The Sadhana of Araminta Ross: Learning from the life and work of Harriet Tubmanĭr. Undoing Whiteness in American Buddhist Modernism The Karma of a Nation: Racial Reparations from an Asian American Buddhist Perspective Thursday, February 18th, 1-2:30 PM PST/4-5:30 PM ESTĭismantling White Supremacy, Healing Humanity: The Dharma of Racial Justice Multicultural History of Dharma and Diversity: Focus on US and Insight Meditation communities Schedule Thursday, January 28th, 4-6 PM PST/7-9 PM EST How can we help create a courageous community of multi-racial dharma practitioners grounded in anti-racist principles?.What does it mean to decolonize and indigenize the Dharma?.How can Buddhism be a force of social justice? How can a deep engagement with issues of race, identity and power illuminate and transform Dharma in return?.In short, we are called toward a radical re-orientation of the Dharma: To move beyond racial integration toward decolonized, indigenized and anti-racist practices and communities. In the Pali Canon, the Buddha says that there are 84,000 gates into the Dharma it is our conviction that one such gate for our generation is deep and honest engagement with issues of race, identity and power. Thus, we seek to move beyond an abstract, apolitical, and individualistic engagement with the Dharma toward cultivating spiritual practices that embrace the body, and can tend to the myriad forms of embodied and socially imposed sufferings created by the imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.Įvery generation must discover the Dharma for themselves. We all experience suffering in our particular embodied racial, gender and sexual identities and it is deep engagement with these forms of suffering that open the door toward awakening. Second, we will focus on the collective work of addressing internalized oppression that handicaps both individuals and communities from living into their full potential. This history of transmission has stratified our communities, de-politicized and Whitewashed the Dharma. In addition to addressing racism within our communities, we must also critically examine the interlocking systems of oppression that bell hooks refers to as the imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy that contextualizes the transmission of the Dharma to the West. Racial integration does not question structures of power nor address the harm caused by the various manifestations of White Supremacy in our sanghas. Working towards racial integration or increasing diversity in predominantly White sanghas is not the solution, only a bandage to the deeper problem. As students of the Dharma, speaking about racism and finding ways to be actively anti-racist are key to the greater goal of alleviating the suffering of all sentient beings toward collective liberation. First we will focus on building a collective Buddhist anti-racist analysis. This year, the annual Buddhism and Race conference has been reimagined as Radical Re-Orientation: 2021 Buddhism and Race Speaker Series, with monthly virtual events from January through August. For more of the program history, see here Program Description angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens, Melanie Harris, Katie Loncke, Sebene Selassie, and Layli Maparyan, to name just a few. We have welcomed a diverse array of speakers, including Sister Peace, Rev. Ever since, the conference has become an annual event that brings together sangha leaders, activists, scholars, and students from diverse backgrounds to build capacity in addressing power at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality and class in our communities. Inspired by Professor Cheryl Giles’ class on Buddhism and Race at Harvard Divinity School, The Buddhism and Race Conference was conceived by the Harvard Buddhist Community in 2015 to catalyze the conversation around issues of Buddhism, race, and beyond.
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