Celebrating our book launch in Sydney
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Welcome to the third Tuwhiri newsletter. From now onwards, we intend to send out this newsletter every three months.
SYDNEY LAUNCH
Wednesday 3rd October 2018 • 7–9pm
Benledi House, 186 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, Sydney
Come and celebrate the launch of The Tuwhiri Project & After Buddhism: a workbook, with a panel discussion between Michael Dudley, Gawaine Powell Davies and Winton Higgins on ‘Can religion and secularism meet in creative harmony?’ – the creative relationship between religion and secularism.
This is a free event • please register at sydneyinsightmeditators.org or here.
Dr Michael Dudley works as a psychiatrist at Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospitals, and is a conjoint senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of New South Wales. He has a long-standing clinical, public health and research interest in suicide, self-harm and depression in young people.
Gawaine Powell-Davies has had a lifelong interest in the ideas of Buddhism, starting with a chance encounter at age 13 with Christmas Humphreys’s book on Buddhism. He took up dharma practice seven years ago with Bluegum sangha and has been delighted to find mysterious things come to life – and into his life – in very practical ways. He is exploring how other long-term interests such as philosophy and storytelling can be woven into the fabric of dharma practice.
A member of The Tuwhiri Project editorial board, author Winton Higgins has been a Buddhist practitioner since 1987, and a teacher of insight meditation since 1995. He has contributed to the development of secular Buddhism internationally and is a senior teacher for Sydney Insight Meditators and Secular Buddhism in Aotearoa New Zealand.
WELLINGTON LAUNCH
After Buddhism: a workbook and The Tuwhiri Project will be launched in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, on Friday 15th February 2019, followed by a weekend workshop led by Winton Higgins on the 16th & 17th. Could you make this your opportunity to visit Wellington? More in the next newsletter.
TRANSLATIONS
We are in communication with two translators about creating either a Spanish or a German language version of After Buddhism: a workbook, and it looks like we will be publishing it ourselves.
It has become obvious that we didn’t budget enough in the Kickstarter to pay a translator adequately for the 20,000 words of the book or the book publishing costs. To make this happen, we need your additional help to get the book into another language.
If you, or your community, would like to support this aspect of The Tuwhiri Project’s work, you can make a donation through the Store page of the website. For more information, reply to this email or get in touch with Ramsey Margolis by phone on +64 21 97 35 31.
You may like to read Winton Higgins’s review of the three most recent books by Stephen Batchelor that appeared in the Journal of Global Buddhism. In ‘The Flexible Appropriation of Tradition: Stephen Batchelor’s Secular Buddhism’, Winton examines Confession of a Buddhist atheist (2010), After Buddhism: rethinking the dharma for a secular age (2015) and Secular Buddhism: imagining the dharma in an uncertain world (2017). Download this book review here.
ONLINE STORE
The Tuwhiri website has a brand new online store through which you can get copies of the book in paper and digital formats. You can also become a Tuwhiri Sponsor through the store.
One printed book will cost you $23 New Zealand Dollars (NZD), including delivery to wherever you are in the world. If you’d like to run a course using the book and want multiple copies, the price drops to:
NZD $75 for 4 copies ($18.75 each)
NZD $130 for 8 copies ($16.25 each)
NZD $180 for 12 copies ($15 each)
People who buy four or more paperbacks will also receive the PDF version free.
BOOK SALES AND LIBRARY COPIES
After Buddhism: a workbook is available around the web on other sites as well as our own, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, FNAC, and Book Depository, and you can order it at your local bookstore. All the books have now gone out to our Kickstarter sponsors.
You are encouraged to order a copy of After Buddhism: a workbook from your local public or university library.
HELP NEEDED
The Tuwhiri Project is governed by four volunteers who range from our early ’60s to mid ’70s, supported by a (very) part-time paid administrator. We need more people to become involved in the project, preferably younger, and right now we need:
SOMEONE who is keen to be part of the team that will transform After Buddhism: a workbook into an online course that’s free to all to use, inventive, exciting and challenging;
SOMEONE with experience of the publishing industry, or marketing in general;
SOMEONE who can take charge of fundraising for current and future projects, books and online courses.
Interested? Please get in touch.
DONATIONS AND BEQUESTS – A LASTING LEGACY
By offering a bequest, a special gift of cash or assets left in your will to a person or organisation, you can help sustain the work of that person or organisation. Many people leave a bequest to charity in their will. A bequest to Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust that you specify is for The Tuwhiri Project will help ensure that future generations will be able to benefit from the educational resources that Tuwhiri produces.
For those who leave a bequest, it is generally in recognition of the work Tuwhiri undertakes to share an understanding of a secular dharma, and the pleasure and enjoyment they derive from being part of the global Tuwhiri community.
There are many ways your gift can be used and acknowledged that can be a lasting tribute and legacy. It might, for instance, enable Tuwhiri to produce a particular book, offer an advance to a teacher to write a book or course, or support the educational development of a community.
To make a bequest
When making your will, it is a simple matter to include a bequest to Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust for The Tuwhiri Project. Please talk about this with your solicitor or other advisor when preparing your will. If you’ve already made a will, a simple way to leave a bequest to The Tuwhiri Project is to alter your will by making an amendment called a codicil. We recommend that you seek the advice of your solicitor.
Donations
Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust, which owns The Tuwhiri Project, is an NZ-registered charity, which means that donations by New Zealand taxpayers qualify for tax rebates. All donations are gratefully received.
To talk about any aspect of contributing to The Tuwhiri Project by bequest or gift, please speak with our director, Peter Cowley, on +64 22 610 2910.
FINALLY
It doesn’t matter where in the world you are. Click Reply to this email if you’d like know more, or have a question. To end, if you like what we’re doing please share this newsletter with a friend or three.
Kati ake nei, ka kite ano,
Ramsey Margolis, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand • www.tuwhiri.nz