that they can continue their work through the pandemic and beyond.
We anticipate that we will receive requests for financial assistance from Centres and projects and we are in communication with key Indian Public Preceptors and members of the Area Council to identify and assess what may be needed. We are also keen to support projects which are developing new Dharma initiatives for the post-pandemic world, and we expect to launch an appeal in the coming months to help with this.
FutureDharma / India Dharma Trust (IDT) are grateful for their supporters’ continuing and vital generosity and will continue to explore ways of supporting our Dharma brothers and sisters in India.
www.futuredharma.org
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The Abhayaratna Trust, Karuna Trust and FutureDharma / IDT will continue to meet regularly to review the situation and Amrutsiddhi, Karmavajra and Aryaketu will continue coordinating in India.
Please contribute through our secure websites/giving platforms given above.
From all of us, thank you for supporting this vital work and for standing in solidarity with our movement and everyone in need in India during this crisis.
Mahasraddha, Director: Abhayaratna Trust.
Padmadaka, CEO: Karuna Trust.
Nandavajra, Director: FutureDharma / IDT.
See other posts about the coordinated Triratna response to the Covid-19 emergency in India
Newsbites on India, mental health and more.
Read and comment on our latest newsletter by clicking on link below.
In addition to our regular work, this year the Abhayaratna Trust is focusing on mental health – an important area of wellbeing in the Order – through a series of interviews. This month, Advayasiddhi, a clinical psychologist based in Copenhagen, talks with the Abhayaratana Trust's Utpalavajri.
