Dhamma tour in South India

Vivekaratna, the Director of the Nagarjuna Training Institute, TBMSG’s training facility in Nagpur, India, has recently returned from a trip to southern India. South India is very very different culturally and linguistically to Maharastra, TBMSG’s heartland, and until recently, has had few Buddhists and little contact with TBMSG. However over the past two years there have been Keralan students at NTI and the first of these have now returned home and begun work in their local areas. Last year the FWBO Growth Fund funded three of them so they would be able to focus their efforts on establishing Dhamma activities there. Vivekaratna sends this report -

“I toured to South India from 22nd April to 4th May. The purpose of my tour was to interview the candidates for the 7th Batch of students at the NTI. In addition to that I met with number of institutions as well as individuals. It was very inspiring tour as people are thirsty for dhamma. Padmavir was accompanying me.

“The highlight of my tour was a day retreat at Kottayam in Kerala. We reached Kottayam at 6.30 am, Subhash met us and took us to the Kerala Social Service Center, where Binojbabu had organized a day retreat. This started at 11.30 as particpants were coming from different parts of Keral (Trivendrum, Kollam, Iduki, Trishur & Kannur). The organisers had made a beautiful shrine. There were 150 participants, a very good audience. They came to understand just Buddhism and stayed through out the day. We were able to interview 9 candidates (7 male & 2 female) for 7th batch of NTI students. After the retreat Rejimon escorted us to Thengana. Four persons were waiting for us till 9pm to conduct Puja at their center. But we could not do the Puja as it was too late and also we were tired by travelling. We took rest in Lodge.

“The next day Rejimon introduced us to his work at Thengana. He had raised local donations for deposit to have accomodation for regular TBMSG activities and also for monthly rent. He has now started regular TBMSG actvities at Thengana. In the morning we visited his center and did Puja and appreciated his dedication for dhamma work without any financial support from us. Local few Buddhists look after his needs. We left Thengana in the aftrnoon for Mynagapally – this is our first TBMSG Center in Keral started by NTI alumni at their own initiative. After three hours train & bus journey, we reached to TBMSG Mynagapally Center at 4pm.

A conversion ceremony was organised at the center at 7.00 pm. The christian family who wanted to convert reached at about 8.30pm. They were coming from 60 kms away and had lost the way too. Mr. Johnson who was at one time an NTI trainee, and his wife Sharika, daughter of Sukumaran who was strong supporter of Buddhism for many years and helping in many ways to Rejimon for spread of Buddhism; were the converts. Padmavir gave lecture on the importance of convertion to Buddhism and Going for Refuge and I led the conversion ceremony that concluded at 10 pm. About 25 local Buddhist witnessed the conversion. We six enjoyed the the dinner supplied to us at the center by three Buddhist families and took rest at Center.

Finally the next day we had meeting with Binojbabu, Subhash, Rejimon, Arun & Rajanikant. We rejoiced in their merits for spreading Buddhism. I assured Binojbabu to support for one more year from the left out of growth fund and suggested him not to find out work outside. Subhash may get scholarship and he is trying for lecturership too. There is a need to support to Rejimon too. We left at 12am to catch a train at Karunangapally railway stn for Bangalore.

New Centre in Kerala plays host to visiting Order Members

Late last year Dhammacharinis Nagasuri and Sraddhajyoti were hosted by the new TBMSG Centre in Mynagappally, in the district of Kollam Kerala, in southern India. Click here to read FWBO News’ report of its inauguration. They were the new centre’s first visitors from outside the State and the small sangha there made the most of the opportunity - with some 40 people coming for the different functions through the day. The day featured two talks by the two visitors, one in English and one in Hindi, both translated into the local language Malayalam, both focusing on the theme of the “Importance of Five Precepts in Daily Life”.

Nagasuri is from Australia, but currently living in India and working for the Arya Tara Mahila Trust, – unique in that it is pioneering Dharma work in India entirely run by women for women. Sraddhajyoti is an Indian Dhammacharini from Mumbai and was ordained in 2002. They were touring South India as a follow-up to a more high-profile tour last year led by Subhuti.

The day was hosted by Binoj Babu and friends, who make up the group of mitras running the Centre (there are no Order Members in residence), all of whom are recent graduates of the TBMSG training institute at Nagaloka, in Nagpur, a thousand miles north in central India.

News from the frontline – in India…

The Nagarjuna Training Institute in India is the FWBO/TBMSG’s largest centre there. It runs ongoing year-long residential courses in Buddhism and social work, training up to sixty young men and women per year, from all over India. At the end of the years training they graduates may either stay on for a second year or return home. Many have done so, and in this way a widespread network of local groups across India affiliated to the TBMSG have sprung up all over India. Once home, the Nagarjuna graduates do what they can to spread the Dhamma given their need to earn money, help their family, and meet the many other demands of Indian life.

In April this year the FWBO Growth Fund gave money to support for a year twelve Nagarjuna graduates in five widely-separated Indian States – Orissa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. The application was for funds to support twice as many, but as the FWBO Growth Fund is small and already over-subscribed six times over it was unable to assist!

Vivekaratna, Director of Nagarjuna, has recently sent us this report. Many other Dhamma projects are also going on across India, not least the recently-concluded and very successful Dhammakranti retreat at Bodh Gaya, which had 1,500 people attending - we hope to bring reports of these soon.

Orissa
Jadumani conducted two seminars in Sumbalpur for college students on the Psychological Effects of Caste and Jaldhar & Panchanand supported him. Around 60 senior college students participated in both seminars. There is good team work among these three ex-trainees. They inspired people to participate in the recent Dhammakranti retreat at Bodhagaya – where five persons became Dhammamitras through their work.

Kerala
Subhash, who was training till August 07, has now joined Binojbabu who had already started Dhamma work in Kollam district in Kerala. They have established a Dhamma centre in Mynagapally in Kolam distt – financed entirely by donations from local people. They are meeting individually and collectively with Ambedkarite activists from Kollam, Kottayam & Alapuzha (Alleppy) districts and conducting day retreats at the center and elsewhere. They organized a programme for Nagashuri & Saddhajyoti who visited last month – see report on FWBO News (forthcoming).

Tamilnadu
Subhash, Manimaran, and Ganesh organised a three days residential retreat at Villupuram in Central Tamilnadu. Vivekaratna led the retreat, which was on the Three Jewels, and 25 persons participated. They were very pleased because they managed to raise money locally to meet all the food expenditure of the retreat – and obtained the acconodation free of cost from a local charity. This is TBMSG’s first residential retreat in Tamilnadu. There is good teamwork between Subhash, Manimaran & Ganesh.

Karnataka
In September Satyam single-handedly organised a retreat in Gulbarga. 23 persons participated in the retreat, and Padmavir & Dhammadarshi led it. Once again, Satyam raised donations locally to meet the retreat expenditures. He is conducting regular dhamma activities, mostly working in Bijapur, Bider and Gulberga districts, as well as keeping regular contact with ex-trainees from Karnataka and encourging them to help in spreading the Dhamma.

Rajasthan
Rambabu is working among the Meena community which is a tribal community. He is especially active in Bharatpur, Dhaulpur, Sawai Madhopur, and Alwar Districts. In addition he has regular interaction with Ambedkarite activists and gives lectures, leads Puja, and clarifies the doubts of the persons he meets. He is specifically emphasizing social transformation through Dr. Ambedkar’s thought – using Ambedkar’s emphasis on Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as Buddhist values for the transformation of society.

This is only a tiny glimpse of the many Dhamma and social projects the FWBO/TBMSG runs in India.

Dhamma activities in South and North India

A second FWBO/TBMSG centre has just opened in Kerala, south India. For some years Tejabhadra has been running a Buddhist centre in the capital city, Trivandrum (click here for details), he has now been joined by Binoj Babu and Dhammamitra Subhash. They are graduates of TBMSG’s Nagarjuna Training Institute and have founded the Abhayaloka Trust which is running activities in the seaside town of Kollam, further up the Keralan coast.

Visitors are welcome, and are asked to contact Subhash by email or phone (tel 0091 99478 00803) before arrival - or simply to go to Mynagappally village and ask for the Divya Building.

The Nagarjuna Training Institute is located in Nagpur on TBMSG’s Nagaloka site. The program is now in its fourth year and has begun to produce a stream of talented and energetic graduates, of both genders, from all over India; many have returned home and are working to spread the Dhamma in their local areas.

Next month will see a major retreat in Bodh Gaya (estimated attendance 3,000 people) followed by Subhuti’s annual Dhamma tour, this time in North India, organised as always by NTI graduates. This work is especially significant in that it represents the beginning of the Buddhist renaissance in India ‘breaking out’ of Maharastra and Dr. Ambedkar’s own community and beginning to contact a far wider cross-section of Indian society all over India.

The Dhammakranti project is appealing for funds to assist the work of contacting local Dalit and tribal people who have become interested in Buddhism but who cannot afford to attend retreats, please click here if you would like to contribute.