Appeals and Achievements

Mahasraddha, the director of the Abhayaratna Trust writes: ‘The Abhayaratna Trust is pleased to publishing its 2021 Annual Report which gives you a well-presented overview of our work to help Order members support each other where there is hardship.’

You can also read about our continuing strategic work to respond to key issues in the Order including health, housing issues and non-financial support.

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Jina VamsaComment
Our Director’s View for the New Year

Mahasraddha writes: I view the Abhayaratna Trust’s core function as being to facilitate and enhance the flow of care in the Order, in particular to those facing hardship. Of course, care for one another is a fundamental expression of our interconnected humanity. We respond to suffering by doing what we can to alleviate it.

Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed.

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Jina VamsaComment
Amritasukha shares his experience of being an Order member living with severe anxiety

Amritasukha, thank you for taking part in our conversation about mental health and the Order. Can you start by saying something about your ‘life before Triratna’?

At around age 12 I started to realise that what the other boys were starting to show interest in (girls) wasn’t what I was interested in. I liked the other boys, and I seemed to be the only one. This had two consequences.

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Jina Vamsa Comment
Latest News August 2021

Our appeal to help Order members and their families in India through the effects of the recent covid pandemic has been a great success and it is with much gratitude that we are closing the appeal, having raised £191,900, or approximately 198 lakh rupees. Thank you to everyone that gave.

The Order convenors in India have been meeting regularly to organise distribution of support where it has been most needed.

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Jina VamsaComment
Newsletter June 2021

The response from Order members, Mitras and Friends to our recent appeal to help individual Order members and their families through the current pandemic in India has been tremendous. All the targets we set were exceeded and we have now raised £185,000 in donations.

This expression of solidarity with those members of the Order in India who are struggling with financial and health difficulties has given confidence as well as practical aid.

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Jina VamsaComment
Looking After Each Other – a focus on mental health

In addition to our regular work (explore our website www.abhayaratnatrust.org for details), during the first half of 2021, the Abhayaratna Trust is focusing on an important area of wellbeing in the Order – mental health. We’ll be posting a series of interviews intended to open a deeper conversation amongst Order Members, and posting resources on a dedicated webpage.

This month, Sīlajāla, currently volunteering with the Trust, responds to questions from Taradakini, the Trust’s grants and care co-ordinator.

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Jina Vamsa Comments
At the Crossroads

As practitioners we are bound to encounter terrain that is difficult to navigate. In one of the talks that Prakasha gave at the Order Convention in August last year he quoted Carl Jung; “to become enlightened we need to make the darkness conscious.” The light is in the darkness, he said. If we are able to turn towards the underlying fear that is causing our anxiety, if we are able to be with it and see it for what it is, then we will have transformed it.

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Jina VamsaComment
Local Care Network; Training Day

As you may be aware, The Abhayaratna Trust is embarking on a new project called The Local Care Network (LCN) project to help develop and embed a more explicit and organised culture of care and support in the Order for Order members who need it,

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Jina VamsaComment
Thank you to Vidusi

We are very grateful to Vidusi for her work as an Abhayaratna Trustee over the last 6 years. During this time she has attended regular Trustee meetings in Birmingham and helped make decisions on giving grants to those who have applied, as well as on Trust policy.

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Jina VamsaComment