Continuing to offer this space for group meditation, for peace and justice, in Gaza, in Palestine, in Israel.

This group meditation is a showing-up different from the usual rally or protest of bullhorns and placards. It is intended to be a space where instead of loudness, we will endeavor to transform whatever anger, frustration, agitation we may have into a formidable quiet presence (the mountain!) that directs our practice both outwardly and inwardly.

While our Buddhist communities grapple with how to respond with the violence that continues to unfold in the Middle East, we at BAC are ourselves in a state of dissonance and resonance.  We want to be honest about that.  That we do not all agree on how to respond, on words and definitions.  We do agree that our practice as Engaged Buddhists dictates that we respond, that we show up.  We cannot wait until an absolute, total agreement is in place to show up.  We hope and trust that taking action together, practicing together will slowly, meaningfully bring in more understanding and resonance.

We will sit and do walking meditation in the midst of all this.  We will recite Metta prayer.  We will meet one another wherever we're at.

Please join us, rain or shine...

These monthly group meditations in the streets have been invaluable for many of us.  They've been a source of strength, a refuge, a place to grieve, an opportunity to connect with fellow activists and practitioners, a space to re-gather practice and courage for the long-haul work for peace and justice.

Deep bows and gratitude to all, for your practice, for your presence, for not looking away from the horrors that continue to unfold in the Middle East, and for continuing to show up however and wherever you can.

May our collective practice plant the seeds of the causes and conditions for peace.  May our practice continuously till this field, so that the harvest is of non-separation and of the truth of interbeing.

Rain or shine, please join us on Sunday, 21 April 2024, 1-2PM US ET, Union Square Park (north), Manhattan, NYC.  We will meet on 17th Street, directly across from Barnes & Noble.  Please check our X/Twitter or Facebook for alerts. If possible, please come in your practice attire and bring a cushion and/or something to sit on.  For those outside NYC, please form your own gathering, practice with us, and let us know, buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

Continuing to offer this space for group meditation, for peace and justice, in Gaza, in Palestine, in Israel. 

We will sit, do walking meditation, and recite Metta prayer. May our collective practice plant the seeds of the causes and conditions for peace.  May our practice continuously till this field, so that the harvest is of non-separation and of the truth of interbeing.

Rain or shine, please join us...

These monthly group meditations in the streets have been invaluable for many of us.  They've been a source of strength, a refuge, a place to grieve, an opportunity to connect with fellow activists and practitioners, a space to re-gather practice and courage for the long-haul work for peace and justice...

Deep bows and gratitude to all, for your practice, for your presence, for not looking away from the horrors that continue to unfold in the Middle East, and for continuing to show up however and wherever you can.

Rain or shine, please join us on Sunday, 31 March 2024, 1-2PM US ET, Union Square Park (north), Manhattan, NYC.  We will meet on 17th Street, directly across from Barnes & Noble.  Please check our X/Twitter or Facebook for alerts. If possible, please come in your practice attire and bring a cushion and/or something to sit on.  For those outside NYC, please form your own gathering, practice with us, and let us know, buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

Continuing to offer this space for group meditation, please join us...

We will sit, do walking meditation, and recite Metta prayer. May our collective practice plant the seeds of the causes and conditions for peace.  May our practice continuously till this field, so that the harvest is of non-separation and of the truth of interbeing.

Rain or shine, snow or sleet, please join us on Saturday, 24 February 2024, 1-2PM US ET, Union Square Park (north), Manhattan, NYC.  We will meet on 17th Street, directly across from Barnes & Noble.  Please check our Twitter or Facebook for alerts. If possible, please come in your practice attire and bring a cushion and/or something to sit on.  For those outside NYC, please form your own gathering, practice with us, and let us know, buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

Please read this Buddhist petition for an immediate end to violence, and if it aligns with you, please sign and circulate.

We continue with our collective practice.  Please join us...

We will sit, do walking meditation, and recite Metta prayer. May our collective practice plant the seeds of the causes and conditions for peace.  May our practice continuously till this field, so that the harvest is of non-separation and of the truth of interbeing.

Rain or shine, snow or sleet, please join us on Saturday, 27 January 2024, 1-2PM US ET, Union Square, Manhattan, NYC.  We will most likely be on the north side of the park (17th St.), on the concrete. Please check our Twitter or Facebook for alerts. If possible, please come in your practice attire and bring a cushion and/or something to sit on.  For those outside NYC, please form your own gathering, practice with us, and let us know, buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

We continue our collective practice. Last Sunday, November 19th, groups and individuals practiced simultaneously across space-timezones. We hope many more will join us on December 10th, commemorating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

We will sit, do walking meditation, ring the bell 108 times, and recite Metta prayer. May our collective practice plant the seeds of the causes and conditions for peace.  May our practice continuously till this field, so that the harvest is of non-separation and of the truth of interbeing.

There was a strong request for another group sit from participants last Sunday, November 19th, and we at BAC felt the same.  So here it is.  Please join us on Sunday, 10 December 2023, 1-2PM US ET, Union Square, Manhattan, NYC.  We will most likely be on the north side of the park (17th St.), on the concrete. Please check our Twitter or Facebook for alerts. If possible, please come in your practice attire and bring a cushion and/or something to sit on.  For those outside NYC, please form your own gathering, practice with us, and let us know, buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

Please read this Buddhist petition for an immediate end to violence, and if it aligns with you, please sign and circulate.

We will sit, do walking meditation, chant, and ring the bell 108 times. May our collective practice plant the seeds of the causes and conditions for peace.  May our practice continuously till this field, so that the harvest is of non-separation and of the truth of interbeing.

Please join us on Sunday, 19 November 2023, 1-2PM US ET, Union Square, Manhattan, NYC.  If possible, please come in your practice attire and bring a cushion and/or something to sit on.  For those outside NYC, please form your own gathering and practice with us across space and timezones.  For more info: buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

Please read this Buddhist petition for an immediate end to violence, and if it aligns with you, please sign and circulate.

ART, IMPACT AND RIGHT ACTION

A Talk & Conversation with
PAZ PERLMAN, Visual Artist, Climate Activist

Interviewed by journalist, Zen practitioner JO CONFINO

21 March 2023, Tuesday, 7:30-8:45 US EDT
Via Zoom. Free and open to all.

As climate activists, we often ask questions of whether we are having a great enough impact through our actions.

At the same time, how to avoid overwhelm and burnout when facing the magnitude of the polycrisis.

Journalist Jo Confino will be interviewing visual artist Paz Perlman about her journey from focusing on her personal healing to stepping into a collective awakening.

Paz will talk about the power of art to move individuals to take ‘right action’ as well as sharing how mindfulness can help us redefine notions of success and center us in difficult times.

ABOUT PAZ PERLMAN

Paz Perlman is a visual artist who exhibits internationally and has taken a particular interest in how art can support our collective awakening on issues such as climate change and social inequality.

She recently exhibited  a large-scale art installation at a retreat of international climate leaders in the Plum Village monastery of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. The golden temple, titled Future Archaeology, was a metaphorical relic that highlighted both the great harm we have been inflicting on the planet and ourselves as well as the pathway to a regenerative future.

She was also commissioned to make an interactive installation, Down to Earth. which will be unveiled at a symposium on the global commons at the Garrison Institute in New York in March 2023.  This work is an experience via the senses, offering a meditation on the interconnection between the air element, space and breath.

Perlman has taught Masters students in arts and ecology at Dartington College in England around the theme of impact. She is also co-facilitating a six day retreat this Spring for climate activists at a Zen centre in Greece.

Perlman’s artistic practice is influenced by her spiritual quest. Her early life  was shaped by war, loss and migration. This created an urge, through her works, to heal the space where time and events leave their traces and scars; a fragile and unfolding process of discovery.

She trained as a dancer before leaving  Israel, her home country, at the age of 19 to spend a year in an Indian Ashram. She moved to Los Angeles to train in Tai Chi and then settled in Amsterdam, where she  changed direction to become a sculptor., working mainly with abstract forms.

 A decade ago, her personal healing journey inspired another radical change in her subject matter and process, resulting in  works that express fragility and impermanence, represented in installations, collages, painting and prints using a broad range of mixed media and found objects.

A profile in the HuffPost said that “Perlman’s multimedia sculptures and bricolage…..are born of a desire to piece together history. Not just her history, but a blanket of past trauma and pain that’s wound its way in and out of Perlman’s life.”

After graduating with a BA in Fine Arts from Central St Martins, University of Arts, London, in 2015, she  lived and worked for five years from her New York studio, exhibiting in a number of galleries in the city.

Nearly three years ago, Perlman, who has studied with Buddhist masters in various traditions for the past 28 years, moved to live next door to the Plum Village monastery in the South of France.

ABOUT JO CONFINO

Jo Confino is a leadership coach, facilitator, journalist, sustainability expert and Zen mindfulness practitioner.

He works at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change; working with several organizations including Leaders’ Quest and Future Stewards. His coaching practice focuses on supporting leaders within the climate movement.

He is on the board of advisors for The Climate School and Force of Nature, a youth climate activist organization.

Jo has worked closely for the past 16 years with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and his buddhist monastic community in Plum Village.

He is co-founder and co-presenter of the acclaimed podcast series ‘The Way Out Is In’ and is chair of the board of Parallax Press, which publishes books on mindfulness in daily life.

Besides facilitating events and conferences all over the world for the past 20 years, he also runs smaller workshops and roundtables.

Until recently, he was executive editor, Impact & Innovation and Editorial Director of What’s Working at the HuffPost in New York. During his five years there, he developed long-term editorial projects based on social, environmental and economic justice and was a member of the senior leadership team.

Before joining HuffPost, he was an executive editor of the Guardian and chairman and editorial director of the Guardian Sustainable Business website. During his 23 years at the Guardian, he set up and managed a unique multi-stakeholder development project in the Ugandan village of Katine, and helped create the Guardian’s environment and global development websites.

Jo also created and managed the sustainability vision and strategy for the Guardian and its parent company Guardian Media Group.

He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and completed an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice at the University of Bath.

Please support the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, which works to continue the teachings and practice of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, support their mindfulness practice centers around the world, and engaging in Sangha (community) building in order to foster peace and transform suffering in all people, animals, plants, and our planet.

Free and open to all. Registration required.

This time last year, Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine. As is often true in times of turmoil and humanitarian crisis, people banded together and helped those most in need. This is what sanghas in Washington DC and in the Czech Republic did. Jindra Cekan/Ova and Mitchell Ratner, two members of that effort, will talk about their work with refugees from Ukraine and civilians affected by war in Ukraine.

ABOUT JINDRA CEKAN/OVA

Jindra Monique Čekan/ova, Ph.D. has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh’s since 1996. She took the 5 Mindfulness Trainings in 1999 (named Awakened Joy of the Heart) and the 14 Mindfulness Trainings in 2011 (named True Collective Maintenance). She is on a life-long journey to foster equanimity in herself and inter-being with others and live her teacher Thay’s message that “true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion.”

She also has 35 years of experience in international development in 27 countries. She has worked for non-profits, donors, and for-profits and in the last decade she has focused on ex-post-project sustainability evaluations and how we can foster lasting results. She is also a mother, manages a family forest in the Czech Republic and loves giraffes.  Contacts: Jindra@ValuingVoices.com, +1202-848-4783

ABOUT MITCHELL RATNER

Mitchell Ratner, Ph.D., is the founder and senior teacher of the Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center, a network of meditation groups in the Washington, DC, area. His teaching and publications focus on developing mindfulness meditation as a nourishing and joyful spiritual path. He believes that as one develops stillness and self-knowledge, the energy of mindfulness enters naturally into one's work, one's relationships, and one's responses to the inevitable difficulties and challenges of life.

Mitchell became a committed practitioner of mindfulness in 1989 after a short stay in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand helped him alter his habitual ways of thinking. Shortly thereafter he became a student of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, attracted by Thich Nhat Hanh's calm and penetrating presence, social activism, and teachings on mindfulness in everyday life. In 2001 Thich Nhat Hanh invited Mitchell to receive the Dharmacharya (Meditation Teacher) transmission and encouraged him to teach mindfulness more widely and to cultivate communities of practice. Mitchell holds graduate degrees in sociology and social anthropology. He researched and evaluated social programs for government agencies and non-profits from 1981 until he became a full-time Dharma teacher in 2005.

Please support this effort to help those affected by war in Ukraine. Donate HERE.

A Talk & Conversation with
ANNE H. POLLACK
Founder / Executive Director, Crossing Point Arts

24 January 2023, Tuesday, 7:30PM-8:30PM US ET
Via Zoom.  Free and open to all.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month.  Indeed, as the world churns in ecological crisis and unsustainable socio-economic systems, more and more marginalized and vulnerable peoples are being exploited.  Anne H. Pollack will talk to us about the facts and myths of human trafficking, and share with us her experience in working with survivors--what it means to bear witness, engage, and serve through creativity and the arts.

ABOUT ANNE H. POLLACK 
Anne H. Pollack is a professional musician, visual artist, writer, lifelong student of dance and an activist. Her sensibilities - and her awareness of the world around her - called upon her to create Crossing Point Arts. By engaging a broad spectrum of professional artists- and training them to work as trauma-informed Teaching Artists - she opened the way for trafficking victims to receive ongoing arts workshops, bringing them healing and humanity through their experience of creative expression.

As Founder/Executive Director of her nonprofit, Anne’s vision came from decades of research about USAs history of enslaving Africans (& their descendants), and in recognition of the fact that culture and creative outpouring are strikingly strong medicine for the wounds of enslavement. Determined to call upon this innately human instinct, Anne found the means to reconnect a broken link by 'Bringing the Arts to Survivors of Human Trafficking.’

In its tenth year, Crossing Point Arts has reached over 7000 survivors of numerous forms of exploitation, including labor and sex trafficking. Youth, adult, female, male, LGBTQIA, domestically or internationally trafficked...all are welcomed and supported in Crossing Point Arts’ workshops and mentorships. In 2021 Crossing Point Arts began training, offering support and employing survivors who are now regularly employed as Teaching Artists, providing workshops to fellow survivors.

Please support Crossing Point Arts: DONATE HERE.

Shareouts from the event:

• Video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK1HyuSi1Ro

• Audio recording: https://soundcloud.com/be1inda/chenxing

• Transcript: https://www.buddhistaction.org/asian-american-buddhism-event-transcript

• Photos: https://www.facebook.com/buddhistaction/posts/pfbid023B89JCWHmuVLsDcREEBxWkJgFQj32cCYsCcc56EWVu2tfWjAexohD1BGyeuzy7cyl

Asian American Buddhists:
A Conversation with
Chenxing Han and Belinda Ju

Wednesday, June 1, 2022
6:30pm EDT - doors open 
7:00–8:30pm EDT - event

Union Theological Seminary
Stewart Room (2nd floor)
3041 Broadway New York, NY 10027 (at W 121st St)

Please RSVP HERE.

The Buddhist Action Coalition, Union Theological Seminary, and Buddhist Council of New York are excited to co-sponsor an evening in conversation with Chenxing Han and Belinda Ju. Chenxing Han is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists. The event also serves as the official NYC book launch since its release in January 2021. Chenxing will be in conversation with BAC member Belinda Ju, who runs a meditation community called Potluck + Sit. Join us in celebrating Chenxing and her important work.

Please note that proof of vaccination and booster are required at the door, alongside ID. Everyone must remain masked for the event except for the speakers. While no drinks or refreshments will be provided, a water fountain is on the first floor; please prepare accordingly. A select number of books will be available for sale. We ask that folks please arrive on time.

Please RSVP here so that we can estimate the number of people to expect.

*  *  *

ABOUT CHENXING HAN
Chenxing Han is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists and a forthcoming memoir, both with North Atlantic Books. She is a regular contributor to Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, and other publications, and a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities. Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and is a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors. More about Chenxing here: www.chenxinghan.com

ABOUT BELINDA JU
Belinda Ju is a coach, writer, dancer, and convener of a meditation community. Passionate about spiritual community and spiritual friendship, she started Potluck + Sit in 2018, which continues to thrive as a co-created sangha. Through her writing and dance, Belinda explores the concept of care as a practice of freedom and vehicle for liberation in the present moment. She makes and performs work as a dancer and dancemaker, and she is currently completing a memoir. Belinda also serves as an executive coach for founders and leaders in tech. She is proud to be a member of the Buddhist Action Coalition.

*  *  *

ABOUT THE BOOK
A must-read for modern sanghas—Asian American Buddhists in their own words, on their own terms.

More than two thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian American. But you’d never guess this from mainstream representations, which all too often whitewash the racial and cultural diversity of American Buddhist communities.

Be the Refuge is both critique and celebration, countering the erasure of Asian American Buddhists while uplifting their stories and experiences. The Oriental monk, the superstitious immigrant, the banana Buddhist: dissatisfied with these tired tropes, Han asks, Will the real Asian American Buddhists please stand up? Her journey to answer this question led to in-depth interviews with a pan-ethnic, pan-Buddhist group of eighty-nine young adults.

Weaving together the voices of these interviewees with scholarship and spiritual inquiry, this book reenvisions Buddhist Asian America as a community of trailblazers, bridge-builders, integrators, and refuge-makers. Encouraging frank conversations about race, representation, and inclusivity among Buddhists of all backgrounds, Be the Refuge embodies the spirit of interconnection that glows at the heart of American Buddhism.

DON’T JUST SIT THERE, DO SOMETHING!
Engaged Buddhist Practice—History and Opportunities

A Talk & Discussion with

REV. DAIKEN NELSON, ROSHI
FOUNDER, THE MANDALA CAFE
FOUNDER & GUIDING TEACHER, PAMSULA ZEN CENTER, W. HARLEM

14 April 2022, Thursday, 7:30PM-8:30 PM US EDT

Via Zoom. Free and open to all. Registration required.

Rev. Daiken Nelson, Roshi began Zen Practice 34 years ago in Iowa, where he was born. 

Since that time, he has practiced with several Teachers within the White Plum Zen Lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi & Zen Peacemaker Order of Roshi Bernie Glassman. In October 2013, Daiken received Shiho (Dharma Transmission/Authorization To Teach) from Roshi Francisco "Paco" Genkoji Lugoviña, a Successor to Roshi Bernie Glassman. In November 2021, Daiken received Inka from Roshi Paco, the final authorization in one's Zen Training, by which one becomes a Roshi (Japanese: "old/venerable teacher"; "old/venerable master").

Roshi Daiken is the Founder & Guiding Teacher of the Pamsula Zen Center in W. Harlem & online.

Prior to focusing on Zen, Daiken was a Social Worker; working with the homeless plus those with Chronic Mental Illness & Substance Abuse issues.

Currently, Daiken is Founder of The Mandala Café, a Nonprofit which provides Culinary Training to those needing job training & placement due to challenges to finding and keeping a job, a Catering business offering part-time employment and Training for individuals in those groups plus a weekly Community meal in Central Harlem & a twice monthly meal in Manhattan Valley/UWS for anyone. 

In addition to Zen, Roshi Daiken is a Reiki Master, Yoga Instructor, Photographer & Writer.

DONATION
Support Roshi Daiken’s work. Please consider donating to The Mandala Cafe HERE.

NYC Sanghas Helping Refugees

Please join us for the first organizational meeting of the NYC Sanghas Helping Refugees project—we finally have enough people to get started!

Tuesday, April 5th, 8PM - 9PM
Via Zoom.

We will talk about our next steps and the committees we will form to address the refugees' needs (e.g. housing, education). You will have a chance to break out into small groups to learn more about the committees you're interested in.

Register for the zoom meeting here:
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAlceCrqTgoGdXePTgPRNDdCvY6_8-EXCMZ

And please consider donating (check 'refugee assistance'):
https://villagezendo.org/support-us/

To volunteer, please sign up here and let us know your preferences: https://forms.gle/t5CK9XjtyD2sk4FB8.

There is currently a large number of refugees waiting to be resettled and refugee agencies need the help of volunteer groups to help refugees get settled in New York. A group of Buddhists from several area sanghas has formed to provide that help. We will partner with HIAS, an established refugee resettlement agency, to help provide housing and other assistance to a newly arrived family. HIAS has told us to expect to help Ukrainian refugees but we will help anyone who they match us with.

Please email doshin@villagezendo.org if you have any questions.

MUSIC AS POST-CONFLICT PEACE-BUILDING

an afternoon with

LAURA HASSLER
Founder & Director, Musicians Without Borders

Saturday, 26 March 2022, 3PM-4:30PM US ET
Via Zoom. Free and open to all. Registration required.

Laura Hassler, Founder and Director of Musicians Without Borders, will share with us her work with music as a medium for peacebuilding and social change. In collaboration with local musicians and organizations, Musicians Without Borders (est. 1999) brings music to people and places affected by war, armed conflict, and displacement. The organization’s current programs include Al-Musiqa Tajm’ana in Jordan, Armonia Cuscatleca and Soy Musica in El Salvador, Bara’em Ghirass in Palestine, Rock School Programs in the Western Balkans, and Rwanda Youth Music in Rwanda.

ABOUT LAURA HASSLER
Laura Hassler grew up in a multicultural, artistic community in New York, a child of two professionals in the international peace and nonviolence movement. Active from an early age in US civil rights and peace movements, she studied sociology and anthropology at Swarthmore College, combining academics with activism and music.

During the 1970s she worked for the Friends (Quaker) Peace Committee and the Committee of Responsibility on Vietnam in Philadelphia; for the US Fellowship of Reconciliation in New York; and for Thich Nhat Hanh’s Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation in Paris and in the US.

She moved to the Netherlands in 1977, where she developed a career as a musician, linking music to social causes. She specialized in cultural diversity in the arts, founded a World Music School and worked as a diversity consultant to arts institutions while teaching singing and leading vocal groups.

Part of a large network of socially conscious musicians, Laura mobilized this network to launch Musicians Without Borders in 1999.  Today, still drawing largely on the talents of this ever-broadening network, Musicians Without Borders has become one of the world’s pioneers in the use of music to bridge divides, build community and heal the wounds of war.

Laura is currently Director of Musicians Without Borders.

DONATION
Support Laura’s work. Please consider donating to Musicians Without Borders HERE.

Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar... We're seeing the global humanitarian crisis. And we're being called to respond. Please join us, help us in this effort. Volunteer and/or share this call with your friends and communities.

If you know people in NYC area Buddhist groups, could you please pass this information on to them and ask them to share it with their communities?

There is currently a large number of refugees waiting to be resettled and refugee agencies need the help of volunteer groups to help refugees get settled in New York. A group of Buddhists from several area sanghas has formed to provide that help. We will partner with HIAS, an established refugee resettlement agency, to help provide housing and other assistance to  a newly arrived family. We need to raise money but, more importantly, we need to find some more volunteers who can go in person to Brooklyn or Queens to provide support. 

We will have an introductory meeting for people who would like more information on Tuesday, March 22nd at 7pm ET.

Registration and zoom info: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvdemgpjsrGtd_dKnTEBN6_FeNR-vVGQd9

To volunteer, please sign up here and let us know your preferences: https://forms.gle/t5CK9XjtyD2sk4FB8

Please contact Chad DeChant at doshin@villagezendo.org  if you have any questions.

While we originally formed with the intent to support Afghan refugees, HIAS tells us that that backlog of Afghan refugees waiting on military bases has cleared. They expect to be resettling Ukrainian refugees very soon, so we will assist any family with whom we are matched by HIAS.

Diving Deeper Into Racial Justice Work:
Recognizing & Facing Reactionary Backlash

with Brenna Artinger and Ann Gleig

Wednesday, 16 February 2022, 7PM-8:30PM US ET
Via Zoom. Free and open to all.

Recent years have seen an increasing embrace of racial justice work in American Buddhism, which is often articulated through the framework of engaged Buddhism with its emphasis on collective liberation. While many white Buddhists have committed to a "dharma of justice, equity, inclusion and freedom," others have claimed such work is irrelevant or even in opposition to the dharma. Ann and Brenna will talk about their collaborative research on the reactionary white backlash to racial justice work focusing particularly on the digital landscape. They will also discuss how the current reactionary backlash connects to other hierarchical and exclusory forms of Buddhism. 

ABOUT BRENNA ARTINGER
Brenna Artinger is an independent scholar with an MPhil in Buddhist Studies from the University of Oxford. Their work focuses on exclusion and extremism with current emphasis on the intersection of Buddhism and Queer Theory in Pāli Vinaya texts.

ABOUT ANN GLEIG
Ann Gleig is an associate professor of Religion and Cultural Studies at the University of Central Florida. She is the author of American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity (Yale University Press, 2019) and is currently working on a cowritten book on sexual violation in American Buddhism with Amy Langenberg.

Volunteer / Organizing Meeting
Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 7PM US ET
Please register HERE for Zoom link

Many Afghan and other refugees are waiting to be resettled. Refugee resettlement agencies are overwhelmed. Volunteers are filling a critical need. A group of New York City area Buddhists has been forming to sponsor a refugee or refugee family, likely from Afghanistan, helping them to resettle in New York. We would partner with a refugee agency which would provide training and guidance. We need to assemble a team of 10 - 12 people who could meet regularly with and help the family. If you are interested please contact doshin@villagezendo.org and/or join a zoom meeting to discuss it.

To get a sense of what this volunteer work means, please feel free to check out the following:

• Volunteer Form - You don’t need to fill this out right now. Feel free to complete after the meeting.

• HIAS - This is the agency we’ll be working with.

• Get Involved: Community Sponsorship in the NY Metro Area - This video is chock-full of information and inspiration.

Many Afghan and other refugees are waiting to be resettled. Refugee resettlement agencies are overwhelmed, and volunteers are needed to fill a critical need. A group of New York City area Buddhists has been forming to sponsor a refugee or refugee family, likely from Afghanistan, helping them to resettle in New York. We would partner with a refugee agency which would provide training and guidance. We need to assemble a team of 10 - 12 people who could meet regularly with and help the family. If you are interested please contact doshin@villagezendo.org and/or join a zoom meeting to discuss it:

Volunteer / Organizing Meeting
Tuesday, 8 February 2022, 7PM
Zoom HERE.

THE SYNTHESIS OF ENGAGEMENT IN
THE VITAL ISSUES OF OUR TIME
WITH DHARMA PRACTICE AS A GUIDE

WITH PAULA GREEN

TUESDAY, 14 DECEMBER 2021, 7:00PM US ET
VIA ZOOM. FREE AND OPEN TO ALL.

As both a lifelong activist and seeker, Engaged Buddhism drew Paula into its fold decades ago. Her Engaged Buddhist practice began in the early days of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship as well as the International Network of Engaged Buddhists initiated in Thailand by Sulak Sivaraksa.

Guided by such inspiration, she created the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, where she learned, taught, and trained in war-torn and war-recovering countries in Asia, Africa, the Mid-East, and Eastern Europe for several decades. She also became a Professor at the School for International Training. There she began an intensive residential program called CONTACT, or Conflict Transformation Across Cultures, bringing together over 100 global activists annually for three weeks of collaborative exchange on causes, consequences, and paths to transformation of violent conflict within and between nations and identity groups.  See www.paulagreen.net

After the 2016 US election results emerged, Paula and her colleagues co-created Hands Across the Hills, a program of dialogue and cultural learning to bridge divides between residents of towns in MA and KY. The work continues now with a new in-person addition, a Dialogue Across Divides training of trainers. See www.handsacrossthehills.org

Our conversation with Paula will explore the synthesis of engagement in the vital issues of our time with Dharma practice as a guide.

REGENERATION
Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation
with Paul Hawken

Tuesday, 30 November 2021, 7:30PM US ET
Via Zoom. Free and open to all.
Registration required.

Paul Hawken starts ecological businesses, writes about nature and commerce, and consults with heads of state and CEOs on climatic, economic and ecological regeneration. He is the founder of Regeneration.org and his latest book is Regeneration, Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, published by Penguin Random House, September 14th in the US and UK. Find out more about Paul Hawken HERE and more about Project Regeneration HERE.

ABOUT PAUL HAWKEN

Paul Hawken has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Talk of the Nation, Bill Maher, CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose, and others, and his work has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Forbes, and Business Week. He has written eight books including five national and NYT bestsellers: Growing a Business, The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, Blessed Unrest, and Drawdown. He is published in 30 languages and his books are available in over 90 countries. His latest book, Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming debuted April 18, 2017 as a NYT bestseller and is currently in seventeen other languages. He is the founder of Project Drawdown, which worked with over two hundred scholars, students, scientists, researchers, and activists to map, measure, and model the one hundred most substantive solutions that can cumulatively reverse global warming.

Via Zoom. Free and open to all. Registration required.

We are excited and honored to host a discussion with Rhonda Magee, mindfulness teacher and author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice . In this talk, Rhonda will reflect on the inner-to-outer work that supports re-imagining, re-building and remaining engaged in our organizations, practice centers, and communities in a time of racial polarization.

ABOUT RHONDA MAGEE

Rhonda V. Magee (M.A. Sociology, J.D.) is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and an internationally-recognized thought and practice leader focused on integrating mindfulness into higher education, law and social change work. A prolific author, she draws on law and legal history to weave storytelling, poetry, analysis and practices into inspiration for changing how we think, act and live better together in a rapidly changing world. Find out more about Rhonda and her work by visiting HERE.

Via Zoom. Free. Registration required.

In recognition of this urgent crisis moment for Mother Earth, we realize it is well past time to listen to Her. As such we meet for a powerful night where we will learn together how to protect from the poisons of our times by turning to prayer and ceremony.

In honor of Indigenous People’s Month, we have invited two highly engaged Native women leaders to share with us. Co-Founders of R.I.S.E. Coalition (Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging Coalition), Nookomis Debra Topping comes to us from Nagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac) in 1854 Treaty Territory and Gaagigeyaashiik Dawn Goodwin joins us from Gaa-waabaabiganikaag (White Earth) in 1855 Treaty Territory as our special guests this evening. We are also very pleased to invite a dear friend and Dharma sister as our guest host, Rev. Gentle Dragon Laura Kennedy.

Together we will honor Indigenous women’s voices and learn how protection for Nimaamaa Aki (Mother Earth) can be grounded in both prayer and ceremony, elevating protest itself to a sacred act.

Please consider giving to R.I.S.E. Coalition. Donate HERE.

ABOUT NOOKOMIS DEBRA

Nookomis Debra, a life-long advocate for her community Nagajiiiwanong (Fond du Lac Reservation) in northern Minnesota believes she has a responsibility to all future generations while honoring all that her ancestors have lived, fought, and died for.

Debra is a wife of 38 years, mother to three beautiful daughters, grandmother to three incredible grandsons and an amazing new granddaughter, aunt to many, and a sister to all.

Co- Founder of Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging Coalition, a women-led powerhouse meant to protect what is sacred for our future. https://www.rise-coalition.com/

ABOUT GAAGIGEYAASHIIK DAWN GOODWIN

Gaagigeyaashiik Dawn Goodwin
Anishinaabe/White Earth
Indigenous Environmental Network, Representative
RISE Coalition, Co-founder

Protector and advocate for the environment and the Anishinaabeg traditional lifeways. She is a lifelong resident of northern Minnesota and has lived near Lower Rice Lake on the White Earth Reservation since 2001. Dawn graduated from Bemidji State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Visual Arts and is near completion of a B.A. in Native American Studies.

In 2009 she began to learn about the tar sands industry and climate change. This knowledge and concern for the health of our waters has led her to advocate for the protection of the lands, plants, animals, people and nibi/water for the next seven generations. She is a board member of the 1855 Treaty Authority, a trained Climate Reality Leader and a presenter at the 2019 Climate Reality Leadership Corp Training. Dawn was the expert witness for the White Earth Reservation during the Line 3 Minnesota PUC hearings.

Her work centers around networking with other nonprofit environmental organizations and building community. Dawn works as a representative of the Indigenous Environmental Network, and is a co-founder of RISE Coalition; an indigenous led group of women calling on others to “RISE TO PROTECT ALL THAT IS SACRED.”

ABOUT REV. GENTLE DRAGON LAURA KENNEDY

Gentle Dragon is a zen priest in Katagiri Roshi and Uchiyama Roshi's lineage. She has been practicing for over 30 years. In 2017, she completed the fall practice period at Tassajara Zen Monastery.  In 2019 and 2020 she completed the Spring practice period at Toshoji Zen Monastery in Japan. And was the shuso for the 2020 practice period.  She is hoping to travel to Japan to participate in Zuise in 2021. She is committed to unraveling the ancient twisted karma of genocide and deconstructing her white privilege. Her vow supports her deeply listening to Indigenous leadership and showing up in a good way. Living her vow she pivots from acknowledgement to accountability.  She has participated in the Bearing Witness Retreat at Wounded Knee, Aushwitz Birkenau and the SF street retreat in 2015. In 2016, she supported Indigenous leadership in Minnesota for a Bearing Witness Retreat in 2016 at the concentration camp at Fort Snelling during the winter of 1862.  Hundreds of Indigenous Elders, women and children died during that winter. In 2019, she supported Indigenous leadership bringing Winyan Awanyankapi: Protecting the Lifegivers Conference into real time.

She traveled to Standing Rock to stand in solidarity with Indigenous leaders. And has been present for actions against LIne 3.

Her practice includes being a social worker for many years. She is currently participating in the year-long program of engaged buddhism at Upaya Zen Center.

Sunday, 26 September 2021
11AM-2PM US Eastern Time; 18H-21H Central European Summer Time

Climate change and the wider ecological crisis will be with all of us for the rest of our lives. That can feel overwhelming and discouraging. Yet much can be done to lessen the harm to us and future generations if we continue to act.

How do we live and practice with the knowledge that things will get worse?
And how do we build the confidence and resilience still to act?

This gathering is for ecologically engaged practitioners who want to
- deepen their insight into what EcoDharma offers,
- connect with other Buddhist practitioners / Eco-activists to broaden the network,
- get and share ideas for coping strategies as well as action in their everyday life.

Co-sponspored by
Peace!maker Gemeinschaft Deutschland e.V.
The Village Zendo
The Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
The Buddhist Action Coalition
in cooperation with Zen Peacemakers International

Buddhist Action Coalition and NYC Buddhist Sanghas will be gathering, sitting, have a short service, then join in walking meditation to the gathering site of the Global Climate Strike at City Hall Park.

The impacts of climate breakdown are becoming more and more severe and our need to step up and speak out has never been greater. Please join us as we join youth-led Fridays for Future in demanding our leaders take serious, concrete action to address this crucial issue. Feel free to wear rakusus, robes and other symbols of your practice and bring signs which share Buddhist wisdom and compassion for life on our planet, and centers communities of color and low-income communities which are most impacted by climate change.

Be safe, wear your mask, protect each other. We ask that only fully vaccinated individuals join this action. For information about the Sept 24th Global Climate Strike, visit HERE.

Tuesday, 31 August 2021, 7:30PM US ET
Co-sponsored by the The Clear View Project

Via Zoom. Free. Registration required.

Yasmin Ullah will provide a quick history of the Rohingya people and the genocide against them in Myanmar. She will discuss the current situation in Myanmar and Bangladesh and explain how the recent coup in Myanmar has affected the Rohingya. Finally she will question the framing of the conflict as a religious one, arguing that it is better understood as motivated by economic factors.

• Who are the Rohingya?

• What happened to them?

• How are Rohingya communities today?

• What caused the violence against them?

• Is it fundamentally a religious conflict?

ABOUT YASMIN ULLAH

Yasmin Ullah is a Rohingya social justice activist who works on advocacy, media and building alliances with young people from Myanmar. She was born in the Northern Rakhine state of Myanmar. Her family fled to Thailand in 1995 when she was a child and she remained a stateless refugee until moving to Canada in 2011.

Yasmin served as the President of the Rohingya Human Rights Network, a non-profit group led by activists across Canada advocating and raising public awareness of the Rohingya genocide.

She has worked on various projects such as the Time to Act: Rohingya Voices exhibition with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Genocide Learning Tool with the Montréal Holocaust Museum and the Anthology: I Am A Rohingya where she published her poetry. She’s currently completing her undergraduate degree in political science.

In 2021 she was named on the FemiList100, the Gender Security Project list of 100 women from the Global South, working in foreign policy, peacebuilding, law, activism, development.

Ms. Ullah asks that you consider making a donation to Restless Beings: https://donate.restlessbeings.org/appeals/urgent-flood-response-2021

Via Zoom. Free registration required.

When we speak of liberation, what do we envision that looks like? This talk will offer an invitation beyond a binary vision of the future. The binary view finds us caught between a natural aspiration for a social utopia and a fear of dystopia. Utopia is an imagined society where the social psychology and life systems create and sustain economic, political, and social-spiritual well-being as its highest purpose. Dystopia an imagined society in which there is great suffering, injustice and a place where people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives.

This talk will offer a third view of giving wise attention to what is emergent in the present for wellness, justice and harmony. It has been called The Anima Mundi, the birth of a yet to be created planetary sense of soul. This talk will offer an understanding of the role mindfulness of the body can play in giving birth to this yearning which we can witness being born within ourselves and across the planet in this very moment of suffering.

Please consider offering dana for Larry's talk by donating to The Lotus Institute: https://www.thelotusinstitute.org/donate-page

ABOUT DR. LARRY WARD
Larry Ward (pronouns- he/him) is a senior teacher in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition and the author of the book America's Racial Karma. Dr. Ward brings 25 years of international experience in organizational change and local community renewal to his work as director of the Lotus Institute and as an advisor to the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Drucker School of Management. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation.

Photo of Dr. Larry Ward by Jovelle Tamayo.

How Can Buddhism Help Us Respond to the Ecological Crisis?
A Talk and Discussion with DAVID LOY
Wednesday, 5 May 2021, 7:30-9PM US ET

Via Zoom. Registration required.

The ecological crisis—which includes the climate emergency but is much bigger than that—is the greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced. What does Buddhism offer, if anything, that can help us understand and respond appropriately? Most of all, what does the eco-crisis mean for how we understand and practice Buddhism (or follow any spiritual path) today? What is the role of the bodhisattva/ecosattva today?

ABOUT DAVID R. LOY. David R. Loy is a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy, a prolific writer, and a teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Buddhism. His books include Money Sex War Karma, A New Buddhist Path, and most recently Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis. He is especially concerned about social and ecological issues. In addition to offering workshops and meditation retreats, he is one of the founders of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado.

To offer dana for David Loy and his work, please give to the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center at: https://rmerc.org/how-you-can-help/

Via Zoom. Registration required.

We are living through an apocalypse, a period when truth is being revealed about our lives, communities, and the world. This revelation seems overwhelming especially as it calls into question our participation in social systems that perpetuate violence, including racism and white supremacy. Real change during this dynamic time means that we turn our attention to the truth of our lives and relationships and commit to a path of deeply embodying radical honesty and compassion to disrupt systems of violence. In this talk we will explore the tradition of Radical Dharma how this tradition supports us in developing radical honesty, compassion, and love to achieve liberation for all beings.

ABOUT LAMA ROD OWENS

Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, author, activist, yoga instructor and authorized Lama, or Buddhist teacher, in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation. Owens is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community. Has been published in Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle and The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and offers talks, retreats and workshops in more than seven countries. A book for these times, Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger was published in June 2020, to critical acclaim for it’s prophetic truth, timing and honesty and wisdom, in dealing with the multiplicity of challenges this generation is waking up to.

Concurrent Online: LOVE SIT
Zoom ID: 721 322 0635, Pass: lovewalk
OR Facebook Live at Buddhist Council of New York page

Whereby people of good will, and of all races and all faiths move together to highlight their concerns for what is currently and historically happening to the Asian and Asian American communities.

Organized by the Buddhist Council of New York, with support from the Buddhist Action Coalition, The Brooklyn Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), The Abundant Life Church of Brooklyn, The New York Board of Rabbis, The Interfaith Center of New York, The Episcopal Diocese of New York, Church of Our Savior, The Coalition of Hindus of North America CoHNA, The Buddhist Association of the United States, Heiwa Peace and Reconciliation Foundation of New York, The World Yoga Community, The Interfaith Center of USA, Religions For Peace USA, The Mayor's Office of New York, the Governor's Office, the Faculty of Brooklyn College and many others.

Let us know if you're coming to join us in NYC or are organizing your own Love Walk. Please email us at buddhistactionny@gmail.com.

We will practice Covid-19 health and safety protocols. Please wear a mask and observe proper physical distancing.