Week 8: American Dharma
Taking our cue from Ann Gleig's book, and extensive research, by this title, our final week will look at a two issues raised in recent years in various communities and contexts:
- A core dispute within Buddhism (and, frankly, every contemplative tradition) is the degree to which practitioners are giving sufficiently to the community (and are deserving of support) by simply providing spiritual guidance, or whether serving material needs is also skillful practice. As Buddhism moved to the West, the [Mahayana] Buddhist Churches of America copied the model of Christian charity; Soka Gaikai International has intense social involvement; and Zen, both in ad hoc efforts such as the Zen hospices, and under charismatic leaders such as a Bernie Glassman and Joan Halifax, has institutionalized social engagement, for example, in the Zen Peacekeeper movement and the Upaya Zen Center. Theravadan and Tibetan lineages, in contrast, have done little, but in the Insight tradition, this is being challenged, for example, by Bhikkhu Bodhi and Donald Rothberg.
- The issue of expanding the sangha beyond a White elite has become a major issue in the past decade, often intermixed with issues of intergenerational control, and we'll at least look at some of the voices and issues here, without expecting to resolve this. Once again, precedents such a B.R. Ambedkar's advocacy of Buddhism as a counter to the caste system in India 75 years ago, invoked in Isabel Wilkerson's recent discussion of the American caste system, Caste (2020), might be relevant.
Link to slides from talk (PDF)
Suggested reading:
- Michael Haederle. "Women in Buddhism Study Initiative, University of Hamburg" (May 2014) [Discussion of Bhikkhu Analayo's work on the topic as well as this initiative more generally] https://www.lionsroar.com/profile-women-in-buddhism-study-initiative-university-of-hamburg/
- Ann Gleig. "Beyond the Upper Middle Way" (September 2019) https://www.lionsroar.com/beyond-the-upper-middle-way/
- Ruth King. "Healing the Broken Body of Sangha." March-2017 https://www.lionsroar.com/healing-the-broken-body-of-sangha/
- Lion's Roar panel "The Road to Diversity" (2012) (Note the date: this is interesting as it occurs in the middle of Spirit Rock dealing with diversity and just as the East Bay Meditation Center was hitting its stride. Also nice discussion of SGI) https://www.lionsroar.com/road-to-diversity/
- Bhikkhu Bodhi. "The Need of the Hour." (Fall 2011) https://tricycle.org/magazine/bhikkhu-bodhi/
- David R. Loy. "What's Buddhist about socially engaged Buddhism?" http://www.zen-occidental.net/articles1/loy12-english.html
Other resources
- Bhikkhu Bodhi (ed.). The Buddha's Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony. (2016)
- Fred Epstein, ed. The Path of Compassion: Writings on Socially Engaged Buddhism. (1985) (quite early, obviously, with writings by a number of major teachers across different traditions)
- Joan Halifax and Rebecca Soinit. Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet. (2018)
- Chenxing Han. "We're Not Who You Think We Are" (2017) (contemporary Asian American Buddhism) https://www.lionsroar.com/were-not-who-you-think-we-are/ Also see the Angry Asian Buddhist blog (2012-2019) by the late Aaron Lee: http://www.angryasianbuddhist.com/
- Bernard Glassman and Rick Fields. Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life That Matters. (1996)
- Dalai Lama with Jean-Cladue Carriere. Violence and Compassion: Dialogues on Life Today (1996)
- Lama Rod Owens, Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger (2020)
- Donald Rothberg. The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World. (2006)
- Jasmine Syedullah, Lama Rod Owens, and angel Kyodo williams. Radical Dharma (2016)