Question: Buddhism as a whole speaks eloquently on issues such as managing suffering and dealing with violence after it has occurred, with forgiveness, acceptance, and letting go. But, in my experience, it has been largely silent on dealing with issues of violence as they are occurring. So, here is my question: In day-to-day society—be it in a business setting, family setting, [...]
Yes, We’re Buddhists Too!
Jan Willis examines the subtle—and not so subtle—racism that exists in American Buddhism. On occasion, people have said to me, “Oh, I didn’t know that there were African American Buddhists!” Mostly my reaction is demure, but I sometimes want to respond with the question, “Why shouldn’t there be?” After all, African Americans are human beings who think and breathe and [...]
The Road to Diversity
In this 2011 Buddhadharma Forum, Larry Yang, Amanda Rivera, Bob Agoglia, and Rev. angel Kyodo williams discuss how to foster meaningful diversity in American Buddhism. Introduction by Charles Johnson I would wager that every Buddhist enjoys the story about Hui-neng, the sixth patriarch of Zen, who presented himself as a poor “commoner from Hsin-chou of Kwangtung” to the abbot [...]
The Moon Is Me, I Am the Moon
We are all one and the same. This is the experience of Zen. So teaches Shodo Harada Roshi in this series of poetic calligraphies (accompanied by English translations) and commentaries, excerpted from Moon by the Window. Text and calligraphies by Shodo Harada Roshi. When I ladle up springwater, The moon enters my water jar In Zen we look at the self and the world as one and [...]
Profile: Parallax Press
During his 1985 American teaching tour, Thich Nhat Hanh and about a dozen retreatants were in a small room at the Providence Zen Center when he suggested to longtime Zen practitioner Arnie Kotler that they start a publishing company. Kotler agreed, and over the next eighteen months he established the infrastructure of Parallax Press and transcribed and edited some of Thich Nhat [...]