SPECIAL HOLIDAY DANA for KENNETH FOLK DHARMA

SPECIAL HOLIDAY DANA for KENNETH FOLK DHARMA
Please make your contribution from Friday Dec 10 to 24 (or any other time if this is not convenient)

Dear friends, supporters, and students of Kenneth Folk and Kenneth Folk Dharma,

As someone who has greatly benefited from the information shared on the Kenneth Folk dharma website, and from studying directly with Kenneth, today I am inviting his dharma friends, supporters and students to come together to make a special holiday offering to support Kenneth and his work.

As you know, Kenneth dedicates his life to teaching dharma, and one of his goals is to be able to do so through the Buddhist system of dana (donation). Kenneth offers his teaching freely and relies entirely on the generosity of conscious individuals who recognize the value of advancing a spiritual practice. Our financial support is important to continue to allow him to make this work accessible to all.

This is an invitation to all members of KFD as well as readers out there who may not be members. If you have been inspired and find this work meaningful, please consider expressing your gratitude and support with a special end-of-year donation. Let us come together to give a special gift of support this holiday season.

Kenneth's own story and personal experience with enlightenment is inspiring. His is the voice that says that enlightenment is actually possible for real and ordinary people, that it is a natural process accessible to all. Drawing on a wealth of knowledge and experience, Kenneth translates the ancient teachings in a contemporary style that people can relate to in a simple and practical way. He extracts the nuts and bolts of what really works, and offers this information to anyone at any level of experience on the path of transformation.

(Continued)
With KFD, Kenneth has created a vibrant and growing community where all is given in the spirit of helping others on the path of awakening. With KFD, participants have the ability to share or find truly insightful information about practice and enlightenment, and, as evidenced on the website, people do get to Stream Entry and more advanced levels of enlightenment. This is Kenneth's commitment with this work. From Dharma diagnosis to resolving particular problems one has with personal practice, Kenneth and his virtual sangha are contributing in a significant way to the abilities of practitioners to make progress toward enlightenment. Discussions take place at all levels of development, and these open discussions on attainments inspire and guide those who aspire to make progress.

Kenneth is an inspiring dharma voice with unwavering integrity and honesty. Let's send the message that we care about his work, that we want to support his teaching and unique style, and ensure that the knowledge of his high attainment can continue to be shared with as many people as possible.

Dāna means generosity. Kenneth brings a generous heart and deep compassion to his teaching. Let us be generous as well and help ensure that his voice continues to be heard far and wide. Please consider giving generously '”$25, $50, $75, $125, $200 or whatever amount is possible to you. Please make your donation from Friday, December 10 to 24 (or any other time if this is not convenient).

You can donate via the PayPal link at the top of KDF front page
kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/Contribute+%24

Or by mail at:
Kenneth Folk
PO Box 862
New City NY 10956

Thank you in advance for answering this call. You are invited to pledge your participation on this thread.

Metta, Karuṇā, Mudita to all in this holiday season.

Abre

DONE!!!

Come on guys! Without Kenneth, we'd be moping about as Chronic Dark Nighters without any light at the end of the tunnel. Kenneth and his service to us has been invaluable. Now lets give back and thank him for helping us progress faster than anytime before (in my case at least). When you give, give with the pure intention to be free from stress, to achieve arahatship for the benefit of others, and that Kenneth keeps providing yogis with a way there. May all beings be free from stress!

All aboard!

Lots of metta, mudita, upekkha, and karuna

Nick

P.S. The 10 Paramis. Check the first one.

Dāna pāramī : generosity, giving of oneself
Sīla pāramī : virtue, morality, proper conduct
Nekkhamma pāramī : renunciation
Paññā pāramī : transcendental wisdom, insight
Viriya pāramī : energy, diligence, vigour, effort
Khanti pāramī : patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance
Sacca pāramī : truthfulness, honesty
Adhiṭṭhāna pāramī : determination, resolution
Mettā pāramī : loving-kindness
Upekkhā pāramī : equanimity, serenity

"When you give, give with the pure intention to be free from stress, to achieve arahatship for the benefit of others, and that Kenneth keeps providing yogis with a way there.
- Nick"

Yes!

I agree.
Without Kenneth's support, we would be stumbling in the dark for waay too long. Thank you Kenneth, for not keeping Enlightenment to yourself!! hehehe I guess its too good to not share.

I will contribute financially as well. I hope Kenneth can make a decent living doing what he does, so he can keep helping those who need it.

I can't agree with this enough!

We need to support this guy for doing what he does so well - no one else will!

I've been giving on a monthly basis for a while now, and even while being a poor grad student with basically nothing I continued to give. The little bit I was giving each month was the most wisely spent money I had, because it went to something I truly believed in. When I reflect on it - I can't say that for most of what I spent during that time. The moral of the story is this: you don't have to give much at all - just do what feels generous to you and know that you've done something you can be proud of.

I'll be giving for the holiday as well. Hope lots and lots of people join in.

With tons of gratitude,

Ron

'Thank you in advance for answering this call. You are invited to pledge your participation on this thread. Metta, Karuṇā, Mudita to all in this holiday season.' -Abre (Abbie14)

Abre, thank you for posting this beautifully written appeal, which is itself an act of generosity.

The calendar, by dividing our lives into convenient, bite-sized chunks, makes this a perfect time to reflect upon the recent past. It was just less than a year ago, in January of 2010, that I finished my student teaching internship at a middle school in New York. At that time, I was feeling a good deal of pressure from my classmates and some members of my family to find a job as a school teacher. After all, why had I just spent so much time and money training to be an English-as-a-second-language teacher if not to begin a career in teaching in the public schools?

The decision, though, was not so simple as it seemed, precisely because I had this other thing going on... I was in love with teaching dharma. And my wife, herself an avid meditator, was behind me all the way; I should follow my gut. The response to the first few months of the Kenneth Folk Dharma website, which I had been running in my spare time in between writing papers, attending classes, and teaching kids while in grad school, had been positive beyond my wildest expectations. It seemed that there was indeed a niche to be filled and that KFD was filling it; people who needed serious support for serious practice warmed instantly to the opportunity to learn more and to share their experiences with others in realtime. The emphasis of the site, which was to heavily emphasize the pragmatic over the theoretical, appealed deeply to yogis who wanted and needed to find out for themselves.

(cont'd below)

With my student loans about to come due and the need to put food on the table ever more pressing, it was clear that if I were to make the seemingly radical decision to teach dharma full time, I would have to find a way to make a living while doing so. So I began to experiment with various ways of being fairly compensated for my time, always keeping in mind a desire to retain the Buddhist tradition of dana (generosity). I began a public discussion about money and dharma. At first, it was scary and awkward. None of us were sure what the boundaries were or should be; was money too dirty, too corruptive, too taboo to be mentioned in the same sentence as dharma? Some said yes. Most said no. Money is a fact of our existence, they said, and since most of us in the pragmatic dharma world are householders, we need to find a way to be OK with all of it, the supposed sacred and the supposedly profane.

(cont'd below)

The more I spoke openly about it, the more I found that people did value what I was offering, were more than willing to give what they could in return, and were, in many cases, downright enthusiastic about having clear guidelines about how to give. To keep up my end of the bargain, I continued to work with students across the income spectrum, balancing the scholarship students with the benefactor students in a way that was sustainable for me financially. And I took the plunge, giving all my time to teaching dharma. I have tried to maintain the Buddhist spirit of dana; rather than think of dharma teaching as a fee-for-services exchange, I think of it as giving in both directions. I give my time to my students on the website, at weekly classes, and in one-on-one teaching sessions. My time is freely offered. I work all day long, seven days a week. This is my gift to my students. In return, my students give what they can because they know that dharma teachers also need to buy groceries, pay taxes, and buy health insurance. I don't send out bills or invoices and I don't keep track. Every donation from a student or supporter feels like a gift to me.

(cont'd below)

(cont'd from above)

And it's working! Although I am not getting rich (in fact, I earn considerably less than a New York public school teacher), I am able to pay my bills. I am happy, fulfilled, and I love my job. I could not be happier with the way this has worked out.

So I would like to radiate a heartfelt 'thank you!' to every one of you who has given in order to make this website and this teaching possible. So many of you have given in so many ways, including your financial support, your time, your expertise, your encouragement and emotional support, and your kind words in spreading the news that this community exists. Thank you. And thank you for your dedication to your practice and for sharing your success with the rest of us by documenting it online. At this point, we have literally dozens of meticulously documented success stories of ordinary people who have reached extraordinary levels of insight. This truly is a community effort and every one of us who succeeds in his or her quest for abiding peace raises up the rest of us.

May you be happy!

Kenneth

I second the sentiment in this thread, and I encourage anyone who can spare it to contribute what they can. I plan on making a specific holiday contribution in the next couple of weeks in addition to my current regular one (based on Kenneth's suggested contribution for teaching time).

Thanks so much for your teaching Kenneth.

I have received some questions or comments since my post here, and I thought it would be useful to add the following:

Who am I? My name is Abre and I am another yogi, studying with Kenneth through weekly skype sessions for about the last six months. Like many others, I first got acquainted with Kenneth's work through his posts on the Dharma Overground site.

I feel I know many contributors from the site who post regularly but it is true that people do not know who I am. So the question 'who the heck are you?' is a relevant one. I dedicate a lot of time to my formal sits and this added to a hefty full time job leaves me very little time to be an active member. And I also think that the practice makes me a bit of a loner and recluse at the present time. I live in the New York area, work in higher ed and the arts for the State University of New York. I realize it would have been helpful to add a couple of personal data lines to my initial message.

Thank you to the people who responded positively. A couple of questions or comments came in from people who already contribute financially on a regular basis. This is an open invitation, and it comes from me only. Please do what is right for you and I believe than no justification is needed either way.

(continued)

I am going with my heart with this appeal. As I did not see a special holiday dana request on the site, I decided to stop thinking about it and instead to do something. If this was a class situation, I would be the one in the back of the room working on a holiday collection for the teacher. I am glad Kenneth is not in the schools somewhere teaching kids or ESL, and that instead I have access to his teaching. For me it is just as basic as that. There are not exactly truckloads of people like him out there with his experience and teaching with this approach. Perhaps it would be best and easier for him to run classes, charge a fair amount, have a flat fee for his skype sessions, and not base his work on the dharma donation thing. Just so that one can receive a much needed salary like anyone else in this world.

Hope this is helpful. Thank you for your support.

Abre

I really appreciate the true Dana that Kenneth offers to this community. Every time I see my Skype alert flash "Kenneth Folk is now online", I think, aha, an angel is getting its wings!

I'm in!

Bumping to top with gratitude. Thank you again Kenneth for all the work you have put in teaching. It has been transformational for me to say the least.

Done, with a bump to the top.

(just got my Christmas bonus...)