On this page you will find information about how to receive some of the email newsletters that are associated with Buddha house. These email newsletters can also be called news groups, email lists, list server or just 'lists'.

Sometimes we get requests to subscribe people to one of our email lists. It's not so simple for us to subscribe you to an email list, but it is very simple for you to subscribe yourself.

It is also beneficial to subscribe yourself so that you are familiar with the process, and so that you get all the right information.

There are 2 main lists:

1. The Yahoo Groups list – this will probably eventually be phased out
2. The newer email lists at www.buddhahouse.org There are 2 email news lists - Program News and Center News

The Yahoo Groups list has been the main work-horse to date & was set up some years ago.

Recently we have been using our own mailing list software that is integrated into our website. The BH list has some powerful features, and produces nicer looking emails. As a general rule, whatever is sent on the Yahoo list will be also sent on the BH list, but for the moment the BH list should be considered a "Beta". Best to join them all.
 

1. Yahoo Groups List

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buddha_House/
The main thing here is that you have to get a Yahoo ID before you can join.  But it can be set and forget. To join now, go to the web address above and follow the prompts. Alternatively send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and follow the prompts that are then emailed to you.

Theres nothing particularly hard here, just fill out some basic details, creating a unique username, choose a password that conforms to their requirements, and click a confirmation link that is sent. You have to 'join' Yahoo - thats the price of the free service :-) Should take about 2-3 minutes.

Caution - when you eventually receive an email that is posted, if you 'reply' then the reply will be posted to everyone in the list. This isn't very obvious because the 'From' address appears to be from the author - not the newsgroup - but the reply address goes to the newsgroup.

Once you are joined everyone can easily post to the list by sending their message to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . The messages are moderated. This is different from the Buddha House Lists, where only designated people can post messages. 
 

2. Buddha House Lists

Just go to www.buddhahouse.org and enter your name and email address in the fields under the “Email Lists” heading in the left hand column. Don’t forget to select the list you want to join. Click on the link that is then emailed to you to confirm. Should take about 30 seconds.

You can also join the BH.org lists when registering (Click the “Register” link at the bottom of the “User Login” box, or just go to http://www.buddhahouse.org/component/option,com_comprofiler/task,registers/ ) Once you have registered (and subsequently 'logged-in' to the website with your username and password), you can join or unsubscribe from lists by editing your profile (look for the "Your Profile" link in the User menu in the left hand column), or also by the first method above. Registering is very worthwhile because it gives you access to lots of other features in the website.

Also see this forum post for some more info about how to read past mailings http://www.buddhahouse.org/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,32/topic,30.0/
You need to be logged in to access the forum, as well as to read the past mailings.

The BH lists are split into two. Join them both, or at least the "Center News" list. The ‘Program News’ list is set up for those that only want to get important program updates – rather than all the community news. This would be more important in the situation where – for example – someone has registered for a retreat, and there needs to be lots of communication about that. We don’t want to bother everyone with that news, so we separate the announcements to this email list. Ideally, once the person has completed the retreat, they would unsubscribe themselves from the list (or they would get all the messages from the next major Program event.) ‘Center News’ also has Program news, but isn’t used for intensive event-specific communications.

There is potential for confusion here. I think we will need to look at how we manage event-specific news at some point soon, but for the moment that is how it is set up.