Chaga Giving
Chaga in the context of Sangha House NOLA represents the spirit of generosity, rooted in simplicity, mindfulness, and care for others. It involves embracing fewness of wishes and prioritizing the well-being of others. This practice combines the ancient teaching of dana with our commitment to offering teachings, care, and sustenance to both the temple and the community it serves. Chaga is more than just giving material resources—it embodies an inter-being, compassionate approach to life, where each act of generosity strengthens the collective and helps alleviate suffering in our community and the world.
Practicing Chaga or Giving at Sangha House NOLA
Sangha House NOLA is sustained through the practice of Chaga Giving, a heartfelt generosity that nourishes our temple, supports our community, and upholds the sacred traditions of Buddhist practice. The community's voluntary contributions allow us to continue offering teachings freely and ensure that everyone, regardless of financial ability, can access them. We invite everyone to give at the highest level they are able, fostering equity and radical inclusivity in our collective journey of healing and spiritual liberation. By embracing Chaga Giving, we cultivate a spirit of generosity that helps us co-create a thriving, compassionate community deeply rooted in interbeing, trust, and connection.
What is Dana?
Dana, one of the Ten Perfections, is a simple yet profound act that arises from a heart filled with gratitude. Each act of generosity directly nurtures and sustains Sangha House NOLA, allowing us to continue offering teachings, practice, and a supportive space for healing and connection. Your giving, whether in the form of money, time, energy, or other resources, strengthens the collective well-being of our community and ensures that our mission endures.
At Sangha House NOLA, this generosity manifests in countless ways. Community members contribute to and care for the temple through acts of dana—supporting Venerable Dayananda’s teachings, providing nourishing foods for body and spirit, and making sure our space remains accessible to all. Every offering helps keep the heart and energy of Sangha House alive and thriving.
Nurturing Friend
25$Every month- Supports the foundational elements of our space
- Helps us provide essential items for practice
- Helps create an atmosphere of peace and care
- Helps reflecting the nurturing spirit of our community
Sangha Caregiver
50$Every month- Contributes to the ongoing care of our shared space
- Keeping it clean, inviting, and ready for practice
- Helping to purchase everyday essentials
- Maintains a serene and cared-for refuge for all who come
Builder of Sangha
100$Every month- Maintains the heart of Sangha House
- Covers essential needs like utilities payments
- Covers study materials, and general upkeep
- Creates a refuge for everyone who enters
Sangha Sustainer
250$Every month- Fund more substantial needs, such as equipment
- Funds Sangha House improvements, and programs
- Ensures that Sangha House can continue to offering teachings
- Ensures there is aways healing and transformation here
- Creates a space that is well cared for and continues to grow
- Contributes to meeting the needs of our growing community
Heart of the Sangha
500$Every month- A key role in supporting both Sangha House and our Monastics
- Ensures Monastics have the resources they need
- Provides food, housing, healthcare, and study materials
- Helps keep the teachings alive and accessible
- Allows our community to thrive and grow together
Temple Guardian
1,000$Every month- Contributions help secure the future of Sangha House NOLA
- Supports long-term sustainability and expansion
- Ensuring the space remains available to all who seek refuge
- Ensuring a safe space for healing, and transformation
- Enables us to continue offering teachings freely
- Ensures our monastics are well cared for and supported
Giving Principles
Our approach to Chaga Giving is guided by these giving principles:Giving is the foundation of our economic interactions that nourish us and celebrate abundance. Flows freely with no expectation of return, building trust and gratitude, generosity and community. Nurtures our interbeing. Relationship and reciprocity
1. Heartfelt Giving Beyond Transaction
At Sangha House NOLA, there are no set prices; instead, a suggested donation is offered as a reflection of the Dharma’s priceless value. Every contribution is honored as sacred, embodying our shared commitment to creating a space of compassion and inclusivity, where resources help foster community connection and collective well-being. Contributions sustain the temple and cultivate a reciprocal relationship between the community and the teachings, encouraging a practice where generosity flows from the heart.
The kindness of those before you has made it possible for us to offer these teachings today, and your support ensures that we can continue sharing them with others in an open and inclusive way, welcoming all who seek refuge here.
2. A Practice for All: Generosity Without Costs:
We warmly invite everyone to participate in giving, knowing that generosity is entirely voluntary. This inclusive approach honors the diversity of our community, ensuring that all members, regardless of financial means, can contribute in a way that feels right to them. The generosity of others has made Sangha House NOLA possible. Teachings are freely offered, with only suggested donations for programs outside of fundraising events, so that everyone, regardless of financial ability, can access spiritual practice. This models generosity as a natural and unconditional act, welcoming all, regardless of socio-economic status.
3. Collective Generosity: A Shared Commitment
Everyone is invited to support the temple, reinforcing a shared commitment to the well-being and growth of our community. This approach nurtures a culture of collective generosity, where everyone, regardless of means, can engage meaningfully in sustaining the temple. Through voluntary giving, each person becomes an essential part of our spiritual community's expansion and resilience.
This joyful exchange of generosity—whether through time, resources, or energy—nurtures our community and keeps us independent and strong, sustained by the love of those who call Sangha House home. Our contributions directly support the heart of Sangha House NOLA, meeting the needs of our growing community. Through the generosity of all who are impacted by and see the importance of Sangha House, we continue to offer a space for practice, healing, transformation, and the accountability of a Sangha. This reciprocal support is the foundation of our work, keeping the heart of Sangha House alive for all who seek it.
4. Balanced Generosity: Each Offering Makes a Difference
We invite each member of our community to contribute in ways that reflect their capacity, whether through financial support, time, or skills. Those with greater resources are encouraged to give where others are unable, allowing the Sangha to thrive while ensuring that everyone, regardless of their means, can continue to find refuge and support within Sangha House NOLA. This practice of compassionate generosity strengthens our collective well-being and ensures the sustainability of our shared space.
5. Cultivating Trust through Transparency
We believe in reflecting openly on the impact of generosity by sharing how contributions support the needs of Sangha House NOLA. This practice helps everyone feel connected to the care and sustainability of our community, creating a harmonious flow of giving that uplifts the entire Sangha. It informs givers about the significance of their gifts and encourages ongoing support.
Support for Our Monastics and Teachers
Monastics put their time, heart, and energy into caring for the temple, studying, and preparing offerings, all while relying on the generosity of our community to support themselves. However, it has become more challenging for them to receive enough dana to meet their needs and sustain their practice.
We invite you to be part of the effort to change that by supporting both our monastics and Sangha House NOLA. We take responsibility for making sure our monastics have what they need—food, housing, clothing, study materials, and healthcare—so they can continue doing their important work.
Your sponsorship helps ensure our monastics can keep offering their wisdom and support to the community, while keeping the center vibrant and strong.
Sangha House NOLA holds a unique and powerful space for those seeking healing, transformation, and a beloved community. Through testimonies of gratitude and deep connection, it’s clear that Sangha House provides much more than a physical space—it offers a a welcoming space for meditation, contemplation, reflection, sharing of gifts and communal care. For many, it is a place where personal growth and community engagement flourish side by side, offering the spiritual leverage needed to navigate life's challenges.
To grow, and to share in a community that cares for one another. When you step into Sangha House, you enter a space that holds you with warmth and invites you to reconnect—with yourself, with others, and with the teachings that guide your path.
Sangha House is a place where the teachings come alive through shared practice, and where every contribution, whether small or large, helps nourish the collective spirit. It’s a space for deep reflection, compassionate fellowship, and the kind of healing that ripples outward—touching individuals and uplifting the community.
The Spirit of Giving: Why We Rely on Generosity
Generosity is a vital cornerstone of our practice at Sangha House NOLA. Our temple is an invaluable resource for the community, and its continued growth is essential for maintaining the well-being of all who seek refuge here. Generosity allows us to care for the temple, provide teachings, and offer support to our Sangha, community, and the planet.
Our Sangha thrives through the generosity of volunteers who sustain our ability to serve, weaving generosity into the fabric of our community. We see this practice of chaga as an opportunity to cultivate gratitude, fostering both collective and spiritual abundance, and building a world rooted in liberation and care for one another.
We rely on chaga giving because we are committed to moving beyond old paradigms. When we give, we affirm that all beings deserve happiness, and we provide for one another out of love, care, and mutual support.
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Sangha House NOLA
2004 Lapeyrouse St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
© Sangha House NOLA
1. Nurturing Friend
Contribution: $25/month
Benefit: Your monthly contribution supports the foundational elements of our space, helping us provide essential items such as candles, incense, and offerings that make Sangha House feel welcoming to all. Your gift helps create an atmosphere of peace and care, reflecting the nurturing spirit of our community.
2. Sangha Caregiver
Contribution: $50/month
Benefit: Your monthly support contributes to the ongoing care of our shared space, keeping it clean, inviting, and ready for practice. This could include helping to purchase everyday essentials like cleaning supplies or incense. Each contribution ensures that Sangha House remains a serene and cared-for refuge for all who seek solace here.
3. Builder of Sangha
Contribution: $100/month
Benefit: Your generous contribution helps maintain the heart of Sangha House, covering essential needs like utilities, study materials, and general upkeep. Your support creates a refuge for everyone who enters, sustaining the calm and compassionate energy that Sangha House offers.
4. Sangha Sustainer
Contribution: $250/month
Benefit: At this level, your contribution helps fund more substantial needs, such as equipment, improvements, and programs. Your support ensures that Sangha House can continue offering teachings, healing, and transformation in a space that is well cared for and continually evolving to meet the needs of our growing community.
5. Heart of the Sangha
Contribution: $500/month
Benefit: Your sponsorship plays a key role in supporting both Sangha House and our monastics. This includes ensuring they have the resources they need, such as food, housing, healthcare, and study materials. Your gift helps keep the teachings alive and accessible, allowing our community to thrive and grow together in spiritual fellowship
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6. Temple Guardian
Contribution: $1000+/month
Benefit: As a Temple Guardian, your contribution helps secure the future of Sangha House NOLA, supporting long-term sustainability and expansion. This includes ensuring that our space remains open and available to all who seek refuge, healing, and transformation. Your generosity enables us to continue offering teachings freely while ensuring that our monastics are well cared for and supported in their vital work.
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Choose when you want to come to the Sangha
Sustaining members pledge a fixed dollar amount to Sangha House NOLA each month. Sangha House relies on this monthly support for day-to-day expenses, supplies, rent and utilities, retreats and weekly offerings but also for the well being of its monastics. Participants decide for themselves the value of teachings received, make their offering, and practice generosity without regret. Yet over and above these occasional offerings, our ongoing work of teaching Dharma vitally depends upon the monthly gifts we receive from sustaining members. These gifts provide a secure foundation that allows us to plan our future programs and activities with more confidence. Benefits of Becoming a Sustaining Member Members-only special events, private gatherings with visiting teachers, benefactors e-newsletter, and more. Most of all, knowing that your pledged monthly donation will work towards keeping Sangha House, its programs, and offerings to the public open and available to the entire local as well as global community. If you are interested in becoming a sustaining member, please use the Donate button above to set up a recurring donation.
Caga is cultivated through the practice of dana and metta, where consistent acts of generosity—even when it’s difficult—and surrounding ourselves with a generous community opens the heart to care and kindness. May we embody the Buddha's teachings by cultivating a heart so open and generous that we naturally share, knowing the boundless joy that comes from giving, even in the smallest of moments. This practice supports the well-being of our Sangha, our community, the earth, and beyond, reflecting our deepest values and aspirations for all beings. It’s a call to action, a call to realign our systems with the principles of interbeing, compassion, and our collective inquiry.