Last year, in the context of the Covid pandemic and the temporary closure of the Dublin Buddhist Centre, six of us got together with the idea to develop an e-zine for women in the Triratna community in Ireland. In doing this we were much inspired by the example set by Alokavira and friends in developing their print zine ‘Born of Fire and the Void’. 

Our e-zine, Karunā­gandha (fragrance of compassion), is published three times per year (January, May and September) and distributed by email. It offers a closed, safe space for members of the women’s sangha to share their experiences and practice, and build connections with others around the country and, hopefully, around the world. 

So far contributors (order members, mitras and non-mitras) have shared a rich mixture of original artwork and photography, poetry, stories, book reviews, dharmic reflections, requests and offers, letters, recipes and more. Karunā­gandha is open to contributions in various audiovisual media and we offer support to aspiring contributors through the e-zine and in workshops.

During these pandemic years, online communication has been critical to keeping the sangha connected, and has had the unintended consequence of creating a stronger countrywide sangha in Ireland, which had previously been very Dublin-centric. Karunā­gandha will continue to perform a role in this way for the women’s sangha and we would now like to extend the invitation to read and contribute to the e-zine to women in the international Triratna community with a strong connection to Ireland and the Irish Sangha. If you are interested, just drop us an email at karunagandha@gmail.com