“These four who are competent, educated, assured, and learned, who have memorized the teachings and practice in line with the teachings, beautify the Saṅgha. What four? A monk, a nun, a layman, and a laywoman.”AN, 4.7
“Under the instruction of Khujjuttarā they all became Stream-enterers (sotāpannas)…The Buddha declared her foremost among lay women by reason of her extensive knowledge.”
This page is for a new “umbrella” non-hierarchical Buddhist community, called Khujuttāra Lotus Jewel, for laypeople (Upāsakas and upāsikās), named after one of Buddha’s foremost female lay students, Khujjuttarā. The community will be closely aligned with Buddhist teachings and ethics, as well as core, contemporary Buddhist (and humane) values of inclusivity, equality of opportunity, and celebrations of difference between men and women, which is non-discriminatory in terms of gender, sex, race, culture, economic or educational status or age.
The online group will meet once (or twice) monthly and host a “Q&A” discussion/teaching on a Dharma topic of general relevance and interest, and/or a monthly practice (such as Noble Tārā on the 8th, or Yeshe Tsogyel/Guru Rinpoche on the 10th of every lunar month).
Register interest in joining and pre-requisites
For those who are interested in participating (and even occasionally acting as the “facilitator”, or contributor in such a community):
- Please fill in this registration form. Attendance will be free of charge (donations if you wish) and once (or twice) per month.
- The only pre-requisites are a real name, answer a couple of questions about your teachers, background and interest in Dharma, as well as agree to have your video switched on during online meets, so it it not infiltrated by people whose identity is unknown.
- The first group meet (if there are enough people interested, mininum 5, maximum 30) will start an auspicious day, like Noble Tārā day.