CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1185175
Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre CIO Unaudited Financial Statements
Period start date 6[th] April 2023 Period end date 5[th] April 2024
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Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre
Financial Statements Year ended 5[th] April 2024
_____________ Trustees' annual report Statement of financial activities Statement of financial position Notes to the financial statements
The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 5[th] April 2024
Reference and administrative detail
Registered Charity Name Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre CIO Charity registration number 1185175 Principal office 4 Crossways Ely CB6 3TP
The trustees His Holiness Gangri Karma Rinpoche C Gyaltsen Mr J A Mclntyre Ms T A Bryson
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Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 5[th] April 2024
The Trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 5[th] April 2024. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice relevant to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
Introduction
The Martsang Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism is an unbroken lineage based on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha’s sutras and tantras which was founded 859 years ago by Choje Marpa Sherab Yeshe in 1167 (1134-1203).
His Holiness Gangri Karma Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre and is eminently qualified to carry out this role. He is the current lineage holder of the Martsang Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the reincarnation of the Eleventh Gangri Karma Rinpoche. He is an exceptional scholar of the Dharma and has played a key role internationally exploring the interface of Buddhism with modern science and psychology.
Structure, governance and management
Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and was registered as such with the Charity Commission on 5th September 2019. The CIO was established under a constitution based largely on the Standard Constitution drafted by the Charity Commission, which establishes the objectives, powers and governance of the CIO. Some of the amendments and additions made relate to Martsang Kagyu traditional Tibetan Buddhism.
Trustees are provided with copies of Public Benefit Guidance Notices from the Charity Commission on the organization (PB1), activities (PB2), and reporting responsibilities (PB3) to maintain the objectives of the organization, and in turn their Public Benefit.
To fulfil their duties, the trustees are required to have knowledge and experience of the practices of the Martsang Kagyu tradition. The Trustees are therefore drawn from the volunteers of the organisation, who are already familiar with the core values.
The trustees are provided with an induction regarding their duties and responsibilities and provided with a copy of the constitution and Charity Commission Guide CC3 (The Essential Trustee). Trustees are appointed for a period of three years as per the governing document.
To maximise a line of sight, meetings took place online or in person monthly between trustees, events coordinators, and volunteers. These are conducted to increase transparency throughout the organisation and ensure shared understanding of the values and objectives of the organisation.
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Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 5[th] April 2024
The CIO has been building relationships with other Buddhist organisations, other faith charities and created relationships with academic bodies to increase knowledge and understanding, and plan to support the researching of Buddhism for school teachers and to explore the potential to share resources.
Risk management
The courses, workshops and practices operate on an experiential level. As such the CIO has implemented a risk policy to seek to increase awareness of those participants or visitors who are experiencing any difficulties when exploring or practising any of the Buddhist material or activities. Event coordinators are aware of and contribute to the risk policy and a risk register is available for all volunteers and coordinators. Mental and physical health services in the area have been identified for access where necessary. It is our responsibilities to provide a safe environment for those involved in our charitable activities. No incidents were reported in this period.
Objectives and activities
The object of the charity is “To advance Buddhism in the UK for the benefit of the public in accordance with the Martsang Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism mainly but not exclusively by the holding of prayer meetings, lectures, seminars, public celebrations of religious festivals and meditation to enlighten others about the Buddhist religion.”
The purpose of the centre is to make these profound Buddhist teachings available for the benefit of the public in the UK through lectures, seminars, public celebrations, prayer meetings and meditation. MKUKBC seeks to benefit all people in the community without prejudice or judgement.
In exercising the powers of the trust and pursuing the objects of the charity, public benefit is accomplished by:
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Regular free meditation classes
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Developing a network of practitioners of Martsang Kagyu Tibetan Buddhism
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Reciting Prayers and rituals-Medicine Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Puja, Green Tara, Vajrapani Bodhisattva Puja, and Martsang Lama Chopa
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Presenting Buddhist textual teachings
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Personal Buddhist consultancy
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Providing translations of Tibetan Buddhist texts
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Providing cultural and social events
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Support young monks training and education
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Support rescuing animals
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Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 5[th] April 2024
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Support meditation teacher training
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Collaboration with local Council to support the local community
Further details are provided below:
Meditation classes:
Mediation classes are held at regular intervals that seek to help all practitioners increase their wellbeing and health, reduce stress, and gain a sense of peace. In addition, meditation can increase patience and compassion and can help to improve personal and family relationships. Feedback from our meditation students indicates that many students were achieving excellent results in increasing their health and wellbeing.
Buddhist teachings:
Knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism was provided through training in the Martsang Kagyu tradition, as transmitted through His Holiness Gangri Karma Rinpoche.
We will continue to provide free lectures in the UK for the public to increase the joy and happiness within their minds and daily life that provide antidotes to stress and isolation of modern urban life.
Prayers and rituals:
We undertake various rituals and ceremonies to promote the Martsang Kagyu traditional Tibetan Buddhism including:
Medicine Buddha Puja
The practice of the Medicine Buddha within Martsang Kagyu actualises prayers that the Medicine Buddha made in the past to bring happiness by bringing about causes for enlightenment, appeasing problems, satisfying good wishes, and helping those in a state of distress due to illness.
Green Tara Puja
The Martsang Kagyu Green Tara puja is traditionally understood to bring meaningful help to people's everyday life. This can bring great benefit to people and their relationships.
Avalokiteshvara Puja
The Precious Avalokiteshvara Puja is a central practice within the Martsang Kagyu tradition, encompassing a range of sacred rituals, including the Avalokiteshvara offering, the taking of Refuge, and various prayers. This puja is primarily dedicated to increasing compassion within oneself and in the world, and it is deeply revered for its ability to benefit all beings.
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Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 5[th] April 2024
Martsang Lama Chopa
Martsang Lama Chopa is a deeply significant practice within the Martsang Kagyu tradition, focused on cultivating guru devotion and reverence for the lineage. This practice is particularly observed on the Nirvana and Enlightenment Day of the lineage's founder, Choje Marpa Rinpoche. On this auspicious day, practitioners honour the remarkable life and teachings of Choje Marpa, expressing their deep gratitude for his compassion and the profound wisdom he imparted.
Vajrapani Bodhisattva Puja
The Vajrapani Bodhisattva Puja is a special and highly revered religious ceremony within the Buddhist tradition, performed to invoke the blessings and protection of Vajrapani. Vajrapani is known for his strength and ability to remove obstacles, making this puja particularly powerful in overcoming challenges and bringing about positive transformation.
Other activities:
Working with communities to forge and develop strong connections, friendships and relationships. This includes increasing public awareness and mutual understanding of the teachings, traditions and practices of different faith communities in the UK and promoting good relationships between people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. For example, collaborating with local councils including attending coffee meetings, promotion of interfaith dialogue and provision of events for the local community. The delivery of such services also helped to reduce social isolation within different groups of society.
His Holiness provides education and support to young monks to ensure they receive the appropriate training to continue our charity objectives in the future.
We support a farm in Scotland to ensure the animals rescued have sufficient food to survive for the year. Key to MKUKBC’s future endeavours is their aspiration to work in harmony with nature to ensure a sustainable future for all.
We continue to train meditation teachers to provide more free regular classes for the public. Benefits to meditation have been proved scientifically to improve mental wellbeing, reduce stress, improve concentration, sleep and relaxation.
Contribution of volunteers
The charitable activities are staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers. The role of volunteering is essential to our charity and the contributions of our volunteers has a tremendous impact in terms of public benefit. This includes greater community engagement and developing caring and compassionate relationships while holding a deep respect for interfaith relations.
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Martsang Kagyu UK Buddhist Centre
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 5[th] April 2024
Volunteering can help the individual in several ways including increasing employability skills, reducing stress, supporting personal development, increasing happiness, making friends and strengthening communities.
Achievement and performance
Charitable activities that were undertaken for public benefit:
The CIO is governed in a manner where the intention is to achieve a degree of public benefit in all activities.
The meditation teacher training is an ongoing project and will continue to benefit many more people in the future. Our simple meditation technique has increased happiness and well-being for our practitioners. Regular practice can be useful both to resolve problems such as insomnia, depression, anxiety and trauma, as well as for self-development through improving productivity, confidence, emotional stability and relationships. Some testimonials are provided by students below, which show the range of benefits from meditation training. In addition, it was our honour to obtain an award at the Interfaith Wellbeing and Health Awards for services to the community in 2023.
“Benefits: the classes have proved invaluable, my accident is the perfect example. In January I was biking my two children to school, hit the ice and we went down with the bike crushing my ankle and leg. I immediately knew it was broken, though I hoped I was wrong. I remained calm and practiced mini meditations, focussing on my breathing for 20 seconds or so and then returned to the moment to focus on my boys until help arrived. It worked and with my pain managed I was able to speak with my young children and keep them calm. It helped throughout my early recovery and beyond. I remained positive and calm throughout (with a few momentary exceptions). I believe that is largely due to my meditation and the perspective that comes from it. I have been attending meditation sessions with Jake since the end of 2019, first in person and then online since Covid began. I still feel that I am a novice but some meditations are absolutely amazing and show that I am heading in the right direction.”~ Shari
“I'm very happy and thankful for the class about meditation with Mrs. Tracey She helped me to be peaceful and love people.”~ Melanie
We continue to train meditation teachers to provide more free regular classes for the public.
The charity’s spiritual director His Holiness Gangri Karma Rinpoche held prayers and blessings for residents when performing the Vajrapani Bodhisattva puja, Martsang three Buddhist protector pujas, Martsang Lama Chopa, and Avalokiteshvara Puja. The attendance rate for all our pujas was high. All pujas are free to attend.
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