Here is a chance to make a difference

My sangha, Kunzang Palyul Choling, has a wonderful place of refuge for rescued animals tucked in the Tonto National Forest of Arizona and we have a campaign to raise enough money to secure the land and pay off the mortgage on it. Responding to this appeal is your chance to make a difference!

Dear Friends,

"You may be interested in a special project I am directly involved in that is very dear to my heart and is of an urgent nature.

"It is about saving the lives of dogs and cats from being euthanized unnecessarily, as well as helping to rescue animals from disaster situations, such as Hurricane Katrina.

"As you may know, the Buddhist organization I am part of set up an animal sanctuary for this very purpose right after Hurricane Katrina, and our group rescued over 150 dogs and cats from New Orleans (that's a whole other story!), reuniting or adopting out almost all of them by the following spring.

"We have expanded our mission to include creating a dependable staging ground for taking in animals that are set to be killed in overpopulated shelters across the state of Arizona, so that we give them a chance to be fostered or adopted by a loving home. Did you know that over 30,000 unwanted or abandoned pets were euthanized in the Phoenix area alone last year?

"The animal sanctuary we have created is called Tara's Babies Animal Welfare and it is situated on 148 secluded acres of pristine wilderness land in eastern Arizona that we call "Dakini Valley".

"This land is precious to us and important for the welfare of sentient beings. We want to secure it far into the future.

"We are asking all of our friends who might be able to help us, to go to www.tarasbabies.org and make a secure online donation so that this compassionate work can be continued in a big way. If you would prefer to give by check please send your contribution to Tara's Babies, PO Box 1142, Sedona, AZ 86339, marking the Memo Line: Secure the Lands!

"Another way you can help is to send a link to this post to your friends who care about the welfare of dogs and cats. We must secure this land now! At this writing, approximately $400,000 of the $600,000 is pledged but that is based on real estate sales closing quickly. Anything you can do to help at this time is so gratefully appreciated by us and on behalf of animals everywhere!

"You have my promise that your donations will be used to save the land and animals’ lives now and for future generations.

Thank you!


So here is the bottom line in terms of “encountering happiness” in terms of this specific appeal. From a Buddhist perspective, happiness is the result of compassionate activity. Contributing to this campaign is your link to compassion and therefore to creating the causes for your own happiness.

There are many links like this in our day-to-day lives, if we look for them, This one happens to be an important one to me, so I thought I would post it. Please make a contribution if you can: go to www.tara.org and donate on line indicating “Secure the Land!” in the comments section.

Peace.