Merit Box News

In May, the International Merit Box Project disbursed sixteen new grants for Dharma projects and activities in six countries, totaling US$37,455 for the year. This was the fifteenth cycle of annual of Merit Box grants. Since the Project was created in 2001, there have been 248 grants—totaling US$1,014,785—awarded!

Individuals and FPMT communities all over the world make offerings into their ”Merit Box” throughout the year. During collection season, students and communities turn in their accumulated offerings. These offerings are then pooled together and distributed as grants to a variety of projects and services that are working to fulfill the FPMT mission.

A broad range of activities and communities in a number of countries have benefited from Merit Box grants. Book publishing, building holy objects and retreat cabins, repairing practice facilities, aiding social services, helping practitioners do retreat, and digital Dharma initiatives are just some of the activities that have been supported by the International Merit Box Project over the years. On many occasions these grants have made the difference between whether small Dharma communities find the necessary funding to complete their projects or not.

Kurukulla Center in Medford, MA, USA, received a 2017 grant to help with both cosmetic and more serious structural repairs needed for its building, which is over 100 years old. Photo courtesy Kurukulla Center.

Listed below are the projects that received a Merit Box grant in 2017:

• FPMT Education Services (USA) – Master’s Program Study Manual
• FPMT Hispana (Spain) – Master’s Program translation support
• Le Service de traduction francophone de la FPMT (France) – Publication of Bodhisattva Attitude in French
• International Mahayana Institute (France) – Support for IMI Sangha attending retreats with Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Jamyang Buddhist Centre (UK) – Repaying the Kindness Project
• Kadampa Center (USA) – Media support for Light of the Path
• Kunsang Yeshe Centre (Australia) – Yellow Tara statue
• Kurukulla Center (USA) – Repairs and Restoration of Building Exterior Project
• Land of Calm Abiding (USA) – Propane for staff housing
• Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (USA) – Big Love biography
• Mahamudra Centre (Australia) – Foundation Service Seminar airfare for facilitators
• MAITRI Charitable Trust (India) – Care of Animal Beings Project   
• Maitripa College (USA) – Library and/or education initiatives
• Milarepa Center (USA) – Renovations and repair projects
• Centro La Sabiduría de Nagarjuna (Spain) – New center project
• Tara Home (USA) – End of life services
  
  

The project for this new large Yellow Tara statue for Kunsang Yeshe Centre in Australia is nearing completion. Photo courtesy Kunsang Yeshe Centre.

The new cycle of accumulation has begun already for 2018. If you would like start accumulating offerings with your own Merit Box practice, you can order a free Merit Box for your home or office altar on the Foundation Store website.

From the facilitator training retreat, Land of Joy, UK, July 2016. Photo courtesy of FDCW.

Seven months ago, the International Merit Box Project awarded twenty-one grants to a variety of Dharma projects, made possible solely from the collected offerings of Merit Box practitioners around the world.

One of these grants funded a retreat to train the first group of facilitators for the a.r.t. of Fulfillment, a new education program created by the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW).

According to FDCW, the a.r.t. of Fulfillment program “is a systematic inquiry into how you can lead a more fulfilling and meaningful life in the 21st century.” The international team of educators that designed the a.r.t. of Fulfillment program drew upon their expertise in a number of modern Western disciplines—including psychology, philosophy, and experiential learning—in addition to the wisdom tradition of Buddhism. It is designed both for a general audience and for those who have been involved in previous Universal Education courses.

The a.r.t. of Fulfillment program map. Image courtesy of FDCW.

The flagship July 2016 training was held as a week-long retreat at Land of Joy in the UK, and consisted of a selected group of FPMT-registered teachers. Those at the retreat were offered the course first as participants before then training in facilitation methods. It is thought that experiencing the program from the perspectives of both student and instructor can better inform how to teach it.

In addition to learning how to facilitate a.r.t. of Fulfillment courses, one of the broader training outcomes of the retreat was to expose participants to modern teaching methods that they could use in any class setting. “[The training was designed] to develop and experience new teaching skills, using modern, experiential methodologies,” says Grace Gyatso, director of the FDCW. Such skills could make for more effective learning for students taking traditional Buddhist courses in FPMT communities.

From the facilitator training retreat, Land of Joy, UK, July 2016. Photo courtesy of FDCW.

Because of this training, which was supported by the generosity of Merit Box practitioners, there are now eleven certified a.r.t. of Fulfillment facilitators living in seven different countries. With facilitators spread out around the world, the program can potentially be offered on at least three different continents.

So far, there are a number of a.r.t. programs scheduled in the UK in 2017. Ven. Tenzin Chokyi and Don Handrick are scheduled to the lead the first of these programs in the United States at Vajrapani Institute in California from June 30–July 9.

You can view the full calendar of scheduled a.r.t. of Fulfillment courses:
http://compassionandwisdom.org/news-and-events/calendar/listings/range.listevents/-?catids=88&year=2017&month=01&day=17

This is just one of the twenty-one Merit Box grants awarded to Dharma projects last year:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/projects/fpmt/merit-box/International-Merit-Box-Project-Distribution-2016.pdf

Collection season for 2017 Merit Box grants is happening now through March 31. If you have a Merit Box and want to send in your offerings, contact donations@fpmt.org. Get a free Merit Box today:
https://shop.fpmt.org/Merit-Box-_p_619.html

Dr. Thubten Jinpa was the first speaker for Maitripa College’s Mindfulness and Compassion Initiative in 2015. Photo by Chris Majors.

The International Merit Box Project has reached its 15th year, and 21 new Merit Box grants totaling US$33,500 were awarded in May for qualified projects and initiatives spanning six countries.

The funding for the grants comes from a year’s worth of accumulated Merit Box offerings by FPMT communities and individual Merit Box practitioners. Merit Box grants are given to projects, services and initiatives around the world that are working to fulfill the mission of FPMT. This year’s recipients were chosen out of a pool of 34 applications.

The 2016 grants will offer support to a variety of projects and programs. To name a few:

• Five projects constructing holy objects, including Kurukulla statues at the Land of Joy retreat center in the UK and Ocean of Compassion Buddhist Center in California.
  
  
• Six book publishing projects, including a set of teachings by Lama Yeshe, and new editions of the Sanghata Sutra and Golden Light Sutra published in French.
  
  
• Tech support for the Light of the Path retreat in August at Kadampa Center in the US.
  
  
• Initiatives like the Repaying the Kindness Project in the UK, Maitripa College’s Mindfulness and Compassion Initiative, and Foundation Learning Programme educator training facilitated by the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom.
  
  
• Support for Land of Calm Abiding, the Liberation Prison Project, MAITRI Charitable Trust’s Care for Animal Beings Project, and more.

To see a complete list of the 2016 Merit Box grants, click here.

To become a Merit Box practitioner, one can order a free Merit Box to have for your home, altar or desk. One then makes small offerings into your Merit Box throughout the year. Collectively, these offerings have made a big difference, giving nearly US$1 million to over 200 Dharma projects in the past 15 years.

A Merit Box grant was given in 2015 for IMI Sangha to attend last year’s retreats with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the Netherlands and Mexico (pictured here).

Each year the International Merit Box Project has a collection and grant application season when Merit Box practitioners send in their accumulated offerings for the year, and Dharma communities, projects and services apply for grants. That season is closing at the end of March. From now until then, the International Merit Box Project hopes to see a lot of activity coming from around the globe through grant applications and donations. 

The Merit Box Project was created in 2002 to foster generosity practice for individuals, while serving to provide grant funding to projects that are working to fulfill the FPMT mission. To date over 200 projects, services and initiatives have been supported by Merit Box grants, with the amount reaching nearly 1 million US dollars collectively.

Jamyang Buddhist Centre London’s Repaying the Kindness service project has been able to continue compassionately supporting care providers in part by Merit Box grants received in recent years.

Merit Box grants have helped myriad forms of compassionate activity come to fruition and can be indispensable for communities facing challenges in their local fundraising. Grants have supported Sangha to attend retreats; the creation of new holy objects, book publications, service programs, and retreat cabins; much-needed repair work, and so on. All this coming from individuals placing small offerings into their Merit Boxes at home throughout the year. Now approaching its fifteenth grant season, the International Merit Box Project is an annual display of the effects of collective generosity within the FPMT community.

The deadline for submitting a Merit Box grant application for a 2016 grant (awarded in May-June 2016) is March 31, 2016. Request a grant application by emailing meritbox@fpmt.org

One can join the international project and become a Merit Box practitioner by ordering a free Merit Box from the Foundation Store, or contribute immediately to the project online here. Donations received by March 31st, 2016 will be collected for the 2016 grant awards.

IMI Sangha members at Maitreya Instituut, Loenen, Netherlands, July 2015. Photo via IMI on Facebook. A Merit Box grant provided support for IMI Sangha to attend the teachings with Lama Zopa Rinpoce at Maitreya Instituut.

With a special thanks for all those who submitted or helped coordinate Merit Box offerings over the past year, it’s time to rejoice! A new set of 14 Merit Box grants have been awarded for 2015. Disbursements will be sent out this month to support a number of Dharma endeavors.

Here are some highlights of Merit Box grants awarded this year:

• One grant provided support for IMI Sangha (FPMT nuns and monks) to attend the retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Maitreya Instituut Loenen, Netherlands in July.

• Buddha House, an FPMT center in Australia, is building statues of Ganapati and the 16 Arhats following Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice. The project will be partially funded by their forthcoming grant.

FPMT Europe regional meeting group photo, Maitreya Instituut, Loenen, Netherlands, July 2015. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

• FPMT Europe will receive much-needed support to further the coordination efforts between their very active regional and national offices. There are 50 centers, study groups, projects and services in Europe, including long-term retreat centers and two centers offering the FPMT Masters Program!

• A grant was awarded to Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for the publication of Lama Yeshe’s Gyalwa Gyatso teachings given at a course in Italy in 1983. They will be transcribed, edited and prepared into a print book and ebook for interested students around the world.

Dr. Thupten Jinpa speaking at Maitripa College in May 2015, the first event of the Mindfulness and Compassion Initiative, Portland, Oregon, USA. Photo courtesy of Maitripa College.

• At Maitripa College in the USA, grants have been awarded for two projects. One will fund the need for expanded shelving to house the immense collection of texts bequeathed to the Maitripa Library by their dear late professor, Buddhist scholar Dr. James Blumenthal. 

  The second grant will be applied for the development of a new Mindfulness and Compassion initiative. Yangsi Rinpoche, president of Maitripa College, comments, “This initiative is a major development towards incorporating the advice given to Maitripa College by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in May 2013. We are so grateful to be within the FPMT family. We recognize that the Merit Box grants are a result of incredible generosity from every angle, and we are so appreciative for the awards we received this year.”

Eight other great projects will also receive funding support through the Merit Box Project. Please see the complete list of grants here!

Becoming a Merit Box practitioner is easy! Order a free Merit Box kit for your altar, and start making offerings throughout the year into your Merit Box. Collection for the 2016 grants will take place from December 2015 through March 2016. Please contact meritbox@fpmt.org with any questions or requests.