Training and Education

The System Stinks: Buddhism From Personal to Political & Planetary

Imagine a world in which thousands of people trained in both political transformation and Buddhist practice are helping the arc of history bend toward liberation.

Protecting the planet.

Ending war and violence.

Healing racism and gender oppression.

Creating classless, democratic societies that meet everyone’s basic needs.

And doing it with joy, equanimity, and creativity.

Imagine us working together as political Buddhists and other spiritual activists, in tandem, in alliance with each other.

Help make it happen by donating to The System Stinks today!

Starting in 2013, Buddhist Peace Fellowship will launch a provocative participatory education series called “The System Stinks: Buddhism From Personal to Political & Planetary.” A series of themed dialogues hosted on Turning Wheel Media, political Buddhists will together explore some of our big questions like:

How do we get beyond nonviolence as a foregone moral conclusion, and investigate how people might choose to deploy nonviolence strategically in high-stakes situations?
How do we get beyond individual solutions like using cloth bags at the grocery store, and address the roots of what destroys our earth, like greed enshrined in capitalism?
How do we work collectively, when our Buddhist and activist communities are still divided by racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression?
How do we accept things as they are and still work like hell to change them?

Help us make The System Stinks dialogues a reality! Donate online by November 15 and you’ll get a sweet gift – postcards, a BPF mug, or teacher interviews with socially engaged Buddhists like Joanna Macy, Roshi Joan Halifax, Bhante Buddharakkhita, or Alan Senauke.

Since the series will be online, people all over the US and farther will be able to participate, and optionally organize local study groups to dig into the resources together.

Resources will include:

brand new content crowdsourced from Turning Wheel Media submissions
classic, provocative, thought-provoking, diverse texts on political theory and Buddhist teachings curated into practical study guides that participants can apply to their lives
national phone calls with prominent Buddhist teachers and political activists
precious / rare opportunities to connect with other Buddhist activists to explore these questions and more.

We are returning to the roots of BPF, posing a loving challenge to engaged Buddhism, and developing a wide network of leaders with strong roots in dharma and radical social change / collective action. Join us!

“Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with truth”.
– Thich Nhat Hanh

Would you like to explore the interaction between social action and Buddhism in greater depth?

Is your sangha, social action group, or BPF chapter ready for a framework for study & discussion?

Are you interested in connecting with others online to discuss the relationship between inner and outer development?

Buddhist Peace Fellowship offers training and education programs to help meet the needs for socially engaged Buddhists to connect and study together.

Our training and education programs are built on a long history of Buddhist-based social action training at BPF. From 1990-2005, BPF ran fifteen years of BASE programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement, or BASE, was a hands-on program that explored the interaction between social action and meditation in an intimate, small-group setting. Participants worked individually in internships and volunteer placements and came together for meditation, study, discussion, and group action.

“They say, ‘Home is where the heart is’. For me, the BASE group provided a special kind of home, where I could experiment with new ways of relating, tiny stitch by tiny stitch.”
– Former BASE participant

Have you heard about BASE and want to participate in something similar? Try out one of our other courses built on the many lessons learned from BASE!