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BEARING WITNESS

NEWSLETTER FOR WESTERN SOCIALLY ENGAGED BUDDHISM - AUGUST 30, 2010
Proceedings of the August 2010 Symposium on Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
Day 1: Roots and Challenges of Socially Engaged Buddhism

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Directory for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism


NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES OF SYMPOSIUM PRESENTATIONS

Matthieu Ricard, Robert Thurman, Jan Willis

SymposiumAudience

Dear Community Members,
Last week, I shared with you four ways that you could get involved with the community that grew from the historic Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism from August 9-14, 2010. Starting today, our weekly newsletter will provide an overview of all six days of the Symposium, starting with the first day and moving forward. You can read reports of the Symposium at the Bearing Witness Blog or view the panels in your home by purchasing DVD’s of the event. These purchases support organizing the Symposium and the service projects of the Zen Peacemakers.

On the first day, Symposium hosts Bernie Glassman, Eve Marko and Chris Queen introduced the event, contextualizing the campus setting, putting forward hopes and goals and moderating panels on the roots and challenges of Socially Engaged Buddhism. Furthermore, Matthieu Ricard made a moving plea for compassionate action. As discussed below, resident Zen teacher Eve Marko explained that the Montague campus on which the Symposium took place is the headquarters of Zen Peacemakers 70-member international affiliation. Before that, it was a politically active commune. It continues to be a center of organic farming, providing fresh vegetables for the community meals of the Montague Farm Zen House.

A panel of leading scholars on the topic made up the Roots of Socially Engaged Buddhism panel. An acclaimed translator and monk, Bikkhu Bodhi shocked readers with his 2007 plea for his followers to get involved in social service in the magazine Buddhadharma, followed by his establishment of Buddhist Global Relief. His stance was especially unexpected as he was trained in the conservative Theravada tradition. He proved to be an active voice throughout the Symposium listening carefully and commenting on other panels while developing a basis for engaged Buddhist practice deeply rooted in Buddhist scripture.

Roots of Engaged Buddhism Panel moderator Chris Queen edited three books on Socially Engaged Buddhism, including one with panelist Sallie King on Asian liberation movements. In this panel, King described a multi-faith encounter between Buddhists and leaders of other faiths. She explained why some Buddhists struggle with the concept of justice, which spurred some interesting debate from Fleet Maull and others. David Loy discussed how the Buddha’s view was one that included social liberation and not merely personal spiritual salvation. The question of whether the Buddha himself would be considered socially engaged proved to be a recurrent theme, about which presenters expressed a variety of viewpoints.

The panel on the Challenges of Socially Engaged Buddhism included participants ranging from the Zen tradition to Soka Gakai International. It also included Mirabai Bush whose Center for Contemplative Mind in Society provides a nondenominational approach to including practices such as meditation and yoga in areas such as business, law and social justice. Another theme that emerged throughout the Symposium was the question of to what extent contemporary practitioners should include explicit connections to the Buddhist tradition as opposed to secularized versions of the tradition that put forth the essence of practices like meditation without religious trappings.

You can get insights into these questions by viewing recordings of the proceedings. If you would like to explore the variety of Buddhist groups, please check out our directory of Socially Engaged Buddhism. Finally, please write me if you would like to be included in the newsletter, directory or blog.

ari

Peace,
Ari Setsudo Pliskin

Editor

Keynote: You Just Need to Do It
by Matthieu Ricard
    Karuna-Shechen, Founding Director

“Compassion without action is just sterile,” keynote speaker Mathieu Ricard told a packed hall at the Zen Peacemakers’ Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism on Tuesday, August 10. “When people see suffering in the street and say, ‘It’s not my job,’ I don’t see that. If something comes your way, engage in compassionate action.”

Ricard, a Buddhist monk for nearly 40 years at Schechen Monastery in Nepal, a close student of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and personal interpreter for the Dalai Lama, is also well-known as a photographer, a trained scientist (with a Ph.D. in cellular genetics) and a bestselling author. Less well-known, as Zen Peacemakers founder Bernie Glassman pointed out when introducing Ricard, are his donations of money to serve the poor.

Ricard does not advocate simply giving money, however. “Compassion is about removing suffering in all its forms,” he told the Symposium, “in the world, in the street.” To undertake such work, he said, requires having “inner strength — emotional strength — and balance.” He also invoked the image of a wounded deer, seen as one’s mother and begging for help, as a technique for awakening compassion.

“Compassion without wisdom is blind,” he emphasized. And when a situation arises that requires compassion, he said, the response is clear: “You just need to do it.” ....read more of this Blog, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

Welcome

BernieEveChrisBernie Glassman, Eve Marko and Chris Queen introduce Symposium

Eve Marko: History of Organic Farming and Political Protest Contextualize Symposium Setting at Montague Farm
Sensei Eve introduced and contextualized the Montague, MA campus on which the first major Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism is taking place (She is the head teacher of the Montague Farm Zendo, the local mediation group.) She discussed the campus’ role as the headquarters of the international 70-affiliate Zen Peacemakers Sangha and also as a multi-faith practice center. Before it became the home of the Zen Peacemakers, the campus was a socially engaged commune. From the commune, members of the Liberation News Services distributed information that the New York Times did not find ‘fit to print’ and in the 1970’s, it developed into a center of organic gardening (which continues to this day and provides vegetables for our community meals) and a center of anti-nuclear activism. ....read the Blog of this talk, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

Bernie Glassman: Hopes for Action and Deals to arise from Symposium.
Bernie explained that when he first organized the Symposium, he wanted to honor the pioneers, give them chance to get together, see each other, share and network. It would be a chance to learn new things and serve as sort of job and volunteer fair. The focus is on taking action and doing something! After the Symposium, we will look at what new things may come of this event. ....read the Blog of this talk, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings     

Panel: Roots of Socially Engaged Buddhism

roots_panelRoots of Socially Engaged Buddhism: David Loy, Sallie King, Bikkhu Bodhi and Chris Queen

Christopher Queen: Introduction to Roots of Socially Engaged Buddhism
Introducing the Roots of Socially Engaged Buddhism panel (including Bikkhu Bodhi, Sallie King and David Loy), Chris Queen stated that amazingly, there are conservative practitioners who believe that changing the mind is all that matters. However, when he was visiting formerly untouchable converts to Buddhism who were victims of other people’s greed, anger and ignorance, facing discrimination, beatings and murder in India, it was clear that people suffer as a result of injustice as well. ....read the Blog of this talk, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

Bhikku Bodhi: Cannonical Roots of Engaged Buddhism
At the Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism, Chris Queen asked Bikkhu Bodhi to speak on the Canonical roots of engaged Buddhism. Bikkhu Bodhi explained that many see Buddhism as a means of world-renouncing liberation, detachment and personal inward meditation. Bikkhu Bodhi approached this task from the question of ‘What is the function of a Buddha?’, according to text. ....read the Blog of this talk, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

Sallie King: Justice is not an Approrpriate Concept for Buddhists
Sallie King offered a Buddhist critique of popular conceptions of justice based on her experience at an international, interfaith peace council, where leaders of world religions gathered to address conflict. Listening to people struggling in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict left the Buddhist contingent squirming. From the Buddhist perspective, they heard same story from both Israelis and Palestinians. Dhammananda, one Buddhist nun, said “I can’t understand what they are saying! They seem to nourish their suffering, while I’ve been taught to let it go.” ....read the Blog of this talk, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

David Loy: Institutionalized Delusion
David Loy asked ‘What was Buddha trying to achieve when he started teaching?’ He asked whether we can explore this question without projecting our modern understanding of private/public sphere separation, based on the Protestant Reformation. He explained that what we today call religions are really “reduced civilizations” which were much more ambitious in their origins. Thus Buddhism in Asia is both a great cultural and social tradition. ....read the Blog of this talk, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings

Moderator: Bernie Glassman

Panelists:

bill_aiken





Bill Aiken







Mirabai Bush


Alan Senauke

Panel: Challenges for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism

challenges_panelAlan Senauke, Bill Aiken, Mirabai Bush, Bernie Glassman

Following are some of the challenges expressed by participants of this panel:

1. To practice social engagement as a Buddhist without being “drummed out of Buddhism” and accused of “staining the Dharma” (Bernie Glassman).

Glassman mentioned that such accusations had been leveled at him by peers in his early days as a pioneer of socially engaged Buddhism. Yet, he said, according to Dogen – the thirteenth century founder of Soto Zen Buddhism in Japan – “the Dharma cannot be stained.” Certainly, he implied, such an argument should not be used to restrict social action by Buddhists.

2. To sustain a radical and internationalist Dharma vision (Alan Senauke).

According to Senauke, the Buddha’s original vision was a politically radical, egalitarian one, which continues to be embodied by socially engaged Asian Buddhists today, such as Thich Nhat Hanh or the untouchables in India who engage in mass conversions to Buddhism in order to defy the restrictions of caste. We can’t limit our view of socially engaged Buddhism to the West, Senauke declared: “our labors are interwoven with those of people far away and out of our sight” across the oceans. He also mentioned Gary Snyder on the need for not only a Western social revolution, but for the inward-directed insights of the East.

3. To have contemplative and mindfulness practices accepted by our broader society (Mirabai Bush).

Bush emphasized that the acceptance of such practices is better than it was 15 years ago, but resistance remains. She mentioned specifically universities, where mindfulness practice often is seen as an obstacle to critical thinking; and social activists, who find it hard to accept that they can work from compassion rather than anger; and lawyers, who ask, “How can I be a zealous advocate if I have compassion?” Nevertheless, Bush said, “The opportunities for practice among people you’d least expect to be open to it is extraordinary. We need to start by honoring where people are, and learn to speak their language without diluting the practice.”

4. To propagate a sense of hope (Bill Aiken).

Aiken also stressed the need to find an issue that “people of faith” – not only Buddhists – can coalesce around, and suggested that the environment could be such an issue. “Buddhists shouldn’t exist in a sealed vacuum apart from society,” he asserted. “We should cultivate our inner life, then decide what to do with it. The area for action is as broad as the universe,” and we need to find cause for optimism.

....read the Blog of this Panel, ....Buy DVD of Day 1 Proceedings