Module 12 Materials
Buddhists during the 2020 uprisings, Los Angeles.
1) Sangha as a force for good in the world
In December of 2024, in the wake of a turbulent election season in the US, Suddhayu gave a talk for the Aryaloka community. We can reflect upon his words as they may relate to the wider Triratna community at this time, as we bring this program to a close.
During his talk, he mentioned a particular talk by Sangharakshita about Buddhism and World Problems. As an optional reference, you can find that text here.
2) What’s my role in the revolution?
The stirring images above might (mis)lead us to the idea that sanghas making collective public acts (such as protesting) are the main/best way to take action for racial healing and justice. In fact, there are many ways to contribute our energies, talents and wisdom! A few years ago the Buddhist Peace Fellowship launched a course called “What’s my role in the revolution?” Great question!
One well known framework we might use is the 4 part model offered by George Lakey: Helper/Advocate/Rebel/Organizer.
Below is another even more elaborate framework from Deepa Iyer.
More about this framework and the author can be found here.
2) “Educate, Agitate, Organize” — from Love
How do we “Educate, Agitate, Organize” — from a place of love and deeply informed by the Dharma? This is a key question as we bring this work forward. Resources below explore this.
(Excerpt) Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy, by Chris Crass, 2013 (8 pages - if little time just read excerpt 1)
Love as the Practice of Freedom, by bell hooks, from Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, 1994 (5 pages). This is the article referenced by Chris Crass.
Optional: Lynn Burnett’s one page summary of key insights of Chris Crass for engaging from a place of love. Lynn and Chris are two white brothers deeply committed to liberation and grounded in their faith traditions (Zen and Unitarian).
3) Engaging fearlessly and creatively with hostility towards this work
During our retreat in September 2024, Maitrisara offered her reflections on working with fear in antiracism work, inspired by Amoghasiddhi. She spoke also of the important work of getting curious about the hostility towards anti-racism work.
Optional: In public discourse there are many right wing “anti-woke” criticisms of progressive anti-racist efforts. Lesser known are the self-criticisms of those movements. This is robust paper by organizer Maurice Mitchel that highlights some of the shadows and limitations such movements.
4) Triratna Strengths for Beloved Community
During our retreat in September 2024, Upayadhi shared some thoughts about the potential of Triratna for bringing about Beloved Community.
5) What Next?
Your Liberation is on the Line, Rev. angel Kyodo williams reminds us what is at stake, that our liberation is intertwined, and encourages us to just get started, where we are - 2019 (6 pages).
At the end of the Conversations about Race in 2020 participants were asked:
”What next?” Here were their responses (18 min). What about you?
For Additional Resources to this Module, please scroll down.
Generosity: How you can support us
Friends, what has this course meant to you?
Do you want such initiatives to continue?
Are you committed, like us, to keeping this free?
Two things are particularly challenging in the work that we do:
1) the lack of funding and over-reliance on volunteer labour
2) the mis-perception and fear about this work and its impact
Good news! YOU can help to remove these two obstacles with the super-power of dana. Two things REALLY make a difference….
Offering financial dana:
it really helps, big time.
Do not underestimate the power, material and psychological, of a donation. In addition to technology costs, the team does need support. We also offer dana to the Wisdom Circle who support us. Without financial support, this work simply cannot be sustained. And we want to keep it free for participants!
Offering your testimonial:
it really, really matters.
Honestly, nothing is more effective that hearing from participants, in their own words, about what this course was like, and the impact it has had in their life. People in positions of authority and foundations with resources are far more interested to hear from you, than from us. Bonus: it really fills our spiritual tank!
Ayya Ahimsa, Ayya Niyyānikā Bhikkhunī, Ven Dhammadipa Konin Cardenas & Ayya Santacitta Bhikkhuni from Aloka Vihara in Placerville, CA, 2020. (Thai Forest Tradition)
Buddhists protesting in the 2020 uprisings in Minneapolis
Buddhists protesting in the 2020 uprisings in Los Angeles.
May We Gather ceremony 2021, in honor of those who have lost their lives to racial or religious animus. Click on the image for more information.
March 16, 2024 memorial and pilgrimage in Antioch for Asian American Ancestors. Antioch became the first city in the United States to sign a formal apology acknowledging its history of violence and discrimination against its Asian American community. Click on the image for more information.
Click on the image for a video of the ceremony.
March 16, 2024 memorial and pilgrimage in Antioch for Asian American Ancestors.
White House meeting about racism in 2015 with a delegation of 125 Buddhists representing 63 lineages
White House meeting about racism in 2015 with a delegation of 125 Buddhists representing 63 lineages
Bhikkhu Bodhi at the White House meeting
Faith Leaders locking arms and singing in Charleston, VA, in front of a white supremacist militia man (2017)
Faith Leaders in Charlottesville, VA, in counter-protest to the Unite The Right gathering (2017)
Buddhist leaders join Tsuru for Solidarity and Dream Action Oklahoma at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (July 20, 2019), protesting the internment of migrants and separation of families, in the same place where Native Americans and Japanese Americans had suffered state violence. Click on the image for more information.
Buddhist Clergy and Lay Leaders Join Tsuru for Solidarity and Dream Action Oklahoma at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (July 20, 2019), an example of inter-religious and interracial solidarity denouncing state violence.
In 2018 the Soto Zen Buddhist Association Conference crafted its Statement of Repentance.
Ceremony related to the SZBA Statement of Repentance, 2018.
Poor People's Campaign, 1968.
Additional Resources
Some Statements from Triratna Order Members / Centers
Glasgow Buddhist Centre Statement on the Black Lives Matter Movement, June 2020
A Statement From Pan-American Chairs of Triratna (PACT) Regarding Black Lives Matter, June 2020
A Statement of Solidarity and Compassion (English and Español) regarding Anti-Asian Hate, March 2021
Buddhist Backlash
Below is an academic article that aims to analyse the backlash to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) efforts in Buddhists sanghas. The authors draw three types of concerns/hostility: 1) Reactionary Centrism and Performative Transcendence 2) Buddhist Right Wing and 3) Alt-Right Buddhists. If you do not have time to read this in totality, pages 24-36 describe the 3 types.
"The #BuddhistCultureWars: BuddhaBros, Alt-Right Dharma, and Snowflake Sanghas," by Ann Gleig and Brenna Artinger, Journal of Global Buddhism, 2021
Faith leaders respond and articulate their understanding
Remembering Black lives taken by police in the United States, a ritual by the nuns of Aloka Vihara, June 2020 (4 min)
Faith leaders walk more than a hundred miles to join fight for racial justice at March on Washington, news report, August 2020 (2 min)
Rev. Kerry Kiyohara, June 7, 2020 at Makawao Hongwanji Buddhist Temple on Maui, Hawaii (20 min)
Reverend Matt Hamasaki, Resident Minister, Sacramento Buddhist Church. (7 min video).
Buddhist Leaders join Tsuru for Solidarity and other marchers at Fort Sill Protest, July 20, 2019 (4 min). (optional - more about this initiative for solidarity from Rev. Ryuken Duncan Williams here)
