In the Theravada Buddhist tradition there exists a lovely, deeply rooted interdependence between the monastics and the lay community; one built on respect for buddhist practice and generosity. Your open-hearted support allows monks the opportunity to devote their lives to meditation in a forest refuge while we in the lay community benefit from their teachings. Listed below are the various ways to give, or dana as it is called in the Pali language, to support the monastics’ noble efforts.
Financial Donations
Credit and Debit Cards:
Online one-time or monthly donations by credit and debit cards can be made through the DonorBox application below.
Checks:
Please make payable to:
Sanghata Foundation
PO Box 803
White Salmon, WA 98672
Cash:
Cash donations can be accepted at the Pacific Hermitage and during weekly meditations. Please do not mail cash.
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support the Pacific Hermitage every time you shop, at no cost to you. To take advantage of AmazonSmile, visit the AmazonSmile web page and select Sanghata Foundation as your charitable organization from the AmazonSmiles webpage before you begin shopping.
Volunteering, Meals, Materials
While monetary offerings are helpful and necessary, there are other ways to contribute. Gifts of time, skill and/or food are equally important to maintaining a long-term monastic presence at any monastery and are welcome anytime. Please visit the Pacific Hermitage Support Page for more information, or to offer alms, meal and/or material goods.
Pah Bahs
Pah Bahs are a beautiful and significant way to financially help the monastics meet their material needs and/or fund special projects for the Hermitage property. Sponsoring a Pah Bah, is an especially sweet way to fulfill a need for the monastics. Interested in sponsoring a Pah Bah or want to learn more, please contact us at dana@sanghata.net.
The Kathina and Pah Bah festivals are the primary events initiated and organized by the lay community in support of monasteries and hermitages. The Kathina festival which takes place after the end of the three-month rains retreat can only take place if there are five or more bhikkhus (monks) present, and as such Pah Bahs evolved as a way for lay communities to provide impromptu support for smaller groups of monastics.
The story goes that the Buddha allowed the monks to search for cloth with which they might make themselves a replacement robe or repair an old one. Gradually a custom evolved in which lay people, knowing the monastics’ needs, would purposely hang material in a tree so that the monastics would ‘find it.’ The custom then advanced so that not just pieces of rag or cloth were left for the monks, but whole made-up robes as well. Eventually lay communities started coming together to offer meals and other requisites to the monks, and in this way the Pah Bah has evolved.
And so, it is with the Pacific Hermitage’s monastics, every year, at least one individual or family steps forward to initiate a Pah Bah as a “sponsor”. There are often multiple sponsors for what is called a Pah Bah Samakkee. These members of the community champion the event among their friends and family, spreading the word and getting the wider community excited and engaged. As a community, we come together in celebration and support of the monastics, their practice and their service to the community by offering food, cloth, and other requisites.
Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in all or any part of the Pah Bah festival. Feel free to offer food at the potluck, and participate in the joyful feast!