All posts tagged race and buddhism

-isms and the need to belong

“The desire to…the identity to belong is based on fear, and inclusion and exclusion. The aspiration to awaken is prepared to negotiate all of those boundaries.”

I was particularly struck by Ajahn Thanasanti’s words in this conversation with Gina Sharpe because of my own strong desire to be inclusive, which is then reflected in a corresponding aversion to any sense of exclusion and perhaps paradoxically, if unchecked, results in the same! Sadly, I sense a lot of “clubby” behavior, particularly online.

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6 Comments
by sharanam on September 6, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Opinion, Relationship, Technology
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Posted by sharanam on September 6, 2011

https://sharanam.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/isms-and-the-need-to-belong/

Some challenges of living a contemplative life today

There are several topics that come up a lot for me of late, and they seem to bring up some discomfort and concern around how Buddhism is integrating into Western culture. The issues are:

1) The subject of dana and generosity, and how it has not very successfully been translated here; and

2) The issue of gender inequality and the general lack of (recognized as such) realized women teachers within the Buddhist institution — the same can be said for lack of racial diversity; as well as

3) The challenges for monasticism, particularly for women in the Theravada tradition.

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30 Comments
by sharanam on September 21, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Formal / Retreat, Opinion, Practice
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Posted by sharanam on September 21, 2010

https://sharanam.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/some-challenges-of-living-a-contemplative-life-today/