Engaged Buddhism: Addressing contemporary social concerns and supporting those facing injustice with religion as society's conscience
We wish for all beings, equally without discrimination, to be free from suffering
"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
- the late Congressman John Lewis, civil rights leader and representative of Georgia 5th District
- the late Congressman John Lewis, civil rights leader and representative of Georgia 5th District
Black Lives Matter
Organizations dedicated to fighting for human rights and against racism:
ACLU Georgia | Atlanta Solidarity | Southern Poverty Law Center | NAACP Georgia | Dharma Relief (Buddhist-specific group dealing with racism)
Organizations dedicated to fighting for human rights and against racism:
ACLU Georgia | Atlanta Solidarity | Southern Poverty Law Center | NAACP Georgia | Dharma Relief (Buddhist-specific group dealing with racism)
Nearly three thousand years ago, the Buddha was radical in his teachings that all humans were equal in their Buddha-nature, regardless of race, wealth, or social status. He campaigned against the caste system and routinely accepted "lower-caste" untouchables into the monastic community. We can read his stories to see the immense compassion in his drive to save all beings from suffering equally. His teachings remain true to today! Thus, we support efforts to fight racism and promote a more just and kind society.
In Buddhism, we care for all lives - not just human lives, but all sentient beings, especially those still in the six realms of "samsara" (cyclical rebirth) - that is, beings in the realms of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, heavens, and devas/gods. If you don't believe in this, you can think of each realm psychologically - for example, when you are angry, you are in the hell realm; when you have greediness, you are in the animal realm, etc.
All beings don't want to suffer and want to be happy. Thus, we must extend compassion to all beings, as equality is the fundamental teaching of the Buddha -- all sentient beings are equal in their Buddha-nature and their potential to become buddhas in the future!
You can find links to organizations leading the campaign for a more inclusive community, such as ACLU of Georgia, NAACP Georgia, Atlanta Solidarity, and Southern Poverty Law Center, above.
In Buddhism, we care for all lives - not just human lives, but all sentient beings, especially those still in the six realms of "samsara" (cyclical rebirth) - that is, beings in the realms of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, heavens, and devas/gods. If you don't believe in this, you can think of each realm psychologically - for example, when you are angry, you are in the hell realm; when you have greediness, you are in the animal realm, etc.
All beings don't want to suffer and want to be happy. Thus, we must extend compassion to all beings, as equality is the fundamental teaching of the Buddha -- all sentient beings are equal in their Buddha-nature and their potential to become buddhas in the future!
You can find links to organizations leading the campaign for a more inclusive community, such as ACLU of Georgia, NAACP Georgia, Atlanta Solidarity, and Southern Poverty Law Center, above.
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Greed, Hatred, and Delusion: A talk by Venerable Pannavati, a Black nun and former Christian pastor, and the founder of Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center and Embracing Simplicity Meditation, a Buddhist center in Hendersonville North Carolina, www.heartwoodrefuge.org
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Fighting RacismHow can we dismantle discrimination and racism toward black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities?
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Uplifting SongsReverend Heng Sure sings "Better Times Will Come"
and the community at Sravasti Abbey sings "She Carries Me"
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There's been a lot of racist events in the news recently, so how do we deal with it? Compassion always wins over hate. Always. So what we can do is strengthen our practice every moment in how we are talking to those right in front of us, how we are seeing all others as equal. That’s our practice. And if we do that we’ll change the world. But compassion doesn't mean speaking softly or not acting forcefully. We must not become complacent but must do what we can to contribute to creating a peaceful and fair society.
"We don’t throw them [white supremacists] out the window and say, “May they go to hell and stay there forever.” We don’t do that. That’s completely un-bodhisattva-like. If we do that. If we get discouraged and we get angry and we get filled with hatred against those people then our mind is no different than theirs. Hate is hate. It doesn’t matter whose it is. So, instead, we train our mind to have compassion for those people. But compassion does not mean, “Oh yeah, what you said is wrong, please don’t do it again.” That’s not going to communicate. We have to speak up strongly, and loudly, but not necessarily screaming with our voice. Loudly, in the sense that we are speaking from our heart. And we say “those ideas are not acceptable. The fighting is not acceptable. These things are harmful.” And they’re not just harmful for our country. It’s not only that they don’t belong in our country. Those ideas and actions don’t belong anywhere. They are created by people who are in great suffering, who think that by creating an external enemy and destroying the external enemy they will find peace. We know that that is not the way to find peace. You destroy one external enemy, another one comes. The real enemy is our own ignorance, attachment and hatred in (our heart) and that’s what we have to counteract, and that’s what we have to help other people counteract. We don’t stick our heads in the sand. We don’t get furious. We don’t get discouraged. We act, Because there’s got to be a voice of ethical authority. There’s got to be a voice of compassion in all of this. If we get discouraged, if we get angry, there’s no compassion, there’s no ethical authority at all."
http://thubtenchodron.org/2017/08/hate-speech-and-compassion/
Although Buddhist monastics and temples traditionally do not participate in political issues, and rightfully so to avoid being trapped by mundane dealings, it is critically important to speak up for ethical issues. We should step forward to bring compassion into the discussion and make our position clear. The way in which people treat each other is an ethical issue. As religious practitioners we have to point society in an ethical direction, so we express our views.
Basically, political issues would be like telling you who to vote for, which we won't do. But ethical issues include almost every aspect of society that we can affect with our actions and votes, such as providing educational opportunities for the poor and medical care to the elderly, ensuring equal rights for minorities, protecting the environment and facing climate change, fighting racism, opposing sexual violence, improving safety through gun control, and holding politicians accountable to be honest and caring rather than lying and blaming... these are ethical issues that we can and will speak up about! We are all interconnected, so we should all care for each other, as we are all future Buddhas to be.
In Buddhism, we don't just pray to a higher power, we believe in the power of our thoughts and actions, and in planting good seeds in order to have a better future. Let's all take positive steps today and every day!
Inspired by this article in which American Buddhist nun Venerable Thubten Chodron is interviewed by Taiwan's Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association magazine.
http://thubtenchodron.org/2019/02/ethics-politics/
"We don’t throw them [white supremacists] out the window and say, “May they go to hell and stay there forever.” We don’t do that. That’s completely un-bodhisattva-like. If we do that. If we get discouraged and we get angry and we get filled with hatred against those people then our mind is no different than theirs. Hate is hate. It doesn’t matter whose it is. So, instead, we train our mind to have compassion for those people. But compassion does not mean, “Oh yeah, what you said is wrong, please don’t do it again.” That’s not going to communicate. We have to speak up strongly, and loudly, but not necessarily screaming with our voice. Loudly, in the sense that we are speaking from our heart. And we say “those ideas are not acceptable. The fighting is not acceptable. These things are harmful.” And they’re not just harmful for our country. It’s not only that they don’t belong in our country. Those ideas and actions don’t belong anywhere. They are created by people who are in great suffering, who think that by creating an external enemy and destroying the external enemy they will find peace. We know that that is not the way to find peace. You destroy one external enemy, another one comes. The real enemy is our own ignorance, attachment and hatred in (our heart) and that’s what we have to counteract, and that’s what we have to help other people counteract. We don’t stick our heads in the sand. We don’t get furious. We don’t get discouraged. We act, Because there’s got to be a voice of ethical authority. There’s got to be a voice of compassion in all of this. If we get discouraged, if we get angry, there’s no compassion, there’s no ethical authority at all."
http://thubtenchodron.org/2017/08/hate-speech-and-compassion/
Although Buddhist monastics and temples traditionally do not participate in political issues, and rightfully so to avoid being trapped by mundane dealings, it is critically important to speak up for ethical issues. We should step forward to bring compassion into the discussion and make our position clear. The way in which people treat each other is an ethical issue. As religious practitioners we have to point society in an ethical direction, so we express our views.
Basically, political issues would be like telling you who to vote for, which we won't do. But ethical issues include almost every aspect of society that we can affect with our actions and votes, such as providing educational opportunities for the poor and medical care to the elderly, ensuring equal rights for minorities, protecting the environment and facing climate change, fighting racism, opposing sexual violence, improving safety through gun control, and holding politicians accountable to be honest and caring rather than lying and blaming... these are ethical issues that we can and will speak up about! We are all interconnected, so we should all care for each other, as we are all future Buddhas to be.
In Buddhism, we don't just pray to a higher power, we believe in the power of our thoughts and actions, and in planting good seeds in order to have a better future. Let's all take positive steps today and every day!
Inspired by this article in which American Buddhist nun Venerable Thubten Chodron is interviewed by Taiwan's Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association magazine.
http://thubtenchodron.org/2019/02/ethics-politics/
From Tragedy Springs Hope: Reflections on the Killing of George Floyd
by Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi
The police killing of George Floyd this past Memorial Day has set off a stream of protests in cities and towns across the U.S., and even around the world, united under the banner of “Black Lives Matter.” The murder, captured on video by a passing pedestrian, reveals the horror of racism in its terrible immediacy. Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” followed by his silence, leave us shocked at witnessing such a naked display of cruelty taking place in broad daylight in a major American city, committed by an officer of the law.
Anyone who attends to the news knows that such killings are not rare. The names of the victims repeatedly flash across the media, each time setting off a wave of public revulsion. Where the murder of Mr. Floyd stood out was in the rawness of the visual imagery that revealed the slow agony of his death.
In the aftermath of the killing, black leaders and their allies are demanding stricter laws regulating police behavior. While any effective response to these tragedies must include major changes in policing practices, a movement based on the maxim that “Black Lives Matter” cannot stop there but must seek to stamp out all forms of violence, obvious and subtle, that debilitate the lives of Black Americans in this country. These are often veiled behind a curtain of code words and thus must be brought out into the open.
The murder of George Floyd is a stark reminder of our legacy of racist violence, a legacy that includes slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, and the prison-industrial complex. But racism also occurs in ways that are not blatantly violent but still leave black people stunned and gasping for air. These include poor quality in health care, education, jobs, and housing, all based on the premise that black lives are not really entitled to the same opportunities that white people enjoy. If we truly believe that our country stands for “liberty and justice for all,” we would reject that premise and provide neglected Black Americans and other groups in need with the critical building blocks of personal and communal well-being. These are human rights, and it is the job of the government, as expressing our collective will, to ensure they are made available.
We can’t fall back on the excuse that providing such benefits would bust the federal or state treasury. We spend close to a trillion dollars on the military, lavish battlefield equipment on police departments, and give whopping tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations. If we got our priorities straight, we could easily provide everyone in this country with the basic requisites of a decent life. The real reason politicians and their constituents agonize about spending on such services is because in large measure they would benefit Black Americans and other people whose skin is a darker shade.
Among all economically advanced countries, the U.S. stands out in the paucity of the social services it offers its population, and a major factor behind these spending constraints is racism. In the name of social justice, this has to change. The social safety net, now badly frayed, must be repaired and widened, so that no one falls through the holes in times of illness, a job layoff, or old age. Those in need must be provided affordable housing, vocational training, and quality health care. The minimum wage should be boosted to the level of a real living wage, and the range of good-paying jobs expanded through the rapid adoption of a Green New Deal that simultaneously combats climate change and unemployment. We must guarantee all people access to clean drinking water and nutritious food, and make massive investments in public education at all levels, starting with pre-K.
Measures to establish social justice must be supplemented by efforts to restore political justice, especially by countering attempts by conservatives to undermine voting rights. These efforts have spread across districts with large black populations, especially in southern states, where devious tactics are used to diminish black turnout for elections. Instead of limiting the right to vote, we should make the process of voting as easy as possible. This will require people of conscience to stand up against the effort to distort elections through restrictive voting protocols.
While economic and social transformation is essential, to eliminate racism at its root we have to take the project deeper, bring it down to a more personal level. The racist policies and institutions that undergird almost every aspect of life in the U.S. stem from long entrenched prejudices that ascribe a diminished value to the lives of African Americans and other people of color. How else can we explain the vast gaps in income and wealth between whites and blacks, the hostility in Congress to food stamps and welfare, or the shorter life spans of black people compared to other racial groups? How else can we understand why COVID-19 fatalities among Black Americans are 2.5 times higher than among whites?
In the end, what is required to achieve a lasting resolution to racism in this country is a change in the perceptions and attitudes that allow these travesties to continue. White people in particular must make a deliberate effort to look beyond stereotypes and see every human being, regardless of skin color or ethnic origins, as worthy of care and respect. Just as we each cherish ourselves, so we must learn to see each and every human being as endowed with inherent value and thus as worth cherishing.
To change our perceptions is no easy task. The human mind is governed by a deep tendency to objectify others and subsume them under categories that reflect our personal biases and fears, particularly the fear of difference. To objectify others is to blind ourselves to their own intrinsic reality as persons who, like ourselves, wish to avoid suffering and seek happiness, who want to live and not to die, who aspire to realize their innate potentials.
What is needed above all to eradicate racism is, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “an unconditional love” rooted in an understanding of our shared humanity, our shared fragility and vulnerability. Such love would give rise to genuine compassion for those who suffer and a desire to ameliorate their pain, but would also affirm our common capacity for leading lives of meaning and purpose. It would thereby unite us in a collaborative effort to create a society—and even a world—in which everyone can flourish.
Given our history of racism and current cultural norms, efforts to forge such strong bonds of solidarity will run up against both internal and external obstacles. Not only must we deal with our habitual biases and the pressures of our peers, but we will inevitably face opposition from those who benefit from division and want to preserve their privileged status, even though, in the end, such divisions diminish us all.
As a nation we presently stand at a crossroads where we can either go forward in creating a “beloved community” of mutual affirmation, or we can retreat backward into the bunkers of suspicion, resentment, and racial violence. We can come together to create a society that serves the needs of all, or we can struggle to prevail in a zero-sum game.
The unity among young people of all races and backgrounds marching along the streets of our major cities shows that the seeds of a society centered around human solidarity are blowing in the wind. The tragedy of George Floyd’s killing is starting to blossom in new flowers of hope. Our task now is to realize the potential of this moment and enhance its power until it becomes the dominant ethos of our time.
by Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi
The police killing of George Floyd this past Memorial Day has set off a stream of protests in cities and towns across the U.S., and even around the world, united under the banner of “Black Lives Matter.” The murder, captured on video by a passing pedestrian, reveals the horror of racism in its terrible immediacy. Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” followed by his silence, leave us shocked at witnessing such a naked display of cruelty taking place in broad daylight in a major American city, committed by an officer of the law.
Anyone who attends to the news knows that such killings are not rare. The names of the victims repeatedly flash across the media, each time setting off a wave of public revulsion. Where the murder of Mr. Floyd stood out was in the rawness of the visual imagery that revealed the slow agony of his death.
In the aftermath of the killing, black leaders and their allies are demanding stricter laws regulating police behavior. While any effective response to these tragedies must include major changes in policing practices, a movement based on the maxim that “Black Lives Matter” cannot stop there but must seek to stamp out all forms of violence, obvious and subtle, that debilitate the lives of Black Americans in this country. These are often veiled behind a curtain of code words and thus must be brought out into the open.
The murder of George Floyd is a stark reminder of our legacy of racist violence, a legacy that includes slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, and the prison-industrial complex. But racism also occurs in ways that are not blatantly violent but still leave black people stunned and gasping for air. These include poor quality in health care, education, jobs, and housing, all based on the premise that black lives are not really entitled to the same opportunities that white people enjoy. If we truly believe that our country stands for “liberty and justice for all,” we would reject that premise and provide neglected Black Americans and other groups in need with the critical building blocks of personal and communal well-being. These are human rights, and it is the job of the government, as expressing our collective will, to ensure they are made available.
We can’t fall back on the excuse that providing such benefits would bust the federal or state treasury. We spend close to a trillion dollars on the military, lavish battlefield equipment on police departments, and give whopping tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations. If we got our priorities straight, we could easily provide everyone in this country with the basic requisites of a decent life. The real reason politicians and their constituents agonize about spending on such services is because in large measure they would benefit Black Americans and other people whose skin is a darker shade.
Among all economically advanced countries, the U.S. stands out in the paucity of the social services it offers its population, and a major factor behind these spending constraints is racism. In the name of social justice, this has to change. The social safety net, now badly frayed, must be repaired and widened, so that no one falls through the holes in times of illness, a job layoff, or old age. Those in need must be provided affordable housing, vocational training, and quality health care. The minimum wage should be boosted to the level of a real living wage, and the range of good-paying jobs expanded through the rapid adoption of a Green New Deal that simultaneously combats climate change and unemployment. We must guarantee all people access to clean drinking water and nutritious food, and make massive investments in public education at all levels, starting with pre-K.
Measures to establish social justice must be supplemented by efforts to restore political justice, especially by countering attempts by conservatives to undermine voting rights. These efforts have spread across districts with large black populations, especially in southern states, where devious tactics are used to diminish black turnout for elections. Instead of limiting the right to vote, we should make the process of voting as easy as possible. This will require people of conscience to stand up against the effort to distort elections through restrictive voting protocols.
While economic and social transformation is essential, to eliminate racism at its root we have to take the project deeper, bring it down to a more personal level. The racist policies and institutions that undergird almost every aspect of life in the U.S. stem from long entrenched prejudices that ascribe a diminished value to the lives of African Americans and other people of color. How else can we explain the vast gaps in income and wealth between whites and blacks, the hostility in Congress to food stamps and welfare, or the shorter life spans of black people compared to other racial groups? How else can we understand why COVID-19 fatalities among Black Americans are 2.5 times higher than among whites?
In the end, what is required to achieve a lasting resolution to racism in this country is a change in the perceptions and attitudes that allow these travesties to continue. White people in particular must make a deliberate effort to look beyond stereotypes and see every human being, regardless of skin color or ethnic origins, as worthy of care and respect. Just as we each cherish ourselves, so we must learn to see each and every human being as endowed with inherent value and thus as worth cherishing.
To change our perceptions is no easy task. The human mind is governed by a deep tendency to objectify others and subsume them under categories that reflect our personal biases and fears, particularly the fear of difference. To objectify others is to blind ourselves to their own intrinsic reality as persons who, like ourselves, wish to avoid suffering and seek happiness, who want to live and not to die, who aspire to realize their innate potentials.
What is needed above all to eradicate racism is, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “an unconditional love” rooted in an understanding of our shared humanity, our shared fragility and vulnerability. Such love would give rise to genuine compassion for those who suffer and a desire to ameliorate their pain, but would also affirm our common capacity for leading lives of meaning and purpose. It would thereby unite us in a collaborative effort to create a society—and even a world—in which everyone can flourish.
Given our history of racism and current cultural norms, efforts to forge such strong bonds of solidarity will run up against both internal and external obstacles. Not only must we deal with our habitual biases and the pressures of our peers, but we will inevitably face opposition from those who benefit from division and want to preserve their privileged status, even though, in the end, such divisions diminish us all.
As a nation we presently stand at a crossroads where we can either go forward in creating a “beloved community” of mutual affirmation, or we can retreat backward into the bunkers of suspicion, resentment, and racial violence. We can come together to create a society that serves the needs of all, or we can struggle to prevail in a zero-sum game.
The unity among young people of all races and backgrounds marching along the streets of our major cities shows that the seeds of a society centered around human solidarity are blowing in the wind. The tragedy of George Floyd’s killing is starting to blossom in new flowers of hope. Our task now is to realize the potential of this moment and enhance its power until it becomes the dominant ethos of our time.
You can read his article at the Buddhist Global Relief blog:
https://buddhistglobalrelief.me/ Buddhist Global Relief website: www.buddhistglobalrelief.org |
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk from Brooklyn, New York City, renowned scholar and translator of the Theravada/Pali Canon, and current President of the Buddhist Association of the United States. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School. After completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya. From 1984 to 2002 he was the editor for the Buddhist Publication Society, where he lived for ten years with the senior German monk, Ven. Nyanaponika Thera. He returned to the U.S. in 2002 to Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey, and current lives at Chuang Yen Monastery in New York. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor. These include The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Samyutta Nikaya), and The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya). In 2008, together with several of his students, Ven. Bodhi founded Buddhist Global Relief, a nonprofit supporting hunger relief, sustainable agriculture, and education in countries suffering from chronic poverty and malnutrition. In 2013, he was elected the first American-born president of the Buddhist Association of the United States.
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Interesting Perspective:
Decatur resident and Black author Jan Willis writes in Lion's Roar Buddhist Magazine, "We Cry Out for Justice"
https://www.lionsroar.com/cry-justice/
Decatur resident and Black author Jan Willis writes in Lion's Roar Buddhist Magazine, "We Cry Out for Justice"
https://www.lionsroar.com/cry-justice/
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"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."
- the late Congressman John Lewis, civil rights leader and representative of US Congress Georgia 5th District 
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I am saddened to learn of the passing of Congressman John Lewis. He was not only a leader of the American civil rights movement; his principled commitment to non-violence and justice made him an inspiration and a moral beacon to the world at large.
Like millions of people throughout the world I am an admirer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Whenever I talk about non-violence, I cite the examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King. Congressman Lewis not only knew Dr. King, but also gave him crucial support. Although I did not have the privilege of meeting Dr. King myself, in meeting Congressman Lewis, I feel have made a direct connection with him.
Through his principled adherence to the fundamental democratic values of liberty, equality and justice, Congressman Lewis won admiration even among those who did not share his political outlook. In the course of many years of public service, he inspired many Americans to take up the cause of justice and peace through non-violence. Although he is no more, his personal example remains to inspire Americans to make their country and the wider world a better place for everyone.
With my prayers,
Dalai Lama
https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/his-holiness-the-dalai-lamas-statement-on-the-passing-of-congressman-john-lewis-usa
Repost from Tibet.Net and Tibet House
His Holiness offers congratulations to Kamala Harris on her historic inauguration as Vice President of the United States
His Holiness offers condolences on the passing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu
AtlantaBuddhism.org supports diversity, equity, and inclusion, in a quest for a more just society filled with peace, love, and well being for all.