Future Dharma Fund are running a fundraising workshop which you might find helpful for your Centre or Group. 

Anna, from Future Dharma Fund, says the following:

The current cost-of-living crisis is causing a lot of uncertainty and concern for the future of some of our centres. At FutureDharma we wanted to look at what we could do to help by sharing the knowledge we have been developing over the last 6 years since we launched.

We'll be offering a Fundraising and Communications Webinar via Zoom on Wednesday 2nd November from 10:30 am to 12:45 pm GMT.

During these workshops, we want to help with the issues that you are facing at your centre or group. Therefore we encourage you to submit any questions you may have in advance, and we will aim to tailor these workshops to your needs.

RSVP and send questions to communications@futuredharma.org

Dear friends,

We now have three new courses online which you can use in your Centres and teaching situations.

After running many of these in Dublin, I’m confident these courses will be very useful for Centres and a great way to help relative newcomers ‘meet’ Bhante and his thinking very effectively. They are primarily aimed at people who have learned to meditate, but, really, they’re suitable for everyone.

The three new courses are:

• The Taste of Freedom
• Mind, Reactive and Creative
• The Individual and the Spiritual Community

We'll be adding more courses soon - The Greater Mandala in October and Breaking Through to Buddhahood in November.

The final course in this series will be Steps to Freedom (based upon the lecture The Path of Irregular Steps and the Path of Regular Steps) - we aim to have this availble by the end of the year or mid-January.

There are full details of how to run the courses in the teacher’s notes, and there are accompanying books for each course – which hopefully we’ll have available in print soon. And there is a sample blurb for your publicity, a course overview video, and other resources to help your teaching.

We will also be launching further introductory / newcomers courses in the near future:

• Who hates the Metta Bhavana?
• The Worldly Winds
• A course on ritual and devotion.

Hope these new courses are useful and do let me know how you get on with them!

Metta,

Vajrashura.

Dear friend.

The Sikkha Seminar How to Attract and Engage Young People ran last Saturday, 24th April 2021.

The video for the seminar is now online, along with the resource documents:

• Ksantikara's Brief Notes on How to Attract People
• Dharma Mentoring for Young People from the LBC Meditation Challenge
• Overview of the LBC Meditation Challenge
• Overview of the European Young Buddhists Online Meditation Course

These can all be accessed on the Sikkha Seminars page:

https://sikkha.online/online-training-and-resources-for-centres/

Much metta,
Vajrashura.

Hi all.

The Sikkha Seminar How to Inspire Young People as an Order Member took place on Saturday 27th March 2021, led by Ksantikara, chaired by Vajrashura and also featuring Subhadramati and Dharmasara.

We found it a very useful and stimulating seminar, which attendees seemed to find useful.

You can see the full video of the seminar on the Sikkha Seminars page (scroll to the bottom of the page to see it).

Included there also is Ksantikara's Five Points for Supporting Young People as an Order Member document and his shorter video explaining these five points.

You'll also see all the other Sikkha Seminars there that might be of use to your Centre or group.

And don't forget that the next Sikkha Seminar will follow on from this theme - How to Attract and Engage Young People - is happening on Saturday 24th April 2021, also led by Ksantikara.

Metta,
Vajrashura

Saturday 24th April 2021 (1.5 hours online seminar):

9.30am UK | 10.30am Central Europe | 2pm Mumbai | 6.30pm Melbourne & Sydney | 8.30pm Auckland

5pm UK | 6pm Central Europe | 9am San Francisco | 11am Mexico City | 12 noon Maine & New York

Book on now >>

Are you involved in teaching at your local Buddhist Centre? Perhaps you’re part of the Centre Team, a Chair or a trustee? Maybe you’re involved in running Young Buddhist events, or would like to be?

This seminar is aimed at any Order Member or mitra who is keen to see more young people getting involved with their Triratna Centre, group or project. Led by Ksantikara (the Adhisthana-based young Buddhist coordinator) and chaired by Vajrashura. It’s the second of two seminars about engaging young people, the first being How to Inspire Young People as an Order Member, which runs on Saturday 27th March 2021.

Building on the expertise shared in last year’s How to Reach People Online Sikkha seminar, in the first half of this seminar we’ll hear a short presentation from Ksantikara on how to attract young people by making small changes to our marketing. 

Having explored how to attract young people in the first half of this seminar, we’ll then look at how to engage them in the second half. Ksantikara will offer some key principles drawn from his work as coordinator, and we will also hear three case studies from different speakers:

1. Amritapurna will tell us about an online meditation course for young people across mainland Europe that had over 70 participants and discussion groups in 7 different languages.
    
2. Tom and Oskar will talk about how the Manchester Buddhist Centre successfully transitioned its young people’s group onto zoom during 2020.
    
3. Max and Ariane from the London Buddhist centre will talk about their work on the Sub25 project and how they managed to pair up 107 young people with order members for 1:1 meditation reviews.
    

The seminar will take place on Saturday 24th April 2021 at 9.30am and then again at 5pm UK time (BST), taking into account the needs of the different time zones. We hope people from around the world will be able to participate. It will be run for an hour and a half, which will include time for questions.

Book on now >>

The Sikkha Project is an initiative exploring how we can better communicate, discuss and practice the Buddha's teaching within the Triratna Buddhist Community, from newcomers to experienced Order Members.

One 'kula' or gathering within Sikkha is the 'Meditation Kula'. In this video, Vijayamala, Vessantara and Vidyamala, members of the kula, discuss the work that the Kula is currently engaged in.

The full list of members of the Sikkha Meditation Kula are Vessantara, Vidyamala, Vajrashura, Dhammarati, Vijayamala, Tejananda and Jnanavaca.

For more, see:

https://sikkha.online/

Sikkha is funded by Future Dharma. To donate please go to:

https://futuredharma.org/thrive-online/

On Saturday 8th August 2020, Vidyamala and Mokshajyoti will be runing a Sikkha Webminar entitled 'Meeting our Needs to meet the World’s Needs'.

The video invitation from Mokshajyoti is now availble in this post for viewing.

This webinar will offer practical mindfulness and compassion techniques to help people working within Triratna stay well and happy, whilst responding to the needs of the world.

We hope you’ll be able to participate in the seminar on the day at either:

1. 9.30am UK - 8.30pm Auckland - 10.30am Europe - 6.30pm Melbourne - 2pm Mumbai
2. 5pm UK - 11am Mexico City - Europe 6pm - 12 noon Maine, EDT - 9am San Francisco, PDT

More details and the booking link are available here.

With metta,
Vajrashura

From Vidyamala:

Dear Friends,

I’m writing on behalf of the Sikkha Project to invite you to an online webinar: Meeting our Needs to meet the World’s Needs.

The webinar will take place on Saturday 8th August 2020, at 9:30am (BST) and then again at 5pm (BST), taking into account the needs of the different time zones. We hope people from around the world will be able to participate, and the seminar is open to anyone helping with Triratna's work to spread the Dharma.

This webinar will offer practical mindfulness and compassion techniques to help people working within Triratna stay well and happy, whilst responding to the needs of the world.

The coronavirus crisis hit many countries several months ago and many of us were plunged into lockdown. We had to scramble to move our activities online, rapidly re-assess the finances of our Centres and cope with rapid change across multiple fronts. Many of our Centres have had to furlough team members and other team members have been ill with the coronavirus. This has inevitably placed even more pressure on teams.

There isn’t a clear end in sight for most countries (with the notable exception of New Zealand!) and we need to learn how to manage our own well-being for what looks likely to be a marathon not a sprint.

The safety announcements on aeroplanes always tell you to put your own oxygen mask on first before attending to the needs of your child. The obvious point being you will be no use to your child if you don’t attend to your own survival.

Likewise, it’s important to make sure we stay as well and healthy as possible when offering the Dharma to the world. You could say the greater the external demand, the greater the need to attend to self-care, so you are in as good a state as possible when it comes to helping others.

The webinar will be 90 minutes long and there will be three sections: Body, Mind and Heart. In the Body section we’ll introduce breath and body awareness techniques to help balance your nervous system and build resilience. In the Mind section we’ll introduce practical ways to manage thoughts and emotions in the midst of everyday pressures. In the Heart section we’ll introduce ways to bring metta, patience and kindness towards yourself and your fellow team members, as well as others of course.

Mokshajyoti will host the webinar with me. We are both experienced Breathworks teachers offering mindfulness and compassion-based approaches for everyday life, including the workplace. We have both worked in Right Livelihood contexts for many years so understand the pressures many will be feeling. Mokshajyoti is also an Alexander Technique teacher.

I hope you’ll be able to participate in the webinar on 8th August at either:

1. 9:30am UK - 8:30pm Auckland - 10:30am Europe - 6:30pm Melbourne - 2pm Mumbai
2. 5pm UK - 11am Mexico City - Europe 6pm - 12 noon Maine, EDT - 9am San Francisco, PDT

Please let us know if you’re going to come (so that we can have a sense of numbers) by filling in this simple form and we’ll send you the Zoom invitation for the meeting.

Yours in the Dharma,
Vidyamala
on behalf of Sikkha.

===

P.S. from Vajrashura: You can now see all our previous online seminars here:

https://sikkha.online/online-training-and-resources-for-centres/

Edit - and you can now see Mokshajyoti's video invitation to the webinar on YouTube.

Dear friends,

As many of you will know, the Sikkha team have been running online seminars helping Triratna Centres and Groups to get online and teach effectively online. 

We have now launched a new page with all the seminars and associated resources in one place. You can see it here:

https://sikkha.online/online-training-and-resources-for-centres/

Please do feel free to share this page with whoever might find it useful in Triratna.

Also note that we have a couple more seminars coming up too. On Saturday 8th August, Vidyamala and Moksajyoti will be leading a seminar for the well-being of all of us hard at work helping the project of Triratna - Meeting our Needs to meet the World’s Needs.

And we are planning another seminar in August about how to reopen our Centres and how to run 'hybrid' courses which have an in-person and online element. More details about that will be coming soon.

To make sure you keep up to date with all our events, do hit +follow on this blog if you're not already subscribed.

Much metta,
Vajrashura.

Dear friends,

Here are the video and resources from the Sikkha and Future Dharma seminar entitled Effective Fundraising for Triratna Centres.

Video of Seminar

The video for the seminar is now available in our Online Seminars Playlist on YouTube. Feel free to share with anyone who might find it useful.

Future Dharma Fundraising Toolkit and Resources

You can find the Fundraising Toolkit page Kusaladevi mentioned on the Sikkha Website, including the videos. Here you will find resources like the Fundraising Toolkit Document and the Comparisons of Online Giving Platforms.

You can also check out the Fundraising Forum on thebuddhistcentre.com, and post ideas yourself too.

And the Future Dharma team have planned an updated, version two of this Fundraising Toolkit, which will be available in the coming weeks. Future Dharma will email you about that when it comes out.

Karuna Appeals

You can see the Karuna Appeals website too, and think about getting the excellent training available there.

Other Resources

Here are some other fundraising resources – training, seminars, etc. Unfortunately, most of these are UK-based.

• Charity How-To Portal (UK).
• Charity Digital (UK) for helpful free and reduced cost IT software (or TechSoup outside of UK).
• CharityComms network for communications professionals working in UK charities.
• The Institute of Fundraising (UK).
• Bright Spot Fundraising (UK) Podcast.

Future Dharma Thrive Online Appeal

Please do give to Future Dharma’s Thrive Online Appeal, as mentioned by Maitrinara!

Top Ten Tips for Effective Fundraising in Triratna Centres

These ten tips are a summary of the seminar today.

1. See Fundraising as Spiritual Practice – being aware of our tendencies, willing to open ourselves up to rejection and stay with the vedana, without reacting. Learn to close the gap and polarisation between ourselves and others, with communication and Metta. Being willing to look at our own views, fears, interpretations, and assumptions.
    
2. Remember the Case for Support format – more on this in the Fundraising Toolkit.
    
3. Get away from the script – be real and in touch with what is alive in the moment!
    
4. Regular giving makes a situation more sustainable. It also invites the Sangha to take shared responsibility of the situation with us.
    
5. Stay with the tension – Leave space – breathe.
    
6. Connection – with yourself, the vision, the audience.
    
7. Make it easy to give.
   - Practically – links, etc.
   - Good giving platform.
   - Clarity around what you are asking (regular/ one-off).
   - Suggest an amount.
   - A clear and specific ask!
    
8. Targets help – a sense of urgency and a joint vision of reaching something together.
    
9. Be willing to be aware of your views around money / generosity / asking for help, etc. and to challenge these views.
    
10. Be willing to learn/change/grow – ask for and give kind and helpful feedback – see fundraising as a practice/skill.
     

Finally, don’t forget you can email Kusaladevi at kusaladevi@futuredharma.org if you want to follow up anything with her or the Future Dharma team.

Much metta,
Vajrashura.

From Kusaladevi:

Dear Friends,

I’m writing on behalf of Future Dharma, in partnership with the Sikkha Project to invite you to an online webinar: Effective Fundraising for Triratna centres. The webinar will take place on Friday, June 12th at 9:30am (BST) and then again at 5pm (BST), taking into account the needs of the different time zones. We hope people from around the world will be able to participate.

Triratna has moved swiftly to respond to the Covid crisis, by offering online content and engagement through live-streaming and online groups. But centres don’t have the same mechanisms for receiving donations as when they were open. The dana bowls sit empty and courses and retreats, which may have supplemented income have been cancelled, or have moved online. I was invited by Future Dharma at the start of the lockdown to work with them to support Triratna situations to fundraise effectively at this time. With my background training and 7 years of experience working with Karuna, I want to ensure that, as a movement, we don’t shy away from inviting our Sanghas to contribute financially at this time.

Vajrashura, who is part of the Sikkha team, will host this webinar, which will be in two parts. Firstly, a conversation between myself and Sanghamani, long standing friends, who both have a number of years experience in fundraising and training others to fundraise, including doing that together at Karuna. Together, Sanghamani and I will explore three main fundraising channels at this time - email campaigns, phone campaigns and “live” online dana appeals. The second part of the webinar will be a Question and Answer session, where together, along with a number of people who have recently fundraised successfully in their situations, we can all explore what is needed to make fundraising effective in this current situation and beyond.

In the webinar we will reference the Fundraising Toolkit which I released a few weeks ago, as well as the Centre Fundraising Forum - a space for people to share fundraising ideas and inspiration, as well as to ask questions. We will also reference two videos on making a dana appeal which you will be able to find after the webinar on the Sikkha Fundraising Page.

You can see more about this webinar on this video

I hope you’ll be able to participate in the webinar on 12th June at either:

1. 9:30am UK - 8:30pm Auckland - 10:30am Europe - 6:30pm Melbourne - 2pm Mumbai
2. 5pm UK - 11am Mexico City - Europe 6pm - 12 noon Maine, EDT - 9am San Francisco, PDT

Please let us know if you’re going to come (so that we can have a sense of numbers) by filling in this simple form and we’ll send you the Zoom invitation for the meeting.

Yours in the Dharma,

Kusaladevi
on behalf of Future Dharma

Following up from the Sikkha Seminar on Leading Dharma Study and Discussion Groups Effectively Online, Ratnaguna and Danadasa, who led the seminar, have answered a number of questions from the seminar in the podcast below.

Here is eight different questions which they received from the seminar. If you are interested in a specific questions, the podcast timestamps are provide for each question. We hope you find this helpful!

(2:00 – 7:30) If there is the opportunity to choose, how many people would you have in a study group in order to promote effective discussion?
 
(7:30 – 10:30) My experience is that study groups need to be shorter, one and a half hours rather than 2 hours. Do you agree? How about having a break for tea?
 
(10:30 - 19:15; 22:30 – 33:00) I understand what was being said about the unmute moment adding in a natural pause that can be helpful, but I am also interested in exploring how to encourage more natural conversation/ back-and-forth within a group between the participants whilst also taking into account the practical limitations of the online format. I have the experience that online groups can more easily tend towards individuals making independent remarks which don’t seem to relate to each other, rather than them responding to each other as you would ideally have in a ‘normal’ discussion group, and therefore relying a lot more on the leader to direct the discussion than if we were physically together. I totally get what Danadasa was saying about it being good that one or two people can’t dominate the group by riffing off of one another, but what if you wanted to try and make space for this occasionally? I think especially for extroverts it can be very draining just sitting and listening to people speaking one at a time without being able to make any contribution. Any thoughts on this? Maybe a podcast on muted vs unmuted study groups - the positives and drawbacks of each.
 
(33:00 – 41:15) It was helpful for me to notice how awkward I find the silences and to note that that’s probably how it is for the women in my mitra study group who keep jumping in while others remain silent. It gave me permission to explore different ways of doing things in my group.
 
(41:15 – 45:45) How do you encourage more of a direct conversation between the participants? I find that in this medium people tend to all speak to the facilitator. Have you found a way of enabling it other than small breakout rooms?
 
(19:15 - 22:30) Another area to explore might be the way in which online meetings give us (as study leaders) the opportunity to easily record and review our own style of teaching? and participation habits and style? I believe this is a common teacher training tool … and it is very easy to do within zoom. I’ve really benefited from such self assessments recently.
 
(46:15 – 55:40)  Ways of dealing with people who dominate a group/those who talk too much, ramble etc.
 
(55:40 – 1:02:00) Time management- how do you encourage collective responsibility for this and how do you skilfully move people on who go off on a tangent at great length- of course I never ever do this heaven forbid.

The video of the original seminar is available on the Sikkha Online Training Playlist and draws upon the document How to Basics using Zoom for Study Groups Online.

Dear Friends.

On Friday 12th June 2020, Future Dharma in partnership with Sikkha will be running a Fundraising Webminar entitled Effective Fundraising for Triratna Centres.

This seminar will be focused on helping Triratna Centres and Groups effectively ask for and receive donations in these new online times. It'll be run by Kusaladevi from FutureDharma, with help from Sanghamani from Karuna, and will be chaired by myself from Sikkha.

It will run twice on the day, to accommodate different times zones around the world, and will be 1.5 hours long. I hope you’ll be able to participate in the seminar on Friday 12th June 2020 at either:

1. 9.30am UK - 8.30pm Auckland - 10.30am Europe - 6.30pm Melbourne - 2pm Mumbai
2. 5pm UK - 11am Mexico City - Europe 6pm - 12 noon Maine, EDT - 9am San Francisco, PDT

More details will be posted soon but for now, save the date in your diary if you're interested. In the meantime, you can book on here.

With metta,
Vajrashura.

Dear Friends,

I’m writing on behalf of the Sikkha Project to invite you to another Sikkha online training seminar: For the Benefit of All Beings: How to reach more people online, an exploration in how to use online communications such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram to reach out to new people. The seminar will include suggestions for YouTube, Instagram and Facebook advertising, as well as how to best use online platforms to draw people’s attention to your Triratna Centre, group or project.

The seminar is aimed at those who want to use online media as a tool for attracting more people to their Triratna Centres, groups or projects. We hope it will be helpful to Centre Chairs and Centre Managers as well as team members and volunteers who are engaged in helping to communicate Triratna’s compassionate project across the world.

The seminar will take place on Saturday, May 23rd 2020 at 9.30am and then again at 5pm UK time (BST), taking into account the needs of the different time zones. We hope people from around the world will be able to participate. It will be run for an hour and a half including time for questions.

Many Centres have moved their events online, but no matter how good our programme of events and classes are, if people aren’t easily finding us online in the first place it will be difficult for our Sangha to grow. Effective communications are a way to put the Bodhisattva Ideal into practice, reaching as many people as possible and helping them connect with the Dharma.

The seminar, drawing on the work of mitras and friends with extensive experience of social media, will be led by Maitreyabandhu and Sanjay Poyzer, and chaired by Vajrashura.

In the seminar we’ll introduce you to a communications and publicity toolkit that aims to capture best practice across different Centres, groups and projects, so that we can all learn together quickly. We’ll be helping you explore who you want to reach with your communications, and how best to reach them. And we’ll exploring different media for doing this – written word, photos, video and audio – and on the main social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc) beings used right now.

You can learn more about this seminar on this YouTube video.

I hope you’ll be able to participate in the seminar on 23rd May 2020 at either:

1. 9.30am UK - 8.30pm Auckland - 10.30am Europe - 6.30pm Melbourne - 2pm Mumbai
2. 5pm UK - 11am Mexico City - Europe 6pm - 12 noon Maine, EDT - 9am San Francisco, PDT

Each seminar will last 1.5 hours. Please let us know if you’re going to come (so that we can have a sense of numbers) by filling this simple form and we’ll sent you the Zoom invitation for the meeting.

Yours in the Dharma,
Maitreyabandhu
on behalf of the Sikkha Project

P.S. Below is a list of supports that we are aware of that are already available to help you teach online.

• Previous Sikkha seminars – Communicating the Dharma Effectively Online and Leading Dharma Study & Discussion Groups Effectively Online
   
• Ratnaguna's The Basics of using Zoom for Study Groups
   
• Prajnaketu’s Essentials of Sangha YouTube videos
   
• The LBC Streaming Toolkit
   
• The Brixton-produced Zoom Guide for Triratna
   
• An example of a good YouTube Channel – Brixton Buddhist Community

An invitation from Ratnaguna:

Dear Friends,

I’m writing on behalf of the Sikkha Project to invite you to an online training seminar: Leading Dharma Study and Discussion Groups Effectively Online.

The seminar will take place on Saturday, April 25th 2020 at 9am UK and then again at 5pm UK, taking into account the needs of the different time zones. We hope people from around the world will be able to participate.

This seminar will follow on from last Saturday’s seminar, Communicating the Dharma Effectively Online. In that seminar Maitreyabandhu and Sanjay talked about how to actually grow the Sangha at this time and reach as many people as possible with the Dharma – giving much invaluable information about the technical aspects of online teaching, and outlined what the LBC teachers and others had learnt about teaching online so far. 

If you weren’t able to be there, try to watch the recording of that seminar before you attend this one. This seminar will have quite a different emphasis and format.

Of all the different teaching formats we in Triratna use, I think it’s true to say that leading a discussion amongst a few people is perhaps the most tricky to do online. When giving a talk, one can mute everyone else. Questions can be asked through the chat box. But how do we lead a free-flowing discussion of ideas amongst a number of people?

I will be leading next Saturday’s seminar with Danadasa, from San Francisco, who has been leading online men's ordination groups for nearly six years, and has also led mitra study groups online on numerous occasions.

However, although Danadasa will give some very useful tips from his own experience, the emphasis of this seminar will not be on teaching you. Rather, I want to offer a forum in which we can look collectively at the challenges, and to give the opportunity to try things out in small groups; to get used to the format; to practice and receive feedback from our peers; to make mistakes so that we don’t have to make those mistakes in our classes; and to learn from how others lead discussion.

Although there are definite challenges to leading discussion and study groups online, I think there may also be some benefits, and we’ll also explore that possibility on Saturday too.

This seminar is for anyone who leads discussion groups, including Mitra study, other kinds of study, and informal discussion (for instance, after someone has just given a talk) in Triratna.

I hope you’ll be able to participate in the seminar on 25th April at either:

1. 9am UK - 8pm Auckland - 10am Europe - 6pm Melbourne - 1.30pm Mumbai
2. 5pm UK - 11am Mexico City - Europe 6pm - 12 noon Maine, EDT - 9am San Francisco, PDT

Please let us know if you’re going to come (so that we can have a sense of numbers) by filling this simple form and we’ll sent you the Zoom invitation for the meeting.

Below is a list of supports that we are aware of that are already available to help you teach online. I hope you’ll be able to participate in the seminar on Saturday at 9am or at 5pm UK.

Yours in the Dharma,
Ratnaguna
On behalf of the Sikkha Project

Other Resources:

• The London Buddhist Centre Streaming Toolkit
• Prajnaketu’s Essentials of Sangha YouTube videos
• The Brixton-produced Zoom Guide for Triratna
• The Dharma Toolkit from thebuddhistcentre online
• An example of a good YouTube Channel – Brixton

Friday 24th - Sunday 26th April 2020, at Sheffield Buddhist Centre.
Accommodation provided. Free.

How do we create a culture in our centres that is attractive to people coming along, builds a generous community that feels part of a common project, and inspires the people who work within it?

Over this weekend we will be exploring this question drawing on the experience of Sheffield Buddhist Centre in creating a large vibrant Sangha by applying some simple Dharmic principles.

Numbers will be limited, so please apply early. Priority will be given to centres who can send two or more of their team and/or council.

Please book with info@sheffieldbuddhistcentre.org, or for more information email vadanya@btinternet.com 

"From the moment of a person's first contact with our movement, he or she should be able to discover a balanced approach that is appropriate to them... The Karmic work of integration and developing positive emotion, and the Dharmic work of spiritual receptivity, death, and rebirth.

"The elements of the system... from the stage of Integration through to that of Spiritual Rebirth can be seen as the principal elements of the Dharma life at all stages, Indeed, if they are not practised at lower levels it is impossible to engage with them with full success at higher." Urgyen Sangharakshita

The Sikkha project is a great initiative to provide comprehensive, practically useful Dharma training to anyone who wants to engage with Buddhist approaches to life.

This slideshow about the Sikkha Project was shown at the Triratna International Council 2019. You can now also listen to the audio commentary that accompanied the presentation.

NB. The audio file may not play directly in all web browsers. Best download it to your device.​​

Follow the Sikkha blog for the latest updates  |  Get course materials from the Sikkha website

Watch the companion presentation on commonality of practice in Triratna

See all posts from the 2019 International Council

"To be a chair is not to be a particular kind of person...they are very different. But what they do have in common, is a love of Triratna, a love of the Dharma and a longing to help..."

The 2019 Summer ECA - European Chairs' Assembly - took place at Padmaloka in the UK.  We are joined by Aryanita from Paris, Vanaraji from Mid-Essex, Jayaraja from Buddhafield and Amritasiddhi from Nagpur, India, all reflecting on how the meeting how went and what they really valued. 

We hear how the meeting included updates on initiatives and projects such as the Young Buddhists, People of Colour, The Buddhist Centre Online, and Sikkha (and more). And we get a flavour of the wide-range of ground covered: from beginning to undertake a strategic review of the ECA's priorities, responses to the recent article in The Observer critical of Triratna, to discussion about Buddhist Action Month and the ecological crisis - as well as the vital benefits of having such a meeting.

+Follow the European Chairs' Assembly.

***
Subscribe to The Buddhist Centre Online podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On other podcast networks

News, event coverage, mantras and rituals, Dharma conversations among diverse voices from the Triratna Buddhist Community around the world, keeping you up-to-date with the latest in our sangha.

Subscribe to our Buddhist Voices Podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On others podcast networks  

Our longer form podcast, featuring great in-depth conversations with Buddhists from around the world. Inspiring stories that illuminate for modern times the Buddha’s example of how to live and find true freedom.

"The idea is that, at some point, it won't be a project; it'll just be more like how we do things"

The Sikkha Project aims to support the development of training within Triratna for every level of experience, to discover and share how the different elements of our system of practice are taught and practiced most effectively, and to create resources and training to fill any gaps.

Here's a conversation with Dhammamegha, currently co-ordinating this project, explaining its origins, who's involved and the 'shopping list' that the team are currently focussing on: Centre-based teaching, meditation teaching and Order life training. Some of the latest and upcoming developments include four introductory courses which are now on the Sikkha website as teaching resources, and an Order practice review questionnaire to help find out what would support Order Members in their Dharma lives. Another important aspect of Sikkha's work is mentoring and here Sadayasihi shares her recent experience of 'whole team' teacher training and Centre visioning which took place in March at the London Buddhist Centre.

Visit the Sikkha website for resources to help with teaching at Buddhist Centres

+Follow the Sikkha blog on The Buddhist Centre to keep updated on the latest developments

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A second Sheffield-designed course is now available online for you to use at your centres. Called Vision and Transformation, this six-week course takes relative newcomers through the noble eightfold path through input, discussion, reflection and meditation. The course is designed to follow after the 8 week Radical Dharma course. 

Starting with an emphasis on Vision, it leads though the process of Transformation: emotion, imagination, speech, right livelihood, and effort and attention in meditation. Here you’ll find Vadanya’s introductory videos for each week along with detailed Course Notes and brief Teachers’ Guides.

All of these introductory courses have been produced to resource you with material to stimulate and support your dharma teaching. We invite you to have a look and use what is helpful in your own context. The Sikkha course material no longer requires an Order login, which we hope will make it more widely accessible for those Mitras supporting or running classes at centres or groups. 

In the coming months, the Sikkha team will be working to develop and test second phase course material for use at centres, as well as a series of Sangharakshita Classics pamphlets. Watch this space for more news about these developments.