Sirimangalo Centre - Create a Home for Meditation

~~Update October 2022!~~

When we started our fundraiser at the outset of 2021, we had a vision: to establish a lasting meditation centre. Without knowing how much support we would have or our options, we kept our search wide, open to whatever possibilities might arise. One particular opportunity arose through the generosity of our board member, centre caretaker, and day-to-day attendant of Venerable Yuttadhammo: Jeff Bao Nguyen. Jeff, in generosity toward our community, in the will to share the Dhamma, and in honour of his late partner Ron, has purchased and renovated a property to serve as our new meditation centre. As the final touches are being put on the building, we have moved our operations there and are running courses in what is proving to be a new home for Sirimangalo. Additionally, a large barn on the property is being completely converted to serve as our Dhamma hall and monastic quarters. Upon completing this renovation, we will hold a grand opening ceremony for the new Sirimangalo International Meditation Society, date TBD.

As the use of these quarters has been offered as a gift, Sirimangalo still retains the full funds from our centre fundraiser. Our community has raised $106,935 for the centre, in addition to the continual donations we receive for ongoing operations. We have been blessed with gifts from all over the world, given with a spirit of selfless generosity. As we settle into our new home, we aim to put these funds to use by covering the cost of the Dhamma hall renovation. If there is any money left over after the renovations, we will make sure any remaining funds go toward the goal of establishing this as our lasting centre. We look forward to updating you on the use of your generous gifts!

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Meditation changes everything. Invaluable is the opportunity to get away from it all and dedicate the time to practice, to sit face-to-face with your own mind and see clearly. This is the goal of Sirimangalo International: free, in-person, meditation retreats. In a world broken up and isolated by pandemic, we continue offering courses and community online, while taking this opportunity to invest in the new future. Our aim is to establish a long-lasting home for our meditation centre, a refuge for the mind, a place to free oneself and find footing in a shaky world.

Our Goal

Our organization is interested in establishing a long-lasting meditation centre. We currently rent a house to serve as our centre, using that space as best we can to host retreats and serve a few meditators at a time, teaching mindfulness meditation in the Mahasi style. A successful campaign here will allow us to make a down payment for (or, if we exceed our goal, purchase outright) a property that we can truly settle into and turn into a lasting centre, so that we can continue to serve meditators worldwide. We are currently doing a property search in the Ontario, Canada area and have come across so many promising properties -- vacated churches, bed & breakfasts, and large residences -- all of which could be adapted to meet our needs quite suitably. However, the property market moves fast and we cannot identify a particular property until we already have a significant portion of our funding raised. As funds start to come in, we may be able to update with more info as we are actually in a position to consider specific properties.

Who We Are

Sirimangalo International is a worldwide community of mindfulness meditators practicing vipassana meditation, under the guidance of Bhante Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu. Bhante Yuttadhammo is a Canadian-born Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Thailand. For twenty years he has been teaching vipassana meditation, also known as insight meditation, along with teaching and study of Buddhist scripture and traditions. He was an early adopter of YouTube as a medium for teaching meditation, and now has thousands of videos uploaded, over 90,000 subscribers, and millions of views, with videos containing meditation instruction, question and answer series, and textual study. Yuttadhammo is known for his clear, direct, and practical teaching style, attracting students of both Buddhist and secular backgrounds alike. Most importantly, perhaps, he offers live meditation courses completely free of charge, both online and in-person.

The Sirimangalo community provides a network of meditators within this tradition to support each other and share the benefits of vipassana meditation. Meditation+ gives people a place to meditate "together" online, while our Discord server provides as a meeting place for discussion of practice, a weekly Dhamma study group, and a hub of volunteer activity. Our robust volunteer group helps run our meditation centre from afar and work on dissemination of meditation teachings, such as through our audio library or translating Bhante Yuttadhammo's How to Meditate booklet into many languages.

How to Donate

There are a number of ways to donate to Sirimangalo International. If you have any questions, please contact us. If you donate through a method other then GoFundMe, please message us so we can include that donation in our GoFundMe total.

• GoFundMe - You may donate right here on GoFundMe, which accepts transactions through PayPal and credit cards worldwide.

• PayPal Giving Fund  - Donating directly through PayPal Giving Fund allows us to receive the donation with no fees. All money must be donated in Canadian dollars, though most credit cards will convert currencies for a small fee (PayPal will offer to convert currency, but does so at an unfavorable rate. It is best just to pay in CAD and let your bank do the conversion). Considering the fees incurred on other platforms, this is our preferred option for receiving donations.

• PayPal USD  - You may also donate US dollars through PayPal. This incurs some minor fees, but is preferred by some donors.

• Bank Transfer - The easiest way to make a bank transfer is through Transferwise , but we can also accept transfers made directly though your banking institution. Please contact us for more info if you would like to make such a bank transfer.

All money donated to this campaign will be held in a fund dedicated to our monastery centre project. However, we recognize that the future is uncertain and we may find that we do not complete a project of this scale. If funding falls short and we decide to abandon this project at any point, we will dedicate the funds to other ways of increasing the availability of in-person meditation retreats.