Namo tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa

MAHABODHI MAITRI MANDALA

BENGALURU

Annual Report

1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015

Mahabodhi Maitri Mandala (MMM), a sister organisation of the Maha Bodhi Society, Bengaluru, was established by the Venerable Dr. Acharya Buddharakkhita in 1957 to conduct humanitarian programs like hospital dāna services, children homes, schools, artificial limb centre, old age homes, moral education institutes, etc. Since its inception,MMMhas been serving the needy and poor people without distinction of caste, creed, race, religion or language. Venerable Acharya passed away on September 23, 2013. Though the Venerable Acharya is no more physically with us, however, his great ideals and noble legacy will continue to inspire and guide us.

The following is the report of the activities of the Maha Bodhi Maitri Mandala (MMM) during the year 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015.

Some of the programmes conducted in the past years were:

  1. Leprosy patient’s services- Leprosy patients were given care by providing material needs and counselling.
  2. Eye donation programs – eyes were donated to the needy under the program called Lanka Netra as the eyes were donated by Sri Lankan devotees. Arrangements were made to bring eyes by flights and immediately implanted.
  3. Artificial limbs donation- An artificial limbs manufacturing centre was established in Jayanagar and limbs were produced. Thousands of artificial limbs were donated to the poor disabled people by conducting camps in villages.
  4. Building of Mahabodhi Burn Centre in Victoria Hospital and wards in Mysore, Mandya, Hassan, Tumkur, Chikmagalur Government Hospitals. Today Mahabodhi Burns Centre is still the biggest dedicated Burns Hospital in Karnataka.
  5. Awareness Programme regarding Burns Treatment.
  6. Distribution of Fruits and Clothes to poor patients.
  7. Distress Relief Services to the sick, destitute and poor during natural calamities and in time of need
  8. Visiting old age homes and distributing fruits and other needs
  9. Establishing schools and hostels for poor children
  10. Establishment of Rural Mental Health Centre at Sakalvara.

Recognizing the humanitarian programs of MMM, the state government extended grants for different programs. MMM is a recognized institution even abroad. It has got FCRA certificate to receive foreign contribution. With the help from many western donors, MMM has expanded its humanitarian activities even more.

We present the annual report of activities of the MMM for the year 2014-2015.

MAHABODHI NALANDA VIJJAYATANA, BENGALURU

The institute has been training young students to develop sila-morality, Samadhi-meditation, panna-wisdom to grow spiritually and thereby become a guiding light to the world. They will be teachers in different Mahabodhi Centre and schools. During the year of report there were 119 student monks and 16 teacher monks from all over India. In addition, there were 4 lay teachers in MMI.

  1. The courses offered were Pali School Leaving Certificate at Nalanda Pali Vijjayatana – Primary and secondary school education from class five to class twelve. Pariyatti Pathama: Diploma course in Pali and Buddhist Studies along with teaching techniques for duration of two years.
  1. Food: The monks were provided with wholesome, simple vegetarian food. Keeping in view the food habits of different parts of India, south Indian, north Indian and North-east Indian food items are prepared. As the Buddha taught, the food is to maintain the good health so that one’s spiritual pursuit is not disturbed.
  2. Health Care: Regular medical checkup and health care were maintained. Whenever necessary, monks were taken to Mahabodhi Mallige Hospital for diagnosis and specialized treatment.
  1. Wardens: There are four dormitories for the monks named as Gotamo, Sambuddho, Sugato and Buddho dormitories. There are four warden monks with one assistant each to take care of the discipline of the monks. There is also a chief warden.

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  1. Expenses: The average expense per month per monk is Rs. 3500/- for food and essential facilities. Education, Clothing, medicine, books and stationery expenses are extra. The contribution from the Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita Foundation to provide Monastic Requisites and the rents from the Sevakshetra building are the main source of income. Lay people also offer dana in cash and on some days they offer food.
  1. Examinations and Tests: During the year three main examinations and regular tests were conducted.
  1. Extra Curricular Activities: Gardening, decorations, management of water, cleaning, drawing, arts, robe making, creative writing, debates, indoor sports, quiz programs etc formed the extra curricular activities. They are also trained in getting vegetables, flowers and fruits from the market for daily use and for hospital Dāna services.
  2. Teaching Staff: During the academic session, 16 monks and 4 lay people were teaching the monks.

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  1. Text Books: The following text books were used for different classes
  2. Pali Patha-1,2,3,4
  3. Comprehensive Pali Course-1 & 2
  4. Life of the Buddha
  5. Vinaya Pitaka
  6. Buddhist Monastic Discipline
  7. Manual of Buddhist Devotional Chanting
  8. Suttas (Selected) from Sutta Pitaka
  9. Sutta Sangaho
  10. Dhammapada Stories
  11. Jataka Stories.
  12. English readers
  13. Hindi Language
  14. Buddha and His Dhamma - 1
  15. History of Pali Language and Literature
  16. Abhidhamma in daily life
  17. Fundamentals of Abhidhamma-1,
  18. Comprehensive Manuals of Abhidhamma
  1. Admission of The New Students: During the year 50 new students were admitted and 11 students left afterwards.

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VENERABLE ACHARYA BUDDHARAKKHITA FOUNDATION

The student’s basics needs are well provided. To provide these requisites to the students of Mahabodhi Monastic Institute, Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita created this foundation which is registered trust. Today we are glad to inform that the corpus has risen to 99 lakhs. The interest accrued from this corpus is donated to the maintenance of students. To make the hostel fully reliant the corpus needs to be increased to Rs. 2 crores. We appeal one and all to contribute to this fund.

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MAHABODHI DHAMMADUTA VIHARA: A CENTER FOR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL EDUCATION

A piece of land donated by Maha Upasaka Nishkama Chaitanya (A.Raghunath) of Alur village is under development into a moral education center for the benefit of one and all irrespective of caste, religion, creed or nation which was long cherished wish of Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita.

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We are happy to inform all that the constructions of the Dhamma Vinaya Retreat Centre along with a fully operational kitchen and dining block havebeen completed and the same have been inaugurated by the Venerable Mahasangha on March 17, 2014. On this occasion, puja, meditation and Sanghadana were organized where members of Mahasangha as well as laity from India and other parts of the world participated. The donor of this building is Dhammacarini Monica Thaddey and she offered this centre to Mahasangha on that day. May this dana bear great merit for her and enable to progress on the path of Nibbana. This centre has twenty four rooms and each room has space for two persons, so 48 persons can attend a retreat there. Now the Dhammaduta Centre is fully operational and meditation and Dhamma courses are going on in full swing. A group of persons from Switzerland has done the first meditation retreat at this centre. The Pabbajja program for the year 2014 has been conducted at this centre. In addition, a Vipasana retreat for monks has been conducted where nearly twenty monks participated. Afterwards, some people took temporary ordination and are spending the Rain’s Retreat there. Some introductory Dhamma courses have also been conducted at this centre. Many more courses are also coming up. The intention is to run various courses throughout the year and spread the liberating words of the Buddha to one and all for welfare of mankind.

SUNDAY LECTURES

Every Sunday lectures are organized on various subjects dealing with real life situations and problems and how to find the solution through the practice of the Dhamma. These Sunday programs went on without break of even a single Sunday. The program includes 20 minutes of invocation, 5 minutes of undertaking Tisarana and moral precepts by lay devotees, 30 minutes of meditation and 45 minutes of talk. On an average with monksnearly 220 people attend every Sunday.

CHARACTER BUILDING MEDITATION PROGRAMS

Pabbajja meditation programs were conducted for character building education and for meditation. During the Buddha Jayanti celebrations, there were three separate Pabbajja programmes. The first one was specifically for women below eighteen years of age. Thereafter, there was the second Pabbajja programme for young boys below the age of eighteen years. Finally, the third Pabbajja programme was organized for the men and many persons attended the Pabbajja programme.

In addition, there are other temporary ordination programmes that go on throughout the year and many other men and women, both from India and abroad participated in these programmes. The temporary ordination programmes contribute to profound spiritual service and are of great benefit for those men and women who are unable to practise spiritual life on a full-time basis. The spiritual seed which is sown in these Pabbajja programmes would benefit the participants for the long time to come.

LIBRARY

It houses huge collections of books. Measures are being taken for the preservation of the books, particularly the old ones. Many books have been added.

HOSPITAL DĀNA SERVICE

The hospital dana service was started by Bada Bhanteji way back in 1956-57 when he saw the suffering of people in Victoria Hospital. This service has since continued at times every day and every week. During this year too hospital Dāna service was conducted on several full moon days and other days whenever donors offered Dāna. This year several hospital dana services were organized at Mahabodhi Burns and Casualty Centre, Victoria Hospital, Kidwai Institute of Oncology, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, KR Hospital, Mysore.

In addition to the existing dana services, from this year another dana service has been started at the Kidwai Memorial Cancer Hospital. This dana service is sponsored by Ms Rafaela and Mr. Michael of Switzerland and dana of special lunch is offered on every Saturday to the patients at the hospital. Another dana service is offering lunch on every Tuesdays donated by Ms.Monica. 4-5 monks and lay people go on these days and pray for speedy recovery and offer the lunch with love and prayers. The Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology has appreciated the services and they cooperate fully in this service.

MAHABODHI KARUNA HOSPITAL

The construction of the Mahabodhi Karuna Hospital behind Lalbagh in the heart of Bangalore city went on. Almost the construction got completed. After discussions with many doctors, an organisation called ArogyaSeva has come forward to cooperate to run free medical center with its voluntary doctors.

SEVAKHSETRA BUILDING

The construction of one more floor at the Sevakhsetra building which was given to Bhagwan Buddha University is being used for running classes. Some parts of the building have been given on rent and the rent is used for meeting the expenses of hostel students.

MAHABODHI MAITRI MANDALA, MYSORE

Mahabodhi Maitri Mandala was established in Mysore as branch in 1972-73. The Mysore Urban Development Trust had allotted a piece of land in Saraswathipuram. The founder Ven.Acharya Buddharakkhita bhanteji’s wish was to establish an educational centre for character building. So, Silayatana – centre for moral education was established and several welfare activities were conducted. In the year 1982 Mahabodhi School was established running nursery and primary classes. In the year 1992 a full-fledged CBSE school started functioning. From 1999 new school building and from 2001 new hostel building started functioning.

During the year Venerable Sangharakkhita was the monk in charge of the Mahabodhi School, Mahabodhi Carla Students Home and Mahabodhi Mettaloka Youth Centre, assisted by a junior monk.

There are three main activities run under Mysore MMM.

1. Mahabodhi School

2. Mahabodhi Carla Students Home

3. Mahabodhi Mettaloka Youth Centre

Mahabodhi School

Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita founded Mahabodhi educational institution with a view to give the best of modern education along with character building teachings. The school provides HOLISTIC EDUCATION in an atmosphere of love and care allowing the children to grow naturally and happily developing intelligence, compassion and wisdom at every stage.

Holistic Educationis to being about total personal evolution, physical fitness, emotional balance and strength, social responsibility, cultural richness, spiritual growth of a child. This is achieved through:

1. Building of Character based on moral and spiritual principles constituting the foundation of happiness and peace;

2. Academic studies, which fulfil one’s intellectual thirst and also help a person to find one’s profession in life to help oneself and others; and

3. Caring inner environment and outer environment which includes relationship with people and nature around oneself.

ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS – A report by the Principal

We are proud to report that 2014-15 batch of X Std students have brought laurels to the school by their excellent results. We achieved 100% results in CBSE class X examination held in March 2015. Out of 31 students,4 students got above 9 CGPA13 students got above 8 CGPA,
6 students got above 7 CGPA, 7 students got above 6 CGPA 1 student got 5.8 CGPA

All the students from class Nursery to Secondary school students have performed best and scored good marks in the annual examination. The parents are very happy about their ward performances in Curricular, Co-curricular activities and overall development.

Upgradation of Infrastructure

  • We have upgraded computer lab by adding 11 more computers using N-Computing technology which cost around Rs 1,40,000/- that allows multiple users to share 1 computer simultaneously.
  • Smart Class was introduced with the cost of Rs 1, 60,000/-, A world acclaimed technology integration program for teaching and learning in classrooms. Smart Class is designed to empower teachers with technology right inside classrooms, turning them into lively and vibrant learning platforms for students.
  • We have Incorporated CC camera (which cost around Rs 38,000/-) in and around the school premises to ensure the safety of the students and in order to monitor the activities taking place.
  • Setting up of Activity room for Nursery classes by spending around Rs -2, 00,000/-.
  • Setting up of Indoor sports station for Nursery classes by spending around Rs-50,000/-
  • Bio-metric Attendance system is introduced in the school which cost around Rs -10,000/-
  • Incorporated GPS tracking system by spending around - Rs 15,000/- for the safe and comfortable transportation of students from different area of the city.

“Education means inspiring someone’s mind not just filling their head”

Teacher’s Orientation

We started the academic year 2014-15 on June 2nd with new proclamations, planning and vows.The very first program was an orientation program for teachers on “COGNITIVE MAPPING/ CONCEPT MAPPING”by prof. H.S Umesha Rtd. principal, Sharada Vilas B.Ed College, Mysuru and Dr. C.G Nagaraja Rtd. Principal D.M.S Mysuru.

Functions and Celebrations

.On June 5th 2014 School celebrated the World Environment Day with a theme “Raise yourvoice not the sea level”. Students participated in various Environmental activities to mark the day. Ven.Dhammamaloka Bhanteji, Principal,planted saplings in the school campus. Students from higher primary and high school participated in road show to create awareness about the importance of saving environment. Students cleaned our surroundings to make plastic free zone on account of Environment Day.

· On 12th June 2014 Student Council elections was held to elect the student council members through voting. Many students contested for election and campaigned for. Miss Jamuna Mr. Dhammarakkhito was elected as School Head girl and Head boy respectively.

· On June 14th 2014 Investiture ceremony was celebrated and different houses were formed for developing skills in organizing, cooperation, team work and for increasing creative spirit.

· On 21st July 2014 Mahabodhi School celebrated Red day to impart the colour concept to Nursery kids.

· On 28th July 2014 blue day was celebrated to impart the color concept to Nursery kids. LKG and UKG Students and Teachers came in blue colour dress to celebrate blue day and conducted various activities to LKG kids.

· On 15th August 2014, 68th Independence Day was celebrated. Ven.Dhammaloka Bhanteji, presided over the function and addressed the gathering. The chief guest of the day Sri D.N Purushothamma Rao delivered a speech on the importance of Independence Day. Dr.H.V Batra Scientist and Director, DFRL, Mysore was the special invitee.’

· On 5th September 2014 Teacher’s Day was celebrated in Acharya Buddharakkhita auditorium. Ven. Dhammaloka Bhanteji switched on the function by cutting the cake followed by speech on significance of the day. On this auspicious occasion, well experienced and senior trainee teachers from various schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya, who are pursuing DCGC (Diploma Course in Guidance and Counseling) from Regional Institute of Education (RIE) Mysore, were present among us.

· On 2nd October 2014 The School was celebrated 145th Gandhi Jayanti.

- On 8th Sept. 2014 Kanakadasa jayanthi was celebrated.· On 14th Nov 2014 Children's day and and 59th Kannada Rajyostava was celebrated together. Ven. Dhammaloka Bhanteji inaugurated the function by lighting the lamp. The chief guest of the day Sri. H. Janardhan, Director, Rangayana, Mysore delivered a speech on significance of the day. Followed by cultural programmes to highlight the regional festival.