CORE BELIEFS

As a Buddhist organization, BGR is inspired and guided by the teachings of Buddhism. Among the teachings central to our mission are:

We should extend a mind of loving-kindness towards the entire world and regard each person as a member of our own family. For this reason, just as we would not want our parents, children, or other close relatives to suffer, we similarly feel moved to alleviate the suffering of countless unknown, unseen people throughout the world.

All life on this planet is interconnected and interdependent. In particular, the current high standard of living in the West was largely founded on the labor and resources of those in the East and South. For this reason, we should seek to reciprocate their kindness by helping their descendants in their time of need.

The endeavor to establish a just social and political order is integral to the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha taught that it is the government’s duty to guard and protect all the residents of the land, eliminating poverty through state-sponsored deeds of charity. In our present international order, we who live in relative affluence should look after the needs of the destitute and broadly extend our range of concern to the entire global community.
 

CORE VALUES

Faith. By faith we understand, not belief in a particular creed, but a conviction in the power of goodness: a conviction that goodness constitutes an objective power that gives meaning and value to our lives; a conviction that to do good to others creates indissoluble bonds of human solidarity, that giving and helping others brings immense joy to giver and receiver alike.

Compassion. Compassion is the quality “that makes the hearts of the good tremble with the suffering of others.” Compassion is what enables us to break out from the cocoon of self-centeredness and awaken a universal consciousness. Compassion opens us to the cries of distress rising up from countless men and women who live on the brink of despair. Compassion moves us to dispel their suffering and procure their well-being and happiness.

Service. To follow the call of compassion is to enter into service to others, and to find in service a source of strength, power, and joy that far surpasses the superficial satisfaction gained from self-centered projects aimed at domination and exploitation.

Moral rectitude. BGR is guided and sustained by the values embedded in the fundamental Buddhist ethical code, the five precepts: non-injury, honesty, fidelity, truthfulness, and sobriety.

Self-cultivation. We recognize that our outward-directed relief work must be accompanied by an inward effort to purify the mind of greed, hatred, and delusion—the root causes of personal and collective suffering. We try to integrate our relief work with our self-cultivation, so that the outer work becomes a means of self-purification and inward self-cultivation strengthens us to accomplish our mission more effectively.

Integrity. We use the funds donated to BGR in ways that are true to the organization’s mission, and we ensure this is so through proper procedures of accounting and auditing.

Prudence. We use the funds efficiently and effectively, seeking to cut extraneous costs and to invest in ways that will make more funding available to expand and enrich our programs.

Respect for others. We respect the people whom we serve, as well as their customs, beliefs, and traditions. We treat them as partners in achieving the aims of our programs and seek to make them strong, independent, and self-sufficient.

Collaboration. We recognize that through collaboration, cooperation, and consensus, we can generate an enormous power to transform the world in accordance with our guiding vision. Hence we endeavor to bring together all people of good will who share our aspirations and direct their energies towards the fulfillment of our mission, the alleviation of poverty and hunger. In pursuing our goal, we always pledge to cooperate with one another, with our partners locally and abroad, and with the people that we serve.