How AIR first came about

In 2020, during the unfolding of a pandemic that has exacerbated pre-existing profound racial inequities in our larger societies, as well as in the context of global uprisings for racial justice, many white and white-presenting members of the Triratna Buddhist Community have been engaging in study, self-reflection, brave conversations, and compassionate action. Spontaneously, networks of friendship have resulted in the formation of anti-racist chapters, white affinity groups, as well as retreats and sitting groups dedicated to this exploration. 

Some of us engaging in this work were increasingly contacted by other white people asking for emotional support, practical tools and opportunities to learn and grow with others, while also being in accountable relationships to BIPOC / BAME communities. How do we do this? Many white people with an interest in race work were isolated, particularly in the context of COVID-19, new to this work, and many do not have close friends who are not white.

We have also heard time and time again from voices within the BIPOC / BAME community that they would like to see more white people stepping up, and that educating white people about race and whiteness, examining one’s own racial conditioning, cannot be the sole burden of the BIPOC / BAME community. 

We did not have all the answers (and we still don’t). What did become apparent was that some kind of platform might be needed where white people committing to anti-racism work in a range of different cultural contexts and circumstances could connect with each-other more easily in the spirit of friendship and cooperation. So, we are trying something out. And we will make mistakes. That’s how we grow, learn and create sangha.

Pilot programs in 2020-2021

Drawing from prior experience and wisdom of other predominantly white Buddhist communities, Upayadhi adapted and evolved a curriculum for white Buddhists reckoning with race, both within their sanghas and in larger society. She also aggregated a set of resources for Buddhist groups and individuals attempting to turn towards this suffering, more specifically within a Dharmic framework. 

From July to September 2020, Upayadhi facilitated the first pilot curriculum over a period of 8 weeks with 11 participants based the US and the UK. These were two hour sessions over Zoom with significant pre-work. The first iteration allowed us to test the concept of the program, as well as a chance to receive helpful feedback on how to further improve the content and approach for an (international) Buddhist audience. Out of this first pilot the (white) Awareness is Revolutionary website and the collective came into being and further developped its vision. Dharmacharinis Maitrisara and Singhashri formally joined the core team that year.

From March to June 2021, Upayadhi and Singhashri facilitated a revised 12-week version of the program, with 11 participants based the US, the UK, Spain and Italy. A significant upgrade was made to the website to act as a learning management system, hosting all learning materials and facilitator tools, in password protected space. The 12-module curriculum design was thus refined and validated. At this point, after two pilots, the vision emerged to “liberate the curriculum,” that is to say to deploy a web-based learning platform that could allow for both greater reach and self-pacing and self-organization of local groups. Dharmacharini Saravantu formally joined the core team at the end of the pilot.

In 2020 and 2021, numerous conversations happened between the wAIR Collective and BIPOC sangha leaders, exploring mechanisms of loving accountability, and ways to address the urgent need for a place to support white Buddhists in search of deeper work on race and racism within a Buddhist framework.

A turning point in 2022

From June to early October 2022, the (white) Awareness is Revolutionary Collective crossed a new threshold, collaborating for the first time with BIPOC leaders to produce joint programming. Danadasa was a key catalyst in this process. This resulted in the facilitation of two international on-line multi-racial Reading Circles, combining study with deep process work in small racial affinity groups. A large team of faciliatators rose to the occasion. BIPOC / BAME affinity group facilitators included Alpheous Little, Amanda Crosby, Amaradipa, Aryavacin, Chandramalin, Danadasa, Guhyasakhi, Kadi Kallay and Rodashruti. Affinity group facilitators for white and white presenting people included: Akshayapradipa, Ananta, Aryajaya, Edward Reynolds, Maitrisara, Saraka, Saravantu, Shraddhasiddhi, Shraddhavani, Taraprabha and Upayadhi. We also had the wonderful support of four Zoom DJs: Gina Cabrita, Prakashamitra, Silasiri and Upekshapriya.

The two Reading Circles welcomed 55 and 54 participants living in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Britain and India. Modeling relationality and embodiment, each small group contemplated the work of an author through discussion and bearing witness, held within larger gathering moments which emphasized solidarity and support across racial constructs. Both Reading Circles ended with a Q&A session with the authors, Eugene Ellis (“The Race Conversation”) and Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad (“Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition”). 

In 2022, the Collective began hosting SMURF, aka the Standing Meeting of Undoing Racism Facilitators. This is a monthly on-line gathering for white and BIPOC leaders in local communities working to advance racial justice issues in their sanghas. Together they share best practices and receive emotional and spiritual support. Many of those who attend are alumni of wAIR programs, and have set out to be local change agents following their participation in a program.

Since inception, we have reached over 130 participants with overwhelmingly positive feedback and growing impact in local communities.

That same year the Triratna Buddhist Community of NY • NJ agreed to be a fiscal sponsor to the project. This allowed us to apply for grants from various foundations supporting diversity work in Buddhist sanghas.

From (w)AIR to AIR in 2023-2024

Expanding and re-imagining the vision

Exploring issues of race leads inevitably to examining how other dimensions of experience intersect and sometimes compound our racial conditioning, namely gender, class, sexuality, caste and more. For collective liberation to be realized, we cannot be siloed in this work. Thus, the overall project has been renamed, simply, “Awareness is Revolutionary,” which is in fact a more accurate rendition of our increasingly holistic approach.

Within the AIR Collective, we envision a multitude of programs and resources. One of them is, and will continue to be, the programs specifically designed for white Buddhists seeking to explore race: “(white) Awareness is revolutionary.” We are also in active conversations to welcome other types of programming on the site, addressing different aspects of social conditioning. Stay tuned!

“Liberating the curriculum”: new scalable formats for our programs

With support from volunteers and some seed funding, AIR aims to create sustainable and robust systems by which its learning journeys can be scaled and made available to those working to create the conditions for the flourishing of inclusive Buddhist sanghas.

This means nourishing a network of facilitators and empowering groups to self-organize with the help of our tools.