So when the world is on fire with aging and death,
one should salvage [one's wealth] by giving.
what's given is well salvaged.

What's given bears fruit as pleasure.
What isn't given does not,
thieves take it away, or kings;
it gets burnt by fire or lost.

- Buddha — SN 1.41

MLA (Mindful Living Alliance, a dba of Bodhi Insight Group, Inc.) is an independent, tax-exempt (IRS code 501(C) (3)), non-profit organization, funded entirely by individual donations. A receipt will be issued to the donor for tax purposes.

MLA offers free classes and events to help attendees learn to achieve genuine and lasting hapiness. If you like what we are doing, you can help support the continuing operation of MLA in the following ways.

Donate Your Money
Please send a check or do a Bill-Pay through your bank with the following information:
Payee: Mindful Living Alliance
Address: 419 California Street, Campbell, CA 95008

Donate your assets
MLA is set up and ready to accept donations of stock, mutual funds, or other assets. This will be the most tax-efficient and advantageous for you to do if you have a highly appreciated stock .fund, or other assets, as you'll be able to deduct the current appreciated value and reduce your tax payments instead of being taxed for capital gain. Please contact MLA if you have any questions.

Donate Your Time
Please consider donating your time as part of your dana practice which provides a sound foundation for your sila cultivation. Don’t be afraid of signing up to help. It’s not a permanent commitment. Your obligation to your job / career, and your Family always has higher priority than your MLA volunteer work. If you can’t make it when the time comes, just let your fellow volunteer, team lead know about it. You may also resign from the team anytime you choose. There will be no problem as we always try to have back-ups for every assignment. Even if you can’t sign up for any job now, please keep in mind to join us any time in the future when your situation changes.

We usually need a lot of helps on retreats. According to Sayadaw U Pandita, if you can help out on a retreat where yogis practice Vipassana meditation, you are regarded as performing dhamma-dana, the most precious and meritorious kind of giving. So it's great to help even if you cannot come to the retreat! The following shows the helps needed for a retreat.

Retreat Helps

• Drivers to give rides to Teachers.
• Drivers to pick-up food for the retreat.
• Help prepare food for Teachers and/or yogis on retreats
• Facility cleaning before and after the event. 
• MP3 recording for Dhamma talks / lectures
• Picture taking

Ongoing Helps

• Flyer / advertising designers
    - Prepare flyers/ads for events


• Writers – for Chinese writings, or for English writings, one of the following tasks
    - Write articles to publicize MLA for news releases
    - Event announcements to our members including weekly e-mail
    - Develop and write MLA “Policy and Procedures”
    - Design, implement, and update MLA History file
    - Other needed writings from time to time


• House cleaners – as a team. About 2 to 4 work together each time.
    - Clean floors and general cleaning once per month and/or before retreats, and after potlucks
    - Clean toilets twice a month and as needed.
    - Annual total clean up, including windows in April
  


• Food preparerers –
    - Prepare supplemental food for Teachers and/or yogis on retreats
    - Sangha food offering on the First Sunday of every month


• Yard supervisors – one or more tasks each
    - Check irrigation operation once a quarter or as needed
    - Notify gardener about malfunctions and supervise repairs
    - Keep landscaping in good condition and repair
    - Clean gutters once a year after first rain


• Facility maintenance
    - Help coordinate and oversee all facility maintenance