As you read this, I’m looking out over the coast of California at the ocean, just south of Half Moon Bay, considering all the layers of history that allow me to be here. This location, like all of California, was first American Indian—Ohlone-Costanoan territory to be specific. In the late 18th century, The Spanish began their occupation of California with the building of missions and introduction of Europea ...

As we study institutionalized theft in this second theme of The System Stinks, what are some of the classic texts that you've found helpful in understanding systemic theft? We're especially interested in the three forms of theft we've chosen for study this month: theft of land, culture, and time. Theft of Land: Media on colonization, Manifest Destiny, indigenous organizing, sovereignty, expropriation Theft ...

By Derek Rasmussen This year, the Idle No More movement focused on Earth Day to bring attention on the links between Indigenous issues and the environmental movement. Events leading up to Earth Day included an impressive ‘Nation2Nation’ dialogue between Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg leaders like Ellen Gabriel and Leanne Simpson and Canadian activist Naomi Klein in Toronto [videos linked here and here]. Rus ...

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 ...

Yesterday was the final chance to submit public comments to the White House in hopes of changing the President's mind on the Keystone XL Pipeline.  Now, the executive decision to continue or discontinue construction of the pipeline rests in Obama's hands.  But he is not the only one who will decide how events unfold. Between Idle No More, the Native Resistance Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, Grea ...

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 ...

The most inspiring promise of dhamma practice is the possibility of freedom from suffering. What goes along with this freedom, however, is a sense of ethics (the precepts) and development of interconnection with others. When I used to teach community college, I would often initiate discussions about freedom. What, I would ask, is your definition of freedom? Most of the time students would respond along the ...

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 ...

In one scene of Disney's shockingly progressive movie musical Newsies (now adapted for the Broadway stage), which sets the New York City newsboys strike of 1899 to infectious song-and-dance numbers, two newsies have an illuminating exchange on the ethics of theft. David [with disdain]: Our dad taught us not to steal. Jack [dryly]: Yeah, well mine taught me not to starve, so I guess we both got an education. ...