Last month saw the launch of mitigating dHARMa, a new “non-commercial website dedicated to centering, validating and exploring the survivor experience; locating and organizing resources to make them more easily accessible; creating opportunities to connect, collaborate, and co create caring community; and elevating individual survivor stories.”
The site was founded/launched by “Max,” f/k/a “Bosui” who chooses to remain anonymous due to a history of backlash against her and other women’s voicing of harm in religious spaces and elsewhere.
Asked by Buddhadharma to provide details and the impetus behind the site, Max — who identifies as a professional interfaith chaplain, a committed Buddhist practitioner for over 25 years, and the mother of two adult children — tells us:
“The seed for mitigating dHARMa was planted when [I], in a period of intensive practice as a formal student within a renowned Zen Center in the U.S., made a bystander reporting of sexual harassment of a young female resident. I was subsequently retaliated upon by the perpetrator while on retreat, and experienced a doubling-down of the harm by my spiritual teacher and the Center’s leadership as I pressed for accountability.
“By 2025, with the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) having confirmed my complaints with imposed sanctions on the teacher and abbot of the Center due to violations of their Ethical Code of Conduct, I had found a deeper personal healing rooted in excavating content available — books and articles — which explained and validated the facts and impacts of the harm; in listening to the scattered survivor stories found in the public domain; and ultimately building connections in real time with others who’d experienced what I began calling ‘dHARMa.’”
Visitors navigate the site and its resources through areas corresponding to the letters in the acronym “CARE”:
C — Centering Survivors & Connection
E — Elevating Voices & Effective Listening
Content includes articles from Buddhadharma and Lion’s Roar, and Tricycle — as well as varied books, podcasts, papers, and more.
