“It’s just a visceral feeling, like a punch to the stomach," said a local community member, about the vandalism. Forty leaders of various faiths signed an open letter this week condemning the vandalism of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Tacoma, Washington and disavowing the motivations behind it. “This incident occurs amidst rising national tides of [...]
Buddhism & Diversity: Profiles, Teachings, and Conversations
A collection of teachings, profiles, and discussions about diversity in Buddhism. Featuring angel Kyodo williams, Funie Hsu, Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, Arunlikhati, Gina Sharpe, Greg Snyder, Justin Simien, George Takei, Alice Walker, Lama Rod Owens, and more. Diversity is increasingly discussed in Western Buddhism today, and with good reason. Supporting diversity serves three [...]
North American Buddhist Alliance issues response to racial violence
In a new statement shared with Lion's Roar, the North American Buddhist Alliance (NABA) responds to the current events and crises related to White Supremacy in the United States. NABA describes itself as “a new, idealistic, and organic organization modeled after Northwest Dharma Association. We are not a governing body nor are we interested in developing a hierarchy of any [...]
Truth and Reconciliation Begin With Us
In spite of the conflict and pain that our national discourse on white supremacy has surfaced, Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield is still hopeful — for we all have the tools to begin making real change happen. Like many, I am heartbroken with sadness over the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the rising wave of hate and violence in our culture. While this is part of a [...]
SGI-USA issues “Statement on the Racial Unrest in Charlottesville, VA”
SGI-USA today issued a "Statement on the Racial Unrest in Charlottesville, VA" in which "the members of Soka Gakkai International-USA repudiate hatred and bigotry and appeal for equality and justice for all" and "[advocate] for the values of Buddhist humanism." The statement addresses the evils of racism, quoting from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his 1967 speech, [...]
Waking Up to Whiteness
For our practice to have meaning in today's world, says Greg Snyder, it must include a thorough understanding of our racial identities and their impact. This is particularly urgent for white practitioners. Like it or not, we have all been racialized—that conditioning affects each and every one of us. Unfortunately, many Buddhists are not working diligently to [...]
Everything We Do Matters, But Two Things Are Critical
Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist minister James Ishmael Ford offers a commentary about how we got to Charlottesville and where we go from here. If you’re not familiar with the run-up to the Charlottesville demonstration, let me briefly outline what has happened. It started with some people announcing a protest of the removal of a statue honoring a Confederate [...]
“Dear White People” creator Justin Simien talks Buddhism, finding empathy for trolls
One element of Simien’s identity isn’t obvious in his Netflix hit: Buddhism. But it’s there. Talking to Justin Simien, it’s clear that the characters in his show, Dear White People, come from within. Each episode of the Netflix comedy, which debuted last month, follows a different character at a fictional Ivy League college in the aftermath of a blackface party on campus. [...]
We’ve Been Here All Along
Funie Hsu says it’s time we recognize the contributions of Asian American Buddhists and address the racism and cultural appropriation that marginalizes their ongoing role in transmitting the dharma in the West. Somewhere in the soil of California’s Central Valley lies buried treasure. Scholar and Soto Zen priest Duncan Ryuken Williams tells the story of ten-year-old Masumi [...]
We’re Not Who You Think We Are
Chenxing Han examines the stereotypes that have marginalized Asian American Buddhists and reports on the rich diversity and depth of practice of a new generation of practitioners. During my undergraduate years, a budding interest in Buddhism prompted me to explore various Buddhist communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. At meditation centers where older white practitioners [...]
