during the reconstruction of ārāma Karunā Sevena, we were approached by a neighbour, offering us his house for a purchase. This is a unique opportunity for meditators in various ways, as it would make the stay in ārāma much more comfortable. Below is more information about the project. If you want to participate in any way, please let us know: karuna.sevena.cz@gmail.com. Thank you!
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Brief Introduction to Suriya Lamai "Children of the Sun"
The project is based on a voluntary gift – dāna. Our plan to gain donors for the project is to focus our attention on students of primary, secondary schools or universities as well as general public.
Read more background on Project Suriya Lamai - "Children of the Sun“ below...
A Report about Venerable Bhikhunī Visuddhi and her Activities in the Project Suriya Lamai
Last year Suriya Lamai supported Sakyadhita centre at Sri Lanka, which helps poor children and families in poverty and also two little boys suffering from Duchenne disease – Theodor and Oscar.
Again Karuṇā Sevena supported in the project Suriya Lamai the Training and Meditation Centre Sakyadhita lead by the Buddhist Nuns at Sri Lanka. They are running several projects: they are organizing Dhamma School for children, they are educating older girls and pregnant women, they are offering help to families in poverty, organizing regular meditation meetings for adults, and e.g. they are organizing the very necessary charity help in Sri Lanka areas which were stricken by nature disasters.
Thanks to the project Suriya Lamai nuns can not only give material support to the families in poverty, but they can also teach children Dhamma many ways. The most enjoyable way is transformation of jātakas (stories from the Buddha previous lives) into theatre performances. “Sri Lanka’s children love drama and it is typical that children live by performing the stories and dancing” says Bhikhunī Visuddhi. First children get dressed properly for the performance and then the performance may start. Nuns help to children to understand Dhamma also by other ways, for example by painting coloured scenes or some actual persons on big posters so all the children can see it very well. Thus they are enabled to understand the story which they are just learning about. “Unfortunately children in the centre miss any textbooks for learning Dhamma. They are given writing pads so they can write there the teaching but it would be more useful to get for them Dhamma books for children, which they can use for studying, and if we want for them useful gifts next time, we can buy some Dhamma books which are plenty of them at Sri Lanka”, says Bhikhunī Visuddhi, “these books are of a good quality but are not available to children in Sakyadhita. Deficiency is visible also in the teaching hall for Dhamma, which is situated in the middle of the village. It is an old, ugly concrete building which is not comfortable at all for children studies.
Sakyadhita is also a centre of all Buddhist festivals and ceremonies, for example Vesakha, every month poya, when children learn to give respect and offerings to Buddha. It is done by giving small bunches of blossoms which are touched by everybody, including children and parents before they reach the end Bodhi tree. Big part of Sri Lanka’s culture means to teach children to give respect to their parents and ask forgiveness if they have done something bad.
In the Dhamma School nuns put big stress to ethics, but children learn many more things than only this. In the monastery they get knowledge for practical life, they help with chores, they look after the running of the centre, they learn the proper way of serving meals and laying tables, how to behave in the society of other children and adults. Later young women are taught how to behave when they are pregnant. Many young women who come for help to the monastery are pregnant; some of them are only sixteen or seventeen. They are educated how to approach pregnancy according to Buddha’s teaching, they are explained how correctly perceive the foetus or that it is important to communicate with it rightly from the conception. Buddha also described that foetus has not enough space in the mother’s body, it is in the darkness. Baby perceives the surrounding world through the mother and until it is able to hear it it gets all the information through the umbilical cord. Even the mother’s feelings become the feelings of the child. According to Bhikhunī Visuddhi it is important for mothers to be calm and in comfort so their children will be also in a good mood. Future mothers are taught Dhamma and meditation too.
Giving presents to children in Nuwara Eliya
Nuwara Eliya is a mountainous area which is the highest place at Sri Lanka and very poor families with children live there. During the visit of Bhikhunī Visuddhi there by the end of last year huge landslides happened. Many families lost their homes, other were still in a big danger. In certain places whole villages fell down people had completely nothing after that. “Last year unusually big landslides happened after the rain period, some areas were really very badly damaged. Damages were enormous. This visit was not prepared long in advance, in fact we bought food and objects for fulfilling basic needs and we left to help”, said Bhikhunī Visuddhi.
We learned that travelling to the places where help was needed is usually very demanding because they are very remote. With nuns from the Sakyadhita centre we set out for this charity journey at 4 am, we were travelling for 12 hours and then we spent several hours distributing basic things (rice and clothing) to people and gifts for children (writing pads and coloured pencils). Usually nuns would have to immediately travel back for 12 hours but this time they stayed overnight. “For us, nuns, it was not simple to reach that town. Roads in a very terrible state, very often there were fallen trees over them and our overloaded vehicle had to go zigzag through the tea plantations in the mountains. It was very dangerous because the soil was still moving but finally we managed to get there.” Nuns like doing this charity work because it is very beneficial and helpful for many people. However not many people are able to imagine how big risks they take by doing it.
Summary of gifts of Suryia Lamai in the year 2014
Last year in February and November we transferred the gift of total 100 000 CZK for the charity work of nuns form the Training Centre Sakyadhita at Sri Lanka and to help poor children. In November we supported children with Duchenne disease with the sum of 8 800 CZK; about little Theodor and Oskar we have already written in our Metacek (page 13).
Many thanks to all of you, who took part in the Suryia Lamai project, any gift helps. Let your generosity brings you great benefit on the Dhamma path.
Karuṇā Sevena: Ivona Mollberg
Project Suriya Lamai – Children of Sun: 6855679001/5500
Picture gallery find here ZDE.
Background on Suriya Lamai "Children of the Sun"
Project Suriya Lamai - "Children of the Sun“ was founded by Czech Buddhist nun, Venerable bhikkhuni Visuddhi with the intention to help poor children and orphans in
The project is based on a voluntary gift – dāna. Our plan to gain donors for the project is to focus our attention on students of primary, secondary schools or universities as well as general public.
However there is another level of the project besides the already mentioned support and help to poor children. The second level is the possibility to develop generosity and cultivate human qualities of mind of students and donors, who will participate in the project. From the Buddhist point of view generosity is one of the most important abilities of the mind which is necessary to cultivate continuously.
Why should we in fact take care of our mind and cultivate it? The pure mind, the mind without blemish is the only lasting guarantee of human happiness. Generosity can be developed regardless of religious affiliation, much more important is the willingness to help those who need our help, not to be indifferent to human suffering. It provides dual benefit to donors: the silence of immoral ideas of selfishness as well as the development of pure ideas of selflessness.
Bless the one who gives and the one who takes. Acts of bodhisatta are absolutely unselfish because they are inspired by compassion for all beings only. So unlimited is his love and his infinite all pervading compassion when he tries constantly during countless number of his lives to reduce suffering, to promote greater respect for poor and low and help to needy all possible ways.
Bodhisatta does not care whether a donee is really in need or not, because his only one purpose is to cultivate generosity – as he does – is to eliminate self-cherishing which is hidden in him. The pleasure from services, its accompanying happiness and the reduction of suffering are other benefits of generosity.
In spreading his love with vast compassion makes no distinction between one being and help. He would never consider his merit with the help provided to other, never looking at the man as his debtor for the service provided. He is interested only in a good deeds but not in anything emanating from it. He expects no reward for it nor desires for a growth of his good reputation. Although Bodhisatta is always ready to provide an assistance, rarely - if ever – he condescends to demand anything. However true compassion is not reflected in tears or sorrowful words but above all in the determination and acts leading up to the reduction alternatively to the complete elimination of human suffering.
We all have the opportunity to do something for others as well as for ourselves by this meaningful project. It depends only on us how we decide. Assistance can be in all forms, however currently we prefer a donation to tend to the immediate needs of the children.
Finally, passage of Dakkhinā-vibhanga-sutta (MN142):
"Of an offering made to an animal the results expected are by hundreds. Of an offering made to an ordinary non virtuous person the results expected are by thousands. Of an offering made to an ordinary virtuous person the results expected are by hundreds of thousands. Of an offering made to a not greedy one, turned away from sensuality the results expected are by hundreds of thousands of millions.
Of an offering made to a person fallen to the method of realizing the state of entry into the stream of the Teaching, the results expected are innumerable and unlimited. What would be the results for offering a gift to a stream entrant of the Teaching? Or one fallen to the method of realizing the state of not returning? Or one who would not return? Or one fallen to the method of realizing worthiness? Or a worthy disciple of the Thus Gone One? Or the silent enlightened One? Or the worthy, rightfully enlightened Thus Gone One?“
…"Even small drops if they drip long enough can penetrate through rock.
Mind is the forerunner of all states, mind is the basis, mind is the creator,
with a pure mind who speaks, who acts,
that happiness follows as a faithful shadow." ...
Angela Home
This year we succeeded in establishing the cooperation with the orphanage Angela Home located near Colombo in Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist home for girls between the ages 5 and 18. The home was set up in 1951 as a charity and in 2010 was registered under the name "Angela Child Development Centre". Now 25 girls live there permanently. The girls are orphaned (both parents are dead) or abandoned (both parents are unknown).At the beginning of August 2011 financial support from the project Suriya Lamai was provided to Angela Home in amount CZK 12.000,00 for construction of a new fence as their back fence was in disrepair and needed to be re-done urgently for security purposes. The planned construction took place in August and a new fence was successfully completed in early September 2011.
The support of Angela Home will continue because there are still a lot of areas which are not functional and in urgent need of attention. The major problem currently is the renovation of toilets and new drain system.
Some photographs from Angela Home can be found at ANGELA HOME PHOTO GALLERY
More information can be found on Angela home..
We thank you for your kind support. May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
More information can be found on Angela home..
We thank you for your kind support. May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
