The model of generosity

One of the major commitments of every Buddhist is to work for the good of all beings. To that objective, one potential path is donation to a spiritual centre, a charity or other organization working for humanitarian. This is why donation is the cornerstone of the-dharma-store.com (TDS) model.
So we asked IT professionals to create for us a unique donation system.

1- What TDS is committed to (FREE for you!)

For any purchase made on our online store, the-dharma-store.com undertakes to sponsor, without any charge on your part, a Buddhist centre or a charity of your choice from a list of associations. Each association of this list has signed a charter committing itself to that the amounts donated to them through TDS, will be used for the main objectives of their organization. By sake of transparency to all, our 'List of Associations' page lists all donations made to Buddhist centres and charities. Each donation will appear as soon as the amount will be transferred to the association, at the latest quarterly.
ALL fees related to the payment transaction or site hosting are supported UNIQUELY by TDS. The association therefore receives 100% of the donation or sponsorship amount declared on our site.
Please note that the list of associations will grow but you can ALSO help to grow this list by:

1. proposing your association via our registration form. After acceptance of your application, which will ALWAYS be notified to you by email, your association will be automatically added to the list and you will be able to benefit from the donations and TDS sponsorship program.
2. talking about our model and our company through your social networks, your friends, your Buddhist centre of reference (in Europe).

TDS sponsorship appears at the end of the ordering process and will cost you ... € 0,00-!

Here's how the referral module looks:

TDS also undertakes to highlight in its communication (newsletter, social networks, website, blog), the charities and Dharma centres signatories of our charter. Our goal is clearly the creation of a virtuous circle around the teaching of the Buddha and his communities of practice throughout Europe.

2- What YOU can do

Throughout the TDS site, you might sometimes encounter the donation module presented below. We desired, without any obligation, to let to our customers the possibility to make a generous gesture towards a list of charities or Buddhist centres.
Also, in the eventuality you ask us to require to a Lama the consecration of your ritual object, TDS also desired to allow you to make a donation to the Lama’s Dharma centre, as practiced in most Buddhist centres.
Here is the donation block as it appears on the site:

3- What WE do already!

The-dharma-store.com is a retail platform aiming to be the starting point of a series of activities to support European Buddhism, its cultures, Dharma centres and practitioners. Through this platform, we want to create a 'Virtuous Circle', a mandala in which special attention is given to ethical relationships between ourselves selling objects of the Dharma, the artisans who produce them, the practitioners who use them and the Buddhist centres that allow us to practice daily the Buddha's teachings. Read below our long-term vision.
With this motivation in mind, here are the activities we are already doing:

• propose material purchased with an ethical motivation:
• From associations with humanitarian and social goals: for example, we buy part of our cushion stock from ROKPA Women Workshop in Kathmandu. These workshops help women with children, rejected by their husbands and families, teach them a job and reintegrate them socially by giving them a skilled job.
• At Buddhist centres: a number of our excellent incenses are traditionally elaborated in monasteries. For example, the monastery of Shechen.
• Help preserve traditional quality craftsmanship:
• whether for musical instruments, ritual objects, incense, therapeutic objects, paintings, etc. we always favour craftsmen who have been active for several generations and follow a traditional line of transmission. For example, our paintings are executed by craftsmen who have been trained at the Norbulingka Institute (Dharamshala), which has been working for decades on the preservation of classical Tibetan Buddhist crafts (paintings, sculptures, appliqué, etc.)
• Create a customer interaction / craftsman:
• The craftsmen we encountered are capable, experienced and very ingenious. Life has made so that they live and work in India and Nepal, relatively poor countries according to the criteria of the World Bank while we live in Europe in more cosy environments. At TDS, we believe that it is possible through the platform to link the best of both worlds and improve the lives of these people in various ways by feeding ideas and suggestions so they can adapt their crafts to the European market.