Hello! I am Bishnu Bhatta.

I am a third-year BA student (class of 2026) at Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) situated inside the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) in Ukiah, California. I find joy in serving other people in whatever positions I can and allowing others to serve me. For instance, I have been serving tea as an unofficial Tea Master for students and community members in DRBU. Ever since I was a kid, I always loved sharing the wisdom I had learned with others. Because of this, after my first BE degree in Electrical Engineering, I mostly volunteered teaching and conducting workshops for school kids in different parts of Nepal for two years through the Mobile Library Program initiated by the American Embassy.

Growing up, I often asked this question: What is the purpose of educating oneself? Is it only to get a degree to afford a living and fulfill one's needs and desires? Even though I was trained in educational pedagogy, I was disappointed with the prevailing approaches where exam performance was and is still considered the best form of evaluation while projects remain mostly repetitive. Amidst the busy professors, students' creativity is usually restricted within the scope of the curriculum with no room for experimentation and exercise of intellectual curiosity. After I graduated from my first BE, I was trying to figure out a path or career that would enable me to practice maximum mental freedom and nurture my values and principles of doing no harm to others, practicing compassion, generosity, care, and learning from others. And I have found that place.

DRBU has become my dream place for such kinds of practice. I have always found joy being in a space of learning and sharing where each person is given a chance to listen and express how they integrate and understand the texts they read. It has also nurtured me and others in reaching the culmination of the learning journey through dialogues, self-reflection, inquiry, and more. I realized that a structure like that of DRBU is essential to be free from distractions in order to develop radically independent and self-sustained knowledge. The community in DRBU has also played an important role in extensively transforming my relationship with people around me, my family, relatives, friends, and the larger world. This has helped me pour forth the heart of generosity and giving. This was all I ever wanted since I was a small child.

My attempts at selfless giving have manifested in forms of volunteering at CTTB and DRBU, serving tea, and holding space for friends, community members, and new acquaintances.

I have also performed flute and other musical instruments in different recitals organized by DRBU and the local community for fundraisers.

Additionally, I have made a lot of ceramics in pottery and kindly offered them to people. As my spirit of living life has been strengthened and harmonized by meditation practice, I have felt the deeper need for other people to witness it as well. Because of this, I have spent most of my school breaks at the Northern California Vipassana Meditation Center for the past two years. I have selflessly volunteered in different positions such as Meditation Course Manager, Kitchen Manager, and other roles to help people get the taste of meditation (dharma) and come out of their misery as well as deepen their spiritual practice. However, this was not always the case.

When I found out about DRBU, I applied to this place without knowing how I was going to manage my four years of funding. After I got accepted, I arrived here with just a plane ticket and some cash, with only the intention of studying this course. In the past two and half years, I have been able to sustain myself in DRBU only because of the enormous kindness and generosity of my family, DRBU's University Grant and Service Scholarship, friends, and everyone else I have met on this path. I am only here because of these virtues that people possess. However, at this point as I'm about to finish this education, I have come across a crisis: Though it is of great value to me and to the world we live in, I am not able to finance the education that has helped me so much.

I have a year and half of the degree program left and I would be enormously grateful if you could help me fund my education that I have always dreamt of pursuing. Your gift of generous donation will be used towards the minimum tuition fees I need to pay at school. This will empower me to continue the program of reading, volunteering, and practicing meditation with a never-tiring spirit of generosity for others. I can guarantee that your generosity will not only benefit me but benefit all of us.

What will the funding be used for?

Total Semester Fees (2024-2025 and 2025-2026): $1200

GoFundMe fees: $~50

Any surplus funds will be used for books and readers purchases, if needed, continuing the morning Meditation, Tea and reading club, participating in the meditation retreats and will be donated towards the university.

Thank you very much for reading all the way through. Your time and consideration are greatly appreciated!

Hands Folded and Bow

Bishnu Bhatta

P.S. : For every donation, I vow to recite the Shurangama Mantra three times and share the merits and blessings to myself, donors, and all the beings of the world.

And if you are still wondering about what DRBU is, you can watch this short video.

Update (28th Jan, 2025): I am deeply humbled and inspired by all the help, generosity and kindness that I have been receiving.

My minimum goal of the fundraiser has already been met. So, I have stopped accepting the donations. Some people found the information displayed on my story confusing, some words on that: As I did not have way to withdraw money so I am having to use friend's Bank account. So, the Fundraisers displays as the 'team fundraisers.'