News about Centre Development No. 3
April 2016
News
Since the last information sent in February, the Vipassana Meditation Trust in Austria has come a step closer to establishing a centre in the country. In the meantime, all the open bureaucratic questions have been answered and the purchase of land in Rechberg in Mühlviertel stands as a very concrete possibility. A council meeting took place in mid-March, where the majority of members voted in favor of the construction of a Vipassana Centre. In order to have more time and to be able to address some open concerns from a member of the local church council, a final decision was adjourned for the next meeting. In the Vipassana Trust Meeting on March 28, 2016, it was decided to buy the land if the majority of the community representatives officially welcome the organization. We feel confident that the positive attitude towards Vipassana that was present at the first meeting will be confirmed at the coming meeting in mid-June. With this support, the trust would immediately commence purchase negotiations, which it has already begun to prepare.
Finances and Donations
The funds of the association have grown to 279,893 EUR, counting the donations of students who have declared their intention to donate. In the officially advertised price, the purchase of the land, including the estimated side costs, would be about 400,000 EUR. Even though the trust will of course try its best to keep the price to a minimum, the equity is at this stage not yet fully covered. In the next three months, there is now another chance for all meditators to contribute with their donations to achieving the stated objective of acquiring the land for a centre entirely on donations received from old students, without having to borrow external money for it. The announced loans from meditators should be used, if possible, for the construction of the centre.
Donations for the purchase of land for a centre can be transferred to the specified account of the Vipassana Trust stated in the footer below. Every donation, whether big or small, which is given with the motivation to contribute so that more and more people can get to know Dhamma is welcome. Our strength is that we are many people, and in that way, many small and medium-sized donations can become an impressive amount in the end. The trust is also especially thankful for donations in the form of recurring orders. These are of great value in order to meet the running costs associated with the purchase and to have an idea, in advance, about the predictable available funds. If you have any specific questions concerning the complexities of the finances, please contact Helfried Bauer or Irene Weberberger by writing to [email protected]. For more information regarding the financial status of the project you might want to follow this link to the homepage in the section for Old Students (updated every two weeks).
Supporting the Project
In the meantime, the Vipassana Trust is already planning the necessary changes to the structure of the trust in order to meet the legal requirements for the administration of a centre. The decisive factor is that the active meditators within the trust structure get support and that the expected work in the committees can be shared more. At present, help is particularly being sought in the area of internal public relations, to assist with the further development of the website, and the creation of inspiring presentations. If you have professional knowledge in the areas of "Web Design" or "3-D architectural and tour simulations for online presentations" and would like to contribute with your experience, please contact Thomas Ditye or Lumi Luger via the email address [email protected]. For preparing the purchase of the land the trust would appreciate services and advice by a geometrician and a solicitor. In both cases geographical proximity to the site (central and eastern regions of Upper Austria or western regions of Lower Austria) is desireable. In case you would like to contribute your knowledge, please contact [email protected]. Please contact us also through this Email address with further questions and ideas that you might have.
- Geometrician
- Solicitor
- Web-Designer/Web-Developer
- 3D-Developer
The Vipassana Trust in Austria is looking forward to this exceptional chance to develop a Vipassana centre surrounded by forest in a quiet and scenic nature park region in the northern territory of Austria (Wikipedia Naturpark Mühlviertel) and, in that way, to be able to offer more courses so that many more people can have the opportunity to learn Vipassana in Austria. This also gives many meditators a special opportunity to participate in this great challenge and to lead this project to success. May many meditators take this opportunity, not only to help others, but also to grow in Dhamma themselves.
Sabbe dānaṃ dhamma dānaṃ jināti.
Of all the donations, the donation of Dāna is the highest.
Dhamma Dāna is the highest Dāna.
The Buddha
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