DVA News & Updates

Bringing Awareness to the Suffering of Animals

1. US Centers Project Update
2. DVA Announces Partnership with Balanced
3. Vietnam Project News
4. Thailand Project News
5. Sri Lank Animal Welfare Bill Update
6. Featured DVA Member
7. Featured Recipe

US Centers Project Update:

DVA to Produce a Video for the US Centers Project:

Our US Centers Project has selected a videographer, with whom we have worked before, to create a short video which we’ll send to the US Centers about why they should transition to a compassionate diet. We have commitments from well known and respected Dharma teachers to support our US Project by contributing to our video.

DVA Announces new Partnership with Balanced

DVA is happy to announce a new partnership with Audrey Lawson-Sanchez, the founder and executive director of Balanced, to create a new resource to support dharma centers in their transition to provide more plant-based offerings in line with the Buddha's teachings.

Balanced is a network of public health professionals, nutrition science experts, and everyday people from around the world fighting for a healthier food system one menu at a time.

To learn more about Balanced please visit their website at balanced.org.

International Projects:

Vietnam Project

DVA’s Vietnam team has been working hard on launching a vegan festival in the capital city of Hanoi. It has been several years since Hanoi was the site of a vegan fest. The site will be a beautiful, large park with the May 7th to 9th weekend, being the likely dates for our blockbuster event. Many committed volunteers will help organize and help out during the festival. We will have booths for delicious veg food, clothing, and souvenir items. Live meditation, yoga, and cooking instructions will also be offered. We will likely also offer live music and dancing.

Thailand Project

Our Thailand Project continues to make presentations at the Wats (temples), expanded our presence on social media, and offered another cooking class to the kitchen staff at Wat Todsatid.

Sri Lanka Project Animal Welfare Bill

DVA is going all out to help pass an Animal Welfare Bill, which has been languishing in Sri Lanka for 14 years. Currently Sri Lanka is one of only a few democracies in the world without an updated Animal Welfare bill. The current bill passed over 110 years ago, desperately needs to be updated.

We are eagerly awaiting a vote on the bill in the Parliament which has 225 members, with 113 needed to pass. Our Sri Lanka team has already received commitments from 141 MPs on video, posted on our FB page and YouTube channel, giving us a wide margin of error. We also have commitments from several other MPs who have not recorded their support in a video. We are very close!

DVA will continue to work with the political leaders and the general public to create a climate that will support passage of the bill.

One of the ways we have been are doing this is with our Oratory Competition when we invited hundreds of students to submit a video on why the passage of the Animal Welfare Bill is important to Sri Lanka. At the end of the second stage of the competition, DVA selected the winners in different categories, awarded cash prizes to the winners and the temples supporting them, invited the winners to appear on DVA’s radio program, and publicized the event in the major national newspapers.

The first and second place winners for the English medium category can be seen on the DVA YouTube channel. Please remember to subscribe, this is a small but important way you can help DVA.

DVA Featured Member:

Sunny Meyer

Each Newsletter will feature a different member of DVA. For our first entry, DVA would like to feature DVA member and volunteer Sunny Meyer.

Sunny has been a Rinzai Zen Practitioner since 2014 and works as an HR Director for a San Diego non-profit and has been vegetarian on and off since seventh grade.

Sunny says that she found out about Bob Isaacson’s sangha and DVA through Insight SD.

"I took a virtual meditation class in December (I am exploring some other meditation techniques other than Zen). Bob had been talking about the eightfold path and about the harm being caused by eating meat. Every time I drive to the Central Valley for work, I see the impact of that."

"I realized that this is a topic that many people are not conscious of, and our world today makes it so easy to be removed from the suffering of animals. I am trying to live deeper in integrity with myself and my path, and this is a huge piece of that."

"I wanted to volunteer for DVA because animal rights is an issue that has always been important to me, and as part of my dharma path, I wanted to contribute to this meaningful cause."

DVA Featured Recipe:

DVA is happy to announce that each newsletter will feature a recipe from a DVA member. DVA has projects and chapters all over the world.

Our first recipe is from DVA’s new Sri Lanka Project Director Shanika Gamage. We hope you will enjoy her recipe and please share with us if you make it and how you like it.

MUSHROOM CURRY

Around 2 servings.

Ingredients:

• 8 to 10 oz. (200 to 250 grams) fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped onion, rinsed, and drained well
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained well
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) coconut cream or milk, opened but do not stir 
• 2 Indian bay leaves (tej patta) or 2 English bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• Pinch of cayenne
• Vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• Small bunch of fresh cilantro, rinsed, patted dry, and roughly chopped

Equipment:

• Food processor or blender
• Large skillet
• 2 small bowls

Method:

1. Gather all ingredients and equipment.
2. Heat skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When oil is hot add mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Sauté mushrooms, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, or just until they start to release their water. Remove mushrooms from the pan and set aside. Wipe out the skillet.
4. In a food processor or blender, blend the onion, ginger, and garlic until a paste is formed. Scrape the paste into a small bowl and set aside.
5. Add the tomatoes to the processor or blender and blend until smooth. Scrape tomato mixture into a bowl.
6. Heat the skillet over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil.
7. When the oil is warm add the cumin, the bay leaves, the cinnamon, the cardamon, the cloves, the turmeric, and the ground coriander, cayenne, and a pinch of salt.
8. Stir for 1 minute or just until spices are fragrant.
9. Add the onion mixture and stir.
10. Reduce the heat to low and cook around 3 to 4 minutes, or until onions become golden.
11. Add the tomato mixture and blend well. Cook over low heat for around 5 minutes, or until the mixture thickens a little.
12. Using a spoon scrape the solids off the top of the coconut cream or milk and sides of the can. Blend the cream into the tomato mixture.
13. When well-blended add only enough of the remaining liquid in the coconut cream or milk to give you the consistency you would like.
14. Add the mushrooms and stir well. If the mixture is too thick add the remaining coconut liquid or a little water.
15. Taste to see if a little salt and pepper are needed.
16. Add the chopped cilantro and stir.
17. Serve hot with basmati or regular rice.

<<First Name/Given Name>>, can you imagine a world in which animals are not considered food?

A world in which Buddhist communities around the world are setting a shining example?

Dharma Voices for Animals is the only International Buddhist Animal Rights/Advocacy Organization in the world. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of our supporters like you to help us spread the Buddha's message of creating a more compassionate world.

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Thank you for being a voice for animals.