
“I was moved to meditate.”
Week 1 Sustaining Supporter Update:
BIG NEWS: A generous donor has offered to match up to $10,000 in new or increased sustaining gifts to KCC.
This means that every dollar you give as a new sustaining supporter, or every increase in monthly giving by current sustainers, will be matched—dollar for dollar—up to a total of $10,000.
Based on first-week results, we’ve already earned $2102 in matching funds and 3 new sustaining supporters! Let’s keep this going!
If you’re considering a one-time gift, breaking it up over the year would help KCC attain the match. To customize your giving schedule or amount, contact .
Dora D ushers in Week 2. Dora is one of KCC’s longest supporters (45 years!) and here she shares highlights from her Dharma path:
“What is this? Life? The World? Experience?”
As a teenager, these existential questions didn’t seem to be addressed in the framework of my Christian background. My first glimpses of Eastern Spirituality through books like Be Here Now and Siddhartha resonated with joy and promise. When I read about different religions in college, Buddhism most closely matched my experience and rang true. I was moved to meditate. I was pulled towards inner discovery, understanding, and transcendence.
In 1979, Bill and I – newly married – set off for a year of travel. We followed our love of mountains and our interest in Buddhism. It was in the parched Himalayan ranges of Ladakh where the die was cast. The very being of the people there expressed love, enthusiasm, kindness, diligence, openness, and ease that clearly flowed from the Tibetan Dharma they lived and breathed. I can still picture the man in a well-worn Ladhaki robe pulling a wood plow through dusty furrows. He raised his arm with a big smile and called out the local greeting, “Julai!” I marveled at the instant kinship I felt.
Conditions aligned. Personal guides and teachers appeared. In two months, we had learned the Tibetan alphabet, taken refuge, and started a basic practice. It was the beginning of a lifelong path.
Returning to the US, our search for a Dharma home led us to KCC. Only a few months prior, KCC’s first resident teacher – Lama Thinley Drubpa – had arrived. He was knowledgeable, unpretentious, dedicated, and accessible to us. Subsequently, KCC’s two resident teachers, Lama Michael and Lama Eric, have come from the West – unusual for Tibetan Dharma centers. All three of these highly qualified and caring teachers have helped KCC maintain strong ties with lineage masters in Asia. Thus, practitioners like me have benefitted from excellent teaching and support locally along with opportunities to meet and study with great masters.
The KCC community we found in 1980 was warm and sincere. Those qualities have persisted along with added depth, diversity, and commitment. We accomplish a lot because we work hard together. We also have tensions and disagreements—then we apply our practice and move forward.
I support KCC to sustain what continues to nourish me deeply. Beyond that, I want to support KCC’s role in planting the Dharma here in the West, in the U.S. Through hosting scores of visits by lineage masters, offering countless teachings, conducting study groups, and retreats, KCC has a role in sharing the Dharma. We have had dedicated spaces (renovated by our own hands) to gather for practice and today we are continually blessed by the presence of our bronze Buddha – the result of years of great and far-flung efforts.
Recognizing retreat as the lifeblood of deepening practice, the KCC community boldly worked to raise funds and build a retreat center which we now maintain. KCC has conducted a one-year retreat, a three-year retreat, and continues to host numerous shorter retreats at the center. In 2024, KCC had 105 days of scheduled retreat on the land. Each person who spends any time in retreat nourishes the seed of Dharma that has been planted.
I have supported KCC because the Dharma is profound. Teachings encourage us to notice that the problems and stress in life are never-ending. Lasting happiness cannot be attained in mundane ways. But the Dharma offers a whole new approach. I believe it has the power to sever the very root of cyclic existence and open the door to lasting happiness.
I invite you to support KCC in whatever ways you can – through donations, time, and practice. What better endeavor is there to devote one’s energy and resources to? What better mark to leave on the world, than to sustain a vital center of Dharma practice dedicated to severing the suffering of cyclic existence? And what better time than now?
KCC is committed to freely offering the Dharma to all.
To do so, we invite those with greater financial capacity to give a higher percentage of their income to balance the giving of others who can give less. For consideration:
If your income is $100K per year:
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- a pledge of 5% of your income would be $416/mo.
- a pledge of 3% of your income would be $250/mo.
If your income is $75K per year,
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- a pledge of 2% of your income would be $125/mo.
If your income is $30K per year,
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- a pledge of 1% of your income would be $25/mo.
To customize your giving, contact:
Dharma of Dollars
The transformative teachings, practices, and connections fostered at KCC are only possible with community support. At KCC, we are deeply grateful for our robust community of sustaining supporters and we strive to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us.
Here is a broad overview of KCC’s projected expenses in 2025:
This year, KCC’s staff, Board, and volunteers are developing a financial sustainability plan. This plan will establish long-term financial goals and strategies to increase and diversify revenue, incorporate fair compensation for our staff, and cover the costs of maintaining the facilities that make KCC a welcoming place for practice and retreat. In support of transparency, budget and financial statements are posted to the KCC website.
This is where we need your support. As we embark on this journey of sustainability, community contributions will allow KCC to continue to offer the Dharma to the practitioners of today and tomorrow.
Other Ways to Support KCC
KCC’s Benevolence Fund
If offering money is not possible for you in your current place in life, remember that you can turn to KCC for basic life support via a one-time request from KCC’s Benevolence Fund. Sangha members give to this fund because we know none of us are unaffected when some of us are struggling. To learn more, contact .