Engaged Buddhism
Encyclopedia
Engaged Buddhism refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and dharma
teachings to situations of social
, political
, environmental, and economic
suffering
and injustice
. Finding its roots in Vietnam
through the Zen
Buddhist
teacher Thich Nhat Hanh
, Engaged Buddhism has grown in popularity in the West.
ese Zen
Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh
(known as Thay to his students), inspired by the Humanistic Buddhism
reform movement in China by Taixu
and Yinshun, and later propagated in Taiwan by Cheng Yen
and Hsing Yun
. At first, he used Chinese characters (a scriptural language of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism), 入世佛教 (lit: Worldly Buddhism, 入世 = enter + world). During the Vietnam War
, he and his sangha
(spiritual community) made efforts to respond to the suffering they saw around them. They saw this work as part of their meditation
and mindfulness practice, not apart from it. Thich Nhat Hanh outlined fourteen precepts of Engaged Buddhism which explained his philosophy.
This term has since been re-translated back into Chinese as "Left-wing Buddhism" (左翼佛教) to denote the liberal emphasis held by this type of Buddhism. The term has also been used as a translation for what is commonly understood in China and Taiwan as "Humanistic Buddhism
" (人間佛教).
has voiced a need for Buddhists to be more involved in the social and political realm.
Organizations such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists
and the Zen Peacemakers, led by Roshi Bernard Glassman
are devoted to building the movement of engaged Buddhists. Other engaged Buddhist groups include the Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight
, Gaden Relief Projects, the UK's Network of Buddhist Organisations, Fo Guang Shan
and Tzu Chi
.
Prominent figures in the movement include Robert Aitken
Roshi, Joanna Macy
, Gary Snyder
, Alan Senauke
, Sulak Sivaraksa
, Maha Ghosananda
, Sylvia Wetzel
, Joan Halifax
, Tara Brach
, Ken Jones
, and Bhikkhu Bodhi
.
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
teachings to situations of social
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, environmental, and economic
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
suffering
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and...
and injustice
Injustice
Injustice is the lack of or opposition to justice, either in reference to a particular event or act, or as a larger status quo. The term generally refers to misuse, abuse, neglect, or malfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a legal system. Misuse and abuse with regard to a particular...
. Finding its roots in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
through the Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
teacher Thich Nhat Hanh
Nhat Hanh
Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who now lives in France. Born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo, Thích Nhất Hạnh joined a Zen monastery at the age of 16, and studied Buddhism as a novitiate. Upon his ordination as a monk in 1949, he assumed the Dharma name...
, Engaged Buddhism has grown in popularity in the West.
Asian Origins
The term was coined by VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh
Nhat Hanh
Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who now lives in France. Born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo, Thích Nhất Hạnh joined a Zen monastery at the age of 16, and studied Buddhism as a novitiate. Upon his ordination as a monk in 1949, he assumed the Dharma name...
(known as Thay to his students), inspired by the Humanistic Buddhism
Humanistic Buddhism
Humanistic Buddhism is a modern Buddhist philosophy practiced mostly by Mahayana Buddhists. It is the integration of people's spiritual practice into all aspects of their daily lives...
reform movement in China by Taixu
Taixu
Venerable Master Taixu , 1890-1947, was a Buddhist modernist, activist and thinker who advocated the reform and renewal of Chinese Buddhism.- Biography :...
and Yinshun, and later propagated in Taiwan by Cheng Yen
Cheng Yen
Cheng Yen is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun , teacher, and philanthropist. She is often called the "Mother Teresa of Asia." In 1966, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, commonly known as Tzu Chi; its motto is "instructing the rich and saving the poor"...
and Hsing Yun
Hsing Yun
Hsing Yun is a well-known Buddhist monk, as well as an important figure in modern reformation of Mahayana Buddhism in Taiwan and China. Hsing Yun is the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order and the affiliated Buddha's Light International Association, one of the largest international...
. At first, he used Chinese characters (a scriptural language of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism), 入世佛教 (lit: Worldly Buddhism, 入世 = enter + world). During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, he and his sangha
Sangha
Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
(spiritual community) made efforts to respond to the suffering they saw around them. They saw this work as part of their meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
and mindfulness practice, not apart from it. Thich Nhat Hanh outlined fourteen precepts of Engaged Buddhism which explained his philosophy.
This term has since been re-translated back into Chinese as "Left-wing Buddhism" (左翼佛教) to denote the liberal emphasis held by this type of Buddhism. The term has also been used as a translation for what is commonly understood in China and Taiwan as "Humanistic Buddhism
Humanistic Buddhism
Humanistic Buddhism is a modern Buddhist philosophy practiced mostly by Mahayana Buddhists. It is the integration of people's spiritual practice into all aspects of their daily lives...
" (人間佛教).
Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
In the West, like the East, Engaged Buddhism is a way of attempting to link authentic Buddhist meditation with social action. The current Dalai Lama14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...
has voiced a need for Buddhists to be more involved in the social and political realm.
Organizations such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a nonsectarian international network of engaged Buddhists participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism with chapters all over the world...
, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists
International Network of Engaged Buddhists
The International Network of Engaged Buddhists is an organisation that connects engaged Buddhists from around the world. It was established at a meeting in Thailand in February 1989 organised by Sulak Sivaraksa and Maruyama Teruo. INEB maintains an office in Bangkok. It has members in about 20...
and the Zen Peacemakers, led by Roshi Bernard Glassman
Tetsugen Bernard Glassman
Bernie Glassman , aka Tetsugen Bernard Glassman, is an American Zen Buddhist roshi and co-founder of the Zen Peacemakers , an organization established in 1996 with his late wife Sandra Jishu Holmes...
are devoted to building the movement of engaged Buddhists. Other engaged Buddhist groups include the Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight
Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight
The Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight is a Non-Governmental Organisation that undertakes sustainable interventions in the developing world...
, Gaden Relief Projects, the UK's Network of Buddhist Organisations, Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan is an international Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order based in the Republic of China , and one of the largest Buddhist organizations. The headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, located in Kaohsiung, is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. The organization itself is also one of...
and Tzu Chi
Tzu Chi
The Tzu Chi Foundation, whose name means "compassionate relief," is an international humanitarian organization and the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese-speaking world....
.
Prominent figures in the movement include Robert Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
Roshi, Joanna Macy
Joanna Macy
Joanna Rogers Macy, Ph.D , is an environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology.-Biography:...
, Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
, Alan Senauke
Alan Senauke
Hozan Alan Senauke is a Soto Zen priest, folk musician and poet residing at the Berkeley Zen Center in Berkeley, California, where he currently serves as Vice Abbot. He is a former Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship , holding that position from 1991 to 2001...
, Sulak Sivaraksa
Sulak Sivaraksa
Sulak Sivaraksa [] is founder and director of the Thai NGO “Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation”, named after two authorities on Thai culture, Sathirakoses and Nagapradeepa...
, Maha Ghosananda
Preah Maha Ghosananda
Maha Ghosananda, , was a highly revered Cambodian Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition, who served as the Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism during the Khmer Rouge period and post-communist transition period of Cambodian history...
, Sylvia Wetzel
Sylvia Wetzel
Sylvia Wetzel is a Buddhist feminist. She has made a name for herself in the Buddhist community of Germany in the topics of meditation and spirituality among women. In doing so she has potentially also impacted men in relation to those topics as well.-Life:Sylvia Wetzel studied political science...
, Joan Halifax
Joan Halifax
Joan Jiko Halifax is a Zen Buddhist roshi, anthropologist, ecologist, civil rights activist, hospice caregiver, and the author of several books on Buddhism and spirituality. She currently serves as abbot and guiding teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a Zen Peacemaker community...
, Tara Brach
Tara Brach
Tara Brach is a American psychologist and expert on Buddhist meditation. She is also the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, a spiritual community that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation. This group's Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, Maryland,...
, Ken Jones
Ken Jones
Ken Jones may refer to:*Ken Jones , Welsh athlete and international rugby union footballer 1950s*Ken Jones , Wales international rugby union player of the 1960s...
, and Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi , born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area...
.
See also
- Buddhist socialismBuddhist socialismBuddhist socialism is a political ideology which advocates socialism based on the principles of Buddhism.Buddhist socialists have called for state provision of the Buddhist requisites of food, shelter, clothing and medicine, for the abolition or amelioration of class distinctions, for campaigns for...
- Humanistic BuddhismHumanistic BuddhismHumanistic Buddhism is a modern Buddhist philosophy practiced mostly by Mahayana Buddhists. It is the integration of people's spiritual practice into all aspects of their daily lives...
- Engaged SpiritualityEngaged SpiritualityEngaged Spirituality refers to religious or spiritual people who actively engage in the world in order to transform it in positive ways while finding nurturance, inspiration and guidance in their spiritual beliefs and practices. The term was inspired by Engaged Buddhism a concept and set of values...
- Buddhist Peace FellowshipBuddhist Peace FellowshipThe Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a nonsectarian international network of engaged Buddhists participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism with chapters all over the world...
Further reading
- Phra Paisal VisaloPhra Paisal VisaloPhra Paisal Visalo is the abbot of Wat Pasukato in Chaiyaphum province of Thailand. He was involved in student activism and human rights protection before entering the monkhood in 1983. He is the co-founder of Sekiyadhamma, a network of socially engaged monks all over the country...
: Buddhists Engaged in Social Development - Phra Paisal VisaloPhra Paisal VisaloPhra Paisal Visalo is the abbot of Wat Pasukato in Chaiyaphum province of Thailand. He was involved in student activism and human rights protection before entering the monkhood in 1983. He is the co-founder of Sekiyadhamma, a network of socially engaged monks all over the country...
: The path to social and inner happiness
External links
- Dana Wiki: Helping Buddhist Organizations Get Involved in Social Service
- Engaged Practice
- Buddhist Peace Fellowship
- Zen Peacemakers
- International Network of Engaged Buddhists
- UK Network of Engaged Buddhists
- Network of Buddhist Organisations(UK)
- Amida Trust Home Page
- Sulak Sivaraksa: A Socially Engaged Buddhism
- The Engaged Zen Foundation
- Buddhist Global Relief
- The Maitri School, Non Sectarian Engaged Buddhism.
- Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight
- Gaden Relief Projects
- Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women