Please Check Out My Latest Interview with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi at Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online

Please check out my latest with my friend Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi — the well-known and prodigious translator of Pali Buddhist texts into English, and founder of Buddhist Global Relief, the visionary, Buddhist-inspired humanitarian organization that contributes to relief and justice efforts worldwide — over at Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online. In it, we discuss BGR’s 2012 Walk to Feed the Hungry fundraising events. Read the full interview here.

The interview feels somewhat important following the email Bhante sent out this week to those on BGR’s email list in which he said:

I just took a look at the donation figures for our New York Walk to Feed the Hungry. There’s only five days until the walk, yet we’re only a bit past the half-way mark of what we need to earn in order to support our programs for 2013. I was hoping that by now we would have brought in at least $20,000, but we’re just above $11,300. If we don’t reach our target of $20,000, when the time comes to allocate funds for our 2013 projects, we will either have to drop some projects or reduce our funding for those we retain.

That is what makes me sad. I’m not sad for myself, I’m not sad for my friends or relatives. I’m sad for people that I don’t even know!

I think of the girls in Cambodia that we’ve been helping go to school, and I wonder how many will now have to drop out and perhaps work in a brothel just to support our families. I think of the kids in Haiti who depend on our support for their one hot nutritious meal each day, and I wonder how they will manage if there aren’t enough funds for that meal. I think of the hungry, malnourished people in the South Bronx or San Francisco who are receiving meals and lessons on nutrition through BGR grants. When I think about all these folks, who could have been my own brothers and sisters, my nephews and nieces, my heart starts to break.

So please do read the interview, and spread the word if you’re so inclined. To contribute or join the walks, just follow this link.

In addition, if you want to read my past interviews with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, you can find them here, here, here, here, and here.