A volunteer circle in Germany has just completed the translation of my first book, A Swift Pair of Messengers. Thanks so much to Manfred and the team at Dhamma-dana for making this possible.
You can find the German translation at the Dhamma-dana.de website here. They have also translated one of my essays, on rebirth and the intermediate state.
Here’s some more information about the work of Dhamma-dana.de.
The Dhamma Dana Project of the Buddhist Society of Munich eV (BGM), was founded to make selected Dhamma literature in German translation available for serious practitioners. Additionally, the material that has been provided by the BGM-sutta-study group, helps in deepening the exploration into the original teachings of Buddha. All Dhamma Dana Publications are freely avaiblable by sending a request to the BGM (bgm.m@web.de) or as free downloads at http://www.dhamma-dana.de
Need for study:
To be a Buddhist means to be a students or follower of the Buddha. It makes sense that the student should know what was said by the teacher himself. To settle for second-hand knowledge is rarely enough in the long term. Especially lay people often do not know what the Buddha taught especially for them and how they can verify the usefulness of their practise. The Dhamma Dana Project hopes to facillitate a thorough knowledge of the Dhamma-Vinaya so that more people can appreciate the richness and value of the Buddhas teaching.Necessity of Dana (giving without expecting):
The Dhamma of the Buddha is a gift for us and the society in which we move. In a world dominated by money and military power, we struggle to find meaning in life. This gift of the Dhamma is so much more than words, teachings and meditation instruction.
Dhamma can only be a gift. Its nature is to be shared and recycled – to circulate in a cycle of generosity, rather than in a cycle of desire.
The Dhamma of Giving is the antidote to this cycle in its manifestations of market value, dividend, profit optimization and all other expressions of greed in a consumer society.Thanks to this understanding the Dhamma Dana Project has run over 10 years by now and has distributed a couple thousand books and booklets and has had who knows how many downloads. To increase the understanding of dana was one of the major objects of this project and we are more than happy that it worked out so well.
Sujato’s Blog 