The Socially Engaged Buddhist in the Era of Globalization

In early 2000, we began working on plans for our second international meeting which was held in late March of this year in Hawaii. We feel the result of this work and the meeting has been a step towards making Think Sangha more practical – principally, in a clearer vision of what it can mean to be a socially engaged Buddhist. We have expressed this vision in an interpermeating triangle of endeavor:

Intellectual Inquiry into
-the basic principles of socially engaged Buddhism (SEB)
-the meeting of Buddhism with contemporary thought
-the connections between personal and social liberation

Social Activism focused on
-Buddhism’s unique contributions to social problems
-empowering renunciation and compassionate action

Buddhist Practice with
-setting priorities for work and life
-setting priorities for social engagement
-acting creatively within the still unliberated self

Further, we have identified specific socially engaged Buddhist issues, such as developing socially engaged Buddhist analysis, creating socially engaged Buddhist sanghas and participating in the larger reform process of our Buddhist sanghas and institutions. From this foundation, we feel we can more clearly engage in our larger social concerns such as globalization, technology, and civil society.

A central theme of this work is integration: between traditional and modern, practice and activism, secular and religious, scripture and insight, lay and ordained, and so on. The struggle towards integration is the critical work of making ourselves whole within this globalized world of multiple distractions and agendas. Still lacking the thousand arms of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokitesvara, we work to realize personal and social transformation with our one mind-body and a daily practice grounded in sangha relationship.

Pre-Meeting Working Paper – A Buddhist Approach to Globalization : Civil Society & Sangha Reform

Meeting 2001 Report – Towards a Methodology for Intellectual-Activist-Practitioners of Buddhism

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