Host a Local Chapter

Are you interested in hosting a local Buddha Gaia chapter in your community?  Are you interested in integrating your Buddhist spirituality with environmentalism? Are you deeply concern with global warming and other environmental issues? Do you want to make a positive difference in your life? Would you like to make new spiritual friends? If so, we would like to work together with you to make our world a cleaner and safer place to live for all sentient beings.

What is Buddha Gaia?

Buddha Gaia is an active environmental advocacy group of concerned Buddhist and non-Buddhist individuals.  Though our main organization is Shin Buddhist, we are non-partisan, accepting and reaching out to all traditions, whether they are Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana, and hope to work with other sanghas on environmental issues.

We believe that any effective 21st century spiritual practice must include an ecological perspective that is fully integrated into our everyday lives. Our main environmental concern is global warming and our effort is to educate others on how to take action to reduce its impact. Also, we are concerned about water and air pollution, and we advocate measure for a cleaner environment. Being locally based, we work diligently cleaning up litter from the streets of our local communities, thereby directly actualizing our spirituality in our daily lives.

The Role of Local Chapters

A Buddha Gaia chapter is an informal local group, promoting spiritual environmental education and advocacy, using Buddhist ethics, philosophy and practice as its catalyst for action. Furthermore, members are dedicated in supporting each other’s eco-Buddhist spirituality, thereby growing in the dharma with deeper faith, compassion and understanding. Chapters meet on a regular basis and organize events and actions in their local communities. These events and actions may be conducted independently or in concert with the entire Buddha Gaia organization.

How to Establish a Chapter?

To establish a Buddha Gaia chapter in your home or university, you can use any comfortable space available, such as a living room and a college dorm or conference room. Tell your friends about your new group and place flyers on bulletin boards around town and/or campus. We’ll help you make a web site and we’ll maintain it for you.

Hosting a chapter is very straightforward. When you run meetings, start off with a little basic sitting meditation (5 to 10 minutes), Buddhist prayer and/or chanting practice. This is optional but is highly recommended in order to maintain the group’s Buddhist spiritual/ environmental focus.  Discussions cover environmental topics and/or are strategy sessions, focusing on practical and achievable ways to affect positive environmental change.  The key to any environmental or peace action is this, it must be practical and achievable. In this way, you and your local chapter will grow in confidence, and will build a strong momentum of success. In addition, chapter meetings serve as a social gathering where people of similar ideas and values can meet. So, chapter Hosts/Leaders should offer refreshments.  Chapters should meet once a month for one or two hours. You choose the days and times, and discussion topics.

View our Buddha Gaia: Brevard County Chapter as an example.