12/30/2024
Feeling called to interrupt suffering and free all beings, I’m writing to invite you to give generously to support Dhamma Dena (https://www.dhammadena.org/donate). The center runs on an annual budget of under $200,000 and raising $50,000 this season will make a significant contribution to sustaining the center and continuing the mission to offer retreats freely.
As of 2023, in an act of deep faith, Dhamma Dena stopped taking fees for registration. As a result of this change, our community is growing! Retreats are now consistently full and have waiting lists. Many applicants and attendees report that Dhamma Dena retreats are the first they've been able to access, including those who are young, BIPOC, q***r and trans, immunocompromised, disabled, don't have money at the moment, need a rest, need refuge, and who need liberation and dhamma.
Dhamma Dena does not have an endowment or significant individual sponsor. Offering retreats on a dana basis and keeping the center open is possible only through collaboration and donations given with an open heart. Money is no longer a condition that visitors need to have to access the Buddha’s teachings, to build community and leadership beyond the limits of consumer transactions, and to experience interdependence with the support of the 8-fold path. Deep bows and appreciation to Dhamma Dena for this opportunity to more deeply integrate the Buddha’s teachings on generosity in all our efforts. This is said to be the core in our path to liberation.
In Jetavana, outside the city of Savatthi, during the time of the Buddha, two chief patrons supported the Buddha materially, Visakha and Anathapindika. Both, having heard the dhamma on separate occasions, gifted Migaramata's Palace and Jetavana Monastery to the Buddha and the Sangha. So moved by the Buddha’s words and positive impact on people, they offered land and materials and meals to support the sangha to gather peacefully, in proximity to the larger community, with access to the Buddha. From these places, the teachings grew and prospered through the full expression of the triple gem: Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
When you practice at Dhamma Dena, you find the same: a place for people to come together to cultivate buddha nature, to study the Buddha and Dhamma, to see the way of the desert and how things are, and to find spiritual friendship and community. Dhamma Dena is a garden where the triple gem can blossom, Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha are interconnected and equal parts. As a q***r and trans person of color, arriving at Dhamma Dena felt warm & cozy like home and wild & open like I was free, the perfect elements that first allowed me to be open-minded and receive.
Dhamma Dena has been an important part of my life since 2018, and I am grateful for the influence and contributions from all visitors, past and present, to Dhamma Dena, for your generosity in practicing before me and alongside me and our friends, for the generous touches and efforts to make each space comfortable and inviting, for fresh nourishing food, for spiritual guidance, and setting to grow in a good way. It’s this flow of generosity that has built and sustained Dhamma Dena since 1977. And through this flow, the dhamma has reached each of us.
Please give as generously as you can to Dhamma Dena. Your open-hearted gift joins the strong flow of dana already embodied at Dhamma Dena, and will benefit future meditators and offer new and returning students the chance to learn about the dhamma and receive the priceless benefits of meditation practice.
May your generosity bring you joy!
Give today: https://www.dhammadena.org/donate (Your donations are tax deductible)
