Compassionate Action
Spring 1996 Vol. 12 #2
Spring 1996 Vol. 12 #2
Introduction
The healing power of the Buddhist sangha is enormous, and this issue shines light on a few ways that it is manifesting in the world.
Features
At the 1995 Gorbachev Foundation State of the World Forum, Thich Nhat Hanh tells Ram Dass how anger can be transformed into peace, “even among wealthy people, even among the politicians.”
On Jerry Brown’s radio program We the People, Thich Nhat Hanh advises politicians and activists on how to practice peace.
Social change activists Tova Green and Fran Peavey talk about their work with refugee women in the war-torn Balkans.
Zen teacher Bernard Glassman brings bodhi mind to people with AIDS, people who are homeless, people who are unemployed, and the broader community.
Terry Vandiver describes working as an acompañante, bearing witness and offering service in a community of Mayan refugees in Guatamala.
Alan Senauke sketches an early history of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and its vow to free all beings by working to end structural causes of suffering.
Christina Desser’s imaginative Migratory Species Project infuses activism with the motivation and perspectives that arise out of meditation practice.
. . . The Colors of Buddhism: Six Explorations of Diversity
Sala Steinbach tells us about two deaths that led her to start leading workshops on diversity, and the Buddhist practice that deepened her ability to sit with the experience of pain.
Working with Sala Steinbach on essays exploring race and racism, Barbara Gates observes the “peculiar kind of mindfulness practice” she’s taken on as an editor.
White parents of an adopted, biracial, HIV-positive child, Nancy Schroeder and Grace Dammann share what they are learning about being present and available.
Reflecting on his reaction to a diversity workshop, Lee De Barros explores whether a white person who has practiced zazen for many years can still be unconscious about racial stereotyping.
Norman Fischer gives his perspective on the diversity workshops he attended and on affirmative action.
Jack Kornfield describes efforts to increase inclusivity in Buddhist sanghas, asking, “If we, as practitioners of awareness, can’t include racism in our consciousnesses, then who can?”
Poems & Not Poems
A poem about the devastating costs of “government smoothtalking” — rainforest, home, habitat, health, sustenance, children, life…
Quotes and passages from the Pali Canon, compiled by Gil Fronsdal
Reviews
Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart (238 pp., HarperSanFrancisco, 1995)
A Flash of Lightning In the Dark of Night (144 pp., Shambhala, 1994)
The story of Thây’s first love—and the reviewer’s!
(124 pp., Parallax Press, 1996)
Short reviews of Natural Great Perfection: Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs • Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There • A Place In Space: New and Selected Prose • Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind • The Return of the Mother • Essential Tibetan Buddhism • The Size of the World
The Sangha Speaks
Nancy Van House says that by supporting our dharma teachers, we buttress the entire sangha.
The Dharma & the Drama
Seeking to unravel the mystery of “self,” Wes Nisker considers the findings of geneticists alongside teachings of the Buddha.