Updated 29 April 2024
Venerable Apparakke Jinaratana Buddhist Monk
The late Venerable Apparakke Jinaratana, a Theravada Buddhist Bhikkhu [Monk], lived in a cave on a hill in Sri Lanka. He died in 2005.
BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project
BGKT Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada) Secretary Bodhicarini Upasika Jayasili Jacquetta Gomes was one of the founders of BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project. The BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project was started by attendees (including Jacquetta Gomes) of the LBV London Buddhist Vihara [Monastery] in 1994. The late Venerable Apparakke Jinaratana, a Theravada Buddhist Bhikkhu [Monk], who lived in a cave in Sri Lanka, near a very poor village, was using very old newspapers (supplied by villagers) as tablecloths. The BEP decided to embroider tablecloths, wall hangings and sitting cloths for his use. Although items are given to one monk, they actually belong to the whole of the Sangha [Community of Buddhist Monks] according to the Vinaya [Buddhist Monastic Discipline]. In Asian villages, washing is done in streams and waterfalls, and hung to dry in the hot sun, so items do not last as long as they do in the west.
Anne Wynn-Wilson the late founder of the Quaker Tapestry had made the wonderful suggestion that a Buddhist Embroidery Project would be beneficial. Anne Wynn-Wilson commented, “Sharing the making of such a gift enriches both the giver and receiver” in 1994. Materials were donated by Buddhists and Quakers after requests for donations were made in The Friend: The Quaker Weekly, The Devon Vihara Newsletter, and The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London]. A photograph of the monk receiving the embroideries appeared in The Friend: The Quaker Weekly on 28 June 1996, and the August 1996 issue of The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London].
Bibliography
Articles
“An embroidery project”, The Friend: The Quaker Weekly, (5 August 1994).
https://thefriend.org/
“An Unusual Request”, The Devon Vihara Newsletter, 42 (February 1995).
http://hartridge.weebly.com/last-newsletter.html
2022 17 March “BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project”, Sakyadhita [International Association of Buddhist Women] UK Newsletter, March News from SUK (17 March 2022).
https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=83a4031257a79579b64d19418&id=bf9a6d4946
“BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project”, Jacquetta Gomes, The Fellowship Kendal Unitarian Chapel, (September 2011).
https://kendalunitarians.com/activities/fellowship/
“BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project and Venerable Apparakke Jinaratana of Sri Lanka”, News Lanka, Issue 1305, (8 December 2016).
“Buddhist Embroidery Project”, The Friend: The Quaker Weekly, (28 October 1994) page 1386.
https://thefriend.org/
“Embroidery Project”, The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London], 69(2) (August 1994) page 126.
https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/the-middle-way-2.
“Embroidery Project”, The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London], 69(4) (February 1995) page 278.
https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/the-middle-way-2
“Embroidery Project”, The Middle Way: Journal of The Buddhist Society [London], 71(2) (August 1996) page 138.
https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/the-middle-way-2
“Message of thanks”, The Friend: The Quaker Weekly, (28 June 1996) page 18.
https://thefriend.org/
TBE Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
“BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project”
http://www.tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=BEP_Buddhist_Embroidery_Project
Websites
“BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project”
https://www.buddhistgroupofkendal.co.uk/bep-buddhist-embroidery-project/
“BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project”, Manchester Buddhist Convention Website
https://manchesterbuddhistconvention.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/bep-buddhist-embroidery-project/
“BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project (Venerable Apparakke Jinaratana of Sri Lanka)”, Quang Duc Buddhist Monastery Australia, 2021 7 August by Jacquetta Gomes Bodhicarini Upasika Jayasili
https://quangduc.com/a71409/bep-buddhist-embroidery-project-venerable-apparakke-jinaratana-of-sri-lanka-
