Sponsorship is a compassionate and generous way of serving the Buddha Dharma. Traditionally it was not uncommon for individuals within a community to offer to sponsor a Teaching or support Sangha members in the monasteries.
The relationship of a community sponsoring or supporting the source of its spiritual education is deeply embedded within traditional Buddhism. In Lord Buddha’s time, the community offered daily food to the ordained Sangha to show respect to the Buddha Dharma and to accumulate merit for themselves. The Sangha sought alms for lunch (sonyam). This daily fare met their basic needs. The lay community gave what it could to sustain the Sangha. This giving and receiving cemented a bond between the ordained Sangha and the lay community.
This historic practice is still carried out, for example, in present-day Thailand. Within the Tibetan community a similar practice arose out of the community’s generosity in sustaining the Dharma teaching system. In the Tibetan version of this relationship, the community supported large monastic centers of learning and practice.
In a pattern that replicates alms giving, a Dharma Teaching is generally only given at the request of an individual or group. The Lama uses his discretion to evaluate the benefits of the requested teaching prior to accepting a request to teach. After initial acceptance, a formal request in person is traditionally encouraged. The individual or group making the request assumes the responsibility of providing the material costs associated with the request, thus making the teaching possible.
Trijang Buddhist Institute board members have indicated that this description of the tradition of cementing the bond between the community and the Buddha Dharma teaching should be shared. In part we were observing that at TBI, we are recipients of the transmission of an unusually pure teaching system of Buddha Dharma. We are motivated to find optimal means to establish the deep bonds of community that lie at the core of meaningful practice.
If you would like to sponsor or request a special ceremony (Puja) or teaching, please use the form below.