Birth, Old Age, Sickness, Death, and Taxes: The Buddha on Fiscal Policy

Most Americans—probably even most Buddhist Americans—think of Buddhism as a quietistic spirituality focused on either individual peace of mind or complete transcendence of the social and material worlds. The famous sociologist Max Weber called it a “specifically unpolitical and anti-political status religion,” and that’s the impression that has pretty much stuck ever since. So, it might surprise many people to learn just how preoccupied Buddhist texts are with at least one mundane, bread-and-butter public policy issue: taxes.

A Soldier's Heart

It has been over 60 years since the end of WWII and many of the veterans who fought that war are now in their 80’s. It won’t be too much longer until this entire generation of Americans has passed away. To date, WWII still stands as the most destructive event of human history in terms […]

Auschwtiz Retreat: Prologue

For 15 years, Zen Master Bernie Glassman and the Zen Peacemakers have lead multi-faith, multi-national retreats at Auschwitz in order to bear witness to the darkest parts of humanity.  I attended my first retreat in June 2010.  What follows are a series of posts chiseled from my daily journals of the experience. Arriving to at […]

Video: Engaged Buddhism Symposium Welcome

View the trailer now for excerpts of the welcome at the August 2010 Symposium For Western Socially Engaged Buddhism.  If you purchase the DVD, you could view this segment and others while supporting the community work of the Zen Peacemakers. Related Blog Posts: Eve: Organic & Protest History Contextualize Symposium Campus Bernie Establishes Hopes for […]

The World Honored One is a Drunk

I was working with a veteran firefighter from South Boston who came into our PTSD treatment program at the behest of his superiors to obtain help from the ravages of alcoholism. He was told by his Chief that if he didn’t straighten up, he would lose his job – one of the few things in […]

What Addicts Don't Know

I received a call from admissions regarding a potential patient for our program. The attending psychiatrist was reluctant to send him to our Partial Hospitalization Program. She knew his history of herion addiction and repeated hospitalizations and admissions to addiction treatment centers. He was deemed to be beyond help – a hardcore confirmed addict who […]

Engaged Buddhism: Service or Revolution? by Alan Senauke

Musings on Montague: The Western Socially Engaged Buddhism Symposium — August 2010.  By Alan Senauke, originally posted at the Clear View Project. What is socially engaged Buddhism? Over the course of the week it was easy to see a number of contrasts or kinds of activities that all can be considered “Engaged Buddhism” or “Socially […]

From Vision to Buddhist Social Action

By Jiko McIntosh “How do we go from vision to action?” This question was asked at the recent Symposium on Buddhist Social Action at Zen Peacemakers. Here is a brief  account of what I found helpful in going from vision to action after completing my Zen Peacemaker seminary training for ministry. From spring 2009 through […]

Class Consciousness: Why Liberating Sentient Beings Means Liberating Society

I tend to think of Buddhist practice as a way of cultivating a mind so stable that such storms leave it unscathed, and I often judge myself harshly when I fail to live up to that standard—when the storm breaks through my mental roof, leaking in toxic emotions, and I’m too exhausted, or cynical, or just plain lazy to apply the Buddha’s teachings. Suffering and delusion are always my suffering and delusion. They are always personal, always private, and always necessitate a private remedy. What I often forget, though, is just how much social, political, and economic structures really do effect our ability to practice the dharma.

Debates on Engaged Buddhism throughout Buddhablogosphere

From Nathan at Dangerous Harvests: There’s been a lot of debate lately online about socially engaged Buddhism. This on the heels of last month’s Zen Peacemaker’s Socially Engaged Buddhism Symposium, which was held in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Posts from The Reformed Buddhist and, to a lesser extent, from Point of Contact argue against […]