Social & Political Engagement Archives - Secular Buddhist Network

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Social & Political Engagement

Anti-racist resources for secular Buddhists

Among Buddhists of all lineages, including secular Buddhists, the need to confront racism has become increasingly apparent in recent years. This article provides SBN readers with useful resources selected from Buddhist meditation centers and other sources to aid us in the process of confronting racism in the Buddhist community in the West and in society as a whole.

A secular Buddhist perspective on the threat of climate extinction

Stephen Batchelor argues that a wise and compassionate response to the threat of climate extinction demands direct engagement with life itself irrespective of any a priori beliefs about the origins and end of suffering. By entering into a contemplative, empathetic, and existential relationship with the pain of the world, one seeks to respond with situation-specific compassion.

How to stop bigotry

We can practice pulling bigotry out by the roots every day in our own worlds. Identify who you treat as ‘other’, be kind to yourself about it, then focus your attention on commonality of experience - of basic human needs. Practice it again and again and again. This is wise attention.

Transforming ourselves and transforming the world

Meditation is invaluable in developing the skills and qualities for us to play a productive role in movements for social change, but engaging in social change with others is essential if we want to fully develop these skills and qualities. We should see individual and social transformation as a simultaneous, mutually interactive process.

Metta in the time of the coronavirus: responses of secular Buddhists to the pandemic

Several contributors to the Secular Buddhist Network website offer their insights on how we can best respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The common theme is that by fully understanding core Buddhist insights regarding impermanence, suffering, and interconnection, as well as cultivating an ethical stance of care and compassion, we can skillfully respond to this current crisis.

Engaged Buddhists need radical social theory

We need both the Buddha's insights on the human condition and a non-deterministic, humanistic Marxism to create a 'culture of awakening' and just society in which all human beings have the opportunity to flourish. As each perspective has strengths and weaknesses, we need to bring these perspectives together in a complementary, mutually enriching way.

How to be an ecosattva

Acknowledging the importance of social engagement is a big step for many Buddhists, since we have usually been taught to focus on what is happening in our own minds. On the other side, those committed to social action tend to suffer from frustration, anger, and burnout. The engaged bodhisattva path provides what each needs because it involves a double practice, inner and outer, each reinforcing the other.

Dharma practice and solidarity in troubling times

According to Winton Higgins, the foundation of Buddhists' political engagement is the overarching ethical commitment to care, the responsibility to be 'engaged as a moral agent in what is going on in one’s own life'.

Should secular Buddhists be socially-engaged Buddhists?

Mike Slott explains why secular Buddhists should be socially engaged, from service work with individuals to participation in radical political movements.

A secular Buddhist perspective on dharmic citizenship

Winton Higgins urges secular Buddhists to be active citizens and contribute to social and political change. Given the crises facing our society, 'nowadays politics matters like never before!'

What to tell your inner yogi about climate change

Responsible citizenship goes to the core of our ethical commitments as dharma practitioners. So the existential threat to ourselves and all other life-forms, that climate change poses, must stand high on our civic agenda. It mightily evokes the overarching ethic of the dharma – the ethic of care – understood both as concernful awareness, and as a prompt to action.

A dharmic understanding of evil: the banality of climate change

The mythical figure of Mara in the Pali canon provides us with an obvious starting point for understanding evil. He appears again and again to the Buddha and his advanced disciples, preferably when they’re meditating. He’s disguised as a well-meaning stranger offering friendly, banal advice, the import of which would throw the hearer right off course if s/he heeded him.

Core elements of a secular and socially-engaged Buddhism

Mike Slott explores how a radical social theory and core Buddhist insights are both essential to understanding the causes of suffering and creating a society in which all human beings can flourish.

Taking a second look at Radical Dharma through the lens of social class

Mike Slott discusses Radical Dharma, a book which proposes a radical approach to Buddhism. He argues that the book is valuable in several respects, but the authors fail to make social class a core part of their radical analysis.

Bernat Font interviews David Loy on deconstructing Buddhism

A conversation between David Loy and Bernat Font – David Loy was born into a US Navy family and as a child travelled far and wide with his family. He ‘dropped out’ and in Hawaii started to practice zen Buddhism. His first teacher was Robert Aitken and later, he practiced with Yamada Roshi. From philosophy to zen is not such a big jump, reading D.T. Suzuki or Alan Watts, but the difficult thing he found was to practice, to sit.