BGR NEWS + TEACHINGS
2021 Spring Retreat: The Brahma Viharas
During Memorial Day Weekend 2021, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Ayya Dhammadipa, Rev. Jin Chuan, and the worldwide BGR community came together for our first online meditation retreat in support of our work to relieve the suffering of hunger and poverty around the world.
BGR Awards Grants to 51 Projects Worldwide
In late April, BGR's Board approved 51 projects with potential partners around the world. These grants for BGR's fiscal year 2021–22 amounted to $969,000. The Board provided $60,000 in additional emergency assistance to regions afflicted with the Covid pandemic, most in India, pushing BGR’s grant total to over $1,000,000.
Turning Back the Tide of Violence: A Vesak Message for 2021
If enough of us commit ourselves to a life of non-violence, to love and compassionate action, we might just succeed in setting in motion a counter-current to the tide of destructive violence that engulfs us and brings so much grief. We might transform old enmities into a celebration of our essential unity, join hands across boundaries, and take a few small steps toward the state of global peace for which we yearn.
BGR Offers Emergency Assistance During the Pandemic
In May 2021, BGR donated over $60,000 from our emergency funds to support communities, both globally and in the U.S., adversely impacted by the Covid pandemic. Most of our assistance has gone to organizations working in India, which has been hit especially hard by the pandemic
Emergency COVID Assistance to India and Sri Lanka
BGR recently donated funds for two ventilators to the Mahabodhi Maitri Mandala hospital in Bengaluru, India. Additionally, BGR provided $16,000 in other kinds of financial assistance to organizations in India and Sri Lanka delivering aid to people afflicted by the virus.
BGR’s First Online Retreat
On Memorial Day weekend Buddhist Global Relief held its first ever online retreat, conducted to support BGR’s poverty relief and education work around the world. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi guided the retreat along with new BGR Board members Ayyā Dhammadīpā of Āloka Vihāra in Placerville, California, and Rev. Jin-Chuan Shi of Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. The retreat was well attended, with 160–180 people from around the world joining live on Zoom and others catching up with the recordings of the sessions on the BGR YouTube Channel.
