Beats for Bhante: A Benefit Night of Music & Meditation for the Uganda Buddhist Centre

Come sit, listen, and move with us for a Friday night unlike any fundraiser you’ve been to.

The evening includes:

✦ Premiere of Campaign Video & fundraising appeal for the Uganda Buddhist Centre

✦ Conversation with Bhante Buddharakkhita, Leslie Booker, and Ofosu Jones-Quarty

✦ Hip-Hop Soundbath with Born I

Can't Attend? Make your donation here!

Prefer to give through your Donor Advised Fund?

Join Bhante Buddharakkhita, and two of his first American students, Leslie Booker (Guiding Teacher of NYI), and Ofosu Jones-Quartey (Born I) (Ghanaian-American hip-hop artist) for an evening of practice, storytelling, and live music.

As one of Bhante Buddharakkhita’s earliest students, Born I is honored to offer this experience in support of his beloved teacher, whose guidance helped shape his path as both a meditation practitioner and teacher.

The evening will begin with a short meditation and conversation between Booker, Ofosu, and Bhante about Afro-Dhamma, the expansion of the Uganda Buddhist Centre; a Residential Retreat Centre built from the ground up - the first in history to be built for the sole purpose of sharing the Dhamma on the continent of Africa.

There will be the first live screening of UBC’s new short documentary - a five-minute look at life at the Uganda Buddhist Centre today and Bhante's vision for its future. Then, we'll be guided through an immersive experience of a Hip-Hop Soundbath that invites participants to slow down, connect with themselves, and cultivate compassion and inner peace.

Auspiciously Organized by Friends of Bhante

We are a group of Buddhist Teachers and Friends who have been deeply touched by the teachings of Bhante Buddharakkhita, and the great impact on the Dhamma through his service through the Uganda Buddhist Centre (UBC).

We auspiciously gathered as a looming deadline for the sale of land adjacent to UBC became imminent. We have been motivated to ensure that stewardship of this land and its lakeshores of Nalubaale (Lake Victoria) rest in the hands of Bhante Buddharakkhita and his thriving community in Entebbe, Uganda.

The asking price of the land is $1.75 million and our goal is $2 million to cover the capital acquisition, retreat centre seed funding, and campaign costs. We have until December 15th!

We know our collective community can together achieve this ambitious goal in support of the Dhamma if each of us considers what we value and offers a stretch gift. For some of us that might be $100,000, for others $1,000 or $100. It will take gifts at every level.

Please join us to permanently protect these 13 acres of sacred land on the shores of Lake Nalubaale (Lake Victoria) — the source of the Nile, and land some believe to be the birthplace of humanity - and to expand the Dhamma in Africa.

With Metta,

Friends of Bhante

Leslie Booker, Bill Resnick, Emily Bishop, Taj James, and more!

Bill Resnick, Leslie Booker, Bhante Buddharakkhita, and Emily Bishop

This campaign is sponsored by Ripples of Regeneration, Inc. a 501(c)3 social impact organization that addresses the urgent need to restore watersheds and revitalize water cycles by strengthening the cultural, educational, and relational foundations of community-led water & land stewardship.

Ripples of Regeneration operates on the belief that when people have access to funding and traditional ecological knowledge they are better equipped to tend water and land systems in ways that are locally appropriate, regenerative, and enduring.

For more information & to learn about our work,