FAQ
What was the inspiration behind the candle?
Years ago, I happened to pick up, rather serendipitously, a book titled “Meditations” at a local thrift store in San Francisco. The book, written by an American Buddhist monk, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, contains a series of short talks on the subject of Meditation. In one of the early passages, the author wrote about an experience he had while serving as interpreter for a Thai monk at a Western meditation retreat. The Thai monk made the observation that people from the West generally sat "very seriously, their faces tense, their eyes closed tight. It was almost as if they had Nirvana or Bust written across their foreheads."
It was an amusing anecdote (and translation from the author) that I could relate to following my own prior experiences and struggles meditating, having grown up in the West. The passage sparked an interest to learn more, and over the years, as I began to explore more of the author‘s work and continued to develop and refine my own meditation practice, the imagery and phrase, "Nirvana or Bust" stuck with me, later providing a light-hearted inspiration for the art piece.
What is the Dāna Pledge?
Dāna is a Sanskrit and Pali word that means generosity of heart. In many Eastern traditions, including Buddhism and Hinduism, dāna is the practice of giving - giving of our time, giving of our resources, and giving of our forgiveness to others in need. By helping others, we help ourselves by creating spaciousness in our hearts. A Thousand Candles owes a debt of gratitude to all the beings that inspired the creations that you see on this website. To practice dāna, A Thousand Candles pledges to donate 10% of all proceeds to monastic communities around the world practicing the dhamma in line with the dhamma. This donation will be made once a year near the end of every calendar year.
How long will it take to receive my order?
For U.S.-based destinations, you should generally expect to receive your order in 3-5 business days after placing an order. All packages will be shipped via USPS Priority Mail or USPS Ground and a tracking number will be emailed to you when your order ships. While we will always do our best to fulfill your order as soon as we can, we cannot guarantee delivery times as there may be unexpected transit delays beyond our control.
For shipping outside of the U.S., it may take up to 1-4 weeks for your order to arrive depending on the country. All packages will be shipped via USPS First Class International with package tracking available for major countries.
What is your return policy?
If you've made a purchase and are not satisfied for any reason, we're happy to offer you a full refund for any item(s) returned within 30 days. To be eligible for a return, your item must be in the same condition that you received it (unlit, if it's a candle), and in its original packaging. Please inspect your order upon receipt and contact us immediately if the item is defective, damaged or if you receive an incorrect item, so that we can review what went wrong and make it right.
To start the return process, please contact athousandcandles@protonmail.com to let us know you’ll be making a return, and we'll send you a return shipping label, as well as provide a mailing address for you to send your package. Please note that if the item is returned due to a defect or error on our end (e.g., sending the wrong product), then you won‘t be responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is being returned for other reasons, however, (e.g., change of mind), then the cost of shipping will be deducted from the amount refunded. Items sent back to us without first requesting a return will not be accepted.
Once we’ve received your return item, you'll receive a refund applied to your original payment method generally within 5-7 business days. Please note it may take some time for your bank or credit card company to process and post the refund.