Hi Everyone,
Sunyata are launching an appeal to raise the €100,000 they still owe Peter Carey who put up the money to buy the place from Stan and Clare when they left. Myself and Mich are keen to help, both to enable Sunyata to finally stand on its own feet, but also to help Peter who is a wonderful man. I hope some of you can also contribute.
This is the link:
https://gofund.me/e320f674
Sunyata is a tremendous asset to the Dhamma here in the West of Ireland. For many years it struggled and would have died if Peter hadn't stepped in, when Stan and Clare left, offering the proceeds of selling his house in Oxford. But since it's been run by Irish practitioners, it's got on its feet and started to thrive. So that with the end of the pandemic it is going to be a resource that many new people are able to turn to. Now is the time for Sunyata to pay off the last of their debt to Peter and start to plan the additional accommodation and better kitchen that their wonderful Dhamma hall and location deserve.
This is also an opportunity to help Peter. He’s stuck in Indonesia with little savings and no health insurance (he’s over 70) in a house which is currently worth little because of the situation there. He wants to move back to his cottage across the fields from Sunyata, along with his Indonesian wife and son. Myself and Mich are keen to help as he’s such a good man. He founded the Cambodia Trust which sets up orthopaedic manufacturing and provision in countries suffering from land mines (that's how he ended up in Indonesia) and he also founded the Buddhist School in Brighton. He’s spent a lifetime giving, so we’d now like to do all we can for him. He deserves it and he deserves to be living across the fields from Sunyata, which he saved for all of us.
As part of preparing this appeal, Sunyata have reaffirmed their commitment to the Western Ajahn Chah tradition. They have told Ajahn Amaro, Abbot of Amaravati Monastery in the UK, that they will seek and follow his guidance with an aim one day to have both a retreat centre providing teachings in the Forest tradition and a Buddhist monastery here. Their vision is set out in the attached document.
Because Sunyata is run entirely by volunteers, all that we give will go to this. Having myself worked for charities I know how unusual that is these days. So I'd like to do all I can to help them raise the €100,000, and if possible at least another €25,000 so that they can also complete all the repairs and maintenance outstanding because of the pandemic. That way they will be set up and ready to respond to the surge of interest I suspect is about to come their way. Both Mich and I have given substantial amounts because we can afford that. But anything you can do will help, even just a euro, as it's always good to give back to the Dhamma
Sunyata Fundraising Document
Yours with love
Nick