Organisation
Vrienden van het Boeddhisme (VvB) or ‘Friends of Buddhism’, is a non-profit organisation, founded 1967. It is the oldest Buddhist organisation in the Netherlands. The goal of the organisation is to deepen the understanding and the knowledge of Buddhist principles, and to stimulate the practical application of these principles in Western society.
The VvB strives to meet this goal in several ways, among other things by translating the Buddhist scriptures in Dutch and making them accesible for the public at large. Mostly, but not exclusively, the Pali-Canon as it is translated by Prof. Dr. R.H.C. Janssen (1931-2019) and Drs. J.A. de Breet (1959 -2021). Since 2019, the VvB has both the management and publishing rights of this series. Another way to reach the foundations’ goal is the promotion of inter-religious dialogue, both inside and outside Buddhist circles. The VvB publishes from time to time articles online in order to promote these goals.
Our financial statements can be found here (in Dutch). A summary of the board report can be found on the last page. The English translation of our roadmap and policy plan 2020-2023 can be found here. If you have any questions about our policy plan or our financial statements, or if you have any feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Stichting Vrienden van het boeddhisme – Friends of Buddhism is a non-profit organisation and has ANBI-status. Among other things, this means that the boardmembers are not paid for their services. Gifts to our foundation are eligible for tax deductions.
The board
Chairman
André Kalden
☉
studies texts of various schools in addition to the Pali-suttas, in particular Chinese and Korean Zen, as owner of a library on Buddhism of more than 1200 titles. His practice is linked to a lineage of teachers in Nepal (Longchen Nyingthig, Tibetan Buddhism).
Secretary
Alie Rozendal
☉
works as a Buddhist chaplain. Since May 2020 she has been head of the Buddhist spiritual care service at the Ministry of Defence. Alie practices Buddhism in the Zen tradition; she is a student of Tenkei Roshi, Zen River Temple
Treasurer
Martijn Vermunt
☉
is Partner at BGH Accountants and Advisors and since the summer of 2017 treasurer of our foundation. 'not a Buddhist, but indeed a friend of' is how he introduced himself when invited to join the board. And that is just fine, because that is what we call ourselves!
Board member
Yvon Mattaar
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studies Pali with Prof. Richard Gombrich and Dr. Sarah Shaw from Oxford University. After the demise of Prof. Rob Janssen she worked with Jan de Breet until his last days at our Pali-translations. Yvon practices in the Theravada-tradition
Board member
Rozanne van der Veur
☉
used to be Secretary of the BUN, certified (VU University Amsterdam) Buddhist Chaplain. Fermly rooted in Zen-Buddhism, she practices in different traditions.