Windhorse: Evolution’s month-long Working Retreat - part II

Sugarbha writes from Windhorse: Evolution with news of their month-long Working Retreat. They’re making a video diary of the event - they plan to tell FWBO News readers and the wider Buddhist Sangha more about themselves and they see their work - and the business itself - as a really effective means of practicing Right Livelihood.

He says -

“Windhorse: Evolution is a successful business, trading ethically in giftware. It’s the largest team based right livelihood business in the Triratna Buddhist Community/FWBO.

“We employ approximately 250 people in total - about 100 people in Cambridge and a further 150 who work in the 18 Evolution shops around the UK and Ireland.

“Right now we’re running a month-long working retreat in the warehouse. Here in part two of our video diary of the event, Satyaketu (our Warehouse Manager) outlines the scale of the operation and explains why we are now in a position to focus more on exploring work as a spiritual practice.

“The link is to view the video is http://vimeo.com/user2981906/videos

“Enjoy!

“Sugarbha”

Lama’s Pyjamas are go!

Padmalila writes from the FWBO’s London Buddhist Centre with news of the opening of their new Right Livelihood business - the Lama’s Pyjamas. Which is a charity shop, in case you were wondering. And you’re invited...! She says -

“The new charity shop for the London Buddhist Centre will be opened officially on Saturday 20th February at 2pm by Jnanavaca, the chairman of the London Buddhist Centre. There will be live music and a special window display of garments designed by Holly. We sell clothes and bric-a-brac and plan to have workshops for the local community teaching basic sewing skills and crafts. We have a mixture of affordable clothing and better quality garments at reasonable prices.

“Holly who is designing garments and doing our window display for the opening has just finished filming a programme for BBC2 , part of the ” Mastercraft” series about traditional British crafts which will be shown in February. She has just finished designing the launch collection for a new shop in the Brick Lane area called "123, Bethnal Green Road" which will be opening later in February. She is interested in sustainability. Her garments are made with care and attention to detail and made to be worn over and over again, known as slow fashion, as opposed to much of the cheaper mass produced fast fashion today which is made to be briefly used and then replaced.

“Please come and see us anytime we're open. Opening hours 12-6pm Monday-Friday and 10.30am-6pm Saturday. Please bring us donations of clothes and bric-a-brac during opening hours and help to keep the LBC providing Meditation and Buddhism teaching, MBCT courses, TBRL and communities which together create the "Buddhist village" of Bethnal Green.

“Lamas Pyjamas is at 83, Roman Road London E2. Tel: 020 8980 1843. Web site: www.lamaspyjamas.com

Thanks Padmalila

Windhorse:Evolution begin month-long working retreat

Windhorse: Evolution is the FWBO’s largest and most successful business, trading ethically in giftware, supplying shops all over the UK and beyond. It is the largest Buddhist team-based right livelihood business in the UK and probably Europe, employing approximately 250 people in total. About 100 people work in Cambridge and a further 150 in the 18 Evolution shops that form part of the Windhorse family.

There are three teams in the Windhorse warehouse, totalling about 25 Buddhist men, and they are currently entering into a more intense period of a month-long ‘working retreat’. Specifically they are exploring how work can be a potent spiritual practice.

They write to say - “We are going to make a video diary of our retreat in the workplace which will be posted on FWBO News. Please click on the link to watch our introductory video www.vimeo.com/8778332 - or click on the screenshot opposite. And look out for follow-ups!”

Windhorse occasionally have vacancies for both men and women. These are often advertised on FWBO Jobs, or you can contact Windhorse direct on 01223 868600..

The Lama's Pyjamas: now for sale at the London Buddhist Centre!

Claudine Edwards writes from the LBC to say -

“Padmalila and I are very excited to announce the start of a new Team Based Right Livelihood business in Bethnal Green, just along the road from the FWBO's London Buddhist Centre. It's a charity shop called Lama's Pyjamas which is located at 83 Roman Road, in the premises previously occupied by Friends Organic.

“We opened our doors a week ago and plan to have a Grand Opening next month. In the mean time do visit our website www.lamaspyjamas.com.

“We're still very much 'work-in-progress' (with quite a lot still to do!) but already we've had a very positive response from the local community and great support from everyone at the LBC. We did the shop fitting ourselves (with lots of help from the wonderful Ibon) using recycled materials donated by members of the sangha - our only major new purchases were a steamer and a till!

“Our vision is for the business to be more than simply a charity shop - we hope, in time, to run training workshops, for instance teaching people the skills they’d need to turn old clothes into new - but for now we're both trying to get the shop up and running as a viable business as well as a place for spiritual practice.

“We're looking for volunteers, so if anybody has a regular amount of time they could spare please do get in touch with us - claudine@lamaspyjamas.com.

Windhorse:Evolution follows through on successful "survival strategy"

Windhorse:Evolution is the largest and most successful of the FWBO’s many Right Livelihood businesses, with a chain of some 20 Evolution shops and a massive warehouse on the outskirts of Cambridge, UK.

Over the years they’ve been a major source of dana to a great many FWBO and TBMSG projects around the world, often giving away £250,000 or even more in a single year. However, like most retail businesses, they’ve been hard-hit by the recent downturn. The following is an article from their internal magazine, reprinted by permission. It gives an authentic insight into the real-life difficulties of running an idealistically-based business - and their success in meeting what are probably their greatest-ever challenges.

Vajraketu, Windhorse’s Managing Director, reports -

"The year to March 31st 2009 was in business terms the most difficult Windhorse:Evolution has faced for over twenty years. The credit crunch arrived at a time when we already faced challenges that would have been a handful even in a benign economic environment, and the result was a substantial loss for the year - the first time the business has lost money since 1984.

"Once the extent of the economic downturn became clear, in the early autumn of 2008, we launched a "survival strategy", which involved extensive cost cutting, including shutting two shops, the shelving of our plan to open more shops, and some redundancies at the Cambridge head office - the first time we have had to make anyone redundant, and not a happy landmark. Those, and other measures too numerous to mention, have enabled us to cut about 5%, or £300,000, from our projected expenses for this financial year.
At the same time, both the wholesale and retail sides of the business have had to focus on how best to adapt and compete in a depressed market.

"So far both have performed better than the sales forecasts we made for them in January, and if this continues until Christmas then the business could break-even this year (we were previously expecting a substantial loss). Breaking-even may not sound like much, but in the circumstances we are dealing with it would be a considerable achievement. However I must stress that with so much of our annual sales concentrated in the September-December period, and with the economic environment so uncertain, we cannot assume that the better-than-expected sales performance of recent months will necessarily continue.

"There is no guarantee that we will survive the current recession. I have been impressed with the amount of change and adaptation we have effected in the past year or so, and with the efforts and plans of both the wholesale and retail teams to maximise sales, but we must acknowledge that there are some things that are not in our control and we could probably not survive a deep and prolonged recession.

"While much of our energy is currently concentrated on survival, we have not lost sight of the longer-term vision of an ethical business run along broadly Buddhist lines, and the need to develop that in the light of changing circumstances. There are a great many things we could do in developing and promoting our approach to ethical trade, and to the environment, that are not getting as much attention from us as they would if times were easier. There is also the need to grow sales so that we can again generate profits sufficient to enable us to give away money to Buddhist projects and to social and educational projects in the communities where our products are made, and to support those who work in the business to an adequate standard now and in the future".

Latest news just in from Windhorse indicates that they seem to have survived the worst of the recession and are turning their minds from survival to considering more broadly what type of business they wish to be in the future. Sadhu Windhorse!

More details, including their Ethical Trading policy, are on their website www.windhorse.biz. To learn more about the ‘Windhorse story’, we recommend ‘Transforming Work: An Experiment in Right Livelihood’, by Padmasuri.

Breathworks book to be published in six countries

‘Living well with pain and illness’ was first published last year by Vidyamala, founder of Breathworks - one of the FWBO’s most successful Right Livelihood businesses.

We’ve recently heard her book is now being translated and published in 6 countries and/or languages: German, the USA, Holland, Russia, Denmark, and Maharastra (where it will be translated into Marathi). Others are in the pipeline.

Meanwhile the Dutch version of the Breathworks website has just gone live at www.breathworks.nl- joining the Spanish version, Respiravida, launched last year.

Breathworks courses are now run to help people deal with any sort of stress or difficulty as well as physical pain.

At present Sona and Vidyamala are in Sweden at the moment running their first Training Retreat, which is being held at Dharmagiri, the FWBO’s Swedish retreat centre.

Right Livelihood in the USA: Tipu's Chai

Tipu’s Tiger was a much-loved Indian Restaurant in the small mid-Western town of Missoula, Montana - and the FWBO’s first Right Livelihood business in the States. Sadly the business closed as a Buddhist Right Livelihood some years ago - but the vision lives on and is just taking off in the form of a new business - Tipu’s Tiger Chai .

Buddhapalita, the business’ founder, says - “Our chai first came to life in our vegetarian café in Montana, where it grew in popularity until it was known throughout the region. Tipu’s Tiger Chai is a complex blend of sweet spices, complemented with a strong, organic, Indian black tea with a satisfying spicy finish. This is how real chai tastes! Made with non-radiated fresh spices, fresh ginger root, Montana-grown beet sugar and waters from the Mission Mountains”. And he concludes - “We are sure it will please your customers as much as it does ours!”

It’s not easy starting a business these days, but things look good - They’ve won two gold awards already at the 2008 World Tea Championships.

Buddhapalita, founder of Tipu’s Tiger and the driving force behind their new Chai range, was recently interviewed on Montana Public Radio, and you can listen to him here - www.mtpr.net/program_info/2009-08-21-132 . Scroll forwards to the 11-minute mark (unless you want to hear about Montana's recent problems with grizzly bears!)

And the spirit of Right Livelihood and dana (generosity) lives on - Tipu's Chai have already started to donate some of their profits. Their first choice, interestingly, was not an FWBO Buddhist Centre but to a mine detector program operating in Darfur. Somewhere in Darfur, they say, is a mine detector with our name on! The donation was made through a company called Schonstedt that Thiradhamma, another US Order Member, works for. Tipu’s have received letters of thanks from the State Dept and UN as well as Schonstedt.

Mitraloka celebrate their second birthday

Nagaketu, Director of Mitraloka, TBMSG’s School of Foreign Languages in Nagpur, Central India, writes to say -

“Mitraloka School of Foreign Languages celebrated its second anniversary on 15th June. A special get-together of all present and ex-students was organized on this occasion. As part of the celebrations there was an address from Mitraloka’s founder, Dhammachari Nagaketu, plus special guests Nitin Kamble (a French language teacher) and Rohan Chahande (a Japanese and English language teacher).

“Over the past two years Mitraloka has become one of the major language training centers in central India, providing courses in multiforeign languages. For last two years at Mitraloka; various foreign languages have been taught including English, French, German, Japanese & Chinese.

“Through this teaching we are cultivating awareness about foreign languages and different cultures in the world. Hundreds of students have been benefited by learning foreign languages and thereby they have shaped their careers in different fields. Mitraloka is also help them with job placement in the global market.

“Soon we are going to start Portuguese, Arabic and Pali language classes.

“With metta, Nagaketu.

Situated in central Nagpur, Mitraloka is a fairly new - but very successful - addition to the portfolio of social and Dhamma projects run by TBMSG in India.  More and more, it's clear that command of English and other foreign languages are a key to social mobility and economic advancement - crucial in the rigid caste structure of Hindu India.

Aryaloka Computer Education: profiling a Community and Right Livelihood Project in Nagpur, India

Dhammamitra Nagaratna from Kerala in South India writes with a great profile of a very successful grass-roots initiative in Nagpur, Central India. This is the ‘Aryaloka Computer Education and Community Center’, one of many TBMSG projects in the city.

He says -
“Our Aryaloka community and computer center is located in the middle of a thickly populated area called Laghuvetan Colony, nearly 5 kilometers from central Nagpur. Nagpur is a large city right in the centre of India, in Maharastra state.

“We are four members right now here in our small community, trying to adjust and live together with small available amenities. Each of us has some responsibilities in the computer institution which is in same building: we are working as computer teacher, instructor, receptionist. Also we are students learning some advanced computer courses (which are much expensive to afford by us in other places) as well as continuing our Academic Education. We get support as pocket money from the institution to meet our basic needs.

“It’s true that we are enjoying our life here, living in spiritual community, practicing meditation, trying to develop our friendship based on spiritual values - “to create a positive atmosphere in the society on the basis of humanitarian principles”. This is hard in the midst of India’s caste-ridden society. In order to achieve our vision we took our great opportunity to incorporate with this mission the ‘Aryaloka Computer Education and Community Center’.

“Thanks to Dhammachari Aryaketu (photo, right) for establishing the Institute and creating a situation like this. He has still so many innovative ideas to help flourish Buddhism all over the world. At present he is in UK visiting Buddhafield.

“Really speaking, this is also our individual mission, keeping what we have created as a role model and working in the future to create institutions in our own native places which are generally located in remote areas and towns. For that purpose we are here from different parts of the country, living together, trying to know each other’s culture, mental attitudes, etc. We are sharing and by responding sensitively we try to practice spiritually to be robust as well by doing some advanced computer courses like 2D, 3D Animation, Photoshop….and so on we could develop our creative and imaginative mind to make it more refined and focused.

“And pioneering like this we can help assure our Right Livelihood at present and in future to make success of our own life mission, to help and show the way for others too.  Please check our website at www.aryalokaeducation.org”.

Back at FWBO News we’re reminded of the three Aniruddhas in the Pali Canon, who live together in perfect harmony. The Buddha asks them “Aniruddha, how do you live thus?”, and they reply -

“Venerable sir, as to that, I think thus: ‘It is a gain for me, it is a great gain for me that I am living with such companions in the holy life.’ I maintain bodily acts of loving-kindness towards these venerable ones both openly and privately; I maintain verbal acts of loving-kindness towards them both openly and privately; I maintain mental acts of loving-kindness towards them both openly and privately. I consider: ‘Why should I not set aside what I wish to do and do what these venerable ones wish to do?’ Then I set aside what I wish to do and do what these venerable ones wish to do. We are different in body, venerable sir, but one in mind".

Buddhafield prepares for the summer; volunteers needed

Buddhafield is a major FWBO sangha in the West of England. They run the ever-popular Buddhafield Festival, a series of camping retreats through the summer, the Buddhafield Café, an organic vegetable growing business, and manage two very beautiful pieces of land. They also teach meditation at many of the UK's alternative festivals and have inspired a series of offshoots - Buddhafield North, Buddhafield East, Buddhafield New Zealand...

Right now they are recruiting volunteers for their summer season. Check their website www.buddhafield.com to see what they need - the advert shown is for workers in the Buddhafield Café…

As well as recruiting, they're hard at work preparing their kit for the summer season. There's some great photos of 'Buddhafield backstage' - see for instance "The Working World of Rupadarshin" on Facebook (you'll need to be logged in to Facebook to see them)

FWBO Photos has lots of them 'in action' see for instance pictures of last summer's festival,
or a meditative journey up to their land at Broadhembury in the beautiful Somerset countryside...

Most importantly though - if you're interested in volunteering with them over the summer, get in touch now!

Archive photos from early days of FWBO now on-line

For the past two years Padmakara, an Order Member from Manchester UK, has been occupying himself in his spare time scanning hundreds and even thousands of historic photographs from the FWBO Archives, held by ClearVision.

Four collections of these have now been uploaded to the FWBO Photos website, covering-

people

retreats

communities

and Team-Based Right Livelihood

We hope a further collection, covering the early days of TBMSG in India, will be added soon.  Further contributions are very welcome - please email FWBO News.

Any statisticians among FWBO News’ readership might be interested to know FWBO Photos
(www.flickr.com/photos/fwbo/sets) currently contains 3,767 photos related to the FWBO, which have been viewed 70,002 times.

Windhorse:Evolution faces the credit crunch; challenges ahead but morale high

Windhorse:Evolution is the FWBO’s largest Right Livelihood, indeed the largest in the Western Buddhist world, with annual sales of UK £9million, an impressively ethical approach to business, and a wonderful record of giving dana to many many FWBO and TBMSG centres around the world.

However they, like the rest of the Western economy, have been hard-hit by the recent economic downturn. This report aims to bring readers of FWBO News up-to-date with what’s happened and what they’re doing. It is based on material from Ratnaghosa and Vajraketu.

Final figures are still coming in, but sales for the 2008 Christmas period look to be down some 20% on last year, both in their shops and wholesale division. As a result their best-case projection for 2008 is a loss of £150,000 – their worst-case projection is £450,000. Nonetheless, they are confident they have the resources to ‘weather the storm’ for a year – though, like most of the retail industry, it is presently a case of fighting for survival. The collapse of the pound has also hit them hard, with the cost of many of their goods rising by 25%.

The main measures they are taking are cost-cutting – specifically looking for savings in their wage and rent bills. These are in the spotlight because they are the ‘levers’ actually available to them. Out of annual sales of £9m, they have a wage bill of £3m and a rent bill of £2m. They have instituted a ‘hiring freeze’ and, with great reluctance, made their first-ever redundancies in the business. This has been especially painful for a business that prides itself on looking after its employees. Sadly, they cannot guarantee there won’t be more over the coming months.

A major consideration in the minds of the Windhorse directors has been the livelihoods of their suppliers. Due to Windhorse’s ethical trading policy, they often know exactly who they are buying from, and have had long-term relationships with them for many years. They know, for instance, that if they disappear the livelihoods of 200 people in Bali would vanish – and many in Kenya, Guatemala, and China as well. This is a strong incentive to them to survive, and even if the very worst happens and they go under, they are determined not to close owing their suppliers money.

This seems pretty unlikely though - morale in the business is actually very good: Ratnaghosa says its as though the crisis has brought out the best in everyone. A couple of unprofitable shops have been closed (in Shrewsbury and Norwich) – but they are still looking to open 3 new shops during 2009! This is down from their original ambitious plans to open 5, and the openings have been deferred to be nearer Christmas so they will move into profitability quicker – but its still a mark of their confidence.

Notwithstanding the difficult climate, and the very real challenges they face, Windhorse are looking to the future and are determined to come out of the recession both stronger and in an expansionist mood. Exactly how this will manifest is not easy to predict – forecasting the future, says Ratnaghosa, has effectively become almost impossible.

The photographs show Uddiyana, the Windhorse warehouse in Cambridge, and the great stupa in its centre.

FWBO Websites VI: Red Noses Unlimited

Red Noses Unlimited (www.rednoses-unlimited.co.uk) is this week’s featured FWBO website.

Created and run by Jayacitta, an Order Member living in East London, it invites one and all to enter the world of the clown. And there is, perhaps, more to clowns and clowning than meets the eye. As she says -

“A Clown is a being that steps into the world afresh. He or she is open to new experiences, meeting things, people, events with wonder, curiosity and a sense of pleasure. Quite different from our pragmatic and often routine way of being, a clown is forever discovering the new. She enjoys being just herself however she is - so being shy, awkward, grumpy, afraid, bossy, falling in love or falling over - all those have a place and can be experienced, seen and celebrated."

More seriously (if one can use the word in such a context!), Red Noses offer professional training in team-work, communication skills, leadership, public presentation, listening & engagement. Jayacitta’s a regular trainer on street-fundraising appeals for the Karuna Trust – she’s found clown training helps people working or living together to meet in deeper understanding and with more empathy for each other, therefore to create a deeper trust and a stronger sense of community and co-operation between them.

Red Noses have also appeared in Scotland – FWBO News reported in September on what was probably the first ever ‘Clowning and Insight’ retreat, held at the FWBO’s Dhanakosa retreat centre.

Red Noses Unlimited emerged after Jayacitta trained in physical theatre at KIKLOS SCUOLA INTERNAZIONALE DI CREAZIONE TEATRALE in Padova, Italy. And according to Giovanni Fusetti, director and main teacher at KIKLOS, part of the training – in fact the final point and highest art – is the development of one’s own Clown, the “poetic transposition of the unique silliness of the actor".

Discover and enjoy…!

Red Noses is (we think) another facet of the multi-facetted spiritual community that makes up the Western Buddhist Order.

To see most (not quite all) the Order at a glance, try the Order Mosaic.

Next week’s website – the FWBO on Facebook..

Where have all your savings gone - and where could they be going?

This week’s Economist magazine carries the headline “Where have all your savings gone?”

If any UK or European readers of FWBO News are wondering the same, they might like to consider joining the ‘Dana Partnership’ the FWBO has had for many years now with the Triodos Bank .

Triodos describe themselves as “the UK’s most actively ethical bank”, and FWBO members in the UK have over three-quarters of a million pounds depositied with them. They pride themselves on their transparency, and it’s a delight to read their annual reports - which largely feature project after project in fields as diverse as nature, the environment, culture, social business, the arts, housing, and much more.

You can see their current list of borrowers at www.triodos.co.uk/uk/who_we_finance. They have for many years been the lender of choice for new FWBO projects, financing many of the FWBO’s communities and Right Livelihood businesses.

Triodos has been conducting research among members of the UK public, asking how the recent banking crises have affected their relationship with their money. They report: “Following the Northern Rock crisis, 61% of those interviewed who have a banking product, said that they now wanted to know more about how their bank invests their money”.

Triodos have recently launched a new range of savings accounts - and there’s a free copy of the popular ‘Go Slow England’ book on offer to new customers. If you’d like to know where your savings are going, try looking into Triodos...! When you join there's an option to donate some of the interest payable to one or another charity - including the FWBO.

Although small compared to the high street giants, Triodos are a fully-fledged bank, describing themselves as “a fully independent bank and a pioneer of sustainable and transparent banking”. They say “Our mission is to make money work for positive social, environmental and cultural change. For Triodos Bank, banking has always been a matter of trust, transparency and a long-term relationship with our savers and borrowers...”

Anyone interested to read more around the mysterious topic of money is invited to read the fascinating ‘Mindfulness and Money’, written by two Order Members, Kulananda and Mahaprabha. Kulananda founded Windhorse Trading, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, and is now an honorary research fellow at Bangor University, where he teaches a module on Buddhist Psychology, while Mahaprabha lectures in Strategic and International Management at Britain's prestigious London Business School.

Retreats in Spain...

The FWBO operates many retreat centres around the world; with some eight in the UK alone (see www.goingonretreat.com for details) .


There’s also four FWBO retreat centres in Spain – Guhyaloka (the Secret Realm) and Akasavana (the ‘Forest Retreat of Luminous Space’) being the two best-known, focussing on long ordination retreats for men and women respectively.

Less well known is Amitavati, a small retreat centre near Valencia, run by two Order Members Suratna and Vidyasri. They’re having a Working Retreat in December and are inviting anyone interested to join them.

The fourth, and newest, is Eco-Dharma. High in a remote part of the Catalan Pyrenees and home to three Order Members - Guhyapati, Kamalashila, and Yashobodhi; EcoDharma aims to offer courses, events and retreats which “support the realisation of our human potential and the development of an ecological consciousness honouring our mutual belonging within the web of life – drawing on the Buddhist Dharma and the emerging ecological paradigms of our time”. They too have some events coming up – and everything they host is on a ‘dana’ basis (Dana = Generosity, or the principle of ‘give what you can’)

Early next year Guhyaloka have their annual month-long working retreat for men, you can find details here…

PS - we've been asked to mention a FIFTH retreat center in Spain, this is SOLTERRENO, a small retreat centre run by Order Member Bodhin and his partner. It's situated between Guhyaloka and Valencia, and among other things has a lovely solitary retreat cabin. With the new shrine room it can accomodate small retreats of up to 8 to 12 people. Bodhin says, "Have a look at the photos!"

New edition of FWBO Puja Book now available

Windhorse Publications, for many years the FWBO's principle publisher, have just released their new and updated edition of the FWBO Puja book. Among other things the translation of the Heart Sutra has been revised and the typeface made easier to read for shrine-room use. Also, for the first time, it is available in paperback.

Copies may be ordered via your local FWBO Centre or directly from Windhorse – both hardback or paperback . In Australia and New Zealand, contact Windhorse Books Australia.

Their website also carries extracts from the book, notably the Introduction, where Dhammadinna has beautifully written -

"Imagine a world without colour, beauty, poetry, myth, celebration, or ritual. Such a world would be a very dull, drab, dead world indeed. Such experiences are essential to human life; they cultivate our emotions, refine our senses, and enrich our imaginations. Poetry, symbol, myth, and ritual carry us – as Shelley suggests in his Defence of Poetry – 'to regions of light and fire, where the winged faculty of calculation dare not ever soar'. We cannot live in the realm of rational thought alone. To feel fully and vibrantly alive, we must feel in touch with all the different aspects and levels of our being.

"Buddhism is a spiritual tradition, and as such speaks to us in our wholeness. Its various practices can help us to bring into being a harmony of body, speech, and mind. Throughout its history, therefore, many forms of ceremony and ritual have been developed. These range from the simplest recitation of a few verses to the most complex andd lengthy rituals".

Highly recommended. Those interested in an introduction to the Puja as practiced in the FWBO will find several relevant talks at FreeBuddhistAudio.

New talk - Spiritual practice, efficiency, and productivity in the work-place

FWBO News is pleased to reproduce a talk recently given by Ratnaghosa to the warehouse workers at Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful business.

Entitled "Spiritual practice, efficiency, and productivity in the work place", it’s reproduced here to give readers of FWBO News some insight into Windhorse’s ongoing exploration of the principles of Right Livelihood and the ways they seek to combine business success with spiritual development.

To take a quote almost at random from the middle of the talk –

“Efficiency, on the other hand, is conducive to good mental states and positive mental states are conducive to efficiency. This is a virtuous circle. Higher mental states are more creative and are likely to lead to elegant solutions and this is what we really want to achieve at Windhorse. We want to encourage the development of higher states of consciousness and see those higher states of consciousness manifesting in creativity, co-operation and satisfying relationships and results. And if we can achieve elegant creativity in our systems and teams that will encourage higher states of consciousness. It is like a Zen garden. The garden is created out of a tranquil state of consciousness and the garden in turn produces tranquillity in those who use it…”

You can read the talk via FWBO Features or by clicking here.

Windhorse:Evolution part IV: Dana in 2008 - and beyond...

This is part four of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK.

In 2007-8 Windhorse’s dana totalled a remarkable £265,229, all given away out of the profits of the business to a multiplicity of projects across the FWBO, TBMSG, and beyond.  Part IV of this series looks at how Windhorse makes its decisions, and exactly what they chose to fund last year.  There's the Dana Fund, the Growth Fund, the Legacy Fund, and the Social Fund. 

Just one, the Growth Fund, was able to give money to a new FWBO group in Freiburg, Southern Germany, for continuing the development of close-to-nature camping retreats in Holland and Belgium, for publicity and basic expenses for new centre in Düsseldorf, Germany,  for cushions, mats, etc for the new Buddhist Centre in Krakow, Poland and equipment and publicity for new FWBO centre in Leicester, UK.


In India it gave publicity and equipment for new city centre premises in Bhusawal, Maharastra, and a major new Indian Buddhist Youth project building on previous two years of the ‘National Buddhist Youth’ gatherings, funding for a second year to continue working with Tribal people in remote areas, also to sponsor gatherings of leaders from different caste communities in India, , for a major extension of TBMSG activities in North India - and last but by no means least, for underwriting the cost of two Order Membes visiting a woman mitra running FWBO-style activities near Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

Click here to read the full report - which also looks at Windhorse's plans for the future - which include a clear “Donations Warning!” for 2009 and beyond.

Windhorse:Evolution - the people...

This is part three of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles have looked at the ethos of the business and recent changes and challenges it has faced. Part III explores the experiences of some individuals working in it, while part IV (to be published on July 16th) will reveal the many projects funded by their current dana or generosity.

1.Gaining Confidence

Santosh Kamble (who has just been ordained, and is now known as Sanghanatha, 'Protector of the Sangha') works in the Windhorse:Evolution warehouse in Cambridge, known as 'Uddiyana'. He's from a small village in Maharastra, India, and this is his story...

"I came into contact with the Western Buddhist Order (known in India as TBMSG) in my childhood through the Asvaghosa project. They go from village to village, teaching drama, singing songs and telling stories to the most underprivileged children, to build their confidence. I went to those classes in my village when I was a child, and I loved the singing, drama and playing games, and I was inspired by their activities. They pick up some incidents from the Buddha’s life and tell a story or do a performance. Most of the songs are about the spiritual life. I made a connection with the teachers and Asvaghosa leaders, who are practising Buddhists involved in TBMSG".

Ten years later, and he's in Windhorse...  Click here to read more

Windhorse:Evolution - a Buddhist business...

FWBO News is pleased to present part II of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The first article looked at recent changes and challenges it has faced, this explores the ethos of the business,.  Parts III and IV will examine the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana.  Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.


Keturaja, Windhorse:Evolution's HR Director, talks to Tejasvini about some of the Buddhist flavours to be found at windhorse:evolution.  He says "Many of us have come to work at windhorse: evolution because we value working with other people who are inspired to practise the Buddhist path. Our ethos, and the five principles of the business are inspired by Buddhist practice..."

He goes on to talk of the renaissance in community living they are currently experiencing, and of the variety to be found between the dozen or more communities that are associated with Windhorse in Cambridge.  Also of their flexibility in paying people - and of the simple virtues - and challenges of living on their 'support package' as opposed to drawing a wage.  This is, perhaps, one of the most distinctive features of Windhorse and indeed the FWBO's 'team-based Right Livelihood' businesses generally.  As Keturaja says -

"...there’s a collective element in the practice of being on support. Most of support consists of allowances, which are just taken, but there are some elements that involve discussing one’s own needs, and I think that’s a useful reflection and clarification on needs and wants. We all have a relationship with money and how we use it, and quite a lot of our conditioning is tied up with our feelings about money. Somehow the support system draws out and reflects back one’s own conditioning in regard to it. Sometimes that can be quite challenging, but personally I have found that it helps make me aware of my own conditioning and deciding whether I’m happy with that conditioning or want to change it. For example some people find it difficult to ask about their own needs, and so the people involved in administering the support system practise being open and encouraging, helping people clarify what their needs really are".

Click here to read the full article. 

Part III will be published on July 14th. 

Windhorse:Evolution's ''Year of the Rat'

FWBO News is pleased to present a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles will look at the ethos of the business, recent changes and challenges it has faced, the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana.  Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.

To give pespective, there are approximately 112 people working for Windhorse in Cambridge, and a futher 107 in over a dozen Evolution shops.  Of the ones in Cambridge, 98 are Buddhist and 14 not Budhdist; a total of 72 people in Cambridge live in Buddhist communities. 

And since 1990 Windhorse has raised and given away almost UK £7 million!

We start with some reflections by Vajraketu, Windhorse:Evolution's Managing Director and chief buyer, on the state of the business in this, the 'Year of the Rat'.

“A rat year is a time of hard work, activity and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, launch a new product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly and make the most of every opening you can find.”

This is the Year of the Rat in the Chinese system, the first in the twelve-year cycle. It happens to be an appropriate image for us, because we are entering a new phase. The characteristic of this new phase, I hope, is that we’re going to grow again. After growing between 1986 and 2002, we’ve had five or six years of plateau or consolidation.

During that period of consolidation we made a lot of very necessary changes, particularly during the last couple of years. Firstly in 2002 we had to move into these new premises, which was an enormous undertaking. Then within a period of about twelve months three of the six people who comprised the previous management team moved on and we had to get used to running the business without them. Ratnaghosha devised a new management structure, and Keturaja systematized things and helped bring us to the position we’re in now, with every department in the business in good shape and as well or better managed than it’s ever been.

There is a certain irony here. We’re probably in the best shape ever and yet last year was our least profitable year for at least a decade. Our current estimate is that we’re going to have made about £200-250,000, compared to the previous year, which was something, over £400,000. The reason for that is that sales have plateaued, but our costs have gone up inexorably. Our personnel bill has more than doubled over the last five or six years. That’s the only cloud in the blue sky of the Year of the Rat...

Click here to read more...

Part II will look at the special features of Windhorse as a Buddhist business.

New opportunities on FWBO Jobs...

Several new jobs have been posted recently on FWBO Jobs; readers are invited to visit the FWBO Jobs site to check.

These include opportunities at Taraloka, the FWBO’s retreat centre for women - and the UK’s ‘Retreat Centre of the Year’ (for the second time in three years!); for a finance worker at the North London Buddhist Centre, and for some of the Karuna Appeals later in the year.

The London Buddhist Centre is appealing for “men and women of vision” to take it forwards into its second thirty years of life – there are a variety of openings both in the Centre itself and in the various Right Livelihoods that surround it – and last but by no means least – there’s an opening in Jvalamalini’s dental practice in Bristol! This may sound incongruous but actually, it isn’t – it’s ethical, team-based work and she would prefer to work with people who share her values.

Since FWBO Jobs was launched in November last year it has had some 2,800 visitors; it’s become the easiest ‘one-stop’ shop to see what opportunities are available across the FWBO.

Other changes
There have been significant changes recently to the FWBO News website itself; regular readers who use our Feedblitz news-feed service are invited to take time to visit the site and its several sections.

Among other things three separate search facilities have been added to make it possible to easily find any specific people or events across the FWBO’s extensive and somewhat sprawling network of websites. You'll find these on the Resources page of the site; they search, respectively, the FWBO News archive; or all FWBO centre websites (over 100 to date); or the 170+ personal websites listed on FWBO People. A rich and, now, very accessible resource! The Order itself - now well over 1,500 men and women - can be seen co-creating the image of Avalokitesvara on the Order Mosaic section of the site, each little tile is clickable to reveal the whole person...

A tag listing facility has also been added giving one-click access to all stories on particular themes: clicking (for instance) the ‘Engaged Buddhism’ tag brings up all previous FWBO News stories on that theme.

We've added four ‘volumes’ of previous stories from FWBO News, each covering a two-month period and available in an easily-printable PDF document form. These are ideal for Centre reception rooms - taken together they reflect the remarkable diversity of events and projects going on around the FWBO and TBMSG Sanghas. You can find these too on the Resources section of the site; we envisage adding further volumes every couple of months.

Finally, by visiting the site itself you'll also be able to admire our visit counter, which shows the number of visitors and which country they come from – we have had over 33,000 visitors from nearly 150 countries since November last year…!

Suggestions for further enhancements are of course welcome.

A Right-Livelihood Land Project in the North East (UK)

A group is forming in the FWBO's Newcastle Sangha to explore the development of a new land-based community and work project informed by the Dharma. The instigator of this group, Andy Parkes, writes:

“What do I mean by ‘A Right-Livelihood Land Project’? And he answers –

“A group of people brought together by specific common ideals, particularly:
• Dharma (movement towards an integrated lifestyle with more harmony between livelihood, community and Buddhist practice)
• Environmental Ethics (movement towards increased ecological sustainability)
• A wish to develop the above, by living and/or working on some land together

“A project like this is group-led and for that reason it is not possible to be specific about its nature. For example, we might buy, borrow or rent land. We might set up a charity, a co-operative or many varying businesses on the land. We may or may not live on the land, and we may each have different levels of input into this project. Personally, I would like to give my attention to the Dharma, growing trees, organic food, greenwood working, music, teaching, building a low-impact dwelling for myself and others, and being part of a community I can give to and receive from. We have different skills and will each bring our own emphasis.

Why ‘A Right-Livelihood Land Project’
“Dharma is precious! It feeds us, and points the way to spiritual freedom. Spiritual development and ecological sustainability require a sustained commitment that is often not understood and resisted by our society. Keeping our ethical precepts, preparing ourselves for practice is more challenging when the way in which we support ourselves is replete with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) contradictions to our beliefs. Land is precious in as much as, it feeds us and unobstructed access to it can lead to a high degree of practical freedom, resulting in less consumerism, more sharing and a responsible relationship to the earth. With practical freedom comes the ability to develop an integrated lifestyle, in which all of our activities can be conducive to spiritual development (Dharma), supporting ourselves in an ecologically sustainable way, and supporting our Buddhist (Sangha) and local community.

“Initially the group will be about getting to know each other and our interests in light of this project, and to see if and how we want to work together as a group. The timescale for developing this project is over months and years. Consolidating the group may take a long time, so don’t be immediately discouraged if you are interested but feel unprepared.”

If you are interested in the project but live outside Newcastle, please feel free to contact Andy at: andrew.parkes@sunderland.ac.uk

The photograph shows Buddhafield's new land at Frog Mill, in the Dartmoor National Park.

Windhorse:Evolution launch 'Friends' network

Windhorse:Evolution are by far the largest of the FWBO’s various Right Livelihood businesses. With a turnover in excess of UK £10 million/year, they are able to contribute generously to many Dharma and social projects around the world of the FWBO and TBMSG. Headquartered in Cambridge, their warehouse, ‘Uddiyana’, employs over 100 people from XX countries, many either ordained or training for ordination. They must be the only warehouse in the UK with a 7m high stupa at its centre!

They’ve already been the subject of a book by Padmasuri, ‘Transforming Work: An Experiment in Right Livelihood’, which details some of the many twists and turns they’ve encountered along the way as they experimented with practicing ‘Team-Based Right Livelihood’ in the modern Western world.

At the same time it’s been hard for people outside the business to really share in that sense of ongoing discovery: what DOES it mean to practice Right Livelihood, especially team-based right livelihood, in the modern Western world?

With this in mind – and to make it easier for potential new workers to contact them – they’ve launched the new ‘windhorse:evolution friends network’. Anyone who’d like to stay in touch is invited to write to Dharmasiddhi; you’ll then be kept informed of developments in the business. It’s a two-way thing – they’d ask you it help be an ambassador for Windhorse, even to look out for people who might be interested in joining them.

After a period of consolidation and restructuring, Windhorse has ambitious plans for the future: it’s a good time to get on board. Increasingly, their ‘dana’, or generosity, extends beyond the Buddhist world to include working with their suppliers on local projects – see FWBO News’ recent feature on their social dana projects. And you can see some more photos of the warehouse on FWBO Photos here.

Getting the Dharma to Work…

Last year some 45 people from around the FWBO came together and held an exploratory weekend looking very broadly at “how to make ‘Team-Based Right Livelihood’ more attractive”. Team-Based Right Livelihood (TBRL for short) has always been a core component of the FWBO’s system of practice, being part of its practice of Right Livelihood, which is of course central in the Buddha’s own Noble Eightfold Path.

Vajragupta has recently written to FWBO News to give us an update -

"We considered all sorts of topics: support, training, spiritual practice, and possible new ventures. All sorts of people came, from old-timers who’d always worked in TBRL, to new people who’d never done so. It was a unique, enjoyable, and effective combination of sangha. It seemed to touch on something people were interested in and wanted to explore more deeply.

“At the same time, one issue that became apparent – for people in all forms of work, not just TBRL – was that “work as a spiritual practice” seemed to have gone somewhat off the boil. In the past we’ve been very strong on the general idea that spiritual transformation will only work if you keep practising all day, and it won’t if your practice only means an hour on the cushion. But perhaps we’ve not developed more specific teachings and practice in this area as much as we might. This is surprising, especially given there are some really talented people involved in our Sangha and working in all sorts of areas (both in Buddhist and non-Buddhist contexts).

“So, this year, in September, we will have another weekend. This time we will look more specifically on “getting the Dharma to work”, and it is open to anyone – Order member or mitra, those working in “traditional” TBRL, those in new Buddhist projects, those working in non-Buddhist contexts. The weekend will include talks and workshops led by a variety of talented and inspired folk, including Saddharaja, Shakyakumara, Subhadramati, and myself. If you know of someone who might be fired-up by this topic, please pass this information onto them".

The dates are Friday 12 to Sunday 14 September; the venue is just outside Birmingham (UK); the cost is £45; and to book, or for more information, contact Vajragupta or phone him on +44 (0)121-447-7427.

Two new Spanish retreat venues

Two new retreat venues run by members of the Western Buddhist Order are emerging in the Spanish mountains.

Amitavati, which means 'full of boundless possibilities', is the home and rural retreat centre of Suratna and Vidyasri, two ordained members of the Western Buddhist Order. They ‘retired’ there from the UK a year ago and now offer a range of retreats in their working smallholding up in the hills near the small town of Villar-del-Arzobispo in the hinterland of Valencia, Spain.

Reflecting the special interests of Suratna and Vidyasri, their retreats include meditation retreats, shamanic journeying, drumming, painting and sculpture and working retreats. Above all, however, their retreats are designed to bring visitors into intimate contact with the land and its resources.

December saw their first working retreat, which they were delighted with – and which is bearing fruit with others thinking of buying land nearby. In addition their newest urban FWBO Centre, in Valencia, use the facilities for some weekends and for Order gatherings, and links with local people are developing with plans made for teaching meditation classes in the village when their Spanish is good enough.

Check their very beautiful website at www.amitavati.com which contains full details of events and travel information.


Ecodharma retreat facilities in the mountains
More remote, in altogether more wild and mountainous country, Guhyapati has been developing an ‘eco-Dharma retreat centre in the hills behind Isona, some three hours from Barcelona. His work as a professional mountain guide (see www.climbcatalunya.com) has given him an intimate knowledge of the mountains; he has used this as a base to develop facilities for an ‘ecodharma’ retreat centre, which now offers long solitary retreats and has for the past two years hosted the ‘Redwoods’, a group of Order Members who meet annually to practice together in the context of a shared commitment to and love of the environment .

The small whitish dot on the tip of the plateau beneath the middle mountain is the retreat venue...

Windhorse:Evolution supports new social projects

Windhorse:Evolution is the largest and most profitable of the FWBO’s many Right Livelihood businesses, with a turnover of some £10 million and employing over 200 people – 100 at their main warehouse, ‘Uddiyana’ in Cambridge UK, and another 100 in a chain of ‘Evolution’ shops around the UK and elsewhere.

Besides practicing Right Livelihood, as chronicled by Padmasuri in her book ‘Transforming Work’, they have always aimed to make a profit and to give that profit away as dana. At first they simply asked Sangharakshita for direction in this; in recent years they have donated it to the ‘Windhorse Trust’ which has in turn created five independent funds and distributes the available dana among them.

Initially all available dana was given to FWBO projects; but in a new departure, one of the new funds created was the Windhorse Social Fund. This aims to invest in social projects close to Windhorse’s main suppliers, and they now contribute around £20,000/year to this as part of their ‘Trade for Aid’ initiative.

In a new feature on FWBO News, Samata writes about two new social projects supported by Windhorse - The Wheatfield Plan in China and The Kupu-Kupu Foundation in Bali. Click here to read it.

Alongside this they have been taking active steps to ensure their goods come from ethical sources, so far as this is practicable. You can read more about this on their Evolution shops website here, which includes the reply given by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile when asked if Windhorse should be trading with China at all, given its poor human-rights record.

Mitraloka School of Languages launched in Nagpur

The Dhammakranti team have recently started the 'Mitraloka School of Languages' in the heart of the Nagpur City. They are teaching English and Japanese, and will soon be adding Chinese, German and Spanish classes.

In four different classes they have seventy students learning English and Japanese with many more on the waiting list. They told FWBO News they got a huge response to these classes because their School is the only Institute of its kind in central India - training people from very poor economical backgrounds in international languages. They are confident that having had the training, people will be much better placed to get jobs - Nagpur is rapidly becoming an international city with many multinational companies offering jobs for people trained in foreign languages. In some ways they are parelleling the development of the Aryaloka Computer Education, also in Nagpur, which has for some years been offering low-cost computer education to students in need.

Although the School is only three months old, due to the huge response and great need in Nagpur and in central India they are already thinking about expanding this project very soon.

Finally they have an appeal to make. Nagaketu, the Centre Director, says "We are looking for more teachers, especially in German, French, Spanish and Chinese. If anyone reading this is interested then please contact us!"

Right Livelihood - Dharma practice in the world of work

A weekend exploring team-based right livelihood (TBRL) took place in early September. It was organised under the auspices of the European Chairs Assembly (ECA) – the collective body of all chairmen and women of FWBO projects across Europe. The ECA has particularly wanted to support TBRL and look at how to make it more attractive and possible for people to participate, particularly given the thirty or more yeaers that have passed since the FWBO launched its first TBRL projects back in the more cooperatively-minded 1970s.

About 45 people (Order members and mitras) met at Bilberry Hill on the outskirts of Birmingham. There was a wide range of centres and TBRL projects represented, as well as quite a few people who had not previously worked in TBRL, but were interested to find out more. It was a busy, full weekend - not much time to go gathering bilberries on the nearby Lickey Hills!

After arriving, those present went swiftly into the four-stage process of ‘appreciative enquiry’ that was to take up most of the weekend. Dhammaloka ably facilitated this, with Vajramudita from Manchester and Vajragupta from the FWBO Development Team providing support and back up from the wings. People’s best experiences of work in the past were shared as a way of ‘discovering’ the underlying ideals and inspiration, so creating a positive basis from which to explore TBRL. Vajragupta, who organised the weekend commented: “I was struck by everyone’s full engagement with the ‘appreciative enquiry’ process, and impressed by the ideas people came up with.”

By the end of the weekend there were a number of people going away to work on business plans for potential new businesses, a group planning to stay in touch and explore developing a ‘right livelihood network’ for those not in TBRL, plus many other ideas for people’s own individual or team-based practice of right livelihood, as well as suggestions for the Chairs Meeting and Development Team.

In the midst of all this, there was an inspiring presentation from Ratnaguna about the work and development of Breathworks plus an excellent, comprehensive overview of traditional and FWBO teachings on right livelihood, given in a talk by Ratnaprabha entitled ‘Working Together’.
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The consensus seemed to be that it had been a worthwhile event. People enjoyed the appreciative enquiry process and the ‘content’ it had generated. There was less confidence enough definite ‘outcomes’ had been produced, perhaps unsurprisingly considering we’d only met for one weekend. There was general enthusiasm for future weekends exploring TBRL, with more inspirational talks and the opportunity to explore issues in more detail.

Change and opportunity at Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications, the FWBO’s successful publishing company, is going in new directions. Jnanasiddhi, the present Director, says "As well as maintaining our current publishing of the FWBO tradition and bringing our movement’s evolving ideas into the world, we now have a new focus on flexibility and new sales."

This has led to TWO JOB OPPORTUNITIES - a Director/Commissioning Editor and a Sales and Marketing Manager. The salaries are negotiable and the jobs will be based in Cambridge.

Jnanasiddhi says "If you have an interest in books and publishing, good communications skills, ideas and commitment, IT and organisational skills and experience of business please contact, for further information, Sagaraghosa. The closing date is 30th September."

Help Spread the Precious Dharma through books!

Lotus Realm Traders joins the ‘Vans’

Akasadaka, from Lotus Realm, sends FWBO News this report –

“After a lot of hard work, Lotus Realm Traders, the Sudarshanaloka Mandala’s largest Right Livelihood venture in New Zealand, has given birth to… a van!”

They thereby join the proud lineage of Windhorse van drivers, who over the years have between them raised many many thousands of pounds in the UK for Dharma work. He says “Well it’s a bus actually. Her name is Rosa and she’s a Mitsubishi. She’s a good 6.0m long and weighs in at 3.2 tonne fully loaded with product. Her previous life was a Tokyo Library Bus and she still has a rather snazzy Seiko Wall clock above the dash.

We have just completed our first trip (van run) around the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty, surviving cyclonic weather which caused havoc across the top half of the North Island. To her crew’s delight Rosa received plenty of compliments along the way and sales were way beyond expectations. It is hoped that this will continue as Sudarshanaloka requires a lot more funds to complete its Retreat Centre project.

Lotus Realm Traders currently consists of six people, and we’re attempting to become a Team Based Right Livelihood, in the process of making squillions of moolah (lots of cash). How exactly this will be manifested seems to be an ongoing process, but we do have as our core principles ethical trading, building spiritual community, generating dana and having some insane fun.

“How can you help? If you have any expertise or skills to offer for free, we would happily accept. The Sudarshanaloka Mandala needs more people in all ways, from helping to run classes and looking after he Retreat Centre to packing orders from our warehouse and keeping shop. Please feel free to contact me (akasadaka [at] lrt.co.nz) if you have some interest in getting involved in what we are doing.