The Amitabha Buddhist Society of Seattle was founded by a Group of Devotees in the summer of 1997. This non-profitable organization was exempt from state and federal taxes as described in section 501(c)(3).
The Society devotes its full effort to develop and expand the education of Buddha's doctrine by systematic planning and united effort; to develop Buddhism compassion and oriental ethics, and actively engage in all activities beneficial to all beings so as to conduct any negative trend in our society toward positive; to create a cohesive bond and clear understanding among all religious groups around the communities by actively promoting the correct knowledge of Buddhism.
The true meaning behind "Buddhism" is stressing that it is not a religion, but the kindest and most wholesome type of education. The Buddha is not a God, but a teacher, who teach us the way to restore Wisdom and Understanding of the reality of ourselves and our living environment by conquering the greed, hatred, and ignorance which blind us at the present moment. The correct Buddhism is Buddha's profound and perfect education system to cultivate everyone's view, speech and action on the correct understanding of cosmos and life. This education system really deserves everyone's admiration regardless of race, religion, age, and sex.
The primary activities of this organization are to teach authentic Buddhism, to encourage philanthropy, and to help others to achieve the state of enlightenment. Therefore, this organization, in no way, will participate in any political activities.
The current activities of the organization includes free-of-charge distribution of learning tools such as books, audio tapes, and video disks. It also includes Buddha and sutra recitation, and other activities. The funds to support the above activities are provided through voluntary donation by secular devotees. The goal of the organization is to let all living beings bring forth a kind heart, perform kind deeds, speak kind words, and overall, be a decent person. This is one of the best way to prevent the disasters upcoming right before our eyes, and melt away all hatred and rebellious natures. By doing so, we are able to attain a happy and fulfilled life, thus truly manifesting the big family of a harmonious community, country and world.
The society is open whole day on Saturday and open in the afternoon on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Spoken Mandarin is required to participate all the activities. However, we do distribute some English books, DVDs and CDs.