Six New Talks on Buddhist Right Livelihood Practice: new series of talks from Windhorse:evolution now available

Saddharaja, a long-standing Order Member and Staff Welfare Officer at Windhorse:evolution, Triratna’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, has embarked on an ambitious series of six new talks on Right Livelihood. The first of these, Meaningful Work and Values (The pleasures and sorrows of work) is now available on Free Buddhist Audio at www.freebuddhistaudio.com/audio/details?num=LOC780, and others will follow as soon as they are given. You can track their progess on Windhorse’s scrapbook blog (which doubles as a fascinating archive of their history)

In the talks he draws on his 20 years experience of Right Livelihood (team-based and otherwise ), saying -

“I aim to make conscious a path of spiritual practice and a healthy, human way of working within the modern world. A way of making our work at Windhorse:evolution (w:e) a genuine vocation. Hopefully, the talks will be interesting to everyone – Buddhist or not. I often ask myself the question what is Right Livelihood? What are the practices and how do we deepen them? Can anyone practice them, Buddhist or otherwise? What are the core teachings of Right Livelihood (RL)?

“We have a body of right livelihood experience and teaching within w:e, but my impression is that it isn’t coherently communicated and presented. Precious teachings, but not easily available. In Triratna, we have Sangharakshita’s Perfect Livelihood chapter in ‘Vision and Transformation’. There are other texts and teachings in our Movement too, but no one main source.

“So this is 2011, and society continues to change apace. Some of the traditional (and Triratna) approaches to right livelihood, while completely sound, can seem to me a bit dated – they don’t reflect how we live and work now.

“In the last three years I’ve been exploring ideas on Right Livelihood with Vajragupta (he who wrote The Triratna Story and other books). We’ve come up with six themes which might form a fresh look at Buddhist right livelihood practice – relevant to the needs of society today, whilst retaining the best of the traditional practices. The aim is that these approaches may form the basis of a book. Hopefully the ideas of Vajragupta and myself will stimulate discussion and experimentation within the business, and who knows – might even lead to some of us breaking through into something greater.

“The chart below outlines the themes of the 6 Talks. Each talk looks at a particular ‘challenges’ we can encounter in modern working, and how we might find solutions to them. The first talk is now out, more coming soon!

“There are many more teachings on RL in the Buddhist tradition, but these are the absolute essentials. You don’t think you need to be a Buddhist to appreciate many of these teachings, they are relevant to anyone – whether secular or belonging to another religious tradition”.

Windhorse:evolution is based in Cambridge, UK, where it employs over 100 people. Vacancies arise from time to time, those interested in applying are invited to check their latest adverts on Triratna Jobs.

Celebrating Wesak At Windhorse

This morning, Windhorse:evolution in Cambridge celebrated the Buddha’s Enlightenment. This was our second such Wesak event, and the theme was – Unfolding of the Lotus. This was the climax of several weeks of preparation involving people throughout the business. The warehouse staff have had a period of intensive practice, including silent working periods and rituals, and people from the whole business have participated in two ritualised morning events, held over a fortnight. These were to create a lotus border around the perimeter of the Stupa area, the central sacred space of our business. Having purified, prepared and decorated this ritual space, we were then ready for the main devotional event of our warehouse year – Wesak/Buddha Day!

This year our celebratory ritual centred on a long spiral procession around the offices and warehouse, chanting the Shakyamuni Mantra along the way. We accompanied it with a wide range of drums, bells, conchs and flags, as we walked inside and outside the building. We started in one sacred space – our Shrine Room, and concluded in another – the Stupa Area. The procession stopped at eight beautiful specially made shrines, placed around the building. At each we heard readings about the Buddha’s journey towards Enlightenment, followed by rousing call and response verses.

Before entering the Stupa area, we heard the story of the Buddha’s first teaching of the Dharma. Here, everyone picked up a Buddha Rupa, and whilst chanting the Shakyamuni Mantra completed their journey to the Stupa. There each person placed their Rupa in a niche, producing a vast wall containing over sixty Buddhas. We finished in a more reflective devotional mood, with a meditation led by Kavyasiddhi, and a Sevenfold Puja led by our Managing Director, Keturaja. The morning’s celebration concluded in time-honoured fashion, with a delicious festive shared lunch!

Many thanks go to Vidyavajra and Samudraghosha for all the work they put in to organising this for us.

Windhorse celebrate giving Dana to Triratna and social projects

Deborah Harward writes from Windhorse:Evolution, Triratna’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, with news of some of the dana they've been able to give over the past year - to a mixture of Triratna and non-Triratna projects. She says -

“Making money in order to give it away is fundamental to the purpose and ethos of Windhorse. One of the five principles that Windhorse is based on is generosity. Our profits are given to Buddhist projects around the world and to social projects in the communities associated with our suppliers.

“Since Windhorse started in 1980 it has donated millions of pounds to many different projects in the Triratna Buddhist Community. Over the last 5 years, when financial times have been more difficult, Windhorse has still given over £248,000 to different projects within the movement. The Buddhist Evolution shops have also given over £235,000 to their local Buddhist Centres. So far this financial year, Windhorse has donated to several Buddhist projects:

Free Buddhist Audio

“Free Buddhist Audio will use their donation of £10,000 to help maintain their well used and very useful web resource which provides free access to the Buddha’s teachings. Around 40,000 people download talks every month, and the site now has around 20,000 regular podcast users. Users come from over 180 different countries, and talks are available in 9 different languages.

“In a recent interview with Sangharakshita, he said, “We know that speech is a very powerful medium of communication. We know that the Buddha’s words spoken from, as it were, from his enlightened consciousness changed the lives of so many people. So that tradition of oral presentation of the Dharma has continued right down to the present day. It makes me particularly happy to think that talks that I myself gave years, even decades ago, to relatively small audiences, are now through freebuddhistaudio.com reaching perhaps tens even hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.”

“The creators of Free Buddhist Audio are now working on a new web presence for the whole Movement. Windhorse wanted to support this effort, which will be available to tens of thousands of people, and serve to unify the Movement.

Clear Vision

“A donation of £2.500 to Clear Vision is especially to help them with providing online materials for teenagers. Clear Vision is well known for the materials they make for schools but now their focus is on the needs of young people who have learned about Buddhism in school and want more. On the website they’ll now find loads of free Dharma materials. There are games, quizzes and links to Buddhist projects around the world. Most importantly, there are two sets of interactive video-based materials: The Life of the Buddha, and Us and Them: Buddhism and Community. Have a look online at www.clear-vision.org/youngpeople

“The donation will enable Clear Vision to work on two new sets of online interactive materials, for school and home use. One is about the Kalama Sutta, using animations by the young Indian students at the Aryaloka Computer Institute in Nagpur. The second is about the Five Precepts and uses Manga style cartoons created by an American Buddhist of another tradition.

Windhorse Publications

“Windhorse Publications aims to communicate Buddhism for the contemporary world, and specifically to bring alive the Triratna system of practice. They place great emphasis on producing books of high quality that are accessible and relevant to those interested in Buddhism at whatever level.

“The £2,500 donation they recieved is helping to fund the production of two books due for release this Spring. The first, Dhivan’s This Being, That Becomes, explores the Buddha’s core teaching of conditionality, and is the second in our new Buddhist Wisdom in Practice series. The second is a new edition of Sangharakshita’s A Guide to the Buddhist Path, featuring a brand new cover, format and content. Published originally in 1990, this is one of Sangharakshita readers’ favourites and has been of tremendous value to those seeking ordination and the teachers guiding them towards it.

Social Dana

Project workers from the Green Tara Trust conduct a rural workshop in Nepal  

“Windhorse has given over £60,400 to social projects over the last five years. We mostly choose these by asking our suppliers to recommend projects which support their local community. These have included help for schools in Guatemala, China and Bali, building a well in Kenya, earthquake relief in Indonesia and a charity for disabled people in Bali.

“One example from this year is the donation of £4000 to the Green Tara Trust.. We got to know about the work of the Trust through Karunamati, an Order member and doctor who is involved with the work of the Trust. The following details from her gives you some background to the work of the Trust and how our gift will help women in Nepal.

“Nepal is one of the poorest countries in South Asia with 1 in 2 people living in poverty. This has been compounded by worsening civil conflict. Ingrained gender discrimination results in women having less access to education, facilities & decision-making. This results in poverty, poor health & disempowerment.

“4,500 Nepali women die each year in childbirth due to lack of medical care. 1 in 13 children die before the age of 5 mainly due to hypothermia, infectious diseases, and poor nutrition. In this society, women and girls do not get enough food or medical care because of their gender. The Green Tara Trust is working to change this.

“I was in labour for five days but my motherin- law wouldn’t let me go to hospital. I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes. When my daughter-in-law is pregnant, I will make sure she goes to the hospital and gets nutritious food. This is my responsibility.” 

Indu - now an advocate of the work of Green Tara

“The money Windhorse has given will pay the wages of the 3 full-time Nepalese health-workers (Ishwori, Manita and Santosh) for 10 months. They provide care in pregnancy and childbirth for 10,000 people in rural Nepal, working to empower communities to take responsibility for their own care. They are all skilled in communicating and promoting health issues, especially in engaging the poorest and most marginalised in community programmes.

“The project has been running for just over 2 years, and is already seeing significant changes in attitudes and behaviour, and an improvement in the lives of many women and children”.

For more on Windhorse and their ethical approach to business check their evolution - ethical trade statement. There are occasional vacancies in the Windhorse teams, and those interested are invited to check Windhorse's adverts on the Triratna Jobs site.

News from windhorse:evolution

windhorse:evolution (www.evolutiongifts.co.uk) is Triratna’s largest right livelihood business, with well over 100 people at their Cambridge warehouse and a chain of 17 shops around the UK, all aiming to make money to give away to the Triratna Community and to social projects associated with its suppliers. It’s been a challenging time for them with the UK recession, but they’ve weathered the storm so far and Deborah, their new Communications Officer, writes with an update from Keturaja, saying - “Coming towards the end of this financial year, we can say we've done very well. We are expecting to make a similar profit to last year, around £100,000, which is a great achievement in these challenging economic times.

“Everyone in the business has contributed, from increasing wholesale and websales, to careful buying and controlling costs across the whole business. Our wholesale sales have continued their strong performance with sales for the first 9 months of the year 4% up on last year. The trading year for our 17 evolution shops has been more mixed, particularly with the heavy snow hitting our sales in December, although we fared quite well compared to the general market trend.

“Looking ahead, it is a strong aim for the business to increase profit next year, so we can give more money away, to make a difference out there in the world. The effect of the increase in VAT and cuts in government expenditure are likely to provide us with challenges, but we are keen to take advantage of lower property rents and hope to open one or two more shops this coming year. Our altruistic goal is very important - our set up for practice here is great and it gains an edge by having the aim to give money away. This year the Windhorse Trust has donated to several Buddhist projects and social projects in the communities of our suppliers, including: Free Buddhist Audio, Clear Vision, Windhorse Publications, Ban Rom Sai (an orphanage in Thailand http://www.banromsai.org/) , and Green Tara Trust, a maternal healthcare project in Nepal (http://www.greentaratrust.com/)

Vidyavajra's 'A Show of Hands' artwork,
representing the individual and collective efforts
of those who work at Windhorse

“Another aim for the year ahead is to continue our practice of Buddhist values and ethos at work. Uddiyana, where we work, already feels more like a beautiful shrine than a modern warehouse and offices, and Vidyavajra has been making more great improvements to the building, including his recent artwork 'A Show of Hands'. Arthapriya will be expanding his contribution as right livelihood convenor for the business, and Saddharaja will be giving a series of talks on Right Livelihood (more news on this to come soon).

“For more about us, you can now find us on facebook!  Look for windhorse:evolution to find more images, information and videos, and make friends with us to receive updates. Also, look out for our new magazine, available from Triratna Buddhist Centres around the world this week”.

Community At Work: part II of Windhorse video now released

Sugarbha writes from Windhorse:Evolution with news that the second part of their new series of short videos, Community At Work,  has just been released and is available for viewing.  He says -

“Four sangha members are interviewed regarding their experience of working in the business, including Nandavajra, a senior Order Member working with us for two months after stepping down from many years as Chairman of the Newcastle Buddhist Centre.  So a somewhat fresh perspective! People give personal and sometimes lively, humorous accounts”.

Windhorse are Triratna’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business.  Based in a large and beautiful purpose-built warehouse just outside Cambridge UK, they’ve an annual turnover of over UK £10m and currently have two vacancies.  You’ll find an advertisement on our sister blog Triratna Jobs. 

The direct video link is www.vimeo.com/19742477

Windhorse:Evolution release Padmasambhava and 'Community at Work' videos

Windhorse:Evolution, Triratna’s largest team-based Right Livelihood business, write letting us know of two new videos they’ve produced, titled ‘Padmasambhava Festival’ and ‘Community at Work, part I’. Sugarbha writes from their base in Cambridge, UK, to say -

“In the first video you see us bringing our Padmasambhava period to end in late December. The video communicates why Padmasambhava is an important figure, and presence, to us during this particularly busy time.  The direct link is www.vimeo.com/16427718, or click the embedded player below.


Padmasambhava Festival @ Windhorse Evolution from Dharmachari Sugarbha on Vimeo.

“The second video, 'Community at Work part I', is the first in a series of three videos where members of our sangha here at Windhorse:Evolution share their thoughts on how working in the Giftware Industry has helped to transform their lives! Some of these people have moved here from overseas, it is a down-to-earth but at the same time inspiring account of real-life Buddhist practice”.  This is at www.vimeo.com/18838726 or below.


Community at Work I from Dharmachari Sugarbha on Vimeo.

Click on either of the embedded players, or the direct links, to watch them.

Enjoy... and look out for Parts II and III!

Young People on FBA

Spreading the Dharma
Sharing our Practice
Connecting our Community Worldwide

Idealism - strong, radical, humane - doesn't belong to the past. It keeps being reborn, and it is blossoming online. Free Buddhist Audio is there as participant and documentarian in an energized, inspired community working across generations to cultivate change.

You'll likely know Free Buddhist Audio as a webspace for Triratna centres and projects around the world to share their working out of the Buddha's teachings. Free Buddhist Audio is the modern equivalent of the foundational oral tradition - a lively, user-friendly webspace where our community can share our inspirations, our understanding of the Dharma, and our Dharma work, in creative and evolving ways.

In October, the Young Persons Group in Cambridge, England organized a Padmsambhava Day celebration for the sangha and wider community. A series of Dharma talks were given on the theme of Taming the Demons of the Modern World, which have been uploaded to Cambridge Buddhist Centre's page on Free Buddhist Audio's Community Places. Viriyalila, promotions and fundraising team member of Free Buddhist Audio, was inspired to conduct an interview with one of the organizers of the event, Arthasiddhi, who works at Windhorse Evolution, a long standing Triratna (FWBO) Right Livelihood business.

Arthasiddhi explained that a team of five volunteers had organized the event, along with a series of outdoor talks and public meditations. The group's vision was to try "to get out there in our local community and meet people who had aspirations towards making the world a better place." In the spirit of Padmasambhava's legacy, they themed the day Taming the Demons of the Modern World and had planned to give a series of talks on Jesus Green near the city centre, but the weather was slightly uncooperative for that, so this was moved to the Cambridge Buddhist Centre. The Young People's team envisioned connecting with the wider community and had the slightly mad idea to create a papier-mache globe, four-feet in diameter, which they rolled through the streets, asking people to write on the globe what they thought they could do to Change the World. The team and participants were really energized by this, bringing a creative and playful expression of their Dharma practice into the world around them.

One of the talks given at this event, The Demon of Choice, by Aryadhara, has been released as a podcast through iTunes. If you are not already a subscriber, consider joining the Free Buddhist Audio podcast.

What follows is the interview that Viriyalila conducted with Arthasiddhi, exploring why he is active in organizing Young People's events in the sangha. The Free Buddhist Audio team is hard at work actively creating webspaces to support this sort of cross-cultural, cross-generational, cross-continent sharing of our lives, our practices, our aspirations, and our Dharma work. Please consider a donation to Dharmachakra/Free Buddhist Audio today so that we may continue to develop interactive and supportive webspaces, as well as provide free access to Dharma talks for people all over the world.

Young People and the Dharma... An Interview with Arthasiddhi from Windhorse Evolution

Viriyalila: Why is it important to you to have a specific Dharma voice, as it were, for Young People in the sangha?

Arthasiddhi: Initially, as of just a few years ago, I was a bit cold to the idea of talking about Young People's Sangha activities - but over the last year or so I've come to realize that retreats specifically for people under 30 have been instrumental for creating a context that I, and others, have found deeply inspiring. These, initated by Lokabhandhu in Birmingham and then Sheffield, have absolutely sold me and others on the the idea of Young People's Sangha activities.

My personal inspiration revolves around idealism - I want to hear the Dharma being communicated in an uncompromising and authentic way, and I think this is what young people want to hear as well - an uncompromising, idealistic, energetic and inspired exposition of the Dharma. We want to see and hear people who are passionate about what they are doing.

Young people are in a different phase of life. Teenagers are just starting to experience a sense of individuation and are taking in the world around them and coming to their own assessment of what life is about. It is easy to look around us and experience so much disappointment at the lack of awareness, the lack of empathy, the lack of kindness, lack of meaning - coming into contact with an idealistic community can have a big impact on individuals in this phase of life. To meet people engaging with their ideals in a very real way through talks and by example is very encouraging for youthful idealists.

Viriyalila: What do you think inspires younger people to commit more deeply to the spiritual life?

Arthasiddhi: It's really important not to squash people's idealism, the question is how to respond to it. Folks in their 40s and 50s have gained a lot of life experience, partly through making mistakes, and perhaps can see the naivety that young people may have inherent in their strong response to idealistic principles. Understandably they may fear watching someone make the same mistakes as they did, or perhaps new ones. Does one respond to the seed of idealism or the weeds around it? Will it help idealism mature to say I wouldn't do that? I guess there are not simple answers here but people obviously need to make some of their own mistakes and they can do this in relation with others who are more mature.

Viriyalila: What do you think young people relate to most in the Dharma or the Three Jewels?

Arthasiddhi: The idea of the New Society, as described by Sangharakshita. It is noticeable that this has not been talked about much until just a couple of years ago and this was the theme that was very alive on the Young People's Retreat. This really struck me on a very deep level. It is understandable that this sort of idealism - Let's change the world! - would appeal to young people. And secondly, the sangha, the importance of friendship - people that can share their idealism and work together on projects. As someone under 30 you can sometimes feel like a lost soul, when you meet other people that share your ideals it can be a real boon and you start to experience some of your own individuality. You can feel a bit like the only person that cares about certain things. There is a real hunger to meet people who share your concerns and your values. It can really encourage young people to put more of themselves on those values through friendship with others.

It is important to have a context where young people can express their energy and inspiration and where they can find ways to connect. It is also important that this is in connection with people who are wiser - and there is plenty of opportunity in the Order to be with The Wise. The way that happens and evolves is important, and looking for ways to connect and share is of great value.

Check out what's happening in our global sangha by visiting Free Buddhist Audio's Community Places!

Free Buddhist Audio needs your support to continue developing webspaces that spread the Dharma and connect our community worldwide.

Join our community! Make a Donation! Get involved!

new video from the Windhorse warehouse

The folk at Uddiyana, Windhorse:Evolution's massive warehouse in Cambridge UK, have sent Triratna News a link to the latest in their series of work-as-practice videos, you'll find it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-L6dipsaTE or in the embedded player below.

Enjoy...!

Windhorse:Evolution set out 10-point vision

The great stupa at the heart of Uddiyana,
the Windhorse warehouse in Cambridge

Windhorse:Evolution is Triratna’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, with an annual turnover of some UK £10m and an impressive record of dana, or generosity, to many Buddhist and social projects around the world.

To coincide with Keturaja taking over as their new Managing Director (see yesterday’s story on Triratna News) they’ve been clarifying their vision and core values, and we’re delighted to reproduce them below.

In addition they’ve a new advert out on Triratna Jobs - looking for men to join them in the Uddiyana (Windhorse) warehouse over the 2010 Xmas period: besides their standard support package, they’re offering a generous £1,000 grant towards an individual’s retreat or study programme.

Keturaja says -

“Over the last six months there has been a lot of discussion about the future vision of Windhorse:Evolution. We have moved out of survival mode and are able to look ahead and ask the questions ‘what is important to us?’ and ‘where do we want to go from here?’ In the Management Forum, we have been exploring this question. We’ve also met with the trustees of the Windhorse Trust to get a broader perspective on these questions, and in January many of us participated in a ‘conversation café’ where we explored these questions.

“I was heartened to see some common themes emerge around which there is a high degree of consensus. We are a Buddhist-led business, which means that the inspiration for our vision has its roots in the wider Buddhist vision for humanity. This is one of supporting the growth and unfolding of human potential - helping individuals to grow in awareness, compassion and insight.

“I want to draw out ten of these key themes that came up again and again in our discussions. They are ten themes on which I believe we can base the future direction and development of the business.

“In presenting these themes I don’t see a great shift in our overall direction. I think what has emerged is still very much true to the founding aims of the business. I am keen however that we are clearer about what our collective vision is and that we are able to articulate it both to ourselves, and to those outside the business – our customers and others in our Buddhist movement.

“Our vision looking outwards to the world is to run a financially successful business, taking less for ourselves, in order that we can maximise the money we give away. We want to run an ethical business that operates with an awareness of our impact on the environment. We want to exemplify the advantages of Team Based Right Livelihood and support the development of similar businesses.

1) Promoting the spread of the Dharma - we give funds directly to individuals and organisations that promote the Dharma and the living of a Buddhist lifestyle. We believe that supporting the spread of the dharma through building a Buddhist Movement is the most meaningful way we can positively engage with the world.

2) Supporting social projects – we give funds directly to social projects that benefit those in the communities from which we source the goods we sell, or to social projects connected to the Triratna Buddhist Community. This approach builds connection and minimises administrative costs, thus maximising the effectiveness of our gifts.

3) Providing ethically traded giftware for our customers – we have a clear ethical code in relation to our suppliers and aim to build strong and lasting relationships with our suppliers. We do not sell animal products and only use wood from renewable sources. We pay a fair price and check the working conditions and wages paid in the factories and workshops of our suppliers.

4) Developing environmental awareness – We aim to be a low carbon business and community, minimising the harmful impact of our business and personal lives on the environment. Many of us live a simple lifestyle with a low carbon footprint. Low levels of consumption, community living and sharing resources facilitate this.

5) Incubating/supporting new Buddhist businesses – we want to support other Buddhist businesses that share our values. We try to help in a number of ways like sharing the business learning we have gained.

Our vision for our windhorse:evolution community not only involves creating supportive conditions for personal practice but also providing an opportunity to engage in collective practice. We believe this helps us work towards becoming more selfless.

6) Providing a context for spiritual practice – we believe that in the context of meditation, reflection and study, ethical work can be a dynamic driver of spiritual growth. We aim to support individual spiritual development by providing supportive conditions for personal practice and by building team contexts for more intimate collective practice.

7) Promoting Buddhist ethical values within the business – we encourage the development of an ethos in the business that is inspired by Buddhist ethical precepts. We recruit staff, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, who resonate with these values.

8) Caring for our staff - we aim to create a working environment characterised by friendliness, openness in communication and honesty. We aim to create an ethos where everyone can be heard and their point of view taken into consideration. We want all staff to feel fairly treated and their needs taken into consideration.

9) Promoting learning and development - we offer a range of on-the-job training. We have a training manager who offers personal coaching and training workshops, especially to managers. We aim to create an environment of on-going learning and development.

10) Building a friendly Buddhist community – we offer the opportunity to work (and live - if desired) with likeminded people providing a basis for deep and longstanding friendship. We offer a wide range of community living situations for Buddhists. The business aims to support a wide range of activities that are not directly work related e.g. choir, yoga, and the pantomime. We welcome the cultural diversity that comes from an international workforce.

Keturaja
May 2010

He speaks a little more about this in a short interview recorded for Triratna News:

Windhorse:Evolution choose new MD

The Triratna Buddhist Order contains many unsung heroes among its' 1,600 members. One of these is Vajraketu, who for the past 23 years has been Managing Director of Windhorse:Evolution, Triratna’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business. With Windhorse turning over some £10m/year, and annual dana sometimes exceeding £250k, he's been responsible for a lot of money flowing into the Movement! But all things are impermanent, and now he writes to say -

“I have been a director of Windhorse for almost twenty-five years and the Managing Director for twenty-three of those years. Now I have decided to step down as Managing Director and pass that position on to Keturaja. I will remain as a Director, with my main responsibility being for buying, and with input into all the areas of the business that I currently input to.

"Broadly speaking there are two reasons for making this change. It has been increasingly apparent over the last two to three year that more and more of the initiative and vision for the business is coming from Keturaja. While he hasn’t done everything himself, it is fair to say that he has played the leading role in what has proved to be a relatively smooth transition of W:E from an almost exclusively Buddhists-working-on-support business, to one of a harmonious mix of non-Buddhists and Buddhists, waged and supported. At the same time, we have made big strides in becoming more professional, and less chaotic, as befits a business our size, and he also led much of that.

From the archives: a Windhorse meeting from the early 1990s
Keturaja is on the left

“So there is a definite sense in which my stepping down as MD is in part an acknowledgement of a change that has already happened, rather than a radical shift, and that is the first reason why we are doing it.

“Secondly, it became clear to me last year that the business needs a vision for the next five to ten years. We have spent the past eighteen months or more in survival mode. This was very necessary, and in its way it was a vision and one that we collectively responded to very well. But it won’t do as a vision for the long-term future.

“My personal assessment is that Keturaja is better able than me to mould and lead that new vision. Partly this is a matter of age and energy. I am 56 and feel more like resting on my laurels rather than energetically leading a dynamic new vision. Even if I did feel like doing it I think Keturaja would actually be better at it than I would. He is very thorough, consensual and clear, while at the same time being creative and imaginative, a quite rare combination of qualities. I have relied on him a lot over the years and he has not perhaps got as much credit for the successes of W:E as he has deserved.

“I would like to emphasise that I am sticking around. I enjoy my work and I enjoy working here and with you. I am not leaving. I still have a lot to offer the business in terms of experience and practical knowledge, but I don’t quite have the right combination of qualities to give the business the leadership I think it needs at the moment. Keturaja will, no doubt, expand on what he thinks about all this elsewhere”.

Tomorrow we’ll be printing some reflections by Keturaja, including his ten-point summary of Windhorse’s core ethical values and purpose.

‘Dharma Day’ on the FWBO/Triratna International Retreat, and Vajradarshini's talk

Yesterday was ‘Dharma Day’ on the FWBO/Triratna International Retreat, and saw a fine talk by Vajradarshini. Uploaded overnight, it’s now available on VideoSangha at www.videosangha.net/video/Everything-Matters-Turning-Cons, or directly in the embedded player below.



Under the title ‘Everything Matters - Turning Consumerism on its Head’, Vajradarshini looked at the strategies Westerners use to gauge their levels of wealth and happiness - which seem to result all too often in all too many of us feeling not-very-wealthy and not-very-happy. She suggested that we could, instead, turn around our obsession with ever-newer and ever-larger to value what is old, or what has been mended, or what has been handed down to us - radically different ideas of wealth and beauty drawn from traditional societies and the Japanese Buddhist ethos of Wabi-Sabi. There was much more, too - but you’ll have to watch the talk to find out more!

Yesterday also saw the launch of Vajragupta’s new book ‘The Triratna Story’, sub-titled ‘Behind the Scenes of a new Buddhist Movement’. Find it at your local Triratna Centre bookshop or on-line at Windhorse Publications (see www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/Details.asp?ProductID=743). Well over a year in the writing, but exceptionally timely, Vajragupta describes it as “the story of mistakes made, lessons learnt and how a Buddhist community was built”.

 Others seem to agree - David Brazier, author of The New Buddhism, says "An excellent synopsis of the history of an important Buddhist movement"; and Zoketsu Norman Fischer, founder of the Everyday Zen Foundation and author of Sailing Home, comments that it’s "...a courageous and important book...it defies all expectations."

video blogging from Windhorse:Evolution's month-long working retreat

Sugarbha writes from Windhorse:Evolution, the largest Right Livelihood business in the Triratna Buddhist Community. In their Cambridge warehouse they’ve been holding a month-long working retreat, video-blogging as they go.

He says - “Here, in part three, Arthapriya, the Windhorse Mitra Convenor, talks about work as practice and the importance of team based right livelihood as a Buddhist practice. There’s also clips of Vidyavajra leading the warehouse team in ritual around the giant Stupa in the centre of the warehouse. This is part three, the next clip will be the last in the series”.


New Developments @ Windhorse Part 3  on Vimeo.

The direct link is www.vimeo.com/10872944

Windhorse: Evolution is a successful business, trading ethically in giftware. It is the largest team based right livelihood business in the Triratna Buddhist Community, employing approximately 250 people in total. About 100 people work in the warehouse in Cambridge and a further 150 in the 18 Evolution shops around the UK and Ireland.

They sometimes have vacancies for men and women seeking to work in a Buddhist Right Livelihood environment; please check Triratna Jobs for the latest, or contact Windhorse direct.

Windhorse: Evolution’s month-long Working Retreat - part II

Sugarbha writes from Windhorse: Evolution with news of their month-long Working Retreat. They’re making a video diary of the event - they plan to tell FWBO News readers and the wider Buddhist Sangha more about themselves and they see their work - and the business itself - as a really effective means of practicing Right Livelihood.

He says -

“Windhorse: Evolution is a successful business, trading ethically in giftware. It’s the largest team based right livelihood business in the Triratna Buddhist Community/FWBO.

“We employ approximately 250 people in total - about 100 people in Cambridge and a further 150 who work in the 18 Evolution shops around the UK and Ireland.

“Right now we’re running a month-long working retreat in the warehouse. Here in part two of our video diary of the event, Satyaketu (our Warehouse Manager) outlines the scale of the operation and explains why we are now in a position to focus more on exploring work as a spiritual practice.

“The link is to view the video is http://vimeo.com/user2981906/videos

“Enjoy!

“Sugarbha”

Windhorse:Evolution begin month-long working retreat

Windhorse: Evolution is the FWBO’s largest and most successful business, trading ethically in giftware, supplying shops all over the UK and beyond. It is the largest Buddhist team-based right livelihood business in the UK and probably Europe, employing approximately 250 people in total. About 100 people work in Cambridge and a further 150 in the 18 Evolution shops that form part of the Windhorse family.

There are three teams in the Windhorse warehouse, totalling about 25 Buddhist men, and they are currently entering into a more intense period of a month-long ‘working retreat’. Specifically they are exploring how work can be a potent spiritual practice.

They write to say - “We are going to make a video diary of our retreat in the workplace which will be posted on FWBO News. Please click on the link to watch our introductory video www.vimeo.com/8778332 - or click on the screenshot opposite. And look out for follow-ups!”

Windhorse occasionally have vacancies for both men and women. These are often advertised on FWBO Jobs, or you can contact Windhorse direct on 01223 868600..

Windhorse:Evolution follows through on successful "survival strategy"

Windhorse:Evolution is the largest and most successful of the FWBO’s many Right Livelihood businesses, with a chain of some 20 Evolution shops and a massive warehouse on the outskirts of Cambridge, UK.

Over the years they’ve been a major source of dana to a great many FWBO and TBMSG projects around the world, often giving away £250,000 or even more in a single year. However, like most retail businesses, they’ve been hard-hit by the recent downturn. The following is an article from their internal magazine, reprinted by permission. It gives an authentic insight into the real-life difficulties of running an idealistically-based business - and their success in meeting what are probably their greatest-ever challenges.

Vajraketu, Windhorse’s Managing Director, reports -

"The year to March 31st 2009 was in business terms the most difficult Windhorse:Evolution has faced for over twenty years. The credit crunch arrived at a time when we already faced challenges that would have been a handful even in a benign economic environment, and the result was a substantial loss for the year - the first time the business has lost money since 1984.

"Once the extent of the economic downturn became clear, in the early autumn of 2008, we launched a "survival strategy", which involved extensive cost cutting, including shutting two shops, the shelving of our plan to open more shops, and some redundancies at the Cambridge head office - the first time we have had to make anyone redundant, and not a happy landmark. Those, and other measures too numerous to mention, have enabled us to cut about 5%, or £300,000, from our projected expenses for this financial year.
At the same time, both the wholesale and retail sides of the business have had to focus on how best to adapt and compete in a depressed market.

"So far both have performed better than the sales forecasts we made for them in January, and if this continues until Christmas then the business could break-even this year (we were previously expecting a substantial loss). Breaking-even may not sound like much, but in the circumstances we are dealing with it would be a considerable achievement. However I must stress that with so much of our annual sales concentrated in the September-December period, and with the economic environment so uncertain, we cannot assume that the better-than-expected sales performance of recent months will necessarily continue.

"There is no guarantee that we will survive the current recession. I have been impressed with the amount of change and adaptation we have effected in the past year or so, and with the efforts and plans of both the wholesale and retail teams to maximise sales, but we must acknowledge that there are some things that are not in our control and we could probably not survive a deep and prolonged recession.

"While much of our energy is currently concentrated on survival, we have not lost sight of the longer-term vision of an ethical business run along broadly Buddhist lines, and the need to develop that in the light of changing circumstances. There are a great many things we could do in developing and promoting our approach to ethical trade, and to the environment, that are not getting as much attention from us as they would if times were easier. There is also the need to grow sales so that we can again generate profits sufficient to enable us to give away money to Buddhist projects and to social and educational projects in the communities where our products are made, and to support those who work in the business to an adequate standard now and in the future".

Latest news just in from Windhorse indicates that they seem to have survived the worst of the recession and are turning their minds from survival to considering more broadly what type of business they wish to be in the future. Sadhu Windhorse!

More details, including their Ethical Trading policy, are on their website www.windhorse.biz. To learn more about the ‘Windhorse story’, we recommend ‘Transforming Work: An Experiment in Right Livelihood’, by Padmasuri.

Windhorse:Evolution faces the credit crunch; challenges ahead but morale high

Windhorse:Evolution is the FWBO’s largest Right Livelihood, indeed the largest in the Western Buddhist world, with annual sales of UK £9million, an impressively ethical approach to business, and a wonderful record of giving dana to many many FWBO and TBMSG centres around the world.

However they, like the rest of the Western economy, have been hard-hit by the recent economic downturn. This report aims to bring readers of FWBO News up-to-date with what’s happened and what they’re doing. It is based on material from Ratnaghosa and Vajraketu.

Final figures are still coming in, but sales for the 2008 Christmas period look to be down some 20% on last year, both in their shops and wholesale division. As a result their best-case projection for 2008 is a loss of £150,000 – their worst-case projection is £450,000. Nonetheless, they are confident they have the resources to ‘weather the storm’ for a year – though, like most of the retail industry, it is presently a case of fighting for survival. The collapse of the pound has also hit them hard, with the cost of many of their goods rising by 25%.

The main measures they are taking are cost-cutting – specifically looking for savings in their wage and rent bills. These are in the spotlight because they are the ‘levers’ actually available to them. Out of annual sales of £9m, they have a wage bill of £3m and a rent bill of £2m. They have instituted a ‘hiring freeze’ and, with great reluctance, made their first-ever redundancies in the business. This has been especially painful for a business that prides itself on looking after its employees. Sadly, they cannot guarantee there won’t be more over the coming months.

A major consideration in the minds of the Windhorse directors has been the livelihoods of their suppliers. Due to Windhorse’s ethical trading policy, they often know exactly who they are buying from, and have had long-term relationships with them for many years. They know, for instance, that if they disappear the livelihoods of 200 people in Bali would vanish – and many in Kenya, Guatemala, and China as well. This is a strong incentive to them to survive, and even if the very worst happens and they go under, they are determined not to close owing their suppliers money.

This seems pretty unlikely though - morale in the business is actually very good: Ratnaghosa says its as though the crisis has brought out the best in everyone. A couple of unprofitable shops have been closed (in Shrewsbury and Norwich) – but they are still looking to open 3 new shops during 2009! This is down from their original ambitious plans to open 5, and the openings have been deferred to be nearer Christmas so they will move into profitability quicker – but its still a mark of their confidence.

Notwithstanding the difficult climate, and the very real challenges they face, Windhorse are looking to the future and are determined to come out of the recession both stronger and in an expansionist mood. Exactly how this will manifest is not easy to predict – forecasting the future, says Ratnaghosa, has effectively become almost impossible.

The photographs show Uddiyana, the Windhorse warehouse in Cambridge, and the great stupa in its centre.

New talk - Spiritual practice, efficiency, and productivity in the work-place

FWBO News is pleased to reproduce a talk recently given by Ratnaghosa to the warehouse workers at Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful business.

Entitled "Spiritual practice, efficiency, and productivity in the work place", it’s reproduced here to give readers of FWBO News some insight into Windhorse’s ongoing exploration of the principles of Right Livelihood and the ways they seek to combine business success with spiritual development.

To take a quote almost at random from the middle of the talk –

“Efficiency, on the other hand, is conducive to good mental states and positive mental states are conducive to efficiency. This is a virtuous circle. Higher mental states are more creative and are likely to lead to elegant solutions and this is what we really want to achieve at Windhorse. We want to encourage the development of higher states of consciousness and see those higher states of consciousness manifesting in creativity, co-operation and satisfying relationships and results. And if we can achieve elegant creativity in our systems and teams that will encourage higher states of consciousness. It is like a Zen garden. The garden is created out of a tranquil state of consciousness and the garden in turn produces tranquillity in those who use it…”

You can read the talk via FWBO Features or by clicking here.

Windhorse:Evolution part IV: Dana in 2008 - and beyond...

This is part four of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK.

In 2007-8 Windhorse’s dana totalled a remarkable £265,229, all given away out of the profits of the business to a multiplicity of projects across the FWBO, TBMSG, and beyond.  Part IV of this series looks at how Windhorse makes its decisions, and exactly what they chose to fund last year.  There's the Dana Fund, the Growth Fund, the Legacy Fund, and the Social Fund. 

Just one, the Growth Fund, was able to give money to a new FWBO group in Freiburg, Southern Germany, for continuing the development of close-to-nature camping retreats in Holland and Belgium, for publicity and basic expenses for new centre in Düsseldorf, Germany,  for cushions, mats, etc for the new Buddhist Centre in Krakow, Poland and equipment and publicity for new FWBO centre in Leicester, UK.


In India it gave publicity and equipment for new city centre premises in Bhusawal, Maharastra, and a major new Indian Buddhist Youth project building on previous two years of the ‘National Buddhist Youth’ gatherings, funding for a second year to continue working with Tribal people in remote areas, also to sponsor gatherings of leaders from different caste communities in India, , for a major extension of TBMSG activities in North India - and last but by no means least, for underwriting the cost of two Order Membes visiting a woman mitra running FWBO-style activities near Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

Click here to read the full report - which also looks at Windhorse's plans for the future - which include a clear “Donations Warning!” for 2009 and beyond.

Windhorse:Evolution - the people...

This is part three of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The articles have looked at the ethos of the business and recent changes and challenges it has faced. Part III explores the experiences of some individuals working in it, while part IV (to be published on July 16th) will reveal the many projects funded by their current dana or generosity.

1.Gaining Confidence

Santosh Kamble (who has just been ordained, and is now known as Sanghanatha, 'Protector of the Sangha') works in the Windhorse:Evolution warehouse in Cambridge, known as 'Uddiyana'. He's from a small village in Maharastra, India, and this is his story...

"I came into contact with the Western Buddhist Order (known in India as TBMSG) in my childhood through the Asvaghosa project. They go from village to village, teaching drama, singing songs and telling stories to the most underprivileged children, to build their confidence. I went to those classes in my village when I was a child, and I loved the singing, drama and playing games, and I was inspired by their activities. They pick up some incidents from the Buddha’s life and tell a story or do a performance. Most of the songs are about the spiritual life. I made a connection with the teachers and Asvaghosa leaders, who are practising Buddhists involved in TBMSG".

Ten years later, and he's in Windhorse...  Click here to read more

Windhorse:Evolution - a Buddhist business...

FWBO News is pleased to present part II of a series of four articles on Windhorse:Evolution, the FWBO’s largest and most successful Right Livelihood business, based in Cambridge, UK. The first article looked at recent changes and challenges it has faced, this explores the ethos of the business,.  Parts III and IV will examine the experiences of some individuals working in it, and some of the many projects funded by their current dana.  Most of the articles are taken from the W:E magazine, and are reprinted by permission.


Keturaja, Windhorse:Evolution's HR Director, talks to Tejasvini about some of the Buddhist flavours to be found at windhorse:evolution.  He says "Many of us have come to work at windhorse: evolution because we value working with other people who are inspired to practise the Buddhist path. Our ethos, and the five principles of the business are inspired by Buddhist practice..."

He goes on to talk of the renaissance in community living they are currently experiencing, and of the variety to be found between the dozen or more communities that are associated with Windhorse in Cambridge.  Also of their flexibility in paying people - and of the simple virtues - and challenges of living on their 'support package' as opposed to drawing a wage.  This is, perhaps, one of the most distinctive features of Windhorse and indeed the FWBO's 'team-based Right Livelihood' businesses generally.  As Keturaja says -

"...there’s a collective element in the practice of being on support. Most of support consists of allowances, which are just taken, but there are some elements that involve discussing one’s own needs, and I think that’s a useful reflection and clarification on needs and wants. We all have a relationship with money and how we use it, and quite a lot of our conditioning is tied up with our feelings about money. Somehow the support system draws out and reflects back one’s own conditioning in regard to it. Sometimes that can be quite challenging, but personally I have found that it helps make me aware of my own conditioning and deciding whether I’m happy with that conditioning or want to change it. For example some people find it difficult to ask about their own needs, and so the people involved in administering the support system practise being open and encouraging, helping people clarify what their needs really are".

Click here to read the full article. 

Part III will be published on July 14th.