Session 10:
Materials
This session we explore themes of belonging/non-belonging, inclusion/exclusion, as well as a racial harm and repair in the sangha. Developing a more welcoming and multicultural sangha will require many of us to develop strong(er) skills when it comes to recognizing racial harm in community, appreciating its depth and complexity, apologizing effectively, and stepping in as allies without centering our own needs and behaving as ”white saviors”.
1) Micro-agressions
An everyday dimension of racism: Why we need to understand microaggressions (UK perspective). link here (6 min)
How microaggressions are like mosquito bites, link here. (2 min)
2) Apologies, repair, calling out, calling in
Getting Called Out: How to Apologize, link here (8:30 min)
The Repair, notes from a workshop with Robin DiAngelo, link here (1 page)
Interrupting Bias: Calling Out vs. Calling In, from Seed the Way, handout here (2 pages)
3) Belonging and non-belonging
Vijayatara - People of Colour as the “Rest outside the West” in Western Buddhism’ (2008). This is a talk that has been transcribed, you can either listen to it or read it here (8 pages). If you are short on time, feel free to just listen to the first part on the FWBO.
4) Case Studies (no prep needed!)
Next time we meet, we will spend more of our session breaking out in small groups exploring case studies. You do not need to read any of the case studies in advance, but if you wish to, they are here.
Case Study A: Being Followed
Case Study B: “It’s a Feeling”
Case Study C: “It Wasn’t Overt”
Case Study D: A Going Forth or Coming Home?
Case Study E: Not So Welcome
Case Study F: Incidents on Retreat
Case Study G: Finding Voice
Case Study H: Can We Talk About This?
Moving through the Mandala…
Resources to Go Deeper
On Micro-aggressions & Calling in
If microaggressions Happened to White People, link here. (2:40 min)
Microaggressions & Get Out, 2017 (7 min video), link here.
Calling In: A Quick Guide on When and How, 2015, Sian Ferguson, link here.
On Apology / Accountability
Mia Mingus - The Four Parts of Accountability: How to Give a Genuine Apology Part 1, link here.
Mia Mingus - How to Give a Genuine Apology Part 2: The Apology – The What and The How, link here
Calling In: A Quick Guide on When and How, 2015, Sian Ferguson, link here.
On Belonging
Chapter on “The Precious Experience of Belonging” from Yang, Larry. Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2017. Link here (10 pages)
On Dharma and Culture
Chapter “Buddhist Romanticism: Art, Spontaneity, and the Wellsprings of Nature,” pages on Sangharakshita and the Religion of Art – pdf pages 18-22 (4 pages only), section “Other Buddhist-Romantic Views of Art”, in McMahan, David L. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Link to full chapter here.
(Excerpts on Dharma and Culture) Sangharakshita. The Essential Sangharakshita : A Half Century of Writings from the Founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. Boston: Wisdom Publications, c2009, link here (4 pages)
Books:
Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community. Somerville, by Larry Yang, Wisdom Publications, 2017
You Belong: A Call for Connection by Sebene Selassie, HarperOne Publications, 2020
Cosmopolitan Dharma: Race, Sexuality, and Gender in British Buddhism. by Sharon Smith (Vijayatara), Sally Munt, and Andrew Yip. Brill, 2016.
Link to the PDF of the book generously offered here (with gratitude to the living authors and to Savi, Vijayatara’s former partner!)
Link to the academic publication for institutional purchase: here.
Link to the original thesis on which the book is based here
Various authors including Sheridan Adams, Mushim Ikeda-Nash, Jeff Kitzes, Margarita Loinaz, Choyin Rangdrol, Jessica Tan, Sharon Smoth (Vijayatara) and Larry Yang, Making the Invisible Visible: Healing Racism in Our Buddhist Communities (PDF booklet)