About Tuwhiri
Tuwhiri publishes books on early Buddhism, its retrieval, and a secular adaptation to 21st century conditions, as well as making available thought-provoking books that are not obviously dharma books but which serve the ethic of care that is central to the dharma.
※ Why Tuwhiri?
Looking for a name for an imprint that would express what we stood for as secular Buddhist practitioners in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, we adopted a word in te reo Māori: tuwhiri. In so doing, we acknowledge and show respect for tangata whenua, the indigenous people of Aotearoa.
The idea that we name ourselves The Tuwhiri Project was discussed within and beyond the small communities of secular Buddhists in Aotearoa and Australia. The word tuwhiri describes well how we found ourselves when we came up against the ancestral forms of Buddhism. The notion of revealing, of making known, a means of discovering something lost or hidden matched how we felt about what we discovered on examining long-established Buddhist teachings with fresh eyes.
The Tuwhiri Project emerged with the development of a secular Buddhism, a trend in contemporary western Buddhism which highlights the fundamental ethic of the teachings of Gotama, the historical Buddha – care – in all its aspects. Secularity calls on us to express this ethic of care in ways appropriate to our time and current predicaments.
※ Serving the ethic of care
In the face of humanity-induced catastrophes – not least today’s climate emergency and intensifying social injustices – humanity owes a special duty of care to future generations to overcome them, and to leave our successors with a safer, fairer world in which they may thrive.
Love you: public policy for intergenerational wellbeing and Crete 1941: an epic poem make no claim to Buddhist inspiration. Tuwhiri has broadened what we offer to include books that are not obviously dharma books but which serve the ethic of care which is central to the dharma.
Love you examines the processes by which wellbeing-focused public policy objectives can be established, prioritised, funded, implemented, managed and evaluated, while ensuring they remain relevant as social preferences evolve over time.
Crete 1941 serves to make all who read it more aware of the wrongs perpetrated by those who colonised Aotearoa, and the need to settle the claims that have arisen from this process.
※ Looking to the future
We believe that we need to express our care for coming generations in many ways, from changing our own personal lifestyles, through accounting for our history, to choosing political representatives who advance cogent, long-sighted policies in aid of a better world.
At the same time we are participants in movements that address key social challenges such as the changing climate and other ecological and medical emergencies that are putting the future of our species and so many others at risk, as well as the unrelenting corporate greed that resulted in the current breakneck increase in economic inequality and concentrations of wealth which are generating conflict.
The Tuwhiri Project Ltd is 100 percent owned by Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust (ABET), a New Zealand registered charity. As a social enterprise with no investor shareholders and thus no need to prioritise profit-making, Tuwhiri can focus on our purpose: helping people find meaning in a difficult world.
※ Caring for Tuwhiri
For this project to continue to produce books, develop online courses and nurture newsletters, we need your help – practical and financial. If you have a useful skill or you’d like to develop a skill that’s relevant to what we do, please get in touch. We’re keen to hear from you.
Support from and through Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust is integral to all books produced by Tuwhiri, and as publishers we gratefully acknowledge this support. In Aotearoa New Zealand, you can make a donation to The Tuwhiri Project by bank transfer to our Kiwibank account which is at 38-9019-0064662-07.
New Zealand taxpayers may qualify for a tax relate when you donate NZD $5 or more. Ask us for a tax receipt.
If you are in another country, please ask about the different means you can use to donate.
※ Editorial board
Cathryn Jacob – Warwickshire, UK
Ramsey Margolis – Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
Starr Kelton-Locke – California, USA
Winton Higgins – Sydney, NSW, Australia
Submissions Please speak with or write to one of the members of our editorial board if you would like to discuss a book or an educational project
Joining our editorial board We’re currently looking for people to join Tuwhiri’s editorial board. Please speak with or write to one of our board members if you may be interested.
Publisher Ramsey Margolis
Administrator Peter Cowley – Gisborne, Aotearoa New Zealand
Web maestro Nick Hughes – Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand
Media resources
If you’re looking for resources to use on a website or in a print publication look here
Check out Tuwhiri on YouTube
Sales and distribution
Books are distributed to bookshops and libraries worldwide by Ingram Publisher Services
In Australia, bookshops, dharma communities and libraries can also order them from Windhorse Books
In Aotearoa New Zealand bookshops, dharma communities and libraries should order directly from Tuwhiri
※ Legal
Tuwhiri is the trading name of The Tuwhiri Project Limited
The Tuwhiri Project Limited is wholly owned by Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust Inc.
Registered in Aotearoa New Zealand, Company No. 6781453
NZBN 9429046681591
Director Peter Cowley
Registered office 13 Leith Street, Gisborne 4010, Aotearoa New Zealand
Copyright This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
You are given the unlimited right to print whatever you find here, to distribute the texts electronically via social media, by email, on your website, or any other means.
You can create printed documents and put them in your favourite coffee shop, or your doctor’s waiting room.
You can play recordings on your community radio station.
You can chalk the words you find here on the pavement or sidewalk (depending where you live), or you can hand out copies to everyone you meet.
You may not alter the text in any way, though, and you may not charge for it.
A link to this website would be appreciated.
Thanks to Konstantin Planinski for the photo of the man walking over the bridge.