Hi Viveka,

Thanks for posting. I live on the East Coast of the US in one of the whitest areas of the country, and our sangha reflects that. Like so many of us, I have seen so much video and read so many accounts of black people, indigenous people and people of color treated unfairly, abused, tased, shot and choked to death by civilian racists and police. It can have an overwhelming effect with a resultant feeling of helplessness, and then a numbness.

I remember a feeling after a few years in to the Obama presidency, that we had turned a corner, that the vector as a nation was up and away from racism. But it is clear to all of us now that that was never fully the case, and with the wrong leadership, many of the US’s racists have come forward emboldened and unashamed. But the problem is deeper than the extremes exhibited by people who actively give expression to hate. Our own conditioning and bias plays a role in how we treat each other, and in how we see the world. And that conditioning can often be hard to notice, the roots being so deep.

White people take a lot for granted in New England. I imagine that’s the case elsewhere too. I’m on two different Triratna councils (Aryaloka and Portsmouth Buddhist Center) and we have had multiple discussions over the years regarding the lack of diversity in our sangha, and how to address it. Meanwhile in the broader populace, there has been a building literature and culture of workshops around becoming aware of our privilege, shining light on hidden or unconscious racism, discovering where we may be complicit in systemic racism, and even just learning our full history.

I can tell you that I had never heard of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre until last year when it was depicted in the first episode of HBO’s Watchmen series. I remember looking it up on my phone, asking myself, wait a minute, did this really happen? And it did. It did happen. And it wasn’t a part of my American history class. I was 48 when I found out about Tulsa – I should have known about it when I was 8. 

I’m currently involved in the writing or editing of two different responses for our local centers to the recent surge of awareness and action in regards racism and police violence in this country. I’ve been bringing the current context of awareness, pain and struggle into the classes I’ve been facilitating online. Many of us are in pain and want to do something. And many of us need to feel this, sit with it, and allow a compassionate response to arise. There’s a lot to sort out. Many of us have become aware that we don’t really know how to respond to racism skillfully, without indulging our own outrage or horrified anxiety, without condescending to people who suffer directly from racism, without feeling insecurity around doing or saying something that makes the problem worse.

So we’re moving towards a more direct approach to uprooting racism in our selves, in our sanghas, in the wider community. To the extent that racism is based in fear and hatred, this is Buddhist territory. This is our ground. We know how to work with fear and hatred. So let’s get more specific. Let’s shine light on this pervasive expression of hatred and dissolve it. To that end, we are looking for skilled help in educating and workshopping around these matters. 

Before the matter of racism and our response to racism enters the political sphere, it is already in the sphere of our ethical lives. This is a social issue that we are not separate from or immune to as Buddhists, no matter how cloistered away. I wish it wasn’t a matter of left or right – I wish there was bipartisan support of anti-racist momentums in our culture. But in this country, that is not the case. Although it is not free from racism, there is far more awareness, sensitivity, dialogue and activism left of the aisle. 

I’m a Buddhist before I’m a liberal. My response to racism is based in basic human goodwill, clarified and reinforced by the Buddhist ideals I chose to dedicate my life to. Triratna as a whole can be an expression of this goodwill as it applies to the issue of racism without purposely drawing political lines. We just need to keep learning, seek to understand and empathize, give full expression to our ideal of community, and draw out the full implication of our ethics.

Dear Viveka, Thank you for this vital invitation to awareness, to deep empathy. Your podcast with Paramananda is very moving and inspiring to listen - one gem that stays with me is when you said how meditation is relational - it really resonates with me and with my practice. Your invitation is a bridge and a challenge; a call for action instead of silence. 

Candradasa, thank you for your thoughtful, clear and thorough editorial policy. It offers me a sense of hope that we’re truly offering the Dharma to the world we live in, hearing and responding to its cries.

Bhante Sangharakshita back in his talk given in Bombay says “I believe that it is possible for any human being to communicate with any other human being, to feel for any other human being, to be friends with any other human being”.  I often come back to this reading and it feels so potent for today’s situation.

James Baldwin’s verses capture the fear that raises in my heart when I read some of the responses - in our community as well as outside.

The moment we cease to hold each other,
the moment we break faith with one another,
the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.

Much metta and courage to all - so that the light does not go out,
Dharmaprabha

Dear Viveka,

The image of you, a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, holding up a Black Lives Matter sign has meant so much to me, as did your beautiful and heartfelt podcast with Paramananda. We’ve never met personally, but I feel a lot of gratitude towards you for your work on this and your teaching, and want to send you my love and support and solidarity.

I’m a GFR mitra, and preparing to commit myself to the best life I can imagine. I just can’t do that if it means standing impassively outside a world of injustice or abandoning suffering others in the name of being ‘apolitical’. With your compassionate and emotional response, invoking the courage and poetry of James Baldwin, you help me see how I can engage with what’s happening in the world without polarization, without contracting into rage and blame, and without withdrawing in order to be ‘apolitical’. The issue for me is not ‘political’, but ethical – the righting of a historic wrong that has caused immeasurable harm and continues to do so. The dharma requires clear seeing, honesty, open-heartedness of me, and above all, to commit to not causing harm and to taking responsibility when I have. This includes inadvertent harm I may cause through my ignorance or foolishness due to being socialized white in a historically racist society – and this will take humility, courage and time. This is taking responsibility for my actions. I can’t speak for others, but for me, this is part of my commitment as a buddhist and a morally responsible human being.

In terms of remaining detached from worldly affairs in order to preserve the purity of the spiritual life, personally I’m not sure the Buddha meant that we should remain indifferent to the suffering of others or in the world – if so, what’s the Bodhisattva vow all about? What’s all this talk of compassion for? 

Of course black lives matter. In all good conscience, how could they not? ‘Black Lives Matter’ has become a slogan and sometimes when that happens, it feels like the simple meaning of the words gets lost. But let’s also remember why this has to be said in the first place – in the face of a world in which black lives don’t have value– or at least, not as much as others. Still, I don’t know how it can be the case that saying that black lives and black people are important, are sacred, are beautiful, are worthy of protection and respect, can be contentious, or reduced to an ‘ideology’ or ‘political opinion’. That the centuries of systemic oppression and injustice are at last being brought to the surface and seen for what they are can only be a force for good, to heal old wounds, increase connection and alleviate suffering.

Black lives matter in the world at large, and if I am to be able to say I am a part of it with my head held high, I need black lives to matter in Triratna. 

Thank you Viveka, for your courageous and sensitive work to ensure this, both in the movement and in the world. 

Thank you Viveka for this beautiful post. I am deeply grateful to you for your courage and leadership in starting this conversation. This seems absolutely the right place for this conversation and it seems vital and urgent that all of us who are a part of this movement make antiracism a part of our internal practice and our practice out in the world.

Thank you Viveka and Paramananda for sharing yourselves and introducing me to James Baldwin. I watched his debate with William F Buckley and found it so inspiring, that in 1965 James Baldwin could participate showed just how courageous a man he was. I’m not sure that I could ever stand up in such a way.

George Floyd’s murder, the ensuing riots and debates and everything have so greatly saddened me. I know in part that my living alone while I shield has let my heart be more open in a sense but while that may be part of it, I think only a small part of it.

I remember doing my social work training (1989-1991) and starting to read Black women writers and June Jordan had the most powerful effect on me, not just in terms of challenging my own internal racism but got me emotionally into understanding the political parallels between a black man’s murder and the murder of a gay man and how nobody cared about either. I came out in 1989 and read about the civil disobedience and Black Power Movement and think the Stonewall Riots probably wouldn’t have happened without having them as role models so we could stand up for ourselves as a lesbian and gay community. Also, in the 80’s and 90’s there was our shared sense of powerlessness when you couldn’t even trust the police who were supposed to protect you and knowledge that if you were being assaulted in the street no one would come to your aid.

Thirty years on for me I have rights, I can’t be sacked or evicted just because of my sexuality and if I’m assaulted I can report it as a hate crime and I believe that I will be treated with sensitivity and respect by the police. The police now seem positively different from the police I had to regularly deal with in my early social work career. Though I suspect trust of the police within BAME communities may be very different. I feel safe to walk the streets as a lesbian. So there’s a great sadness that so little seems to have changed for Black people in the US since June Jordan was writing over 30 years ago. That Black men and boys do not have the freedom to just go out jogging without risking their lives to some white men who might think you a burglar and shoot you. That mothers and fathers fear that they may not see their children later that same day. I get the anger and the fear that it doesn’t matter if you are a church pastor, if you’re a black man you’re game. To have to live your life like this. Women at some time in their life will have known the fear these Black men live with when they’ve gone out at night without the other abuses life can and has thrown at them. When I was younger I lived with a low level fear for years on end because of domestic violence as I grew up then due to my gender and sexuality. That fear subtlety affected my behaviour, openess and confidence in every aspect of my life. So to know that in a so called democracy people still spend their lives living with low level fear and feelings of powerlessness that can so easily peak because of the level of racism not just in the police force, but society in general, led to me being in touch with a great sadness for many days last week. Thirty years on my situation has changed considerably in the UK yet this is still the case.

I’ve also felt so moved by so many Black people that have shared the reality of their lives on line and heartened by white people coming forward to be supportive and work out what they can do. Thankfully last week there was also Singhashri’s Holding Compassionate Space with BIPOC and this week I’ve come into a more active place and been listening to Reni Eddo-Lodge’s edifying podcasts https://www.aboutracepodcast.com/ which have made so much sense of things that have been happening in the UK among different racial communities and classes.

I think this is so big. Essentially for me this is about all those men and women that live in fear just because of some feature that firmly puts them in the “other” camp. As a Buddhist I will continue to work on wearing away the division between self and other and engaging in a way that is constructive and appropriate. I might get it wrong at times as I try but as Bante would say better honest collison than dishonest collusion.

When I moved from Vancouver, BC to Missoula, MT, I found the lack of people of color and the sound of diverse languages unsettling. Even though I am white and only speak English it felt creepy. I moved to immerse myself in Triratna culture and Missoula was a rich haven of spiritual growth and friendship. Living in a spiritual community and working in right livelihood gave me a taste of a new society. One that actively worked to dismantle the forces of greed, hatred, and delusion. We aimed to operate in the love mode rather than the power mode of the world around us. We were idealistic and imperfect, yet that experience has only strengthened my resolve to work towards a new society and those ideas continue to inspire me. It was also where I first directly witnessed racism towards a dear friend in the Sangha not just once but over and over.

Listening to the podcast by Viveka and Paramananda, I was heartened by the depth of their friendship and practice. I am inspired by the call to action and enjoy learning about James Baldwin. I am grateful to the very few people of color who are involved in Triratna, especially those who have become ordained. Going for refuge with these friends has brought me into contact with a breadth of experience and views that has challenged and enriched my practice. It pains me to read the responses to this post that want to “balance” Viveka’s request for empathy towards blacks in America. The members of our Triratna community may well be predominantly left liberal politically. Conservatives may not be feeling heard in our Buddhist Centers. Trying to silence, counter, and diminish the plea of one of our very few Order members of color speaking honestly and openly about race does not help. As a white conservative Order member, I am appalled that some of us, instead of taking her seriously, have actively written her words off as liberal politics. I read Viveka’s post as a plea to not turn away from the suffering of the black community around the world. This is an opportunity to witness, an opportunity to act, an opportunity to ease suffering.    

I own a business on the edge of the protests and stand with many other local business owners who value black lives over our property. Protests are messy, often driven by anger, and are polarizing because they are all about changing the status quo. Our civilization has developed via protests throughout history and around the world. Through them we have gained independence in India and America, women can vote, slavery is no longer legal. Already the protests happening now have led to change locally and nationally. For the first time, I am proud to be an American when I see our country coming together to witness the suffering of black people and actively working to change the conditions that cause that suffering. I hear the words and pain behind the outrage and the out-pouring of love in response. Through all our flaws and imperfections, I hear a longing for a new society and a willingness to work for it. I hope that conservatives and liberals alike within our movement can support that vision. 

Thank you Viveka for your time and your trust in making this request of us. The latest series of horrific assaults on black lives has been impossible to ignore, and has forced many of us around the world to face the cruel impact of our silence and inability to listen, and to really consider our part in the systemic racism in the US and elsewhere. I hope that we can remember what you and others have asked and that we continue to listen, remember, practice empathy and consider what action we can take in each moment.  I hope that this time there will be lasting change. 

I appreciate Viveka’s words regarding this painful time, and the challenge to us not to turn away from the pain. I also read the responses that are critical of Viveka’s letter.  As a social worker, having worked in shelters for people living without homes and severe mental illness and currently working with low income older adults with mental health issues in San Francisco, I am a witness to the impact of social injustice and systemic racism on black, indigenous and people of color. A huge part of my practice is endeavored to working on my own implicit bias and prejudice.  In my work, it is important to me and my like-minded white counselors that we challenge ourselves, deepen our connection and develop cultural humility to stand with, advocate and help POC heal from the effects of discrimination from lack of access to housing, wealth and education, from segregation.  So this means working in a system that is broken, is extremely difficult to navigate, and works against underserved and marginalized communities. It is heartbreaking.   

In challenging ourselves, we need to talk more about our history of colonialism and European imperialism; that the UK and US were built by black people. We need to learn and become aware that a huge part of our history (and I’m originally from Liverpool) includes how Britain and the US benefited massively from the slave trade. The word ‘slave’, of course, eradicates a person’s identity.  Yes, we all know this history and how little we want to talk about it. So we need to stop and ask ourselves how we’ve colluded with the overall structure? How is racism manifesting in the system, in the structure of society?

We all witnessed the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer on our TVs.  It was horrific. The black community are angry and grieving.  My black coworkers and friends are grieving.  We are all grieving. Furthermore, the black community are angry that it’s taken lifetimes for white people to listen and admit that these violent acts have been happening, and are still happening - all the time.

Will we keep listening and speaking out against racism and brutality?  Will we do the work to change systemic racism?  Will we look deeply into our hearts, with vulnerability in confronting our worldviews? Will we explore our conscious and unconscious biases? Or will we disassociate as we’ve done so many times before?

The uncomfortable truth is that racial differences are here to stay. We have to think of ourselves in racial terms. It’s uncomfortable for white people to talk about, hence the response to Viveka’s letter.  But racial indifference is even harder. So we need to keep talking about this, we need to care and respond with love, and not be blind to the injustice and suffering of others.

As Buddhists, I think we can all agree that it is important to address the problems of the world. To meet the world with kindness, compassion and action; with mindfulness of body, speech and mind. My heart goes out to everyone right now living in fear and suffering.  

So I fail to see how Viveka’s compassionate response to the black communities’ suffering is threatening political views. It’s time we stopped and listened and really worked on the radical change we want to see in the world. Nothing is fixed. If the desire for all beings to be healthy, happy and free from suffering is ‘political’ then I’m all for it.  Bring it on.

[also posted as a thread]

Black Lives Matter & Power Concedes Nothing

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. – Frederick Douglass

Perhaps you’ve heard that our experiences of the world are conditioned and contingent. In our families, cities, societies, religious communities, families, and in our own minds we are conditioned by culture, ideology, politics, social structures, and identity. I’ve certainly heard from reputable sources that these things drop away in states of deepest insight, but that doesn’t mean much about the world we live in every day.

Although the writers apparently cannot see it, the conservative arguments made here are deeply rooted in (can you guess?) identity politics – the identity of the aggrieved conservative cis white man. He is aggrieved because he is completely confounded (but certainly not made speechless) by the reality around him that his life and his ideology is no longer the organizing principle, the very center of every cultural, social, and political space. His identity is no longer the neutral human substance, which the rest of us dilute and pollute with our brutalized and troublesome bodies, colored skin, anger, vaginas, nonbinaries, and unacceptable loves and desires; with our demands for justice and liberation for everyone, for the recognition and care of the humanity in each and every person on this planet. Since his kind still hold most of the wealth and most of the power, he really cannot imagine that his voice is not the most important absolutely everywhere, cannot imagine that if his voice isn’t heard loud and proud the world will go on just fine.

If there are people in the order who want to preserve a supposed politics- and identity-free zone in their spiritual community, then by all means advocate for that. It doesn’t exist, it never has existed. They want harmony in the sense that everyone is silent about everything important in the lived material world. That is not harmony, it is oppression. But if that is indeed what they want, then they should work to bring it about. This professed ideal is completely undermined by the choice to make political arguments for the “conservative” side. They seem quite unaware that their very words – uninformed, ugly, and paternalistic – are clear evidence of the need for change and the persistence of racism. To read Viveka’s compassionate letter of “calling in” as a political diatribe says much more about them than about her. 

If you think it is not dharmic to bring politics and identity into the sangha, then why the hell are you arguing about politics and identity? Do you think the thoughts you’ve shared exemplify a compassionate and wise dharmic response to the world? State your case from an affirmative place of your own convictions – how deeply ironic that you expect the powers that be at TBCO to do this work for you. You are in a minority (of indeterminate but possibly quite small size), which, guess what, sucks. While I am concerned with justice and liberation for most minority groups, I’m not concerned with people who wish for their own minority rule, which is exactly what barring people from expressing “political” views would be. Call me a hypocrite. 

If you don’t understand that the slow murder of George Floyd was a racist act by a racist man in a racist system, then I don’t have anything to say to you. I’m not going to change your mind, and you sure as shit aren’t going to change mine. I of course have the advantage of being on the right side of history and of being on the side of human freedom. The conservative arguments are not going to win in this small context, perhaps you should consider if this is how you want to spend your time. You may have to settle for your voice being extremely well represented in most every institution and power structure around us, including this order.

All this pearl clutching and deep concern about the ravening mob is a tiresome misdirection not based in reality. If you knew even the slightest thing about work for Black liberation you would know it is grounded in love and joy and vision for the future. Yes, if the devil is kneeling on your neck, you need to fight like hell to get him off, but the right to breathe is step 1, step 0. All of us, even the aggrieved but generally safe white man, should be considerably more concerned about the violent militarized power of the state than the fact that sometimes after a protest there are crimes against property (often sparked by police violence) or that some people no longer wish to commemorate racists and slavers in their town square. This is truly nothing compared to the violence perpetuated by the police and those very dead white men.

But the groupthink is destroying civilized discourse! Do some people act in a performative way within a narrow range of opinion? Of course they do, groups of people have tendencies to act in group-like ways – if you think about it I’m sure you can come up with examples from your very own spiritual community. A bunch of white people are getting a deeper understanding of racism, interrogating how they have benefitted from it, and pushing other white people to do the same – what a horror show. Get over it. There’s no Maoism without a Mao in a position of great power, no McCarthyism without a McCarthy (and a Roy Cohn); this moment will pass. To state the very obvious, those who want radical change are barely in government, and not even close to influencing it, let alone controlling it. 

Freedom and justice have never been won by oppressed people behaving the way the ruling class thinks they should behave. Power concedes nothing. 

Others have said much more eloquent, kind, and dharmic things on this thread, starting with Viveka, and I refer you to them. I am particularly thankful for the words of my north american sisters, brothers, and other siblings, wherever you may be in the world. And all gratitude and respect to the Black people and all the people of color in our movement and order, whose striving for themselves and the world isn’t thrown off course by this racist bullshit.

I’m pissed off and my words have been harsh, and no doubt less effective than the kind words of others. Those offended should feel free to complain. 

Black Lives Matter and Silence = Death

Dhivajri

Notes on community guidelines and moderation: a request for engagement

This is a general editorial response focussed on the comment thread on this post. You can also read our general response to complaints about the post itself. 

The Buddhist Centre Online is not Twitter. It is not Facebook. It is not just a news website. It shares some common functions with all of these, but it is also something else. It was built with love by members of the Triratna community, funded by donations from across the world, for us to discuss and share the Dharma with others. It is a space to exemplify the best of our community, and we hope that users can join us in living up to that vision.

The best of our community is kindness, empathy, connection, genuine curiosity, authentic, positively expressed experience rooted in the Dharma itself. We believe that here people might hold genuinely different, maybe even painfully different, views, and yet stand on something together that is bigger and deeper than all of that.

We hear that some people don’t appreciate aspects of the original post or don’t see sufficient Buddhist value in it to merit its place on our site. We are listening and will continue to try and meet you and understand your concerns and your perspective in a positive way, including finding ways to hear your own constructive vision of the Dharma. 

We hear that some people are dismayed that others not only cannot appreciate the original post, but even wish it removed. We are listening and will continue to try and promote harmony around what we understand seems like a breach around core Buddhist values, at a time of great suffering for people of colour, and renewed momentum in society for people who wish to work against racism in their own lives.

We recognise that there is also much that is good in this exchange, even where it is challenging. And as to the bits that seem less positive, we don’t have all the answers, by any means. We may have more to say (in public and in private) about those specific aspects of the thread over the coming days and weeks. In reflecting about all of it ourselves, as an editorial team we want first to offer a refresher in the rules of engagement on this site; and make a request that will help us all hold a difficult conversation perhaps a little better than it is currently being held.

Community Guidelines
Here are key excerpts from our community content and moderation guidelines, which are designed to help create a positive environment for everyone:

1. Please be courteous at all times. If you’re engaged in any kind of discussion, be as prepared to listen as you are to express yourself. Remember that there’s always a real person behind a computer/device screen, and they are likely quite different from you.

2. Think twice before posting anything that’s likely to give offence or be inflammatory. That doesn’t promote good conversation. If you’re upset at something you see here, perhaps let a little time pass before responding. Bear in mind this isn’t a space to vent our views, it’s about exploring respectfully with others what it means to be a Buddhist within our community and in the modern world generally. 

3. We may remove posts or comments that are considered off-topic.

4. Everyone has off-moments, and we’ll always try to be in friendly dialogue with you if a problem arises with one of your contributions. But we reserve the right to remove posts and comments (or even suspend user accounts) when we feel these guidelines are not observed. 

Whatever you contribute, we very much encourage you to think about it in the light of the Buddhist ethical precepts around ‘Right Speech’. These encourage communication that is: truthful, kindly and gracious, helpful and harmonious. 

Moderation
We try to keep things light when it comes to moderation of posts and comments within this shared space. And we ask the community itself to lead with this. If you have seen something that concerns you, please feel free to contact us. However, we do ask that you bear in mind the following guidelines, which will help preserve a harmonious atmosphere throughout the site:

• Remember there is always a person behind the post or comment you’re objecting to. They may just be having a bad day… If you’re upset, perhaps let a little time pass before responding to them or us.
   
• Try contacting the person first in a spirit of open, courteous engagement to see if hearing their perspective changes your own view of things, or if hearing yours changes theirs.
   
• Take care to make sure what you are asking us to look at is actually against the spirit of the group or the site itself, rather than simply a difference of view or of personal taste. If in doubt, ask a friend and/or the administrator of the group.
   

The most important thing about this is the first bit: we ask the community to lead with this. That means you. And it applies perhaps especially on public spaces. Which brings us back, finally, to this comment thread…

A sampling of complaints to our team about the comments on this thread (so far)

• This thread and the tone of some of the comments risks bringing the Order and Movement into disrepute in a public space. 
   
• Some of the comments here make it seem like Triratna is racist or, at least, not a welcome space for people of colour.
   
• Some of the comments contain, effectively, ad hominem negativity towards the person who made the post, or the person to whom someone is responding.
   
• People’s experience is being dismissed without any attempt at connection or empathy in the spirit of the Dharma. 
   
• This thread has steadily moved “off-topic”. What are you going to do about it?
   
• Some of the comparisons people are making about others they disagree with are inflammatory and, in some cases, actively offensive.
   
• Some of the comments here are attempting to shut down dialogue just because there is disagreement.
   
• This post has been hijacked and turned into a sounding board for other frustrations.
   

That’s just some of them. How does it feel reading that list? It certainly doesn’t make us happy here.

In theory, as an editorial team, we’re supposed to weigh, assess, then take action wherever a possible breach of the community guidelines has occurred. Usually that involves first reaching out personally to individuals (we’ve already done some of that and will do more); but in this case, to be honest, to do so in all the cases that require it would likely be far too onerous a process. Like you, no doubt, we’re pretty busy. There’s a lot on.

We also suspect that if we were to act within our “normal” duty as moderators on this thread, it would not necessarily cool the situation for some of you. So what to do?

A request from the editorial team
In light of all this, we will do our own work around this thread as sensitively as we can. In the meantime, please consider what changes you can make to your contributions that would better serve our community and Order online. You can edit comments. You can remove a comment and leave a blank to show that one was there before. You can replace a deleted comment in-place. 

If you’re part of an exchange where someone has done this, and your subsequent response now seems off, please consider re-working your own contribution.

There is a great opportunity for our community if we can figure out how to have this kind of conversation in a better way. The underlying issues won’t disappear, it will still be messy; and we recognise that this is just the start of a different approach to engagement with the deep differences captured here. We’ll check back in a few days, and look forward to seeing how things go. 

Yours in the Dharma,

Candradasa (Director of The Buddhist Centre Online) and Parami (Chair of the Editorial Board)

Sadhu! to Candradasa and Parami  for these thoughtful words….perfect timing. D🙏🌈🌹

Thank you Viveka. I very much appreciate your call to empathise and respond with active compassion to fellow human beings who are suffering. A famous quote comes to mind: 

‘Buddhism addresses itself to the individual human being, regardless of race, nationality, caste, sex or age…

‘This is one of the reasons why I am a Buddhist. I believe that humanity is basically one. I believe that it is possible for any human being to communicate with any other human being, to feel for any other human being, to be friends with any other human being. This is what I truly and deeply believe. This belief is part of my own experience. It is part of my own life. It is part of me. I cannot live without this belief, and I would rather die than give it up.’

I’m sure everyone will know this. It comes from a talk Sangharakshita gave in India, though I can’t find out when. If we feel for other human beings, if we aspire to be friends with them, we can’t let them suffer. It seems as simple as that to me.

I’ve extracted from a longer quote which can be found here: https://manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WhyIA…

We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist. - James Baldwin