22 May, 2010

A Heart-Felt Wish


Very few times in life you meet a person that is truly a wisdom body, where everything they do and say is pure. I was lucky enough to meet that person in Dr. Acchandrapisit Pingchaiyawat(Dr. Aphisit) a source of inspiration on my path. He comes to mind when chanting Reflections on Shared Blessings. He is trying to build an international dhamma centre and is in need of $30,000.

An opportunity to help Dr. Aphisit.

Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 8:59am
As many of you know, Dr Aphisit has a visionary idea for developing an
international dhamma centre just on the land behind Wat Sri Boon Ruang where the Monk for a Month program is run.

The land was largely donated by local owners who support Dr Aphisit's dream of a community centre. It is a place where people from around the world will come to learn and practise dhamma and shall also provide resources for the local community including facilities such as pre-schools, schools, hospitals and hospices. The land is adjacent to the temple 'burning place' where the local funerals are conducted. Dr Aphisit has often said his vision is to create a centre that will care for the community from birth, through life and even through death.

It is a beautiful vision of the future, a great example of socially-engaged Buddhism and together with the many meditation huts intended to be built, represents a real global centre for applied Buddhism and international spirituality.

A recent development is that one of the owners, who is from a distant part of Thailand, has found an alternate buyer for the 30 acre property and is requesting that the temple pay something for the land in the next week or risk losing the entire project. This has come as an unexpected surprise and all hands are on deck to ensure it doesn't happen.

This land is an ideal spot for Dr Aphisit's vision, it is flat area with lovely clear views of the mountains along the border. This is something that many of us would love to be involved in supporting.

So here's our chance. The temple needs around $30 000 in the following days in order to step forward and secure this property and move closer to making the vision a reality.


We are calling on all friends of Dr. Aphisit
to help him reach this target.

You can send money to:
Krung Thai Bank
Account Name : Buddhist Community Development Centre
Account Number : 532-0-19920-1
(SWIFT CODE - KRTHTHBK)

OR

You can do a PayPal transfer to Blood Foundation here http://bloodfoundation.org/blood/main/paypal-donation and we will ensure the temple gets your donation.

The Monk for a Month project is contributing 20 000 Baht ($620) to this important project. All contributions are welcome. If we each pitch in a bit we can help them to get there.

If you do support this project please send us an email to info@monkforamonth.com to alert us.

Dr Aphisit will certainly be aware of who has been able to help him at this time.

We hope you are able to share in the fulfilment of this dream, the vision of a man who has been a friend to so many of us.

This is the time.

With Kindness,
Ben Bowler

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