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 ...

In early 2001 I took part in a very small slice of an interfaith walking pilgrimage to twenty-two prisons and jails in California, the 500-mile California Prison Dharma Walk. It started in Oakland and went first to San Quentin State Prison, and wound inland through Fresno, Riverside, and Los Angeles, eventually ending at Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex. My brief participation was in the trek to San Quen ...

Since BPF's inception in 1978, the mandala of socially engaged Buddhism has blossomed. Today's landscape of political Buddhism is rich and varied: Buddhists are working on global warming, mindfulness in prisons, organizing for freedom against colonial powers, ending global hunger, building an inclusive, social justice-oriented sangha, and accompanying Peace Communities in war-torn Colombia, among so many ot ...

Happy Friday, BPFers and friends. Today we're glad to share this Buddhist book review from a very valuable contributor to BPF and Turning Wheel, who's been doing a lot of skillful behind-the-scenes work: Stephen Crooms. I'm excited to share this piece partly because I love the idea of reviving the Buddhist Book Reviews on Turning Wheel (feel free to submit, any time, to submissions [at] turningwheelmedia [d ...

As dedicated peacemakers, we know that racism obstructs and poisons the justice and peace we hope to manifest in our world.  Racism as expressed through the criminal justice system poses a clear and present danger to the well-being of black, Latin@, Muslim, indigenous, gender-nonconforming, and other targeted groups in the US.  Continuing our conversation of last week, about the ways that police do and don' ...

It's here!  Volume 1 of The System Stinks curriculum.  Featuring discussion questions for selected media that we've featured here on Turning Wheel over the past month, plus two "classic texts" from Andrea Smith and Arundhati Roy, and practices you can do at home. After the richness of last night's phone call with Tendor and Joshua Eaton (recording and transcript forthcoming — thanks in advance to our awesom ...

Morning, BPFers!  It's our last day of the month of Lies That Build Empire — can't believe it's already over.  We were holding out hope for certain pieces to come through today, but the writers need more time, and / or what they made will be better suited to feature later.  No big deal.  But we didn't want to end the month without questioning this potential big Lie: is it true that police and prisons, as in ...

We're so excited to talk about the Lies that Build Empire during February — starting on Monday with a loving and politicized letter to a beloved jambolan tree. For you media makers out there who feel inspired to write something for our next theme, here's the next call for submissions! In the second theme for The System Stinks, we’re taking a look at systemic theft. How do we live within the precept “I will ...

Ever get that fist-pump gleeful feeling from buying a great used book, and then finding twenty bucks tucked between the pages?  On a spiritual level, this is how I felt this morning about an upcoming April conference at the Union Theological Seminary in New York: "Enlightenment and Liberation: Engaged Buddhists and Liberation Theologians in Dialogue."  I registered for it before I even knew that Dr. Cornel ...

The Clear View Blog (a site for "Engaged Buddhism and Beyond") has published a thoughtful open letter from Buddhist author and death row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters. An Open Letter on California’s Proposition 34 — “SAFE California”— to Death Penalty Focus from Jarvis Jay Masters, an innocent man on San Quentin’s Death Row The 2012 election is over, with its victories, defeats, candidates, and propositions.  C ...