Message from Founders

A Message & Invitation from Thanissara & Kittisaro,
founders of Sacred Mountain Sangha and PAEAN

PAEAN means voices joyously rising in praise.
We invite you to join us as we raise our hearts and voices
in loving action for Mother Nature, Grandmother Earth and her sacred web of life.

Friends, in these challenging times, we all hear the urgent call to join together to do what we can to maintain a sustainable world for all. The core shift we need is realignment with Mother Nature’s Sacred Web of Life as a central priority. This includes developing a culture of degrowth to reduce consumption while transitioning from the economy of extraction for profit and power that generates an unfair and unsustainable economic system.

In response, we launched PAEAN, joining the collective global effort to shift from an increasingly forced dependence on fossil fuels by implementing dynamic, creative, and viable climate justice solutions. These include a shift to renewable energy, restoring Indigenous lands and wildlife habitats, and dismantling the vast network of industrialized animal factory farms and devastating fishing practices. Instead, we support a shift to plant-based diets, a revisioning of our relationship to all other life forms, and a de-centralization of agriculture.

When we initiated PAEAN, it was in response to the inaction of COP26, which Climate Action Tracker reports put us on track for a cataclysmic 2.8+C global overheating. The global science community, in the UN’s series of IPCC Reports, warn, ”We are at nothing less than a code red for humanity. This must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet.”  

We already see the impact of vast environmental tipping points throughout our rapidly warming planet. No place on Earth can escape the consequences set in motion. We also know we now have very little time to shift our trajectory. Yet, even though the forces aligned against wise and compassionate action are considerable, we cannot simply give up. At the least, we must build resilient, collaborative communities to better meet the inevitable shift from business as usual to a world in crisis management. 

At this juncture of systemic change, the intensity and pressure we all feel acts as a catalyst. We will either devolve or evolve. We believe if enough people, motivated by deep love and care, rise together, we stand a chance of shifting out from under the deadly systems we are caught in. We invite you to join us as we raise our hearts and voices and act on behalf of Mother Nature, Grandmother Earth and her sacred web of life. 

With the power of the Buddha
And all lineages of Awakening.

With the power of the Living Dharma/truth,
And awakening teachings uplifting all.

By the power of the Sangha,
A resilient, wise, generous, compassionate community
applying the medicine of the practice. 

With these powers, and in alliance
with the global climate justice movement,
miracles can and do happen.

We hope you will join us.
All blessings, Thanissara, Kittisaro & the PAEAN team.

It seems impossible until it is done.
- Mr Mandela