Insight Meditation Society and the Canadian Prairie Sangha, two Insight communities in North America, are launching a new online series aimed at preserving and transmitting the important teachings that Western teachers have learned from their Asian teachers.

“Lineage Stories” is a free four-part video series that begins on October 12 with Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, two of IMS’s four cofounders, telling stories about Munindra-ji (1915–2003), Dipa Ma (1911–1989), Mahasi Sayadaw (1904–1982), and other teachers that they either studied with or who greatly influenced their practice.

“When we can hear stories of our ancestors firsthand, this can motivate our practice. And when we hear the stories in community, this strengthens our sense of belonging and connection to each other and to the tradition, and cultivates an embodied relationship with our beloved Asian Elders,” said Jeanne Corrigal, the Guiding Teacher of the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, who also teaches through IMS. Corrigal is also a graduate of IMS’s 2017-2021 Teacher Training Program, by far IMS’s most diverse teacher cohort to date that the community said honors and better reflects dharma practice in the West. 

Buddhism began as an oral tradition, and the early texts were memorized and transmitted by monastics for the first 500 years. Corrigal, who is a member of the Métis Nation, one of three recognized Indigenous communities in Canada, says that storytelling is also an important aspect of their culture. 

The project started with the idea that five of the Canadian Prairie Sanghas could give their sanghas a “stronger sense of lineage and ancestors” through a storytelling series. They wanted to invite the wider community as well, according to Corrigal, which led to the involvement of IMS. 

Alexandra Gekas, director of IMS Online, told Tricycle that the project “felt like an instant fit with our goals and intentions.” 

“Honoring our lineage is important on so many levels—there is the spiritual practice of connecting our line of transmission to the Buddha, the historical importance of keeping an accurate record, and the justice issue of making sure that our Asian ancestors, heritage, and roots are not erased.” 

Gekas added that Prairie Sangha did the majority of work creating the program, and that IMS provided the wider platform. In addition to the talks, a visual lineage map will be created as the series progresses. IMS Online has previously offered programs on lineage, including through their 2022 Dipa Ma series.  

Lineage Stories is expected to continue for at least the next three years. All of the talks are free to attend virtually, and those interested can enroll on IMS’s website. Talks and materials will also be available on the Prairie Sangha website. As of publication, registration for the first program is nearing capacity but the presentation will be available on demand within 48 hours of the live event.

IMS and the Canadian Prairie Sangha are Theravada Buddhist communities in the Burmese and Thai Forest lineages of Mahasi Sayadaw and Ajahn Mun (1870–1949). Mahasai Sayadaw is credited with creating the mindfulness technique that launched the Vipassana movement; Ajahn Mun was a meditation master who founded the Thai Forest tradition.  

Joseph Goldstein first encountered meditation as a Peace Corps member in Thailand in the mid-sixties. After his volunteer service, he returned to India in the late sixties and met his first teacher, Anagarika Munindra (Munindra-ji), in Bodhgaya, the Buddha’s birthplace. Munindra had recently returned from nearly a decade in Burma and had started teaching Vipassana. Goldstein writes in Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening (2013) that “when I first arrived, he said something so simple and direct that I knew I had come to my spiritual home: ‘if you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it.’”

Sharon Salzberg first went to India at age 18 for her junior year in college abroad, determined to learn how to meditate. As Salzberg recounts in Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience (2003), she attended a 10-day meditation retreat in Bodhgaya given by S.N. Goenka. (This is also where she first met Goldstein, Ram Dass, and other future big names in Western Buddhism and spirituality circles). Salzberg also was taught by Munindra-ji and his student, Dipa Ma. “I saw her as the epitome of spiritual development. Dipa Ma was a little bundle of a woman wrapped in a white sari, but her psychic space was huge, radiating light and peace, filling whatever room she was in,” Salzberg writes in Faith. 

Three additional Lineage Stories are planned for:

• January 11, 2024: Rebecca Bradshaw, devon hase, and Jessica Morey on Sayadaw U Pandita (1921–2016) and the intersections of Theravada and Tibetan practice
• April 11, 2024: Roxanne Dault, Tara Mulay, and Carol Wilson on the Mahasi Method and its different transmissions through Sayadaw U Pandita and Sayadaw U Tejaniya
• October 10, 2024: Guy Armstrong on the Insight lineage 

The post A New Series Pays Homage to Buddhism’s Ancestral Teachers appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

The Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra speaks of the “Last Dharma Age,” a time filled with chaos, strife, and a proliferation of natural disasters—a time I couldn’t help but think of as I watched the video clips capturing the burning of Lahaina, Maui. They left me speechless. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for the people, residents, and tourists who were trapped there. 

On August 7th, the news reconfirmed that there would be high winds across the Hawaiian Islands due to Hurricane Dora passing south of the Hawaiian archipelago. Many of us hastily expressed a sigh of relief that although it would be windy, Hawaii would be spared major flooding and other damages caused by heavy rains experienced in recent storms. On the morning of August 8th, however, there was a report of brush fire in the Lahaina area of Maui, and even earlier, another brush fire in a different part of Maui was also reported. By mid-afternoon, the fire that would consume the town of Lahaina would dominate the news. 

The winds from Hurricane Dora fanned a fire that became billowing flames soaring into the sky. The lingering drought did not help. Under normal conditions, the fire probably could have been contained after causing some damage, but with the relentless, whipping winds, it was clear that these were not normal conditions. It was a conflagration. Everyone watched in disbelief as the fire consumed the town, claiming (at the time of this writing) 115 lives. Post-fire photos show Lahaina looking like a devastated war zone. According to current reports, over 2,170 acres were burned, over 2,000 people evacuated to shelters with 1,000 people still unaccounted for, and close to 3,000 structures were damaged or destroyed. 

Among the destroyed structures are three Buddhist Temples: the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission (est. 1904), Lahaina Jodo Mission (est. 1912), and Lahaina Shingon Mission (est. 1902). The clergy, or ministers, of these temples safely evacuated, but temple buildings were not spared the flames. 

However, the definition for “mappo,” or the Last Dharma Age, in A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, made me think. “While this may appear to be cause for despair, many in East Asia actually responded to this analysis not by giving up, but by advocating new and creative doctrines.” Likewise, the people of Hawaii, and even beyond the shores of the Islands, have not given up on Lahaina. Monetary donations, donations of material goods and services, and human resources are pouring into Maui to help those who are still suffering and with the long road to recovery. Aloha and dana are manifest in the words, thoughts, and actions of thousands of people who are lending assistance and support in this dire time of need, including the Buddhists of Hawaii. 

As collection drop-off sites were announced, some temples, like the Aiea Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Affiliate Organizations, began collecting goods to be donated and shipped to Maui. Also, each of the Buddhist denominations affected by the fire, as well as other Buddhist organizations, like the Hawaii Association of International Buddhists (HAIB), empathetically joined other community organizations to establish fund drives, encourage donations, hold memorial services in honor of those who died in the conflagration, and help those who are still suffering. 

As we engage ourselves in compassionate action, it is also endearing to witness the wisdom of the dharma providing guidance, as evidenced in comments by fellow Buddhists. 

Bishop Clark Watanabe of Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii: “For the Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii, the loss of the Lahaina Shingon Mission Hokoji is extremely painful because the Lahaina Shingon Mission was first Shingon temple to be established in Hawaii and outside Japan… When I reflect on buddhadharma, the main teaching is of change. Change is never easy to accept and this change that has happened in Lahaina is extremely difficult and painful to accept…The best practice we can all do is to deeply listen, with wisdom and compassion, to the people of Lahaina and the Island of Maui. By deeply listening, we can, in a small way, alleviate their suffering.” 

Bishop Kosen Ishikawa, President of the Hawaii Buddhist Council and Bishop of the Jodo Mission of Hawaii: “Burnt buildings could be rebuilt. There is even the possibility that you could have better buildings. However, lost lives cannot be revived. As long as we have life, we can always hope for the future.” Referring to the minister who safely evacuated, he said, “The temple building could attract people, but cannot say anything while Sensei can share the dharma and encourage people no matter where he may be. Though it’s sad we lost beautiful Lahaina Jodo Mission buildings, a living temple (the ministers), the spirit of dharma, is not lost…I’d like to support living temples in this face of adversity.” 

Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii: “Recovery on Maui could take years…As fellow travelers of the nembutsu, let us stand in solidarity with those who are experiencing suffering and sorrow brought about by this unprecedented encounter. Even though the temple buildings have been damaged, our sincere aspiration of listening to and sharing the nembutsu teaching never disappears…Lahaina Hongwanji has not yet disappeared. It is still standing in our hearts as Namo Amida Butsu…May the wisdom and compassion of Amida Buddha embrace us all. May the sound of the nembutsu bring us peace and comfort, and give us the courage to move forward. Namo Amida Butsu.” 

As for myself, what is Lahaina teaching me? It makes me reflect on the many facets of impermanence. On one hand, some manifestations of impermanence can be challenging, filled with sorrow and sadness, as in the loss of life and destruction of property because of the fires. But, at the same time, the fact that everything can change in an instant reminds us how truly unique and precious life, and every single moment, is. Because nothing lasts forever, Lahaina, with everyone’s help, will recover and rise from this tragedy. The buddhadharma encourages us to value and love each other all the time, but especially when there is hardship and suffering. Let us be guided by the wisdom of enlightenment to understand the changing nature of existence. Nurtured by compassion, we can be a caring presence to each other. 

***

While any donation to any relief organization is encouraged, for those who may wish to extend a helping hand to the Buddhist temples on Maui affected by the fire, some ways to contribute directly to the temples are below. We of Hawaii, and especially of Maui, thank you for your metta and dana. 

Lahaina Jodo Mission 

GoFundMe link  https://gofund.me/df1b0cf2

A donation, check payable to Jodo Mission of Hawaii with a memo “Maui fire relief fund,” can be sent to:

Jodo Mission of Hawaii
1429 Makiki Street
Honolulu, HI 96814

Lahaina Hongwanji Mission

Go online at www.hongwanjihawaii.com by clicking on the “Maui Wildfire Disaster Relief” button under the “Donate” tab.

GoFundMe at the following link: https://gofund.me/ff77a520

For checks and cash donations, check payable to HHMH and in the memo line designate “Maui Wildfire Disaster Relief” to ensure proper credit and mailed to:

Hongpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii 
1727 Pali Highway
Honolulu, HI 96813

Lahaina Shingon Mission Hokoji

GoFundMe link https://gofund.me/6317428c

Or checks, payable to Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii with a memo “Lahaina relief” can be sent to: 

Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii 
457 Manono Street
Hilo, HI 96720

For further information, please contact by email hikoybof@gmail.com

In anjali/gassho, Eric Matsumoto 
Namo Amida Butsu (Entrusting in All-Inclusive Wisdom & All-Embracing Compassion) 

The post Buddhist Leaders in Hawaii Offer Guidance After the Maui Wildfires appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

So commences a letter sent by ninety-six Zen priests to the judge of the DeKalb County Superior Court in Decatur, Georgia, on March 20. The priests were condemning the arrest of Colin Dorsey, who was arrested at a music festival at an ongoing peaceful protest and charged with domestic terrorism. The festival occurred near the site of what has become known as Cop City, a $90 million police training facility in Atlanta’s South River Forest, critical green space for local residents, and the ancestral home of the Muskogee People. Two years of public outrage and resistance to the project has significantly delayed construction, but repression has been fierce, including the police assassination of 26-year-old Indigenous land defender Manuel Paez Teran, known by the nickname Tortuguita, in January; domestic terrorism charges against forty-two people; and violent raids and felony charges against movement infrastructure like the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. Below, Dorsey recounts his experience in jail and the work of activists, including the Zen priests who were instrumental in obtaining his bond.  – Jean Wolguelam, an organizer with the Weelaunee Defense Society

***

My arrest happened at dusk in the Weelaunee Forest. I had just finished eating dinner at the collective kitchen when tear gas began to spread into the area. Just as suddenly a snatch squad of officers charged out of the dark with bright flashlights, tazed me and handcuffed me on the ground with zip ties so tight that circulation to my hand was cut off. This snatch squad included officers with night vision goggles, automatic weapons and full body armor, supported by helicopters and drones and armored vehicles, prepared for a military encounter. As I was pinned by an officer on the ground, I heard clearly over the radio a superior say, “We just need bodies! If we’re not getting bodies, get out of there!” 

I was then taken to a parking lot that was used as a processing center for all the people that had similarly been rounded up. There were nearly fifty people in zip ties sitting around the parking lot. One officer then divided us into a group from Georgia and a group from out of state. We were called individually into a van marked “Homeland Security” and questioned. In the van were two officers, one wearing a balaclava. Also in the van was the prosecuting attorney, presenting himself as a lawyer for the benefit of the arrested. I refused to be interviewed and was quickly escorted onto a bus to be transported to the jail. In what appeared to be an attempt to cast the protest as the result of outside agitators, all Georgia residents were released, and all out-of-state residents were put on the bus. But from where I was sitting, it seemed that every person arrested that night was randomly detained because they were easy targets at the edge of the forest. There were twenty-three of us. At our first bond hearing, regardless of character, criminal history, or evidence, all but one of us were denied bond. After this we were moved to the general population of the jail.

The structure of the jail and culture implemented by the administration is meant to disorient, overwhelm, and keep inmates on edge. The dayroom, in which a group of twenty to thirty inmates known as a “pod” share space, is constructed so that even two or three people talking creates a booming sound, and there is a constant din of indistinguishable noise reverberating through the pods. In the cell beneath me, I could hear an inmate in solitary confinement screaming for help and banging on the door for hours at a time. Food was brought irregularly, and was cold and insufficient for nutrition. Guards entered abruptly and aggressively, particularly when the environment among the inmates was calm. The threat of violence was constant, mostly from the guards, but it also erupted unexpectedly among inmates. At other times the guards ignored the inmates. I was locked in a small interview room after an attorney visit for over an hour, and was told by other inmates this type of intentional indifference was routine. Another of my pod-mates was left in a different pod for most of the day until they got a guard to see that they were in the wrong place. This is a terrifying experience, as being in the wrong pod means you are essentially lost, without a bed, clothes, or any of the minimal things you can rely on. Many inmates I met were in a state of purgatory, without timely court dates or outside assistance to demand they be released at the appropriate time. Recently, I was informed that an inmate in my pod committed suicide. Death while imprisoned at DeKalb County Jail is common. 

Through all of this, by continuing the practice of zazen and walking meditation, I was able to cut through the systematic attempt to reduce life to a series of overwhelmed responses to trauma. But I was not able to practice solely through my own efforts. While in the jail, I found incredible solidarity among the inmates. In the complete neglect and intentional cruelty of the authorities, the people subject to this misery find a way to care for each other. These were the most immediate and poignant experiences of horizontal mutual aid that I have experienced. My pod in particular spoke of a history and conscious attempt to create a cohesive community. Newcomers and those causing strife were brought close and integrated into the community spirit through shared chores, nondenominational prayer circles, invitation to group activities, and caring conversation. When I first arrived in the general population with two of my codefendants, we were welcomed by people who wanted to help us. They provided us with basics for survival, from information, like how to make phone calls and order commissary, to everyday objects like cups for water and towels. These simple items are rare commodities in jail, and sharing them with us was a gesture of care and respect. We participated in self-organized chores and assistance for inmates navigating their legal situation. Eventually, as time passed in the jail, it became our turn to welcome newcomers to the pod.

I had previously taught meditation in prisons and worked as an activist against conditions that I was now subject to. I remember, years ago, after teaching a meditation class, one inmate asked me how to practice nonviolence in a situation in which doing so can be perceived as weakness and expose you to predation. My response was that I could not possibly know his situation, so I could not tell him how to enact nonviolence. The clarity that I have attained through my own short experience is that nonviolence is not a matter of individual ethics and actions. Cultivating peace is only possible through building a community of solidarity that looks out for itself and addresses violence collectively. 

As Soto Zen priests our commitment to nonviolence includes not being passively complicit in systems which cause harm. As citizens of the United States we see the inherent violence of mass incarceration, militarized policing, and the statistically unfair racial outcomes of the criminal justice system. We see damage to our environment, destruction of habitat, and disregard for future generations in our approach to matters of ecology and climate change. It is natural for a commitment to nonviolence to call us to oppose this status quo.

The struggle against Cop City is not local to Atlanta. Georgia politicians and police are currently attempting to address the resistance to environmental destruction and structural racism through repressive means: prosecuting forty-two protestors as domestic terrorists, murdering forest defenders, criminalizing the acts of distributing fliers, or operating a bail fund. If they succeed in crushing this popular resistance and build a massive police training compound, we can suspect their efforts will be replicated across the country and the world.

While the state is taking unprecedented measures to suppress the movement, this is reciprocal to an equally potent strategy of fearless self-organization. The initial media after our arrest was crafted to define the movement as violent. They neglected to show trees being planted, structures being raised for collective use, plant identification walks, herbal medicine clinics, yoga classes, potlucks, a music festival of diverse genres and subcultures, and support by academics and clergy, all among the backdrop of the recent police killing of a forest defender and the threat of egregious charges and decades-long sentences that I faced. 

Just as the threat of the training center and draconian legal maneuvers risk spreading if they succeed, so does the alternative: success in defeating these measures by a diversity of actors moving independently yet tolerant of difference, creating structures of joy, care, and courage.

The movement is not intimidated, and popular support is growing. The extent to which the state can crush this movement will be the extent to which those risking the most to defend it are isolated from the broader sections of society supporting it.

We support Mr. Dorsey’s engagement in nonviolent protest at the site of the proposed public safety training facility in DeKalb County’s South River Forest. We support his efforts to create public safety through nonviolent action, opposition to military-style police training, and opposition to the destruction of one of the largest sections of green space near an area with a large population of Black citizens in the Atlanta area. The evidence to support domestic terrorism charges against Mr. Dorsey is negligible. The reasons to support his acts to promote public safety and nonviolence are many. We advise that he be released immediately, and the charges against him should be dropped.

 Sincerely, 

Rev. Ben Connelly, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Rev. Shodo Spring, founder and guiding teacher, Mountains and Waters Zen Community Rev. Greg Fain, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center Rev. Hozan Alan Senauke, Berkeley Zen Center, Clear View Project Rev. Joan Halifax, Founding Abbot, Upaya Zen Center Rev. Chris Fortin, founder of Dharma Heart Zen Rev. Norman Fischer, Former abbot, San Francisco Zen Center, Founder Everyday Zen Rev. Taigen Leighton PhD, Guiding Teacher,, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate Rev. Pat Enkyo O’Hara, abbot Village Zendo, New York City Matt Streit, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Rev. Zenku Smyers, Guiding Teacher, Mission Mountain Zen Center Alan Eustace, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Carrie Garcia, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Ekyo Susan Nelson, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Rev. Myo On Susan Hagler, Clouds in Water Zen Center, St. Paul, MN Rev. Gyokei Yokoyama, Montebello Sozenji Buddhist Temple, CA Rev. Ryushin Andrea Thach, MD Berkeley Zen Center, Red Cedar Zen Center Rev. Kokyo Henkel, Green Dragon Temple Rev. Shosan Victoria Austin, Beginner’s Mind Temple Rev. Dōshin Mako Voelkel, Beginner’s Mind Temple Rev. Onryu Kennedy, Sanshinji Zen Center, Bloomington, IN Rev. M. Denis Lahey, Hartford Street Zen Center Rev. Rakugo Castaldo, Soji Zen Center, Philadelphia, PA Myozen Barton Stone, Stone Creek Zen Center, Graton, CA Rev. Sara Jisho Siebert, Zen Fields, Ames, IA Rev. Daishin McCabe, Zen Fields, Ames, IA Rev. Koshin Paley Ellison, Co-Guiding Teacher, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care Rev. Chodo Campbell, Co-Guiding Teacher, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care Rev. Konin Melissa Cardenas, Guiding Teacher, Dassanāya Buddhist Community, Alexandria, VA Rev. Kuden Paul Boyle, Forest City Zen Group, London, Ontario, Canada Rev. Dr. Daijaku Kinst, Guiding Teacher, Ocean Gate, Zen Center, Captiola, CA Rev. Shinshu Roberts, Guiding Teacher, Ocean Gate Zen Center, Capitola, CA Rev. Gaelyn Godwin, Abbot Houston Zen Center, Houston, TX, and Director of Soto Zen International Center North America Rev. Inryū Poncé-Barger, All Beings Zen Sangha, Washington D.C. Rev. Bernd Bender, Akazienzendo, Berlin, Germany Rev. Jakuko Mo Ferrell, Chapel Hill Zen Center, Chapel Hill Rev. Renshin Bunce, Beginner’s Mind Zen in Eureka CA Rev. Choro Antonaccio, Austin Zen Center, Austin TX Rev. Shinchi Linda Galijan, San Francisco Zen Center, CA Rev. Nomon Tim Burnett, Guiding Teacher, Red Cedar Zen Community, Bellingham, WA Rev. Ted O’Toole, Guiding Teacher, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, MN Keidō Jeromy Thotland, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, MN Rev. Joan Amaral, Zen Center North Shore, Beverly, MA Rev. Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt. Tremper, NY Rev. Shinryu Thomson,  Village Zendo, New York City Rev. Dr. Jūshin Stephyn Butcher, Hokyoji Zen Practice Community, Eitzen, MN Rev. Domyo Burk, Guiding Teacher, Bright Way Zen Community, Portland, OR Rev. Korin Pokorny, Brooklyn Zen Center, New York, NY Rev. Daigaku Rumme, Confluence Zen Center STL, St. Louis, MO Rev. Sara Myoko Hunsaker, Monterey Bay Zen Center, Monterey, CA Rev. Josho Pat Phelan, Chapel Hill Zen Center, Chapel Hill, NC Rev. Tonen O’Connor, Milwaukee Zen Center Milwaukee, WI Rev. Eido Frances Carney, Olympia Zen Center, Olympia, WA Rev. Allison Yusho Draper, MDiv BCC, Spiritual Care Services, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, Palo Alto CA Jey Ehrenhalt, priest-in-training, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Rev. Senmyo Jeffrey Sherman,Chapel Hill Hill Zen Center, Chapel Hill North Carolina Kritee Kanko, Climate Scientist and Founding teacher of Boundless in Motion Zen Community Rev. Ryūki Tom Hawkins, Kojinan:Oakland Zen Center; Oakland, CA Rev. Eijun Linda Ruth Cutts, San Francisco Zen Center, CA Rev. Reirin Alheidis Gumbel, Milwaukee Zen Center Rev. Bussho Lahn, Flying Cloud Zen Community, Eagan, MN Rev. Jill Kaplan, Zen Heart Sangha, Woodside, CA Rev. Val Meiren Szymanski, Bamboo in the Wind Zen Center, Sunnyvale, CA Rev. Tova Green, San Francisco Zen Center, CA Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher, Hokyoji Zen Practice Community, Eitzen, MNs Ken & Elizabeth Sawyer, Sebastopol Ca Rev. Ensho Peter van der Sterre: Oak & 7th Street Sanctuary, San Francisco CA Rev. Myogen Kathryn Stark, Sonoma Valley Zen, Sonoma, CA Rev. Myoshin Kate McCandless, Mountain Rain Zen Community, Vancouver, Canada Rev. Kosen Gregory Snyder, Senior Priest, Brooklyn Zen Center, Brooklyn, NY Rev. Teijo Munnich, Abbess, Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple, Alexander Rev. Catherine Spaeth, San Francisco Zen Center, San Francisco, CA NC Rev. Kenshin Catherine Cascade, Senior Priest, Bird Haven Zendo, Eugene, OR Rev. Myogo Mary-Allen Macneil, Founding Teacher, Bodhi Oak Zen Sangha, Oakhurst, CA Ava Stanton, Teacher, Just Show Up Zen Sangha, Santa Monica, CA Rev. Dan Gudgel, San Francisco Zen Center, San Francisco, CA Shijun Heather Martin, San Antonio Zen Center, TX Rev. Doralee Grindler Katonah Valley Streams Zen Sangha Sacramento, CA Monica Reede, Santa Barbara Zen Center, Santa Barbara, CA Sergio Stern, Montaña Despierta, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico Carol Paul, San Rafael, CA Rev. Eden Kevin Heffernan, Richmond Zen, Richmond Virginia Rev. Hakusho Johan Ostlund, Brattleboro Zen Center, VT Kenho Emily Dashawetz, Zen Center North Shore, Beverly, MA Rev. Ann Meido Rice, Middle Way Zen, San Jose, CA Sandra M Laureano, Centro Budista Zen Soto San Juan, PR Rev. Gyoshiin Laurel M Ross, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, Chicago IL Rev. ZenKi Mocine, Abbot Vallejo Zen Center Rev. Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Abbot Emeritus, Zen Center of Los Angeles Rev. Paul Tesshin Silverman, Abbot Yorktown Zen and Tetsugyuji Zen Temple Rev. Jan Chozen Bays, Abbot Great Vow Zen Monastery, Oregon Rev. Sessei Meg Levie, Head Priest Stone Creek Zen Center Rev. Kanshin Grevemeyer, Head Priest, Buddhadharma Sangha, San Quentin, CA Rev. Jisho Warner, Founding Teacher, Stone Creek Zen Center Rev. Dr Taikyo Morgans, Zen Buddhism Wales Brian Goller, Floating Cloud Sangha Rev. Paul Haller Former abbott, San Francisco Zen Center Ben internal note: 92 names up to this point. Erika Wild, Dharma Heart Zen Charli Vogt, Even Practice of the Heart, Atlanta, GA Rev. Tenzen David Zimmerman, Central Abbot, San Francisco Zen Center, CA Daya Goldschlag, Stonewillow Zendo, Spokane, WA

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A new center dedicated to the study and implementation of mindfulness has opened at Harvard University. The center, named the Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health, officially opened on April 26 at the University’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health, thanks to an anonymous $26 million donation. According to a press release, the mission of the center is to “empower people around the globe to live with purpose, equanimity, and joy through the practice of mindfulness; pursue evidence-based approaches to improve health and well-being through mindfulness; and educate and train the public in mindfulness. Two primary areas of emphasis will be nutrition and the environment.” 

The center is the product of years of planning and collaborative work between nutrition specialists, such as Director of Mindfulness Research and Practice Dr. Lilian Cheung, and the late Thich Nhat Hanh himself. 

Dr. Cheung first met Thay, as his students call him, at a Key West mindfulness retreat in 1997. This initial experience living mindfully and learning directly from him changed her life. 

“As I went through the week, I simply could not believe that I had three days without stress. I was able to touch peace, which is not a phenomenon that I could really experience as an adult,” Dr. Cheung told me when we spoke on a call.

Her newfound practice and relationship with Thay encouraged her to think critically about how the benefits of mindfulness could be applied to the realm of her professional life in public health. 

For Cheung, taking mindfulness from an individual level to a community level means focusing on interconnectedness in two areas: nutrition and environment. 

“The Buddha was so advanced in thinking about eating for the health of everyone, not just yourself. There needs to be enough food to go around the whole world, right? I think about the sutra ‘eating the son’s flesh’: if you don’t eat mindfully, you won’t have enough food for future generations,” she said.

In April, Public Health scholars and Buddhist leaders alike celebrated the Center’s opening symposium dedicated to presenting the positive effects of mindfulness. 

“Since the Center’s launch, we have received overwhelming interest from both the Boston community and beyond. The possibilities for the Center extend far beyond our current capabilities, but we are committed to being mutually supportive and creating synergies whenever possible,” Dawn DeCosta, the Center’s Executive Director, said.  

Current projects for the Center include “Eat, Move, and Live Mindfully,” a school-based research program for children and young adults, and “Minding our Future,” a project aimed at creating longer and healthier lives for aging adults. The latter will integrate models of Buddhist community living and belonging, specifically in sanghas, as part of the research plan. 

The Center also aims to contribute to the nearly 25,000 studies about mindfulness in peer-reviewed publications out there as of 2023. Thich Nhat Hanh Center researchers will contribute to this “very important area of development,” in the words of Dr. Cheung, with additional scientific tools to assess the impact of mindfulness interventions on health and wellness. 

Looking ahead, Dr. Cheung said, “It’s important for us to try our best to coach everyone at the Public Health School, the whole of Harvard University, and hopefully beyond to other institutions; to have practice, research, and teachings about mindfulness’s effects on the individual, on society, and on the world.” 

Brother Phap Luu of Deer Park Monastery, who has been one of a number of monastic advisors to the Center, believes the Center’s combination of Buddhist teachings and evidence-based research will open many doors. 

“Approaching this from a scientific perspective and having that as a foundation can help people become free of the inherited fear or anxiety about religion, and to see that this common path of mindfulness and community ethics has brought happiness and well-being to people everywhere,” he said. 

In late September, Deer Park Monastery will host a mindfulness retreat for the Center’s employees as a concrete form of collaboration between brothers and sisters, laypeople, scientists, and doctors involved in the Center’s research. DeCosta plans on attending the retreat, and sees it as an opportunity “to gain a greater perspective of the practice of mindfulness.” 

“To me, mindfulness means cultivating a space for peace and happiness and the ability to love oneself,” she said. “If one can achieve this equanimity, the possibilities are endless.”

The post Harvard’s Chan School Opens Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

On the morning of Wednesday, April 19, upward of 400 Tibetans congregated for a “Truth Rally” outside CNN’s New York City offices. They were demanding a public apology from CNN to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people for what they argue was misleading reporting of a good-natured interaction with a young boy at the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamsala, India, in February. Detailing their grievances on an information sheet that was distributed at the rally, protesters asserted that CNN misled the public by airing only a heavily edited video clip of the interaction, failing to examine cultural context, and excluding crucial facts and informed voices in the conversation—namely the voices of Tibetans. 

On April 10, CNN broadcast a television report headlined, “Dalai Lama Apologizes After Video Goes Viral: Clip shows spiritual leader asking boy to ‘suck his tongue.’” CNN anchor Julia Chatterley introduced the clip by pointing to the tension between the “outrage” across the internet and the widely-held view of the Dalai Lama as a “joker.” CNN reporter Vedika Sud then emphasized the “‘severe backlash” against the Dalai Lama that had spread on social media since the viral clip emerged. She read the response from the Dalai Lama’s office and called attention to the office apologizing for his words, not his actions. She added, “Clearly for a lot of people across social media this is more than just teasing. It has upset huge sections of people on social media, on Twitter, that have called it, like I said, absolutely disappointing, absolutely disturbing, and absolutely inappropriate behavior by the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.”

A collective of four Tibetans organized the protest in response: Dr. Tenzin Mingyur Paldron, a trans artist and educator; Chemi Youdon, the founder of a nonprofit Tibetan nanny agency; Tenying Yangsel, a housing justice organizer; and Chonyi Gyatso, a youth educator. Their overlapping experience in trauma-informed education, intersectional activism, and youth empowerment converged at the common place of providing resources and accessible tools to the community and media.

Tibetans of all ages and ideological backgrounds traveled from their offices in Manhattan, homes in Jackson Heights, Queens, and school drop-offs around the city to protest the damage they said established news outlets like CNN inflicted on their community. They gathered in song, prayer, and chants, declaring that the “truth would come out.” Most people held one of three protest signs: the white dove, symbolizing peace; Four Harmonious Friends (Tib. Thunba Punshi), symbolic of living harmoniously; or the three wise monkeys to communicate the teachings of right speech to the media. 

An organizing principle of the demonstration was a request for global accountability for disregarding the voices of Tibetans, a community that has endured genocide and continues to experience colonization and exile.

“We’re asking people to listen to us, and people are choosing not to listen to an entire community,” said organizer Chonyi Gyatso. 

According to the organizers, Tibetans have experienced increased acts of daily discrimination and hate speech since the April 10 report. “The media has caused an extreme amount of pain to our community, and it’s at a daily level,” said youth educator Tseten Tsering. “There are kids in New York City having to sit in classrooms hearing terrible and vilifying comments about His Holiness.” 

“What happened to cultural sensitivity? What happened to talking?” Paldron asked. “This video came from the Tibetan community. The journalists could have asked more questions to the Tibetan community. What makes them believe they don’t have to interview a single person from that community to know what happened?”

In its address to CNN, the group provided resources mapping its stance on how the media participated in the misrepresentation of the Tibetan people and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. These resources include:

1. Voice of Tibet’s post-event interviews with Dr. Payal Kanodia (a trustee of the Indian M3M Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the real estate company M3M Group) and her child on YouTube and Instagram
2. Radio Free Asia’s post-event interview with the child and his grandfather, Basant Bansal, M3M chair
3. The unedited video of the interaction with cultural context provided by Jigme Ugen, a Tibetan American (unedited video starts at the 15-minute, 15-second mark)
4. A video of respected educator and engineer Sonam Wangchuk of Ladakh, India (“Ice Stupa Project”) explaining the cultural context of the interaction

Younger protesters considered the demonstration an opportune time to renegotiate their relationship with the Western world, which upholds the dominant narrative on Tibet and the Tibetan people. A student who wished to go unnamed said that the current Tibetan experience is widely misunderstood thanks to “static” portrayals of Tibet that have created “damaging, unrealistic expectations” of the Tibetan people in popular culture. She and other protesters feel that the media imposes a one-dimensionality on their contested identity as exiled people. “I encourage Tibetans to consider the harm of these outside characterizations and reflect on the power dynamics at hand,” an environmental educator named Yuthok added. 

A Tibetan Equality Project member who also wished to go unnamed stressed: “We are a diverse people. We all have different perspectives on different issues. We’re not one single hive mind, right? We all have different ways of thinking, and they might clash with each other. But if there’s one thing to say, it’s that this issue is so upsetting in its lack of nuance that people from all ideological backgrounds within the Tibetan community have come together and unified.” 

The controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama is informed by perpetuated histories of Orientalism, argued some protesters. “No one would care if people didn’t have such high expectations of what Tibet is,” the Tibetan Equality Project member attested. “His position in the public eye doesn’t allow him the space to exist in his humanity. I feel like a lot of the West think of him as some sort of higher deity or being and that’s why their expectations are so high. He’s a human being and he’s an old human being.” 

Protesters emphasized that Tibetans’ affinity toward the Dalai Lama varies across generations. Many shared how the Dalai Lama’s central position in the Tibetan cultural landscape feels like a “familial bed of comfort and safety” for Tibetans across the diaspora whose nationless identity is shaped by fractured narratives of home.

Still, “a lot of people think that the Tibetans have blind faith in the Dalai Lama, and it’s insulting because [they’re] saying that an entire people are not thinking critically for themselves,” remarked organizer Chonyi Gyatso. “It’s an insult to our intelligence, and I’m pretty sure that’s racist.”

However Tibetans regard His Holiness, protesters made clear that the outsized recognition of the Dalai Lama across the rest of the world as synonymous with Tibet means that any attack on him is deeply felt. As Chonyi Gyatso put it, “When people are talking negatively about the Dalai Lama, it does feel like an attack on me being Tibetan.” 

Although most Tibetans at the Truth Rally had spent the week “crying, sleepless, with loss of appetite,” as organizer Chemi Youdon described it, protesters spoke to the palpable sense of unity and relief to be in community, even as passersby yelled slurs from across the street. 

“Seeing everyone come together this early in the morning, in the cold, is inspiring. My heart feels lighter after having the space to let out what I was holding inside, including all the frustration,” Yuthok said. 

Throughout the three-hour demonstration, ten self-elected community members sported red bandanas on their sleeves to spotlight their role as community stewards, directing traffic across the busy intersection and translating across cultural and linguistic barriers. Others distributed snacks and water bottles between the clusters of young children, elders, and domestic workers, largely nannies, attending the rally. Everyone else was singing in harmony to the Words of Truth Prayer (Tib. Den Tsig Mon Lam).

Across the many intersecting identities present at the Truth Rally ran an undercurrent of belonging, supported by what Paldron named as “trust in each other.” The protest served as a compelling reminder that when interdependence and community care are prioritized, people have an extraordinary capacity to transcend mental and physical obstacles. 

“Don’t expect external remedies to give you peace of mind,” urged Tenzin Choeyang, an elderly, devout practitioner in the community. “You have to rely on what we’ve always been taught in our culture and religion: to realize that what we need is within us.”

The post ‘Truth Rally’ Protest: Tibetans Respond appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

I was a high school student at the time of Thailand’s 2014 coup d’état. I turned 18 on September 10, 2014, and as I considered the sources of my society’s problems, I saw forced conscripted military service as one of them, violating the freedom and rights of Thai people. Thus, I published a statement that I would not serve in the military.

Since July 10, 2022, I have been ordained as a monk, studying and practicing Buddhism with a strong faith in the teachings of the Buddha. Without coercion to the service, I wish to continue studying and practicing Buddhism as much as I desire. However, I do not want to use the privilege of being a monk to escape military service or give the impression that I am running away and using the temple as a shield, which would contradict my statement from almost nine years ago.

Therefore, I have decided to disrobe and return to household life, willingly struggling in the legal process to uphold my beliefs and guide my Thai society toward a path of peace, nonviolence, and no military conscription.

However, before disrobing, I must complete some unfinished tasks. I need to pass the Pali examination and will be retaking one subject on April 15–16, which I devoted time to study for. After that, I will ask for some preparation time before disrobing, which I plan to do before the end of April. During this very short period, I want to maintain myself as a Buddhist monk and ask for the kindness of everyone to give me a chance to cultivate the peaceful serenity that suits a monk who follows the noble life.

Tricycle sent Netiwit several questions about his life and plans. His answers are below.

What was your childhood like? Where did you grow up, and what was your experience with Buddhism as a young person? I grew up in a middle-class family in Samut Prakarn Province, near Bangkok. Despite my parents’ divorce when I was 6 years old and the financial insecurity we faced following the 1997 Tom Yum King crisis, my family was diverse in terms of beliefs and interests. My grandmother, whom I lived with between the ages of 10 and 16, was a vegetarian and a Mahayana Buddhist who ran her own vegetarian shop. As a child, I was rebellious and skeptical of many beliefs, including those of my family. I felt that I needed to find my own meaning and purpose in life. My father, who was interested in politics, helped shape my interest in the subject, and I eventually discovered Buddhism and the political history of my country. 

I found Sulak Sivaraksa’s writings to be especially compelling and became involved with his magazine, Pacharayasala, which means “Great Teacher,” and which had been in existence for over forty years. I developed a strong interest in the connection between spirituality and political awareness, which led me to pursue a path of morality, idealism, and critical thinking. As the youngest editor of Sulak’s magazine, I have gained valuable experience and insights into Buddhism, politics, and the importance of critical thinking. 

Tell us about your time as a monk. What led you to be a monk, and what have you been studying? Before becoming a monk, I was already critical of mainstream education. As a student in high school, I witnessed oppression, such as strict rules about hairstyles, and I became vocal about it. My objection to the enforcement of “traditional” hairstyles comes from the Kalama Sutta, where the Buddha teaches that we don’t need to believe something just because it is tradition. Some friends and I founded the student group called TERA (Thailand Education Revolution Alliance) to collect petitions across the country to change the rule. We even debated about it on a popular news show and gained national attention. Later on, I cofounded The Education for Liberation of Siam, which focused more broadly on creating education that aims to liberate student minds and be critical of authoritarianism in society, not just school rules. After finishing my high school education, I took a gap year to study at Deer Park Institute in Bir, India. During this time, I learned English, and also about practitioners of Vajrayana and the suffering of Tibetans in exile. It was also during this time that the 2014 coup happened in Thailand, disrupting our hopes for change. 

The military regime imposed strict rules and brainwashed people to admire the military, and I witnessed this firsthand when I returned from India. I became involved in opposing the Junta while studying at Chulalongkorn University, known as the bastion of conservatism. My friends and I demanded the student union act on behalf of the students to fight for democratic change. During this time, I also learned about the Hong Kong Protest and became friends with Joshua Wong, whom I highly admired as a devout Christian fighting for social justice. We tried to create an international translation activism before the Milk Tea Alliance became popular. I voiced the need to change the culture in my university, and we succeeded in many ways, but sometimes we faced setbacks. However, I won the administrative court case and later became the president of the student union. Recently, the university punished me when I invited the leader of the student protest to speak at a freshman orientation. As a result, I lost my position once again. 

The many struggles I faced often made me feel sad and lost. In September of 2014, on my 18th birthday, a few months after the coup, I declared myself a conscientious objector because I knew that I would have to face military service in the future, which is this year (2023). I understand that this might be one of the hardest things in my life, so I am preparing myself and finding more peace and encouragement in my heart. I always believe that if politics or society could change, individuals also have to change. We must cultivate virtue and find more peace and less want in our hearts. I consider Buddhism my native religion, and I have always read about it. But now, as a monk, I can study and practice it more deeply. I should mention that Joshua Wong, my friend and ally in social justice, has inspired me with his faith to seek more meaning and purpose in my life.

What are the laws around military service? Are monks not exempt from service? Do the Buddhist authorities not protest? In Thailand, it is stated in the constitution that every male must serve in the military for two years. However, in reality, there are various ways to avoid military service due to the poor conditions, humiliations, degradations, and even deaths from bullying that occur in military camps. For instance, some students in high school can apply for the Territorial Defense Student program, which requires attending military training once a week for three years and staying in camps for five to seven days per year. However, this program requires purchasing its uniforms and enduring military indoctrination, making it similar to serving in the military. I empathize with poor and ordinary students who do not have the financial means to join the Territorial Defense Student program and therefore have to serve in the military.

Additionally, it is heartbreaking to see videos of monks having to draw a card from a box—if they receive a black card, they are exempt; a red card means they have to serve in the military for two years. Many monks appear heartbroken and cry in these situations. However, there is a way for monks to apply to avoid military service if they have completed certain degrees of moral education within the monk system. If they remain in the monkhood until 30 years old, they will also be allowed to not serve in the military. I have this privilege myself, but I have decided not to use it. Instead, I believe that every person in Thailand, regardless of their financial status or social status, should have the right to live according to their own beliefs and values, such as nonviolence. I have made the decision to refuse military service and will go to trial and will face the penalties.

What is the danger you face if you do not comply with the authorities? Refusing military service comes with significant risks. Firstly, I would be considered to have violated Thai law, which would lead to me losing my monk status. I do not want to put my temple under any pressure from the state due to my actions. Additionally, I would face consequences for my unlawful actions, including potential jail time of up to three years. While I am unsure how the court would rule in my case, I am willing to face the truth and the consequences of my decision.

Is there anything else we should know about your situation and Thai militarism? Thailand’s history is deeply intertwined with militarism, with a long history of military coups and a powerful military-industrial complex that permeates all aspects of society. The conscription process is particularly troubling, as it is riddled with corruption, allowing the rich to avoid service while the poor are forced to go and often face harsh conditions. As an advocate for nonviolence, I have seen firsthand the devastating effects of militarization in my country. This is why I believe that the abolition of conscription is crucial to ensure that every individual is granted the dignity and respect they deserve. By taking a stand against mandatory military service, I hope to inspire others to challenge the status quo and work toward creating a more compassionate and just society. My situation is not unique: many young people in Thailand are faced with the same dilemma of having to choose between serving in the military and maintaining their beliefs and dignity. 

As a Buddhist, I believe that my actions are in line with the principle of abhayadana, the “gift of fearlessness,” which means giving others the confidence and security they need to live without fear. By refusing to comply with mandatory military service, I am offering an alternative vision of a more compassionate society. Though this decision carries risks and potential consequences, I believe that the pursuit of justice and peace is worth it. I hope that my actions will inspire others to question the militaristic culture in Thailand, and around the world, and to seek nonviolent solutions to conflicts. Together, we can create a better future for all.

The post The Monk and the Military  appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama apologized on Monday after a video circulated on social media of the spiritual leader kissing a boy on the lips and telling him, “Suck my tongue.” The interaction took place in late February at the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamsala, India, with about 100 young student graduates of the Indian M3M Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the real estate company M3M Group, in attendance. 

In the video, a young boy approaches the microphone and asks if can hug the Dalai Lama. The 87-year-old points to his cheek, saying “First here,” after which the child kisses his cheek and hugs him. The Dalai Lama then points to his lips and says, “I think here also” and pulls the boy’s chin and kisses him on the mouth. He then tells the boy “And suck my tongue,” sticking his tongue out, forehead to forehead with the boy. The Dalai Lama then laughs and pulls the boy in for another hug. 

As the video went viral, many condemned the spiritual leader’s actions, calling it “inappropriate,” “pedophilic,” and “disgusting.” Others have decried the criticism, arguing that the Dalai Lama’s actions have been misinterpreted. Sticking one’s tongue out is a traditional greeting in Tibet, according to NPR. 

In response to the backlash, the Dalai Lama’s office issued an apology to the boy and his family, “as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused.” The statement did not mention the kiss or extended tongue, only that the boy asked the Dalai Lama for a hug. It continues, “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident.” 

The spiritual leader has drawn criticism for public remarks in recent years, including in 2015, when he joked in an interview with BBC that any future female Dalai Lama should be “very attractive.” When pressed about the comments in a later 2019 interview with BBC, the Dalai Lama reaffirmed his belief that a female Dalai Lama “should be more attractive.” His office later issued an apology for the remarks. 

The post Dalai Lama Apologizes Over an Exchange with a Child  appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

An eight-foot-tall bronze statue of Maitreya has been gracing the Bodhi tree for the last year at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India. A gift of  Ven. Tarthang Tulku, president of the Light of Buddhadharma Foundation International and the head lama of the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Centre (TNMC), the statue was cast in the foundry at the Odiyan retreat center in Sonoma, California. It was then shipped to India and arrived on April 16, 2021, which happened to be the day of a full moon, and just in time for the sixteenth annual International Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony, in which thousands of monks chant the Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripitaka) under the Bodhi tree. 

Tarthang Tulku’s daughter Wangmo Dixey—executive director of Dharma College, president of the International Buddhist Association of America, and executive director of the Light of Buddhadharma Foundation International—helped obtain permission to install Maitreya under the Bodhi tree. “It really was a miracle to know that Maitreya flew from California and arrived in Bodhgaya on a full moon day,” Dixey said. “During the Tipitaka chanting ceremony, thousands of people honored it by adorning it with flowers from around the world.”

Having been the centerpiece for ceremonies at the Vajrasana (the “diamond seat” where the Buddha was enlightened) since its arrival, the statue was blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in December 2022, before being moved to the meditation park on the southeast side of the Mahabodhi Temple complex. Part of the mission of the Light of Buddhadharma Foundation International-India is to beautify the sacred sites of the Buddha, which now includes a Maitreya House where this statue will reside. 

Thousands of monks and laypeople visit the Mahabodhi every year, but this is the first time a Maitreya has graced the site in recorded history. 

Many Buddhist traditions agree that the Mahabodhi Temple marks the place where the Buddhas of this eon will come to attain enlightenment. It is therefore deeply auspicious that a statue of the Buddha Maitreya be located on the Mahabodhi Temple grounds.

The post Maitreya Under the Bodhi Tree appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

For decades, Myanmar, also known as Burma, was a refuge and resource for those seeking the Buddha’s teachings, including many of the most prominent and influential Western teachers of the mindfulness movement. Even beyond teachers of mindfulness, though, the effects of Burmese mindfulness teachings have been felt throughout the entire Western Buddhist world, in every tradition, and beyond the Buddhist world as well. Given this debt of gratitude and these threads of interconnection, how should we respond to events in Myanmar now? Although the country has long suffered from severe poverty, ethnic divisions that are a lingering result of colonialism, and the fascist rule of generals, events in recent years have been nothing short of a descent into horror. 

Watching now, one can only say, “cry the beloved country.” In February 2021, the military seized power in Myanmar, returning it to dictatorial rule by the junta, who have held power off and on since 1962. The modest progress toward democracy that had been made with the election, and subsequent parliamentary leadership, of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2015 collapsed, sparking nationwide protests. Journalists and activists were jailed and often sentenced to hard labor. Civil unrest was crushed with violent countermeasures, including the assault, imprisonment, and murder of protesters by the junta. The numbers are staggering: 2,519 people have been killed and 16,275 people arrested, and until recently, 12,962 were still detained by the military, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. In recent weeks, 6,000 prisoners were granted amnesty and released, including some political prisoners like writer Maung Thar Cho, who is known for his satirical pieces criticizing the Myanmar military before the coup, and Shwe Nyawa Sayadaw, an antiregime Buddhist monk. This is surely cold comfort to those opposing the regime given the immediate rearrest of Saw Phoe Kwar, a Karen peace activist and singer, after his release last week. 

Fighting between the Myanmar junta and resistance groups, including the People’s Defense Force (PDF), rages on, with the PDF claiming the deaths of 45 junta members recently. On the other side, the junta have been guilty of many attacks on civilians as well as fighters. The popular Burmese singer Aurali Lahpai was performing onstage in northern Myanmar in October when three military jets flew overhead and bombed the outdoor concert. One bomb struck near the main stage, killing Lahpai and several others in the middle of a song. At least eighty were killed in the attack, according to emergency workers. In two separate attacks in recent months, children’s schools were brutally targeted by the junta, resulting in the deaths of several children, in one case as a result of gunfire from helicopter-mounted guns. 

The members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, have largely been disempowered or jailed, including the onetime symbol of democratic rule herself, who was sentenced to a total of twenty-six years in prison on corruption charges, even for the supposed crime of having faked her own democratic election. 

The Bamar Buddhist majority in Myanmar, finding themselves again in the barrels of the government supposedly sworn to protect them, has been faced with the reality that the military junta is neither interested in Bamar identity nor Buddhism, but only in power. The junta, in recent years, has wielded specious claims to be defending Buddhism as a justification for disempowering Myanmar’s non-Buddhist tribal minorities. In some cases, members of the Buddhist sangha have been complicit, or even openly supportive, in these claims. 

Khin Mai Aung, a Burmese writer and lawyer in New York City, is one of many Burmese around the world who would like to see an end to ethnic division and fascist rule in the country. Aung says the feeling among Burmese is now growing that the mask has slipped, revealing that they are not motivated by even a perverse interpretation of Buddhism, but are simply cynical through and through. “The murder of Buddhist protesters, and even children, has made it clear in the eyes of many that their true enemy is anyone not themselves. Both Bamar Buddhists and non-Bamar, non-Buddhist minorities are engaged in resisting the government. I wouldn’t be overly optimistic about this given the history of ethnic divisions in Burma, but it does hold out a glimmer of hope.” 

What has become of the Rohingya, victims of a military offensive that sent hundreds of thousands of them across the border into Bangladesh and that many have called outright genocide? The situation in Rakhine has deteriorated, with rising tension between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, another armed group fighting for self-determination for ethnic minorities in the state, which has left the Rohingya caught between the two. Last November, there were reports of mass arrests of Rohingya who had tried to leave Rakhine, with the military handing out more severe sentences against those convicted. Meanwhile, the successful campaign by the junta to enlist the Bamar Buddhist majority against the Rohingya Muslims has alienated many in the West.

What Can We Do? 

“On one, obvious level,” says Maung Zarni, a Burmese dissident in exile who is now a UK-based human rights activist and a founding architect of the Free Rohingya Coalition, “one can support humanitarian efforts to bring aid to the Rohingya and others impacted by the violence of the regime.” To that end, we can note, Buddhist Global Relief is collecting donations, as well as recommending people give to the Buddhist Humanitarian Project, which was recently formed with the express purpose of giving aid to the Rohingya. “This is important and necessary,” continues Zarni. “On another level, one can support pro-democratic, pro-peace elements in Burma and abroad.” 

Joah McGee, a longtime popular podcaster on religion, culture, and politics in Burma/Myanmar, says “Myanmar is a place of contradictions, yet people sometimes see it in black-and-white terms. The monks are good or the monks are bad; the people are devout Buddhists living in enviable simplicity or they are ignorant racist peasants who don’t understand real Buddhism. The reality is more complicated.” 

In addition to working to advance accurate information about Myanmar into the global conversation, McGee is the founder of Better Burma, which provides humanitarian aid and “supports the Burmese people in their struggle for freedom.” 

McGee says that the junta exercises strict control over the flow of all goods in Myanmar and actively prevents humanitarian aid of any kind. “We have had to find ways to connect to clandestine local networks which deliver food, medicine, and other aid. Burmese people trying to deliver rice or medicine have to put spotters on the roads and try to evade the junta.” 

Hozan Alan Senauke, who oversees the network of engaged Buddhists called the Clear View Project, points to the importance of peacebuilding, the support of civil society, and training for democracy. Senauke says that the time for Western organizers acting as leaders in Myanmar has passed, but there are now local, indigenous movements that are doing excellent work, like the Spirit in Education Movement of Sulak Sivaraksa. 

Yet, Zarni notes, focusing on the situation inside Myanmar is not enough. “The crisis in Burma is not merely a local crisis,” he says. “China is involved, Russia is involved, and other governments like the UK, America, and Israel are involved because they are complicit, or because they have business interests in Burma, or are selling them arms, or because they don’t want to risk conflict with China, who supports the regime. We shouldn’t forget that Rakhine state, where the Rohingya have been driven out of, is on valuable coastal property which local and international actors are interested in for monetary reasons.” 

As Zarni points out, the Burmese crisis is finally a global crisis. As long as governments around the world fail to cooperate in the spread of true democracy, and as long as wealth inequality and dirty resource extraction rule the day, it will be very difficult to bring healing to Burma and other countries in the throes of poverty and fascism.

Myanmar’s crisis is not an isolated one; it is interdependent with the global political ecology. As with so many of the crises we face, solving them will require nothing short of the bodhisattva activity of healing the world. Our activities for Burma, then, shouldn’t be limited to sending money to refugees—as vital as that is—but should also include taking whatever opportunities we can to strengthen democracy, build wealth equality, and encourage responsible energy practices both at home and around the world. This may seem a daunting task, but as the Zen bodhisattva vow—“beings are numberless, I vow to save them all”—teaches us, the impossibility of a task is no reason not to do it.

The post Two Years after the Coup appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Defining literature is an undertaking that is fraught with challenges. While academics and critics long regarded literature as solely the arts of poetry, prose, and dramatic writing, contemporary understanding has expanded to include canonical texts, oral traditions, and anything written in which form and content matter. The new biannual Journal of Tibetan Literature (JTL), which launched November 15, offers a space to present, celebrate, and engage Tibetan literary expression in all its diverse forms, from ancient sutras to modern prose.

Since the Western beginnings of Tibetan studies in the 1960s, scholars have been acutely focused on texts, often Buddhist, and have largely avoided discussions based in literary criticism and theory. When scholars do explore contemporary works, they tend to categorize them based on genres that have no equivalents in Tibetan composition. Western scholars also tend to dominate published research, sidelining the voices of Tibetan researchers. With these issues in mind, the editors at JTL provide a peer-reviewed platform dedicated to research, translation, and critical appreciation that seems ready to redirect Tibetan literary studies onto a more inclusive path.

Notably, translation will take a prominent position in JTL, elevating this oft-ignored scholarly skill. Effective and faithful translation requires a depth of knowledge that transcends rote academic learning. It also necessitates a familiarity with numerous languages, a broad view of history, and a mastery of the content. Despite a long history of scholars translating texts, the academy tends to relegate translation as grunt work and not scholarship. JTL founding editors Andrew Quintman and Kurtis Schaeffer note in the first issue’s “Letter from the Editors:” 

While the practice of translation has long been central to the study of Tibetan literature, it has frequently been under valued or overlooked in the academy as a productive form of scholarship. Accordingly, there have been few venues for peer-reviewed publication of translations. JTL seeks to highlight not only the final products of academic translation but asks translators to reflect on their approaches, contexts, problems, and practices in their work. 

With an impressive editorial team of exceptional scholars, including Janet Gyatso, Brandon Dotson, Tenzin Dickie, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, and Nancy Lin, the new Journal of Tibetan Studies seems well-positioned to become a leading voice in the field, offering engaging material for both the seasoned expert (e.g. “‘Avadana of Silver Flowers:’ A Discussion on Decolonization and Anti-Colonial Translation Practices for Tibetan Poetry” by Rabsal and Willock) and the interested non-academic (e.g. the translation of “Tsyultrim Jyamtso” by Dondrup Gyal). And it’s open source! That alone is enough to garner kudos and appreciation.

The post Redefining Tibetan Literature appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.