Our Programs
US Centers Project
We at DVA send Metta to all of the US people and animals.
DVA is very excited to announce the relaunching of our fourth countrywide Project in the United States, joining our projects in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam, which have been going strong for a number of years.
The main focus and goal of the US Centers Project is to speak up for farmed animals by inviting, encouraging, educating, and supporting Buddhist Centers across the United States to transition towards healthy, compassionate, climate-friendly, plant-based menus for all of their events. We estimate that we will be connecting with well over 1000 Buddhist centers that serve meals during their daylong and residential retreats in North America to an estimated 4 million Buddhists.
We also engage with Buddhist communities, individuals, and dharma teachers to inspire and strengthen their advocacy for animals by offering trainings, support groups, retreats, and a monthly online sangha space.
We are honored to welcome you on this journey and invite you to explore our diverse offerings in the sections below or jump directly to our Climate and Compassion Awards for Dharma Centers through the button below.
Together we are building a compassionate and courageous community of like-minded Buddhist practitioners speaking up for animals in the United States and across the world. Join our programs!
“The most striking quality that humans and animals have in common is the capacity to experience suffering.
Why do we still blind ourselves, now at the beginning of the twenty-first century, to the immeasurable suffering that we inflict on animals?”
Matthieu Ricard,
Buddhist Monk & Author of “A Plea for Animals”
Direct Center Engagement
DVA works toward compassionate and sustainable institutional food policy changes in US Dharma Centers through their in-depth Climate & Compassion Awards Program, as well as by engaging centers through conversation, consultation, event planning, collaboration and more - all with the goal of supporting dharma centers in their efforts towards alleviating animal suffering through plant-based eating and other impactful ways.
Come explore our Climate & Compassion Awards in the link below or reach out to us anytime if you would like individual center support and consultation, free of charge, around any topic relating to Animal Welfare, the substitution of animal products, the Environmental Impact of Food Systems or Plant-Based Menu Planing and Plant-Based Nutrition.
We look forward to meeting you!
Community Building
Our vision is to connect, strengthen and support those in the Buddhist community whose compassion extends towards all sentient beings. Once a month we offer a safe space of mindfulness, meditation and conversation for DVA members and friends in our DVA Sangha Meditation & Mindfulness Meetings. We also offer a unique quarterly Dharma Teacher Support Group, where likeminded teachers can discuss the challenges of being plant-based and advocating for compassion towards animals in a meat-centric world.
We are also preparing to introduce a new Compassion Leadership Program - which aims to educate, train and fund individual members from Buddhist communities in the US, through a four month online learning cohort, to be the next leaders and advocates for animals. Paving the way forward towards a world where all Buddhists are inspired to put into practice the teachings of compassion, kindness and non-harming. Stay tuned for more information.
We hope you will join us!
Public Outreach
The heart is not moved by that which it does not know. This is clear in the life story of Gautama Buddha himself and extends itself throughout all Buddhist teachings. We must be willing to see, confront, accept, and embrace the truth if we are to have any chance of alleviating suffering, for ourselves and others.
It is under this motto, that we at DVA aim to speak up for farmed animals wherever we can, and share the truth of their lived experience in the many human-made environments of the 21st Century. Through our Bodhi Project we aim to educate our audiences on the realities of modern animal agriculture and the state of animal welfare in the United States, as well as the climate and environmental impacts of our food systems.
We also dive into the rich and intricate connections between Buddhist Teachings and practices (dharma) and what they say about mindfulness, right livelihood, loving-kindness and compassion for animals and all sentient beings. Together we reflect deeply on the question: what does it mean on a personal level to put these teachings into practice?
If you would like to begin your journey of opening your heart and mind - please follow the link below into our Education section.
“We should consume in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings. And that way, we can preserve the compassion in our hearts.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Collaborations
Dharma Voices for Animals has collaborated with Audrey Lawson-Sanchez, Founder, and Executive Director at Balanced in developing content for our cutting edge web-based resource to make transitioning to plant-rich menus easy for small or large retreat centers.
Balanced is a network of public health professionals and nutrition science experts, working towards making healthier eating easier and more realistic for people within institutional food environments.
DVA received a grant from A Well-Fed World to provide financial support to retreat centers that are interested in sampling alternative vegan products before they start offering them to their yogis.
“A Well-Fed World is an international hunger relief and food security organization advancing plant-based foods and farming to create a sustainable, nourished, and climate-friendly future.”
Meet our US Centers
Project Director!
Ardjani Puig is a passionate advocate for animals, humans and earth, as well as a life-long practicing Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition. Her work has been focused on alleviating suffering in many disguises - with a career in social work, the humanitarian field, psychotherapy and mindfulness, as well as her animal and environmental activism. Ardjani has been a vegan for over 25 years and is now honored and excited to enter the professional field of animal advocacy as US Centers Project Director for DVA, where she will be focused on raising awareness of animal suffering among American Buddhists and bringing compassionate institutional food policy changes to Dharma Centers around the United States.