Surprise: Buddhists are not morally pure and blameless. We participate in systems of injustice, both directly and indirectly. But while we work to undermine these systems, can Right Speech and Right Action afford to be gentle when acute violence is being enacted? (And what considerations should be made when criticizing others from a position of privilege within the United States?) Burma (Myanmar) has made t ...

Here it is: the second installment of our year-long curriculum for Buddhist activists. Take a look inside for: An exclusive practice offering video by Rev. Keiryu Lien Shutt Political cartoons, Cultural Appropriation Bingo, and other helpful supplementary texts Our favorite pieces from April's Turning Wheel Media, with discussion questions to help us dig in more deeply An introduction to the audio recording ...

Since today is International Workers' Day, I'm taking today off to commemorate it in my own way, by reading—poetry, analysis, social theory, and history. For those who aren't familiar with the day's origins, it is a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket massacre in Chicago. While demonstrators were on peaceful general strike for an eight-hour work day, an unknown person threw a bomb at police, resulting in po ...

It's been a sobering and inspiring month with you, exploring an institutional take on the Second Precept, or a Buddhist look at systemic stealing.  Thank you for joining us in this process of learning and reflection. To close out our month, and in honor of May Day tomorrow, we want to leave you with the insights of author, historian, and journalist Vijay Prashad, on the recent tragic and infuriating deaths ...

Amidst the recent US-Korean tensions, which stretch back a long time, with many causes and conditions, BPF would like to share this letter, forwarded to us from our friends and colleagues at the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. Although we feel ill equipped to comment meaningfully on many geopolitical issues, we support the letter and hope to learn more about how anti-imperialists in Korea and th ...

As human beings, we live with a lot of abstractions we consider to be normal, almost like a collective hallucination. This is a familiar idea for dhamma practitioners since one of the fundamental and liberating insights of dhamma is the experience of anatta, or “no-self.” Through practice we begin to experience the emptiness of something we thought was very solid—our sense of self. We begin to loosen attach ...

by Fredrick Douglas Kakinami Cloyd You should study the green mountains, using numerous worlds as your standard. You should clearly examine the green mountains' walking and your own walking. —Zen Master Dōgen, Mountains and Waters Sutra (Sansuikyō) As we practice embodying the time of Kaliyuga, Mo-Fa, Mappō, how are we to take up this great practice and the self/no-self? And in investigating such common Bud ...

Ser valiente es mucho mas que alejarse de su patria... —Olivia Donaji-De Pablo "To be brave is much more to leave your own country...." is how this prose poem in Spanish by Olivia Donaji-De Pablo begins, an intimate reflection on the immense strength required of those who leave the country they grew up in. A sense of nostalgia pervades the text, a looking back at the poet's old life in México, alongside the ...

A central question for me, as a Buddhist organizing for collective liberation from oppression, capitalism, and needless material suffering, is how to resist and reclaim in a spirit of love.  In a discussion here on Turning Wheel, seth nathanson raised an important point for discussion: I can understand the frustration. It seems like the rich are taking from everyone else, so in order to rectify the injustic ...

Hello dear TWM readers, and welcome to an April of studying institutionalized theft!  During our year-long, crowdsourced curriculum The System Stinks, we're taking an unusual, systemic look at the Five Precepts of Buddhist ethics.  This month, it's all about the Second Precept: often translated as "I vow to abstain from stealing," and also understood as an invitation to practice generosity. Practicing gener ...