From being out in the wilderness, I’ve awakened to the reality of how fragile life is in all its form. During the day, I’ve seen bears cause deer and squirrels to flee into hiding. At night, I’ve heard the cries of hungry coyotes and wolves. As one of my teachers once said, the images used […]
Building Community: Local Concerns for Local Buddhist Women
BDE’s special issue on women, Mujeres y budismo en los países de habla hispana, is a unique project. Since it tells the story of Buddhist women in Spanish-speaking countries, it highlights problems specific to these women that might have been overlooked in English-language media. In Anglophone Buddhist feminist circles, including the broader Sakyadhita community, discourse […]
How Dharma-Gaia is steering Hispanic Buddhism on a course of ecological justice
Born after the landmark symposium of Sakyadhita Spain’s 2nd International Symposium of Spanish-Speaking Buddhist Women (“Dharma-Gaia: Buddhism, Women, and the Climate Crisis”), the Dharma-Gaia organization arose as an idea among Sakyadhita’s management that there should be a network of environmental feminism that could intersect with the Buddhist community. This group of “Buddhist eco-feminists” is an […]
No Body at Home
As we explore the body through the breath, it’s necessary to have a trusted guide on your journey into uncharted world. Otherwise, you can end up practicing in unwise ways as I have before. You also need an experienced teacher to tell you when you’re not trying hard enough and when you’re trying too hard. […]
Circles of Practice: Spanish-speaking Buddhist Women
In the previous entry on our series introducing Hispanophone Buddhism, we covered Montse Castellà Olivé, founding president of the Spain chapter of Sakyadhita. Sakyadhita is commonly known as one of Buddhism’s most prominent women’s advocacy and research organizations. Since 2020, Sakyadhita Spain has hosted ten “circles of practice,” known in Spanish as círculo de práctica […]
Fire Haiku
1. Light a bonfireQuickly, write down all my sinsToss them in the flames 2. Do not get too closeFire burns through flesh and boneBut stay close enough 3. Winter is so coldThe snow gets deeper each dayA fire would be nice Support Our Dharma Work
Answering the Conch Shell’s Call: Schooling and the Religious Life
The second instalment of Choje Lama’s biography: a look at his early school years, and preparation for his religious vocation
Poem for Chris La Tray
you pour coffee into your cupin montana it turns into tea in my cupin scotland Support Our Dharma Work
Women Leading: Sakyadhita Spain
The day when “women in Buddhism” is no longer a separate category of discussion, is perhaps the day when the tradition has reached true gender equality. That day is a long way off, and so we are left with using this skilful means (upaya) to highlight the progress and difficulties of women in the Buddhist […]
A Buddhist Prayer for Peace in Kyiv
Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a small group of Buddhists, affiliated with the Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga, gathered in Kyiv’s majestic Mikhailovska Square to pray for peace, chant the Lotus Sutra in the Nichiren tradition of “Namo myoho-renge-kyo,” and call for an end to Russo-Ukrainian hostilities. The Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga is a Nichiren-aligned movement founded in 1917, consisting […]