I started a Buddhist organization in the USA

Inspired by Buddhism itself, on the Vesak Day of 2017, I started an organization in the US with the goal of working through it full-time only after my education is complete (quite a few years down the line from now - but time goes by fast).

The hope is to build the organization up gradually while I am still in school so that by the time I am able to complete my education, others and I are able to work full-time to support ourselves and earn our living through a viable organization in accordance with the Dhamma-Vinaya (DV), i.e. “right livelihood.”

The organization is intended to be based on the Dhamma-Vinaya as taught by the Buddha
(i.e. Early Buddhism); this would mark the outer boundary and be the basic guideline.

The goal would be to help the Sangha first, before radiating from there out towards others.

Some general ideas in terms of overall direction:

  1. Buddhism-based; Dhamma-Vinaya-based
  2. for-profit/not-for-profit hybrid organization
  3. try to make significant contributions through valuable products/services
  4. global
  5. take into account the interests/skills/goals of all members - your ideas :bulb: here?
  6. compete with individuals/groups to the extent that they are contrary to DV
    cooperate with individuals/groups to the extent that they are in accordance with DV

Feedback? Ideas? Wanna join?

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The following book may be useful for the direction, the basic guideline of Early Buddhism for your Buddhist organization in the USA:

The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A Comparative Study Based on the Sutra-anga portion of the Pali Samyutta-Nikaya and the Chinese Samyukta-agama (Series: Beitrage zur Indologie Band 32; Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2000) by Choong Mun-keat.

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Funnily, I think I literally just happened to download this book in the past few days actually!
Thank you for the recommendation! I’m looking forward to reading it more now.

Again, small steps. What kind of work would you like to do yourself?

Ever a helpful reminder :pray:t3:

The early sources frequently mention “food, clothing, housing, and healthcare.”
Although it does mention others as well, these seem to be the core four.

My thought was to begin here.

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