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How to Help

Make a Donation

In Buddhism, institutions are often supported by dāna. This is the practice of cultivating generosity which culminates in the perfection (pāramitā) of giving. It is highly valued as a spiritual practice, as it has the effect of purifying and transforming the mind of the giver and contributes to the well being of both giver and receiver.

Buddha House is a non-profit organisation relying mainly on people’s generosity. Our goal is to support people in their quest to discover the true nature of reality, and to promote harmony in our relations with all living beings.

Your generosity enables us to continue to support our resident monk/s, to provide services to our members, guests and visitors, to keep the costs of retreats and teachings as low as possible, along with providing a peaceful environment for study, meditation and retreat as well as assisting with our large mortgage and significant running expenses. Volunteers are continuously needed for a variety of tasks at the centre, as is financial support.

If you would like to specify a specific purpose for the general donation, after you make the donation please email treasurer@buddhahouse.org with your wishes and include the date and amount of your donation for ease of traceability!

If you would prefer not to donate online, here are some other methods to make a donation:
 
  • By cash/cheque/money order/credit card (Cheques made payable to Buddha House Centre for Advanced Buddhist Studies Inc.)
  • At a scheduled meeting or teaching event
  • Via the office, Monday to Friday, 9.30am-12.30pm. Tel. 08 8333 2824, International: +61 8 8333 2824
  • By post to: Buddha House, 496 Magill Road, Magill SA 5072
  • By Direct Deposit to our bank account:
    Account Name: Buddha House Centre for Advanced Buddhist Studies Inc
    BSB: 105 032 (Bank SA)
    Account # 147 349 740
    Description: Donation or specific cause

Volunteer

Would you like to get to know our community, participate in organizing events and resources, and help develop our dynamic and harmonious FPMT Centre in Adelaide?

Buddha House activities are organized by a team of amazing volunteers who are devoted to serving the Dharma and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, our Spiritual Director. As a practice, offering service is a wonderful way to make your life meaningful, generate merit, and be of benefit to others.

Tasks are made lighter when taken on by many rather than a few, and as new people step forward and offer to help, we are relieved and thrilled.

Volunteers are needed to assist with many aspects of Buddha House’s spiritual and secular programs, fundraising and community event needs.

For more information or to express your interest in sharing your ideas, skills, and resources for the benefit of our community and all sentient beings, please contact the office at any time.

We thank you for your kindness and generosity and we look forward to working with you and benefiting from your talents, efforts and kindness in the near future.

Sponsor a Puja

Based on advice from our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Buddha House holds regular pujas on auspicious days according to the Tibetan lunar calendar.

Traditionally, pujas are to remove obstacles at every stage of a person’s life. These pujas can have a powerful effect in helping each person to develop their practice and in helping each person to live a happier and more successful life, free from obstacles.

When Pujas are performed, the sponsor, and often the sponsor’s family too, come to the gompa and make offerings personally to the monk and also be present for the puja, but this is not obligatory.

If you are looking for a gift for someone, a Gift of Prayer by sponsoring a puja is truly something special.

All offerings received through the pujas are used to support Buddha House; the kindness of our sponsors has enabled us to buy our new centre. Your continued support is deeply appreciated.

Medicine Buddha Puja: for healing of body and mind, and benefiting the ill and recently deceased. In English.

Guru Puja with Tsog Offering (Tibetan: Lama Chopa Puja): Prayers and special offerings to the Guru to accumulate merit for the centre and anyone participating. English and Tibetan.

16 Arhats Puja (Tibetan: Neten Chudruk): These 16 Elders were personally chosen by Shakyamuni Buddha from amongst his disciples.  He asked them to remain in the world, protecting the Dharma for as long as beings are capable of benefitting from the teachings. At that time they vowed to remain in the world and maintain the Dharma until the teachings came to an end at the appearance of the next world buddha, Maitreya. This puja invites the blessings of the 16 Arhats for the continuation of the  teachings of the Buddha in this world.

Offerings to the sangha of a khatag, money, gifts, and cards can be done anytime. One of the best opportunities is during the dedications after a teaching, puja, retreat, or practice. It doesn’t have to be a special day, and you don’t have to wait for anyone else – just walk right up and offer! It’s also traditional when a teacher returns after a long trip, or a visiting lama arrives, to line up with khatags as a welcoming offering.

Sponsoring a puja is a great way to earn merit – your sponsorship serves our entire community by helping to make pujas possible. In addition, as a sponsor, you can offer a dedication that will be read at the puja, so that all who attend can share in supporting your concern.

To sponsor a puja, please click the button below.

Make a Bequest

Thank you for considering leaving a gift in your will to Buddha House. A bequest would be used to fund our greatest need at the time. If you would prefer that it be used in a specific way, please contact the office on 8333 2824 to discuss your requirements.

There are several types of bequests and each of them can benefit the Centre. If you decide to bequest a gift to the Centre it is important that you use the correct title and wording (refer below). Your legal adviser should be consulted and advised of your wishes. Direct debits can be made at any time to: Bank SA Account Name: Buddha House Centre For Advanced Buddhist Studies Inc. BSB: 105 032 Account No.: 147 349 740

If you decide to leave a gift in your will, please let us know so that we can thank you personally. Please contact us by using the contact form below.

The International Merit Box Project

Generosity in action, worldwide

The International Merit Box Project was created in order to cultivate generosity as part of a daily practice, as well as foster an international spirit of harmony and cohesion amongst the FPMT community. The Project began in 2001, and every year offerings are collected from FPMT students, centres and projects worldwide. To date, almost US$1,000,000 in Merit Box offerings have been disbursed through grants to eligible Dharma projects and initiatives.

The project is a tangible example of generosity and community in action: FPMT students all over the globe practicing together in order to benefit those working for the same mission.

By growing the number of participants, we hope to also widen the number of projects benefitting from these kind donations. We invite you to consider starting the practice yourself! Merit Boxes are offered freely through the Foundation Store.

COLLECT A MERIT BOX FROM THE OFFICE NEXT TIME YOU VISIT.

Merit Box practitioners keep a Merit Box handy so they can place offerings in it throughout the year. Just think, one’s spare change can help build a new stupa, retreat cabin or translate a Dharma text! International Merit Box Project donations will be collected beginning on Lama Tsongkhapa Day each year, and continuously until March 31 of the following year. Your offerings can handed to the office and we will forward to FPMT.

Support a Monk or Nun at Kopan Monastery

Taking care of a large community is like taking care of a small town. There are many expenses behind the scene that are indispensable to the smooth running of a place. Services such as providing clean water, continued electricity supply, disposal of the garbage and sewerage, efficient administration are all vital to keeping the community functioning. Maintenance of infrastructure, buildings and facilities is also essential.

The costs of all these ‘background expenses’ are high. But most of the donations that Kopan receives are dedicated for specific items, such as food, medical care etc, and cannot be used for other expenses. We invite you to help us in our efforts to keep the monastery running well. Sponsor any amount as a general donation or choose one of the special projects that are high on our priority list right now.

How do we survive?

For more than 40 years Kopan Monastery has taken care of its ever-increasing number of monks and nuns. In 1975 only 40 monks and nuns were living here; now there is a population of 760 to feed, clothe, educate and provide with health care. The monastery has been able to do this due to the blessing of the Buddha, the untiring efforts of our teachers, and the generosity of benefactors all over the world.

The burden of looking after such a large community is quite considerable. Having taken on the commitment for this very large family, Kopan doesn’t plan just for the next month or year, it needs to put plans into place for the future. Through the continuing support of our benefactors Kopan is continuing to be a vibrant, functioning and successful spiritual community.

There are always challenges, such rising food prices – 15% in the past two years; the upgrading and expanding of the accommodation for the monks; more teachers are needed to keep up with the growing number of students; the maintenance of the extensive facilities is an ongoing process.

Please continue giving us your support for our work of providing a place of study and practice to young people of the Himalayan region, and to preserve the religious and cultural heritage of Tibet.

Medical Care in the Kopan Clinic

Every morning between 8.30 and 9.30 am there is a rush of small monks running towards the Kopan Clinic. They are lining up in the treatment rooms, to have their small and large ailments looked after.  The ailments range from small scratches and abrasions, to a range of childhood diseases such as mumps, chicken pox, and a head fungus that is widespread in this part of the world. Cases of TB, typhoid fever, hepatitis and similar infections diseases are also occasionally occurring. But with a bunch of kids with too much energy, broken bones are a much more regular occurrence.

The Kopan Clinic is staffed by three monks, with a visiting doctor three times a week. One of the staff monks is training as a health assistant in a local college at the moment. The clinic has a small lab, an X-ray machine, and a large pharmacy. The lab and x-ray machine are also serving the local community. The clinic building itself has some rooms to accommodate sick and elderly monks, and children with contagious illnesses. The Kopan Clinic has been developing well over the past ten years.

Before being accepted into the monastery the children and young people undergo a health assessment. Once they pass this, they receive some common childhood vaccinations as well as rabies, tetanus and meningitis vaccination.

Due to a very kind Australian sponsor the Kopan Clinic is now equipped with a state of the art dental clinic, where not only the Kopan monks and nuns, but also the monks and nuns from the monastery branches receive dental check ups and treatment.

For serious cases sick monks are taken to a nearby hospital. One of the clinic staff will stay with the patient to assist with the care, and arrange for food, because hospitals in Nepal don’t provide food for the patients.

Medical bills for around 800 people can be quite substantial. Kopan now has a monthly medical bill of US$2000 – 3000 for medicines and medical treatment for all its residents, monks and nuns alike.

Please continue giving us your support for our work of providing a place of study and practice to young people of the Himalayan region, and to preserve the religious and cultural heritage of Tibet.

Buddha House acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands upon which we work and live. We pay our respects to elders, past, present and future, as well as all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – their country, culture, and community.

Dedication

May everyone who sees, hears, or thinks (even in frustration) of this web site be freed in that very second from all their sufferings, diseases, spirit harms, negative karmas and obscurations, and abide in the peerless happiness of full enlightenment forever.

Buddha House Centre for Advanced Buddhist Studies, Inc.
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