Recently, I shared about a missive I had the privilege of collaborating on with my friend Joshua Eaton: an open letter from Buddhist teachers and scholars and others on Islamophobia. Joshua authored the letter — with a few of us offering little tweaks and edits — and I put together a website for the letter and helped spread the word and generate signatures. The letter was motivated by recent news reports out of Burma and Thailand, as well as by the month of Ramadan. A new... Read more

I just signed a petition to the American Academy of Religion. Organized by Carolyn Roncolato, a PhD student at the Chicago Theological Seminary, the petition notes: In light of this year’s American Academy of Religion annual meeting initially being scheduled at a boycotted Hyatt hotel, and the problems this caused for those involved, we are working to pass a resolution at this year’s annual meeting. The resolution declares that the American Academy of Religion will not patronize a hotel or conference... Read more

A while back, I posted about reading Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, and a dharma talk I delivered that was inspired by it. I have no doubt that it’s the most important subject I’ve ever addressed in a dharma talk, and that Half the Sky is one of the two or three most important books I’ve ever read. Tonight and tomorrow night, the multi-part documentary based on the book will premiere on... Read more

I still can’t quite believe what happened last week: I was in our nation’s capital with Amnesty International, my pal (and our past interviewee) Joshua Eaton, and others for a very special event with none other than Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself! As a practitioner who has long been an admirer of “the Lady,” as well as a scholar with an abiding research interest in her, I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled I was to see her... Read more

As I previously mentioned here at this blog, I’ve been hosting a social media mini-course on “Human Rights and Film” at my Facebook fan page. The course is over, but I’ve put all the material from it below, in this post. This is not the first time I’ve fiddled with social media mini-courses on Twitter. Inspired by our friend and past interviewee Stephen Prothero, the goals of my mini-courses “Religion and Film” and “Buddhism and Film” were really one and the same: to offer some... Read more

Time Magazine has just posted a really interesting set of pictures taken by James Mackay. The series, entitled “Even Though I’m Free I Am Not,” is the result of three years of work taking portraits of “Burmese dissidents and democracy activists,” like the one above. Time writes: In each photo, the subject lifts his or her hand in the classic Buddhist gesture of the ‘abhaya mudra,’ a sign representing protection, peace and the dispelling of fear. Inscribed on their raised... Read more

Here’s a rare treat: The Telegraph has a new audio interview with the great Sulak Sivaraksa — Thailand’s preeminent social activist and one of the titans of the modern engaged Buddhist movement. Sulak founded and currently directs Thailand’s Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation.  He also serves on the advisory board of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. In addition to all his work as an activist, organizer, and social critic in Thailand, he has also served as chair of the UN’s Asian Cultural Forum on Development and has... Read more

This week, Occupy Wall St. turned one-year-old. Much ink has already been spilled about this (anniversary? milestone? random designation?), but it seemed as though we ought to acknowledge it here. Occupy has gotten some attention at this blog, most notably our interview with the great Joshua Eaton about his participation in the movement and “Occupy Buddhism.” One year ago, I was involved (though certainly not as much as some of my friends and students) in Occupy Los Angeles. I would later... Read more

Two things occur to me: I haven’t been posting as much as I would like. A number of things have happened recently that deserve mention here. On the first point, I resolve to do better. Regarding the second, I think this calls for a roundup! So here’s a quick rundown of some things worth sharing at a blog devoted to Buddhism and social justice: To begin with, an update: I reached my fundraising goal for the US Campaign for Burma!... Read more

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is the well-known and prodigious translator of Pali Buddhist texts into English, and founder of Buddhist Global Relief, the visionary, Buddhist-inspired humanitarian organization that contributes to relief and justice efforts worldwide. Well, BGR needs your help — and right this very second! This from our friend Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: We need your help! Tomorrow is the last day!!! Chase Community Giving has awarded over $20MM in grants to over 500 charities in 41 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Buddhist Global Relief... Read more