Let love be your legacy
Including The Abhayaratna Trust in your will is a very effective expression of love, gratitude and care for the Triratna Buddhist Order.
Many Order Members, by dedicating their working lives to the Triratna Order and Community, have not been able to save for older age and times of illness or financial crisis. State benefits exist in some countries, but even those are not designed to help in a health or housing emergency or with funding a retreat, for example. Your legacy will mean we can enhance our response to these needs as they arise, and also secure the Trust’s support for the Order in future. Your legacy will have life-affirming and life-changing effects.
Dharmachari Abhayaratna’s legacy enabled the Trust to be founded, and legacies from Order members such as Manjusvara, Anjali, Jayamitra, Dharmottara, Aryashila and Janaka have been essential in helping us to expand how many Order members Abhayaratna Trust can help each year, and in our being resourced to offer non-financial support too.
Your legacy gift will:
- Enable the Abhayaratna Trust to provide support to Order members anywhere in the world who find themselves in hardship (we give over 100 grants per year worldwide, with numbers and domicile expanding).
- Enable the Abhayaratna Trust to respond to global emergencies that put Order members in hardship. For example, our Emergency Covid Appeal enabled the Trust to give, in some cases, literally life-saving support to individual Order members.
- Empower the Abhayaratna Trust to respond to substantial, even cultural needs in the Order, such as creating explicit frameworks of care in local sanghas and facilitating the development of co-housing situations.
- Make a lasting mark on the world and help to maintain a vital Order Sangha that, in its various ways, is a ‘force for good in the world’.
Munisha - 26 seconds on how easy it is and why she included the Abhayaratna Trust in her will.
Keeping the gesture alive
In this short video, Saddhanandi says why she has left a legacy to the Abhayaratna Trust and how a random act of kindness led her to reflect on the importance of keeping alive the gesture of giving. She remembers Abhayaratna and the legacy he left, and how all the work of the Abhayaratna Trust has grown from that single gesture of generosity.
Janaka leaves a legacy
Janaka, a beacon of compassion to so many of us, has left a lasting legacy by supporting his three cherished charities in his Will: The Abhayaratna Trust, Karuna and Vajraloka.
Janaka's generosity has not only empowered our three charities to continue our vital work, but it has also inspired us to reflect on the profound impact each of us can make when we plan for the future. His legacy serves as a reminder that collectively, through our individual actions, we possess the ability to shape the world for generations to come.
We extend our deepest gratitude to Janaka for his kindness and vision. His gift will make a truly profound difference in the lives of those we serve in our charities.
A call to reflect and act
Janaka's inspiring example invites us to consider the lasting impact we can leave in the world. The actions and decisions we make in the present can benefit others far beyond our own lifetime – and including Triratna charities in your Will is a beautiful way to ensure just that.
Please consider the power you have to positively transform lives and leave a gift in your Will. For more information on how to leave a lasting legacy, please visit: Abhayaratna Trust, Karuna Trust, Vajraloka Retreat Centre.
In gratitude and solidarity,
Mahasraddha (Abhayaratna Trust), Padmadaka (Karuna Trust), Rijumitra (Vajraloka)
About Janaka
Janaka was ordained in 1993 by Suvajra. He was 81 years old when he died in July 2022.
He first came along to the London Buddhist Centre at the end of the 1970s and was very active in the movement from that time. In his more than 40 years with Triratna, he lived, mostly in communities, in London, Oxford, Glasgow, Dhanakosa, Cambridge and, for the last 15 years of his life, in Bristol where he became a much loved and appreciated sangha member. He also had a close connection with India, working for many years for Karuna, and visiting India on a number of occasions.
Janaka’s sadhana was Avalokitesvara and he very much exemplified compassion in his life.
“I was very inspired by Dharmachari Abhayaratna leaving all his money to help Order members. Having seen the huge difference even a small grant can make, I am happy I have left my money, after funeral expenses, to The Abhayaratna Trust.”
You can choose to leave Abhayaratna Trust a specific sum or a proportion your estate
Here is an example of wording you cAN include in your will:
‘I give free of taxes as a charitable bequest [insert either a specific sum or a proportion of the residuary estate] to the Abhayaratna Trust, UK Registered Charity No 1126494, to be used as to both capital and income for the general purposes of the Abhayaratna Trust. I direct that the receipt of the Finance Secretary for the time being or other duly authorised officer shall be a full discharge to my executors.’
Include our website www.abhayaratnatrust.org so that the most up-to-date contact details for us will be written into your will.
If your will is already written, you can consider adding a codicil. Here is a Codicil Example PDF.
Thank you for considering a legacy to Abhayaratna Trust. You can get in touch to discuss how a bequest from you could have a lasting impact on our work. Contact Mahasraddha
And as a low key way to start reflecting on making a will, you can download our Make a Start on Your Will PDF.
Importance of Writing a Will
‘Have you written a will? Are you sure it’s still appropriate? Where is that will?
Satyadasa is a qualified Will Writer living and working in London. Watch the video for some leading questions about writing a will.
For further information on how to make a will - and more specifics from Satyadasa - please visit here