Scene is working with the Buddhist communities in Newcastle and London to reduce their energy bills and cut carbon emissions. We are working at 2 temples to design and secure consent for solar panels to achieve this objective.
As the temples are buildings of heritage interest, it has been important to develop a suitable design and robust planning case to secure permissions to allow these projects to go ahead. Scene has made no charge for its services and has done this as a donation to the Dhammakaya Foundation. The Foundation a is non-profit and charitable organisation which promotes world peace through inner peace, providing instruction in meditation and other community activities in the Buddhist tradition to the local and wider community.
In return, when Scene moved into its new office in Codebase (Edinburgh), the occasion was marked by a blessing from the Buddhist monks. The Abbot and monks from the Dhammakaya Meditation Centre in Newcastle came up on the train on a Monday morning and led our team in chanting in Pali and a short meditation session, before they sprinkled holy water over our new office (and our team!).
In the Buddhist tradition, one of the precepts is not to take what is not yours. In its simplest terms, this is equivalent to the Christian commandment 'thou shalt not steal'. But when applied in its refined form by the monks, it goes as far as only accepting what is offered to you.
So, the process of developing the solar projects did not follow a conventional procurement route, where the client identifies a requirement and then finds a company to provide suitable services. Instead, it arose through members of the community identifying ways in which it can help support the monks - be that through planning support, like Scene, or provision of materials and installation, or through other donations. The Sangha - the monk community - depends on donations to provide food, medicine and robes. But it also depends on donations for its energy bills, and in this case, for solar panels to reduce those bills.
So, at the 2024 Kathina ceremony in Newcastle - a robes-giving ceremony which is one of the most important events in the Buddhist calendar to mark the end of the rain retreat - the event included a ceremony for the lay community to donate to the solar panel project and bring it to fruition.
Now all we need is the planning consent... so no pressure then!