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Global Vipassana Pagoda

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Corpus Rules

  • It was Pujya Guruji Shri S N Goenka's vision that we should build a monument to :
     - express our gratitude to Myanmar (Burma) that preserved Vipassana meditation in it's pure form
     - express our gratitude to Rev Sayagyi U Ba Khin, who trained him and sent him here
     - to house the Dhatu of Bhagwan Buddha that is lying in incorrect places
     - to act as a beacon of Vipassana's revival to the millions of visitors for centuries
  • A magnificent structure was designed and put up using stone and mortar as building materials.
  • It is Pujya Guruji's direction that the entry to the Pagoda shall always be free.
  • The monument is already attracting thousands of visitors and serving it's purpose.
  • At the same time, the need for its continuous up gradation and high class maintenance has become evident.
  • It is considered prudent that to maintain the Pagoda for centuries some long term arrangement for the necessary resources should be made. These funds would supplement the donations that the Pagoda receives in routine manner.
  • Such an arrangement is considered prudent to ensure that the growing needs for the maintenance of the Pagoda over time is provided for in a thoughtful manner.
  • It is important to make sure that the corpus is never used and only its income is used for this purpose.
  • The Pagoda is truly global in its character and not only in name. It attracts people from around the world and was built from donations around the world. The corpus will also get contributions in a similar manner. It is therefore important to give the authority to approve utilization of the income from investment of Corpus to a committee made up of members from around the world.

The accompanying rules have been devised to achieve the above objectives in a manner that will have optimum administrative ease and effectiveness.

RULES

A new Corpus Fund will be set up under the title of “Global Vipassana Pagoda for Centuries Corpus Fund”. All legal formalities, costs and compliances will be done by the Trustees of the Foundation.

Global Vipassana Pagoda for Centuries Corpus Rules will be as under:

  1. The donation to the “Global Vipassana Pagoda for Centuries Corpus Fund” shall be accumulated separately & treated as Corpus Donation.
  2. The funds so accumulated shall be invested by the Trustees in separate Bank Account(s), Securities or such other Instruments as are permitted by the Trust Deed & Law prevailing from time to time.
  3. The interest or income earned from investing the Corpus principal amount will be used only for the purposes specified in these rules. The interest or income not so spent shall also be invested as per Rule 2. Such interest or income can be spent in future for the purposes specified in these Rules.
  4. A Monitoring Committee will be set up by Pujya Guruji Satyanarayan Goenka to sanction the use of the interest or income earned from investing the Corpus.
  5. The interest or income of the Corpus to be used for ‘Standing Costs’ of the Pagoda to be approved each year in advance by the Monitoring Committee from the proposal received from Trustees. The nature of Standing Costs to be as follows:
    i) Repairs to the Pagoda including major repairs
    ii) Security expenses for the protection of the Pagoda
    iii) Property Taxes, other levies imposed by Government, Local Authority etc.
    iv) Expense incurred for Administration of the Pagoda like Salary, Rent, Rates & Taxes and other such expenditure
    v) Any expenditure for maintaining the landscaping around the Pagoda
    vi) Other revenue expenditure for maintenance of the Pagoda for its objectives
  6. Beyond the Standing Costs, the Trustees can apply to the Monitoring Committee for the use of the interest or income earned from investing the Corpus and the Monitoring Committee can approve such costs for e.g. special repairs or special beautification or as decided by the Monitoring Committee
  7. The “Global Vipassana Pagoda for Centuries Corpus Fund” will never be used. The interest or income from investment of the said fund can only be used for the purposes mentioned in these rules.
  8. The scheme of “Global Vipassana Pagoda for Centuries Corpus Fund” shall be in perpetuity except that the Trustees & the Monitoring Committee jointly may suspend receiving donations under this scheme for any period of time
  9. Monitoring Committee
    a) The Monitoring Committee shall comprise members not exceeding 10. The term of appointment of a member shall be 2 years.
    b) The Monitoring Committee shall include people drawn from around the world
    c) The members of the Monitoring Committee would be nominated by Pujya Guruji Satyanarayan Goenka or by person or persons nominated by Pujya Guruji Satyanarayan Goenka for that purpose.
    d) The Monitoring Committee shall meet in person or electronically or by other modes as may be expedient as many times as necessary. The frequency of such meetings shall not be less than 2 times a calendar year.
  10. These Rules cannot be altered at any time except as required by any Law.