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Find out about how this organisation came to exist and its connection to engaged Buddhism

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Vision

Aware of the interconnectedness of all things, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship cultivates conditions for peace, social justice, and environmental sustainability within our selves, our communities, and the world.

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Buddhism + Social Justice - Buddhist Peace Fellowship

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Vision Aware of the interconnectedness of all things, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship cultivates conditions for ...

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“It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act. There are two aspects to action. One is to overcome the distortions and afflictions of your own mind, that is, in terms of calming and eventually dispelling anger. This is action out of compassion. The other is more social, more public. When something needs to be done in the world to rectify the wrongs, if one is really concerned with benefiting others, one needs to be engaged, involved.”
How does this relate to engaged Buddhism?

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How do these mindfulness trainings relate to engaged Buddhism?

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The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in onc-self, in the family and in society. The second training is to practice social justice, generosity, not stealing and not exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of responsible sexual behavior in order to protect individuals, couples, families and children. The fourth is the practice of deep listening and loving speech to restore communication and reconcile. The fifth is about mindful consumption, to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha to be the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. I have translated these precepts for modern times, because mindfulness is at the foundation of each one of them. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. We arrive at our own unique insight. It is not something imposed on us by an outside authority.

Practicing the mindfulness trainings, therefore, helps us be more calm and concentrated, and brings more insight and enlightenment.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices (2009)

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are also available in:

The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
Reverence For Life

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

True Happiness

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and stop contributing to climate change.

True Love

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness - which are the four basic elements of true love - for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.

Loving Speech and Deep Listening

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.

Nourishment and Healing

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.

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The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings. The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in onc-self, in the...

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Make notes on this report

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Some observers may associate Buddhism, and especially Buddhist meditation, with turning inward away from the world. However, many argue that the Buddhist tradition, with its emphasis on seeing clearly into the nature of suffering and, thus, cultivating compassion, has a strong impetus for active involvement in the world's struggles.

American Buddhists have long seen Buddhism as a resource for socially and ecologically engaged activism. The turn-of-the-twentieth-century tendency to see religion as a basis for vigorous moral action in the world very much affected early American Buddhist sympathizers. The perception of Buddhism in the public eye as a world-negating religion was countered by these early Buddhists who insisted that Buddhist principles could be applied to ethical living and engagement with social issues. In the late twentieth century, this activist stream of Buddhism came to be called "Engaged Buddhism"-Buddhism energetically engaged with social concerns.

Among the first to speak of Engaged Buddhism in the United States was the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Hanh came to the United States during the Vietnam War to explain the meaning of Buddhist-led protests and demonstrations against the American-supported Saigon government and to offer a peace proposal. In 1978, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, inspired by the work of Thich Nhat Hanh, was formed to extend the network of Buddhist peace workers to include people from all Buddhist streams. Today, the network is both national and international and aims to address issues of peace, the environment, and social justice from the standpoint of Buddhist practice as a way of peace. In the United States, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has involved Buddhists in anti-nuclear campaigns, prison reform, and saving ancient forests.

The American development of Engaged Buddhism has a multitude of examples and expressions. Many Buddhist-inspired and led programs are at the forefront of hospice care for the dying. The San Francisco Zen Center Hospice Volunteer Program, launched under the leadership of Frank Ostaseski, brings trained volunteers to the bedsides of those dying of cancer and AIDS. The Hartford Street Zen Center maintains the Maitri AIDS Hospice, which was started by Issan Dorsey, who served as abbot of the Center before he himself died of AIDS in 1990. In Richmond, California, the Metta Vihara, also called the American Buddhist Congregation, Inc., began in 1990 as a hospice house under the leadership of its African-American abbot, the Venerable Suhita Dharma. In New York, the Maitri House of the Zen Center of New York has opened its doors for hospice care. It is one of several nonprofit projects of the community led by Bernard Tetsugen Glassman-roshi. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, the "Being With Dying" project of Upaya, a Buddhist community led by Joan Halifax, is training mainstream caregivers in the practice of presence and attention cultivated by meditation.

Buddhist engagement has also extended to the prison system. The Soto Zen nun, Dai-En Bennage, after twenty-three years of training and practice in Japan, began teaching Buddhist practice in the prison system from her base at Mt. Equity Zendo in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. In New York, John Daido Loori-roshi of Mt. Tremper Zen Center started Buddhist meditation programs in New York state prisons. And in Los Angeles, the Hsi Lai Temple, committed to "building the Pure Land on Earth," used to host a weekly prison visitation program.

It is often said that suffering is the gateway to compassion. By deep insight into the nature of individual and social suffering, Buddhist practice cultivates the qualities of attention, loving-kindness, and inner renewal that sustain a life of service. Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of interdependence as central to a Buddhist view of the universe-the "interbeing," as he puts it, of people, nations, and the whole ecological fabric of the natural world. "Our most important task," he says, "is to develop correct insight. If we see deeply into the nature of interbeing, that all things 'inter-are,' we will stop blaming, arguing, and killing, and we will become friends with everyone. To practice nonviolence, we must first of all learn ways to deal peacefully with ourselves." Not just "making peace" but "being peace" is the key to engaged Buddhism. The ideals of the bodhisattva include the cultivation of giving ( dana) and loving-kindness ( metta or maitri)-both of which are nurtured through walking the Eightfold Noble Path.

In recent years, Engaged Buddhism has grown to become a sub-field in Buddhist academic study, and has spread to Buddhist communities throughout the world. The range of issues tackled by engaged Buddhists from across all streams of Buddhism now include peace, the environment (particularly in America), consumerism, racism, prisons, hospice care, globalization, gender, ethics, and more. Founded in 1997, Think Sangha is an Engaged Buddhist think tank focusing on applying Buddhist ideas, methods, and values to modern problems. Engaged Buddhism has allowed Buddhists from various traditions to come together and work toward common goals in ways that have never been seen before. In part, Engaged Buddhism can be seen as a major component of a growing American Buddhist ecumenical movement.

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Buddhism and Social Action: Engaged Buddhism

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Some observers may associate Buddhism, and especially Buddhist meditation, with turning inward away from the world. However, many argue that the Buddhist tradition, with its emphasis on seeing clearly into the nature of suffering and, thus, cultivating compassion, has a strong impetus for active involvement in the world's struggles.

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Some really useful quotations to copy down here!

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Some really useful quotations to copy down here!

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To some, "engaged Buddhism" may seem like a contradiction in terms. Traditionally, Buddhists have sought to avoid suffering by disengaging from desire, training themselves through meditation to look past the world of illusion to the spiritual reality beneath.

But during the past few decades Buddhists have been re-examining the teachings of their religion and finding a basis for social action, for confronting war, racism, exploitation, commercialism, and the destruction of the environment.

One of the world's leading engaged Buddhists, Sulak Sivaraksa, currently a fellow of the Harvard Yenching Institute, spoke March 14 in a symposium called "Buddhism, Globalization, and Social Change." Also on the panel were Venerable Yifa, a Taiwanese Buddhist nun and director of the Greater Boston Buddhist Cultural Center; Charles Hallisey, associate professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Janet Gyatso, the Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies at Harvard. Christopher Queen, lecturer on the Study of Religion, was moderator.

"There's been a sea-change in the Buddhist tradition," said Queen, who has edited several books on engaged Buddhism. "Buddhists have gotten up off their cushions, recognizing that collective sources of suffering in the world must be addressed by collective action."

Engaged Buddhism is a global phenomenon, taking many different forms, said Queen. Prominent members of the movement include B.R. Ambedkkar, who brought Buddhism to the "untouchables" of India; Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen master, known for his activism against the war in Vietnam; and A.T. Ariyaratne, founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana rural development movement in Sri Lanka.

Sulak, the founder of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, is Thailand's leading dissident and public intellectual. The author of many books and articles, he has been jailed and exiled several times by Thai authorities for speaking out about state policies on environmental justice and human rights. He has been twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1995 received the Right Livelihood Prize from the Swedish Parliament.

In his talk, Sulak spoke about nonviolence as the master precept of Buddhism and discussed the ways in which Buddhism's other precepts are related to this master teaching.

For example, he said, Buddhism forbids stealing. "But if you let a few collect wealth at the expense of the poor, that is worse than stealing."

Similarly, Buddhist teachings condemn sexual misconduct. Yet in Thailand today, where many young women are forced or tricked into lives of prostitution from which they find it difficult to escape, the responsibility for this activity falls on those who organize and profit from the sex trade, not on its powerless victims.

"We must interpret the precepts in a modern way," Sulak said.

Yifa, who earned a law degree from the National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale University, has been a nun at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan since 1979. She has been an administrator at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist College and at Hsi Lai University, Rosemead, Calif., a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, and a faculty member at National Sun Yat-Sen University.

In her talk, she discussed the establishment and subsequent decline of women's monastic orders in Buddhism. Only in China did these orders persist, and today only in Taiwan can they be said to flourish.

Yifa faced opposition from her middle-class family when she announced her intention to enter Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan. Her current research focuses on women in Buddhism. Her book on monastic rules and institutions, "The Origin of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China" (Hawaii University Press, 2002), discusses all aspects of life in Buddhist monasteries during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.).

Hallisey described his students' adverse reaction when Sulak came as a guest lecturer to one of his classes and spoke on the Buddhist view of democracy. Westerners, and especially Americans, believe they invented democracy, and find it difficult to hear a person from a different culture criticize their beliefs and practices, he said.

The Western view of democracy emphasizes the freedom to acquire- the right of citizens to obtain justice under the law, economic opportunity, the ability to speak freely, etc. But Buddhists are more likely to stress the freedom to give, characterized by "generosity on one person's part toward another, the ability to give others the freedom to be themselves."

From this viewpoint, introspection is of paramount importance in a democratic society. "We must look into ourselves and see if there is democracy in our hearts," Hallisey said.

Gyatso's talk focused on the question of women's monastic orders in Buddhism, taking up the issues that Yifa had raised, but from a more scholarly perspective. She discussed Buddha's acceptance of women in monastic orders, but only if they were governed by "the Eight Heavy Rules," which make the most senior nun subordinate to the most junior monk.

"That is the situation Buddhism faces today- how to handle challenges to authority brought by the feminist critique. Just as we haven't attained full democracy, we also have not attained gender equality," she said.

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To some, "engaged Buddhism" may seem like a contradiction in terms. Traditionally, Buddhists have sought to avoid suffering by disengaging from desire, training themselves through meditation to look past the world of illusion to the spiritual reality beneath.

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Sacred Ecology: The Self as a Metaphor Deep Ecology

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Read an interview with Joanna Macy here...

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Read an interview with Joanna Macy here...

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Have a look at the introduction to this book of essays on engaged Buddhism...

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Page 307 is about engaged Buddhism

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Just learn this...

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Engaged Buddhism, also known as Socially Engaged Buddhism, is not a sect, but a movement within the Buddhist religion. Founded by Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh in the 20th century, Engaged Buddhism seeks to apply Buddhist teachings in a more activist and social manner than has been traditional.

Engaged Buddhism is a cross-denominational movement that involves the lay community as well as monks, western converts as well as eastern Buddhists. While maintaining the Buddhist emphasis on inward spiritual growth, Engaged Buddhism also aims to reduce social suffering and oppression through political and social reform.

The compassionate bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism (who postpone their own enlightenment to assist others) are looked to as the ideal by engaged Buddhists.

The term "Engaged Buddhism" was coined by Thich Nhat Hanh in 1963, at a time when his country was ravaged by the Vietnam War. The highly-regarded monk, who now lives in a monastery in France, has remained a prominent leader of the movement. He has founded the "Order of Interbeing" to promote social causes, and there are many other Engaged groups as well.

In his book Interbeing, Nhat Hanh lays out the following 14 Precepts of Engaged Buddhism (here paraphrased), which emphasize social change as beginning with oneself.

1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones.

2. Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice nonattachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints.

3. Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness.

4. Do not avoid suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal contact, visits, images and sounds. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.

5. Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.

6. Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them when they are still seeds in your consciousness. As soon as they arise, turn your attention to your breath in order to see and understand the nature of your hatred.

7. Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around you.

8. Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

9. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things of which you are not sure. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.

10. Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand against oppression and injustice and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts.

11. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realise your ideal of compassion.

12. Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.

13. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

14. Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only an instrument. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realisation of the Way. (For brothers and sisters who are not monks and nuns:) Sexual expression should not take place without love and commitment. In sexual relations, be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world.

Sources

Damien Keown, The Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism (2004).

Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism (2005).

Mission - Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Engaged Buddhist Organizations

Buddhist Peace Fellowship - founded 1978; based in Berkeley, CA

International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB)

UK Network of Engaged Buddhists

Engaged Zen Foundation - with headquarters in Maine

Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight - focused on Tibet

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Engaged Buddhism, also known as Socially Engaged Buddhism, is not a sect, but a movement within the Buddhist religion. Founded by Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh in the 20th century, Engaged Buddhism seeks to apply Buddhist teachings in a more activist and social manner than has been traditional.